The tiny village of Tallberg in northern Sweden has been gathering annually for 28 years for intellectuals, businessmen, politicians, NGO representatives and public figures from all over the world. On what the oil giant Shell, former UN chief Kofi Annan and global warming have in common - in The New Times report from the scene
A thin, tall man in a pale gray woolen suit did not stand out in any way from the line stretching to the bar, except for a perfectly tailored suit: not very expensive, but neat, clearly from a good tailor. Patiently waiting for his turn, he ordered whiskey with ice and paid for it the due 95 SEK.
royal whiskey
The King of Sweden, as a common man, ordered whiskey for 95 crowns
It was the King of Sweden, His Majesty Carl Gustaf XVI. It somehow didn’t fit in my head that kings also carry a wallet and, like mere mortals, pay for their whiskey themselves. It was even more difficult to understand why the brave soldiers of the royal guard did not push us, who were standing nearby, pushing us out, so that nothing would prevent the royal person from enjoying a drink. Not a single guard was in sight at all. Actually, no one would have noticed the presence of His Majesty if a few hours earlier the African writer Maria Tumbal had not reminded of the crowned lady: during her speech, she took off her shoes and remained barefoot right on the stage - in Senegal, where she comes from, it is customary to do so in the presence of the august person.
This is Tallberg
Here, in a small village on the shores of Lake Siljan, in the very north of Sweden, at a world forum, conventions and statuses disappear altogether. Today you are in line for the king, tomorrow at breakfast - with the Minister of International Cooperation of Sweden Gunilla Carlson, and at dinner you suddenly find out that the nice person sitting next to you, listening attentively to the story of the Russian hinterland, is an Afghan prince. The recent president of Costa Rica, José Figueres, can dance with everyone half the night away just because one of the best DJs in Sweden is playing that evening. And the writer John Milton easily switches all attention from the ex-president to himself, as his story about the environmental disasters of the new time suddenly takes all the attention of the public, which, however, does not prevent him from returning to dancing with the temperamental ex-head of state an hour later.
This is Tallberg.
world hamlet
For the past 28 years, people from different parts of the world have been coming here every year. If in 2000 the forum brought together 75 people, then in recent years the number of participants has increased five times - 450 from more than 70 countries. Probably, those who come to Tallberg can be called insane in some sense. Otherwise, it is difficult to understand why the king and queen of Sweden, the president of Iceland or the ex-president of Costa Rica, the prince of Afghanistan, the ministers of Ecuador, Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands, the former head of the UN Kofi Annan, Izmail Sarageldin, who worked for 30 years at the World Bank, and more than a dozen businessmen from the largest corporations in the world - including Shell, IKEA, one of the world's leading banks UBS, financial "watchdogs" of the global market Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley - fly thousands of kilometers in a remote Swedish village for almost a week to discuss issues that are hardly whether they are on the agenda on New York's Wall Street, or whether they allow GDP to double before 2010. Global warming, hunger for almost 3 billion people inhabiting the planet, food riots in 22 countries in the first five months of this year alone, a global drinking water crisis and, as it turned out, far from mythical social responsibility of business - these are just the outlines of what was discussed in Tallberg this year. There are dozens of various sessions, discussions and round tables, but all of them, like the previous forums, are united by one theme: how can we all live together on planet Earth?
Business with a face
Kofi Annan felt great at the forum
It is probably hard to imagine the head of the board of directors of Rosneft, Igor Sechin, and the director of the Sakharov Museum, Yuri Samodurov, sitting at the same table, discussing the problem of rehabilitating the repressed. But you can - one of the top managers of Shell, Kusum Kalyan, at the same table with the 28-year-old head of a small Kenyan foundation dedicated to the rights of disabled teenagers (he himself also has to move with the help of crutches). Do they speak the same language? Hardly. But at least in Tallberg they are trying to hear each other - whether they are representatives of business and NGOs, or governments of developed European countries and activists of African aid funds.
