Davos: How Club Capitalism Is Warping Democracy
Davos has become the upside down of global governance — where the people causing crises pose as the ones fixing them. As billionaire power warps democracy, real solutions are coming from movements demanding accountability and fair taxation.
The world’s richest and most powerful have once again descended on Davos for the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual get together. Decisions made there, in closed‑door meetings, will shape all our lives — yet none of us are invited.
Few moments capture today’s political and economic reality more clearly. Power no longer sits primarily with elected governments, but with CEOs, bankers, and private equity giants. Davos has become the Met Gala of global capitalism — a place where the beneficiaries of the status quo gather to protect it.
Reading the conference’s official themes feels like stepping into a hall of mirrors — a carnivalesque distortion of reality where up is down and down is up. Attendees like Trump discuss “renewing cooperation”, whilst presiding over rising geopolitical chaos, ripping up international law and democratic norms to serve their own interests and those of megacorporations and billionaires. Tech barons will sit in round tables to discuss “inclusive growth,” whilst their bank accounts balloon on the back of an out-of-control AI boom.
This is what happens when wealth inequality becomes so extreme it starts to warp the foundations of society itself, destabilising democracies and accelerating the destruction of our planet.
The latest Oxfam figures are staggering: the number of billionaires has surpassed 3,000 for the first time, and their combined wealth is higher than at any point in history. Meanwhile, one in four people worldwide face hunger. The 12 richest individuals now hold more wealth than the poorest half of humanity — four billion people. But the most alarming part isn’t the scale of the gap, it’s how that gap is suffocating democratic decision‑making.
Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely than ordinary people to hold political office. They own more than half of the world’s media companies. Nine of the ten biggest social media platforms are in their hands. In the United States, when wealthy elites support a policy, it has nearly triple the chance of becoming law compared with when they oppose it. That’s why Oxfam are also clearly calling for a wealth tax – as a revenue raiser, and a check on concentrated power among the super-rich.
To highlight their new research and calls for a wealth tax, Oxfam opened up a one-day pop-up pie shop in East London. The premise: average punters pay normal prices for a pie, and those liable to pay a wealth tax (people with net assets of over £10m), pay a 2% surcharge to represent the extra tax they’d pay. In this case, an extra 12p on the cost of a £6 pie. Our team headed down to check it out.
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Davos presents itself as a forum for solving global crises, but its attendees are often the very actors blocking the solutions. This is club capitalism in action: a system where those who benefit most from the status quo gather to shape global rules in their own interests. The billionaire era is not inevitable, but real progress won’t come from these private clubs. It will come from those insisting on more democracy and more accountability.
UN negotiations on a global tax convention, backed by 125 countries, are moving forward in February, aiming to replace the OECD’s corporate‑friendly system with something more democratic. Thanks to thousands of you for taking action last week (there’s still time if you haven’t already), we’ll be meeting with a lot of MPs next week to discuss how the UK can be a leader in these talks. This is our People’s Lobby working in action.
Our movements for fair taxation, democratic oversight, and public investment are also gaining ground and demanding the media spotlight. And every year, more people see Davos for what it is: a symbol of a broken system, not a solution to it.
The billionaire era may feel entrenched, but history is full of moments when ordinary people forced a different path — and won. The fightback is already underway, be a part of it. Join our movement (below).