Whether the allegations of sexual harassment and racism leveled by the World Economic Forum (WEF) are true or false, they should teach important lessons. It is worth reading the investigation report of The Wall Street Journal (Shalini Ramachandran and Khadeeja Safdar, “Behind Davos, Claims of a Toxic Workplace,” The WSJ, June 29, 2024) and its follow-up (“World Economic Forum Opens Board Inquiry into Workplace Cultures,” July 19, 2024). Summarizing the investigation report on The WSJhis personal goals:
Under Schwab’s leadership for decades, the Forum has allowed a hostile environment for women and Black people to develop in its workplace, according to internal complaints, email exchanges and interviews with dozens of current and former employees and other people familiar with the Forum’s practices.
To the extent that the cases are true, they will show how powerful and hypocritical men can literally oppose the DEI’s implicit ideals (diversity, equality, and inclusion) that they proclaim. To the extent that they are false, they will show how group and victimization ideologies encourage vicious or hateful people to falsely accuse innocent people. In a way, the WEF will be uplifted by its ideas.
The famous World Economic Forum in Davos is “economic” only in the sense of being a collection of business leaders, lobbyists, and politicians, who, in short, want to use coercive state power to defraud ordinary people. Its overarching view seems to be that collective choice is more important than individual choice and that its shade of mushy math is the one to put down. The organization and its “partners” jump on any fad—one of which is the DEI—that can contribute to increasing the power of its good rulers. Its founder and current “chairman”, Klaus Schwab and co-author wrote, among other clichés (Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret, Covid-19: The Great Reset [Forum Publishing, 2020]):
In a post-pandemic world, questions of fairness will arise, from the stagnant incomes of the fast majority to the redefinition of our social contracts. … We are now at a crossroads. One way will lead us to a better world: inclusive, equal and respectful of Mother Nature.
(They even talk about “social equality,” which sounds more scientific and serious than the “social equality” standard, which seems outdated and perhaps corrupted by automatic definitions.)
Regarding DEI, i The Wall Street Journal the investigation says so
The Forum has at times struggled to live up to the ideals it preaches about promoting diversity, equality and inclusion.
In 2020, for example, the WEF was released Diversity, Equity and Inclusion 4.0: A Toolkit for Leaders to Accelerate Social Progress in the Future of Work. Its 2020-2021 annual report boasts “embedding diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice,” including:
In the past year, following the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States and around the world, the Forum re-launched the Collaborative Campaign for Racial Justice in Business. Nearly 60 companies joined the coalition and pledged to take immediate action on racial justice in their organization and work together to promote systemic change.
Consider sexual harassment, which the zeitgeist of our time often confuses with non-profane and non-exploitative praise. As long as men and women work together, as long as there are men and women (and, to paraphrase Woody Allen, as long as it’s not better on TV), there will be adventures and conflicts. But just as economics prevents one from ignoring individual choice, classical liberalism promotes a culture of respect for the individual: its ideal and common theoretical background is based on the dignity and consent of the individual. A culture of individualism is less likely to develop when a person is perceived as freely choosing or rejecting their own exchange actions and having the right of veto in political matters (even if the political reality is unclear).
The same applies to racial issues. What we must do, if we believe that The WSJFor example, the WEF appears to be more focused on flagrant discrimination in its workplace, although it is still possible to be sued or prosecuted for private discrimination, consistent with its preference for government solutions. It is not difficult to imagine how, in a philosophical environment of disrespect for individuals and the glorification of government coercion, the denigration of individuals can be rampant.
Libertarianism and classical liberalism are the only political philosophies that agree with DEI in terms of free diversity, legal equality, and individualism, as opposed to forced and artificial diversity, equality, and institutionalization. As far as we know, the WEF is on the side of the latter.
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