Why does big business bother with topics that are far from being the most pleasant for it, about responsibility for environmental disasters or growing inequality among the world's population (it should be noted that businessmen and politicians get the most on the forum) at first glance defies logical explanation. An attempt to create a noble "face" or a socially responsible image of the company? Perhaps, but only in part. Sitting on the grass, under the loud sounds of the Swedish folk orchestra, the deputy head of one of the largest Dutch development banks, Diana Griffoen, almost breaking into a scream, tries to explain "their" point of view. “Our bank, of course, is designed solely for profit, and only - no noble motives. But we can quite afford not to chase fast money, but to invest in development,” the banker explains. “We have already created a fund that will finance the transition to renewable energy on farms around the world. Of course, now it is much cheaper and more profitable to invest in coal, but tomorrow it will be yesterday, and we will be among the first.”
The collapse of Europe
There is also talk about the starving children of Nigeria in Tallberg, but here it ceases to be a memorized cliche that allows Western countries to once again recall their great role as the noble savior of the backward African world. In a northern Swedish village, both Western business and Western politicians speak of the impoverished continent as their own problem, and not just an “add-on weight” of the post-colonial system. “Imagine that tomorrow millions of people from Africa will rush to the borders of one of the states just because they simply won’t have anything to drink,” says Kofi Annan, former head of the UN and current president of the World Humanitarian Forum, in an interview with The New Times. - And this state will not let them in, because it will also have problems with drinking water, which will not be enough for its citizens. What will happen to these millions of people then? Do you have any idea what they'll be willing to do?" Already by 2015, according to scientists, almost every second inhabitant of the planet (3 billion people) will suffer from a shortage of drinking water, and the price of clean water may be much higher than today's oil prices. The problem of mass migration to developed countries is inevitable in this case. And Western business not only understands, but also speaks openly now: today's problems in Europe with immigrants tomorrow will seem like child's play. “The collapse of Africa will inevitably entail the collapse of the Western world, primarily Europe,” said Kaba Daraba, ex-Minister of Social Development of Guinea, in her speech. And in response, many in the hall nodded: “Yes, it will.”
Kitchen of the world
Eight small hotels, more like hunting lodges, turned into a real intellectual cauldron during the forum. A concert of ancient Chinese music is easily replaced by discussions about the so-called Chinese threat. China, as the world's fastest growing country, is of great concern in light of global warming, largely accelerated by carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere (a direct result of China's industrial boom). With rather sharp criticism of China, experts, primarily American ones, speak of an even greater threat from the United States. Gada Shbeir, a Liberian who skilfully swaps Christian ballads for Muslim tunes, is immediately followed by a discussion about what constitutes common sense. Having comprehended everything, the participants easily switch to the show of the modern r'n'b group Bounce. It is unlikely that the village of Tallberg, with only a couple of hundred inhabitants, sees this at another time of the year. Indeed, the organizer of the forum, Bo Ekman, one of Sweden's leading businessmen, and ex-UN head Kofi Annan, climbing over the fence with a sign hanging on it “Please do not climb over”, is not a sight for the faint of heart.
The end of the forum, however, turned out to be a little crumpled. The reason for this is Euro 2008, which brought together residents of all continents of the world near the screens in one of the hotels, with the exception of Antarctica. His Majesty Carl Gustaf XVI, who is not fond of football, had to while away the time almost alone, albeit to the voice of the best jazz singer in Sweden, Rigmor Gustavson. The king was not offended.
The forum in Tallberg (Sweden) is held by the foundation of the same name, established in 1981. The annual brainstorming session was spearheaded by businessman Bo Ekman, founder and president of Swedish strategy consulting firm Nextwork. Prior to that, Bo Ekman was the vice president of the Volvo concern, he also created the company SIFO, which specialized in strategic management. The main sponsors of the forum are the Swedish energy company Vattenfall, Inter IKEA System, Unilever, the Swedish lottery PostkodLotteriet, the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Swedish Ministry of Energy, as well as other companies and individuals.
