I am back from the porters' conference (baggage handlers), otherwise officially known as the World Economic Forum in Davos. Everyone I saw, with the exception of a few, left with a bag distributed to the participants upon registration, and which weighs about ten kilograms and could rise to twenty kilograms with all the conference's documents and publications. In fact, the men and women there were equal in ‘hauling', not to mention that women usually carry their purses in addition to the conference bag. And since women are sensible before being anything else, they carry during the day a bag that can accommodate three evening dresses; in the evening, when there is no more reason to carry the conference bag, women carry small handbags that are not even large enough for a small pack of cigarettes. Remaining with women, although they never remain with me, I noticed that many women came with their spouses without apparently being interested in politics and economics, not to mention that there was no hairdresser at the conference centre. I thus find no other explanation for their presence, except the fact that they don't trust their husbands. And from experience about men, I say that these wives are completely right in doubting their husbands. On the other hand, there used to be women who came with their husbands but whom I did not see this time, and I guess my explanation would be that those wives now realize that their husbands have lost most their teeth, and thus cannot ‘bite' anymore, hence the absence for the need to escort him and keep a tab on him. Meanwhile, President Ilham Aliyev, the leader of Azerbaijan, reminded me of a nice old memory, when Oumaya al-Lawzi told us not to leave a wedding party until Ilham Madfa'i arrives; I thus sat waiting for a belly dancer, and I was surprised that Ilham was a bald singer. After that, I became a fan of Ilham (Madfa'i, not Aliyev), who is from a prominent Iraqi political family. He managed to revive some of Iraq's artistic heritage which nearly disappeared, and I even continued to follow his son's artistic work after him. But then at least, my experience with the Iraqi Ilham benefited me in knowing that the Azerbaijani Ilham was a man. In Davos, I wore the hat of the Media Leaders group, after having worn with it the other hat of my role in the Dialogue of the Islam and the West, over two decades – which is a dialogue that the forum suspended two years earlier after reaching its climax. In previous years, I used to observe more veiled women, most of whom being members of the Dialogue of the Islam and the West. However, their numbers dwindled significantly, and this year, I did not see more than two or three. This reminded me of the America expression ‘token black' or ‘token woman', when many companies (and the government), out of fear of being accused of racism or sexism, hired a black man or a woman to an official body or to the Board of Directors of a company to avoid the accusation. And perhaps veiled women in Davos are thus similar to that token black man or token woman. I thus lost one of those hats, and I fear now that the other hat will soon fly away as the printed press seems to be on its way to extinction, as I said yesterday and in numerous other previous occasions. In fact, the sessions of the Media Leaders themselves stressed this shift away from traditional newspapers to modern technology, and all it is left for us to do is to offer our condolences. Technology then chased me to a session about education, where I heard someone calling for the adoption of digital education in order to provide students with the necessary know-how as they face the future. But what I know in this vein for sure is that if technology was a mandatory course when I was a student, I would have never graduated, or I would have been just starting to shave when I left nursery. Of course, if there was any technology in those days and if I had failed because of it, I would have blamed Israel and international Zionism for that, the exposed excuse to justify failure that is still being used today, even when the whole world has changed. Israel today is the new (old) South Africa, as the entire world considers it to be a racist apartheid state. Not even the 65th anniversary of the Holocaust will change Israel's reality, as is amply evident from the testimonies of Nelson Mandela and Reverend Desmond Tutu. On a different note, South Africa was one of the most proactive participants in the Davos conference this year, to promote the next World Cup which is taking place in South Africa. I attended all the parties organized by the Africans in solidarity and to spite the Israelis, who had a very weak presence there, perhaps because they are embarrassed by their government. I took to London a scarf decorated with the colours of the South African flag, while hoping not to meet any fans of the Egyptian or Algerian teams on the way back. Going back to bags, both big and small, they have caused me aches in my chest, back and hip, and in the knees and wrists. But I overcame the pain and went for an interview with the Saudi Television, on a balcony overlooking a valley covered with snow and lights. I thought the interview would not last more than two minutes, so I took off my ‘ski' jacket, and stood there with all my smart clothes for twenty minutes, while the temperature was 15 below zero. I started to freeze up from my feet to my rear, torso and neck. But the host showed some mercy, and ended the interview before my brain started to freeze, although many insist that it is already so. Anyway, have a good year until the next. [email protected]
