The demonstrators gathered at the train station in Küblis GR on Saturday morning in the biting cold.Bild: keystone
18.01.2025, 11:3218.01.2025, 13:51
Around 350 WEF and capitalism critics from several countries set off on a protest hike to Davos on Saturday morning in Küblis in Prättigau, Graubünden. The Strike WEF movement criticizes the economic elite and fights for climate justice.
The demonstrators gathered at the train station in Küblis on Saturday morning in the biting cold to hike to the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, 25 kilometers away, in two days. Despite the sub-zero temperatures, the atmosphere was cheerful and was more reminiscent of a hiking camp than of a left-wing alternative demonstration.
“We criticize the elite who presume to speak for the people while millions of people are already dying from climate change,” said a media spokeswoman for the Strike-WEF collective to the Keystone-SDA news agency. The basic concern of Strike WEF is criticism of capitalism. In recent years, the demand for climate justice has also been a central issue. “WEF green washing made in Switzerland” was also denounced on a banner in Küblis.
Participants from all over Europe
The majority of young critics of capitalism had traveled to Graubünden mainly from Switzerland and Germany. But demonstrators from Belgium, Portugal, England and even Peru also found their way to the deep wintery Prättigau.
Bild: keystone
“Of course there could always be more participants, but we are satisfied with the number,” said the media spokeswoman. With 350 people, about the same number of people set off for the demonstration march as last year.
-They carried cardboard signs with them demanding fair taxation of “the rich” and the dismantling of “colonialist capitalism.” “Burn the system”, “viva l’anarchia” and “eat the rich” were written on banners. Despite these anarchist overtones, Strike WEF distances itself from violence. “We are explicitly a non-violent movement,” emphasized the media spokeswoman.
Back on the cantonal road
The organizers are also satisfied with the hiking route approved by the Graubünden authorities. After the Strike-WEF march had to make do with hiking trails and take the train to Davos at the last three editions of the World Economic Forum, this year the demonstrators can march visibly again on the Kantonsstrasse all the way to Klosters. And after Davos they can also take to the streets to attract the public.
Bild: keystone
Strike WEF had successfully defended itself against the ban from Kantonsstrasse in federal court. According to the court, the complete postponement of the “winter hike” away from the cantonal road represented a disproportionate interference with freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. These fundamental rights would, to a certain extent, include the right to use public land for rallies with an appeal. The authorities then revised their guidelines.
After spending the night in a gym in Klosters, the WEF strikers reached Davos on Sunday and joined a demonstration organized by Juso Switzerland on Postplatz in the afternoon. Together with the climate strike and the GSoA, they will demonstrate loudly against the “international lobby meeting of capitalists” that will take place in the Alpine city from January 20th to 24th. (sda)
This might also interest you:
