[WSF-Discuss] Munich "Millionaire Fair" Faces Angry Protests

[CACIM]

16.10.2008**

*Munich "Millionaire Fair" Faces Angry Protests*

*Julie Gregson*
@ http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3712009,00.html
 <http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,3712009,00.html>A fair
specializing in luxury goods for the extremely wealthy opens in Munich on
Thursday amid a raging financial crisis and anger at growing inequality.
Social groups will be out on the streets to protest the event.

It's tough being rich these days. Not only are the well-heeled seeing their
assets plunge in value in the global financial crisis, now even small
highlights on the social calendar, such as the "Millionaire Fair" in Munich,
are at risk of being spoiled by a noisy group of social activists.

Among the protest actions planned for the opening day of the exclusive life
style event is a symbolic slave market that aims to turn the spotlight on
wage dumping in Germany and around the world.

"Our aim is not to pillory people, but to attack existing social
conditions," said Walter Listl from the city's Social Forum. "Riches are the
cause of poverty."

Just a few meters away from the entrance to the venue on Thursday, Oct. 16,
demonstrators will be auctioning off cheap labor, singing anti-capitalist
songs and staging sketches lampooning the bank bailout. Inside, visitors
will be admiring private jets, high-end cars, lavish jewelry and haute
couture.

This is the first time that the Millionaire Fair, first held in 2002, has
taken place in Germany. Previous venues have included Shanghai, Moscow and
Amsterdam. The affluent southern German city of Munich in the country's
richest state, Bavaria, is an obvious choice. It also played host to the
Luxury Fair earlier in the year.

*Playground for the rich and famous*

Fair organizers expect the event to attract some 20,000 people, including
the rich and famous, top business people, luxury goods retailers, bon
viveurs and just the plain curious.

At 39 euros ($52) for an entrance ticket, you don't need to be a millionaire
to get in. And who knows who you might rub shoulders with. Film stars like
Joan Collins and Elizabeth Hurley and singer Bryan Ferry were among the
guests at previous Millionaire Fairs.

For four days, some 100 firms will be setting out their stalls across 16,000
square meters of exhibition space. According to the official Web site, "the
creme de la créme of luxury goods industry will be presenting their most
beautiful one-off creations, the most exclusive products and unusual
services to the event's discerning visitors."

Or as one supplier's press release puts it, the fair will offer "a
cornucopia of all the most beautiful and luxurious things the world has to
offer."

*"Obscene display of perverse wealth"*

In Walter Listl's eyes, it represents "an obscene display of perverse
wealth."

"According to UN statistics, a child dies every five seconds of malnutrition
or from easily treatable diseases," Listl added. "They're showcasing mobile
phones studded with precious gems. We can't just sit back and ignore that."

Germany's first Millionaire Fair is prompting Munich's Social Forum to break
new ground. The network of some 40 local groups -- all with a decidedly
anticapitalist bent, according to Walter Listl -- has not targeted specific
events like this before.

"It's the first time that we have staged something a bit spectacular aimed
at a particular event of this kind," Listl said. "We are doing it for very
topical and acute reasons."

[image: A man rummages in a trash
can]<http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,3712009_ind_2,00.html>
 The gap between rich and poor in Germany is
widening<http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,3712009_ind_2,00.html>

The timing of the Millionaire Fair and the global financial crisis as
well as the growing gap between rich and poor in a country whose express
goal has been "prosperity for all" has got the social activists out on the
streets. The motto of the demonstration: "Your wealth makes us sick."

"We're not planning to approach or talk to the millionaires or the wannabe
millionaires," said Listl. "We want to bring public attention to the degree
of poverty that exists in this country -- and elsewhere."

It remains to be seen how the two worlds will react to one another, or even
to what extent they will even meet. There will be a police cordon around the
venue. The organizers were unavailable for comment.
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