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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Robert Thompson of 'The Financial Times'

Aired January 27, 2002 - 17:38   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Well, New York City is beefing up security for the largest gathering of political and business leaders since September 11. The World Economic Forum will focus this week on worldwide conflict, insecurity and recession. And with us to help preview the forum is Robert Thompson, U.S. managing editor for the "Financial Times."

OK, Robert, let's try to nail this down. What is this World Economic Forum really about? What can we expect might come out of it?

ROBERT THOMPSON, "FINANCIAL TIMES": There is no such thing as a one-line answer to that question, I'm afraid, Fredricka. Essentially, this is an opportunity for the business, the political and the academic elite to get together in one place, traditionally, a Swiss village called Davos; this time, a big city called New York, to debate the contemporary issues of concern or perceived issues of concern.

But the issues for the protesters is that this is an elitist excess, that they are meeting behind closed doors, and they're supposedly setting an agenda for the rest of the world to follow.

WHITFIELD: And might this really be a symbolic gesture, too, that New York City is the place that it was chosen to take place this go-round? New York City, like all the other cities in the country, particularly though New York, needs that kind of shot in the arm economically? And this is certainly going to be a major security headache, isn't it?

THOMPSON: Absolutely. Certainly it will be of economic benefit of New York. To be honest, the Davos forum itself has been getting a little flat, and there was genuine concern among the organizers that U.S. participants, who are absolutely crucial to its success, wouldn't make the flight.

But at the same time, you are going to have security headaches. Big protests planned for Saturday. But to be honest, the anti- globalization movement has been a victim of collateral damage since September the 11th. It's hard to raise a lot of concern about some of those softer issues when there is the hard issue of international terrorism at stake.

WHITFIELD: But those protesters seem to be a fixture in Davos, and then we saw them also in Seattle. Might they simply be present, perhaps just a little toned down? THOMPSON: Well, if you look at what some of those organizations are saying ahead of that protest on Saturday, clearly they want it to be non-violent, they don't want to be associated with violence at a time like this. But it will be difficult for them to muster numbers. Certainly, there will be some hard-core protesters. But even those hard-core groups will be looking to avoid violence, because it will certainly discredit the movement more generally.

WHITFIELD: Well, it's certainly going to be a youthful meeting of the minds, but at the same time isn't this kind of one big party as well, Robert? You've got a number of celebrities who are expected to show up there, even former President Bill Clinton is expected to show up as well.

THOMPSON: Well, it's a real parade of egos, Fredricka. The people organizing like to think of it as a cerebral Super Bowl, but really it's a series of meetings. Does anything formal come out of them? Well, not really, not in any legislative agenda sense. Certainly there are a few hangovers there, a few chance meetings that might lead to contracts and maybe a few original ideas expressed in original ways. But it really isn't the high-powered gathering that sets the global agenda that either the organizers or the protesters both think.

WHITFIELD: All right. Robert Thompson with the "Financial Times," thanks for joining us.

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