PROTESTS IN DAVOS (Everyone has an axe to grind this year!)

Episode 47 in the Lymp Duhdashian series

The reception at Davos was hectic with paparazzi and celebrities which, for once, did not infuriate Olympia at all. She posed and fluttered her eyelashes in all directions, milking the attention for all she was worth. Khan tried so hard to act the part of bodyguard but almost burst out laughing several times. Olympia was expert at this game, this was her ‘profession’. She smoothly and graciously met the BP executives, assured them that the speech they had given her was simply “Divine, darling!” and thanked them profusely for the suite of rooms they had procured for her visit, while charmingly claiming jet lag (from London?) and escorting them firmly to the door.

As soon as they were alone, she flopped down on a huge soft couch and sent Frank a quick text message, “In situ, sweetie! Queen Suite 7, Hilton Garden Inn. Do watch this video from JP Sears if you get a chance!” Then she went to the balcony and admired the protest banners in the noisy street below.

Frank and his team were tracking down the British arrivals, escorting them to their various hotels and providing discreet security at the conference centre, liaising with familiar faces from a multitude of agencies and dealing with attempted invasions from the protesters. The usual melee that Frank had seen many times before at Davos was enhanced by a large number of Swiss troops which actually created a far more chaotic atmosphere than in the past. Frank could see that some anticipated political arrivals tomorrow could prove to be a convenient distraction, assisting Olympia’s Plan nicely.

Activists from the Strike-WEF Collective and the Young Socialists of Switzerland had been gathered in Davos Postplatz, since Sunday. They criticised the conference participants, accusing them of elitism and hypocrisy for – for instance – flying in private jets to a meeting to discuss climate change. There was an emphasis on the hypocrisy of Big Oil ‘hijacking’ the event which had Olympia absolutely thrilled. “Wait until they hear my speech! That’ll put the cat among the pigeons!” she said, calling Khan over to the balcony to watch the scene on the streets.

“Dozens of protesters raised placards and chanted slogans as they arrived by train in the ski resort, where hundreds of political leaders and major economic figures are set to meet starting Monday (January 16).

Later in the week, a group of over 200 millionaires from 13 countries will also be releasing a letter calling on Davos attendees to get serious about tackling extreme wealth and embrace significant tax increases on the wealthy.

Many protesters also slammed WEF participants' handling of climate issues.

"It’s important to be here to show what are the problems of the World Economic Forum,” protester Claudio Bernhard said.

Failure to tackle climate change and environmental degradation dominate the ranking of top risks facing the planet in the next decade, a WEF survey of global risk specialists found.

Moreover, current-day challenges including the rising cost of living, persistent energy and food supply crunches and heavy national debts threaten to thwart the collective will and cooperation needed to address such problems, they concluded.

On Sunday, some protesters also gathered in front of BlackRock offices in Davos to call for the global investment giant to cancel the debt of poorer countries in order for them to tackle climate crisis more efficiently. ~ Khan read from an article with a video from Yahoo.

“Man! Everyone and his Auntie has an axe to grind this year!” he remarked, laughing but returning from the cold snowy balcony to the luxury suite. He proceeded to raid the fridge. “What is Swiss beer like?” he asked as he cracked a can open…. “Hmm…. not at all bad!” and he found yet another article online stressing how seriously climate change was affecting Davos itself. Gazing at the thick snowfall he wondered if these journalists were even in Switzerland when they wrote their tripe. All their information seemed to come from the World Economic Forum’s website:

“What are you giggling about?” Olympia asked when she returned, chilled from the balcony. “Don’t read all that propaganda!” she scolded, “It’ll addle your brains! Give you cognitive dissonance and other nasty pandemics! Has this place got a Siri or music system?” and she examined the entertainment console for inspiration.