Davos or Belem? I chose Stockholm; the Vikings’ solution

This year more than any other time has been difficult to decide which global forum was the best to attend. In one hemisphere, the gathering of business leaders and proxies who pretended to tackle global challenges by just fixing the economy and led all of us in the worst economic crisis humanity has experienced since ´29. Hold on, this is just the beginning! In the other one,  the idealists who overcame the shock following the total victory of capitalism in the ’90s, reorganized a new global social movement – anti-globalization – and have led a vocal but harmless guerrilla agaist the victors: much ado about nothing. To Davos or to Belem, this is the question.

Without mentioning that both my invitations to the World Social Forum and World Economic Forum must have gone lost – blame the public sector! – I took a third way and went to Stockholm and spent the rest of the week amongst the Vikings.

This is clear to me: in the last 20 years the first forum has led a revolution which has made the world a more interesting place but some of its own outcomes are making it unstustainable and dangerously unbalanced – cliamte change and social inequality speak by themselves. It’s an outcry. The other one hasn´t stopped complaining for the last 20 years without being able to come out with an alternative, except for annoying nostalgia and fairytales.

We are going through a global crisis which is fundamentally about trust in the system we have built, live in and where some of us prosper. It’s time for change but there is no room for nostalgia, ideology and bullshit!

It’s time to explore new ways or models which have proven to be more sustainable and fair. Therefore, I went to Vickings’ land where a community of 9 million people have moved from pillaging and raping the neighbours – something that everybody condems unless it’s perpetrated against the English… who like it! – to become one of the wealthiest, most equal and tolerant societies in the world. The moral beacon of humanity; the Vikings like thinking they are.

Besides the jokes, the Swedes have proven that it’s possible to combine an accountable state, free market and a thriving third sector. A society with gender equality, full employment and open to immigration: 10% of Swedish population are first generation immigrants. Families look happy and there are kids everywhere. Sweden has a well-equipped army but Swedes are peaceful. They have Ikea, H&M, Ericsson and even a little minority – the Sami- who live up in the north without being persecuted anymore.

Yes, it looks like a nightmare for someone like me – I need poverty, violence and conflicts otherwise I get bored! – but it must the recipe for the future.

While ones were discussing how stupid their friends in the financial industry have been, and others how their enemies are still evil, I was preparing a new initiative with my new nordic friends of Ideell Arena. At the next Almedalen, the political week when all the Vikings from goverment, business, associations, trade unions and media gather to the island of Gotland, in the centre of the Baltic Sea, to discuss the future of their community, we will launch our Northen hub for third sector leaders. We will gather delegates from across the North. Don’t miss it. It will be on 1 July. We will invite also our Russian Friends including a delegation from Kaliningrad. It will be fun, a good networking opportunity, and a step towards a new global order led by the Vikings!