The Davos 2022 Roundup
Dear reader,
Every year, with the notable exception of the last two, we have been witness to the ritual congregation of the global corporate class, the who's who of the financial world, heads of state, representatives of noteworthy international organizations, and an assortment of celebrities in Davos, for the World Economic Forum (WEF). Davos’ reputation as a place where the global elite like to be seen, does not, however, take away from the platform’s immense power to set agendas, broker questionable partnerships between industry and state, and steer the course of global governance in impactful ways.
The history of Davos is a history of capital and its growing voice at the decision-making table of global governance. The star of Big Tech has been particularly ascendant at the WEF, with digital technology increasingly informing the economic and social relations of our times and those to come.
In this month’s DataSyn, we turn our attention to the digital discourse evolved through the space of Davos. Analyzing both rhetoric and action, the pieces featured in this edition probe into the ways in which multistakeholderism and techno-solutionism are forwarded as ideal responses to the problem statement of governance of the digital, and examine the underlying corporate capture currently underway by the ‘Davos Class’.
The DataSyn Team
THE NEW DIVERGENCE
Rescuing Our Common Agenda from the Post-democratic Abyss
Anita Gurumurthy
In 1995, Richard Barbrook and Andy Cameron drew our attention to curious blindspots in the machinations of the capitalist class in the essay The Californian Ideology. Crucially, the essay captures a mode of libertarianism at its incipient phase; with a burgeoning group of millionaires from Silicon Valley looking to completely divorce 'innovation' and the common good from its collective and state-led moorings. In 2022, the Californian Ideology, married with the mantra of multistakeholderism has further obscured the goals of public oversight and voice within the grand project of digital innovation.
In this article, Anita Gurumurthy examines how the multistakeholderism model has only bolstered Big Tech machinations, and suggests new paths to reclaim our digital future from its current trajectory.
THE BIG EXCESS
The Assetization of Social Life
Kean Birch
With institutions like the WEF increasingly betting on the transformative potential of cyber-physical systems in imagining and building better, brighter futures, it is imperative to ask the question: who do these technological promises benefit and are they even sustainably achievable? Innovation and our technological futures are being driven by the wholesale ‘assetization’ of social life itself; of everything we do freely today and many things we can’t even think of in the future. In this piece, Kean Birch critically analyzes the technological futures that institutions like the WEF envision and the extractivist logic that guides the rosy promises they make.
THE DAVOS UPSHOT
Davos 2022 and the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Amay Korjan and Avantika Tewari
As the WEF’s recently concluded ‘State of the World’ sessions bring new pronouncements and discursive maneuvers towards shaping the agenda of our digital futures, Amay Korjan and Avantika Tewari of the DataSyn team apply a critical lens to unpack the Davos 2022 ‘tech’ imaginary and discourse, and why its vision of the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ is both ill-conceived and dangerous.
The Sins and Synergies Lounge
What does an all-encompassing corporate takeover under the aegis of multistakeholderism look like? In the deeply researched book, The Great Takeover, published by the Transnational Institute, authors Mary Ann Manahan and Madhuresh Kumar examine how these maneuvers directly impact “people’s health, children’s education, digital rights, access to basic public services and human rights in the territories, including the right to a healthy environment”.
Enjoy our throwback recommendation from 2021, Bot Populi’s podcast miniseries – Davos Diaries. It examines the history of the Davos summit and the growing influence of Big Tech on global governance, featuring voices like Renata Avila, Chee Yoke Ling, Harris Gleckman, and Roberto Bissio.
No week at Davos goes by without a few customary nods to 'globalization'. But what does this ritual incantation even mean? Read this succinct history of globalization by Éric Toussaint to find out!
Why should we think of Big Tech giants as ‘net states’? Alexis Wichowski discusses the ideas from her book The Information Trade: How Big Tech Conquers Countries, Challenges Our Rights, and Transforms Our World in this video conversation.
On a lighter note, the words we use often determine the way we think about things. Read digital sociologist Gabriele de Seta’s fascinating exploration of ‘Heikeji’. It is a novel concept emerging from Chinese internet culture that attempts to formulate the opaque quality – full of promise and potential disruption – inherent in the experience of new technologies.
Post Script
A DataSyn collaboration with Barabar Futures
The Rights Market Launches at WEF 2022!
Cee & Tee
We are proud and honored to share with DataSyn readers that The Rights Market (TRM), a modern-day solution for an ancient human rights problem, was officially launched at the Wicked Economic Forum 2022 (WEF 2022)! Founded in 2021, TRM is a revolutionary idea that seeks to address the most pressing human rights issue of our time: how do we ensure universal access to human rights for all?
With a passion to change the world, Cee, a human-centered designer, and Tee, a human-rights lawyer, came together to develop TRM. TRM is a simple, user-friendly platform that offers users the power to access and enforce their rights. Simply put, we ensure that your rights are in your control.
Founders, Cee and Tee, were quite disappointed that due to the ongoing pandemic situation, their right to present in real-time at Davos was curtailed. However, a digital launch presentation was shared with some of the greatest leaders of the free world on January 18, 2022.
For those who missed it, here are some highlights from the power-packed presentation:
● The theme of this year’s event was tailor-made for TRM as we wholeheartedly believe in working together with our stakeholders and restoring trust in the failing human rights system.
● We work together with public and private sector, i.e., governments and Big Tech, to ensure that your rights are protected.
● We harness current and future technologies to enable rights protection and management for a Web 4.0 world. Our website is already designed for the year 2035 using our patented FutureC™ technology.
● Based on an overwhelming response to the TRM prototype, we already have established partnerships with the Wetaverse community. A move which will help us reach more and more rights-poor folk across the Global South.
● We center our stakeholders’ needs and ensure that our work shapes a more inclusive and sustainable world for all.
We take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us in these early days and hope to build a more inclusive and powerful community in the coming years. Stay tuned for more!
DataSyn is a free monthly newsletter from IT for Change, featuring content hosted by
Bot Populi. DataSyn is supported through the Fair, Green and Global Alliance.
Liked what you read? To have such concise and relevant analysis on all things Big Tech delivered to your inbox every month, subscribe to DataSyn!