<div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:.15in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.8pt;
margin-left:0in;line-height:12.75pt;mso-outline-level:3"><span style="font-size:7.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#6699CC">16.10.2008</span><b><span style="font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:#6699CC;text-transform:uppercase;letter-spacing:.1pt"></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:1.7pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:7.7pt;
margin-left:0in;line-height:12.75pt;mso-outline-level:2"><b><span style="font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
color:#003366">Munich "Millionaire Fair" Faces Angry Protests</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-line-height-alt:
0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:#555555">Julie Gregson</span></i></b></p>
<h4 style="margin-top:0in;mso-line-height-alt:0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:
bold;font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">@ </span><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3712009,00.html">http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3712009,00.html</a>
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black;
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold;font-style:normal;mso-bidi-font-style:
italic"></span></h4>
<h4 style="margin-top:0in;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black"><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,3712009,00.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black"><br>
</span></a>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.</span></h4>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
0in;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
0in;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
0in;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black">"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."</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
0in;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
0in;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black">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.</span></p>
<p style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:12.0pt;margin-left:
0in;line-height:12.75pt"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
color:black">Playground for the rich and famous</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black"></span>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.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">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."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">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."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black">"Obscene display of
perverse wealth"</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">In Walter Listl's eyes, it represents "an
obscene display of perverse wealth."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">"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."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">"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."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
12.75pt"><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,3712009_ind_2,00.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#003366;mso-no-proof:yes;
text-decoration:none;text-underline:none"><span style="mso-ignore:vglayout"><img border="0" width="192" height="142" src="file:///C:/Users/SAHBIT~1/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtmlclip1/01/clip_image001.jpg" alt="A man rummages in a trash can"></span></span></a><span style="font-size:8.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:#555555"><a href="http://www.dw-world.de/popups/popup_lupe/0,,3712009_ind_2,00.html" target="_blank"><span style="color:#555555;text-decoration:none;text-underline:
none"> </span><span style="color:#555555">The gap between rich and poor in
Germany is widening</span></a></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">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."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">"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."</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt;line-height:12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:
"Times New Roman";color:black">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.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
0%"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
12.75pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Verdana","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
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