BOTTOMLINE: A low-key but festive celebration of the first-ever World Capitalism Day

Capital takes little notice of a capital cause

Parul Malhotra

Twenty, thirty and forty somethings — most of ’em in jeans and T-shirts — making a public point about capitalism the day an economic summit gets underway in the city: another Seattle, Davos or Genoa, huh? Quite the opposite actually. We’re talking about a rally in the heart of the capital in support of the much-maligned capitalism, globalisation and economic liberalisation!

The Walk for Capitalism was the brainchild of Prodos, Melbourne’s Internet radio presenter, who used the Net rather effectively to discuss the idea with an international network of pro-globalisers. It materialised — on Sunday, the first-ever World Capitalism Day — as a global walk held simultaneously across 35 countries in 117 cities, including Dhaka, San Jose, Lagos and Moscow (surprise, surprise). In New Delhi, it was held under the aegis of a city-based non-governmental organisation, the Liberty Institute.

“We keep being told that capitalism’s emerged victorious, it rules the world, so we decided to celebrate that victory,” co-ordinator Barun Mitra says while explaining the rationale behind the rally. Others had their own reasons, all of which generally gelled well with the bumper-sticker ideology ‘Capitalism is good, socialism is bad’. Mohit Satyananad, an entrepreneur, was there to celebrate the economic freedom ‘to do or not to do’ and to insist that “capitalism had been misrepresented by socialism as something which encourages exploitation”.

Bibek Debroy, eminent free-trader economist, was there to applaud capitalism for its employment generation and wealth-building roles. Still others were quite basic and made a rather uncomplicated point: that public rallies and marches didn’t always have to be about violent protests; they could be constructive and peaceful too. And listening to them, one could almost envisage the 500 delegates at the 17th India Economic Summit nodding in agreement.

Anti-globalisation/capitalism feelings and protectionist tendencies may well strengthen as the global economy passes through a recessionary phase. In this context, people coming out on the streets in support of capitalism could be a welcome counter to the counter-capitalism current sweeping the world. Er, not really true for New Delhi this year. The shopping district, which was deserted on account of a weekly-off, saw only 50-odd people — entrepreneurs, professionals (management consultants, journalists, economists and such like), career social activists, and students — turn up.

But those who did, enjoyed the mild winter sun, the Bob Marley and Billy Joel songs being played, and talked excitedly about how it was a pretty decent turn-out for a first-ever! And in a timely illustration of the licence-permit-raj system, which not surprisingly all the assembled folk had a problem with, the music got off to a late start because the tempo which was to bring the genset wasn’t allowed into Inner Circle until a particular time!

When it was time, though, capitalism was celebrated by waving placards (Free Trade is Fair Trade; Bourgeoisie of the World Unite; The Best Way to Fight Poverty is to Work); by honouring the surprised and perplexed neighbourhood paanwallah and ice cream vendor, the guard at ICICI Bank and the manager at Mc Donald’s with ‘thank you’ citations and blue ribbons for fearlessly and tirelessly defying numerous hurdles while providing their services; and, by awarding the founder of HCL, Shiv Nadar — the gent who ushered in the information age in India at a time when most considered computers a threat to employment — with the first-ever Annual International Capitalism Award from the Delhi chapter.

Oddly enough, this celebration of capitalism was devoid of any visible signs of corporate sponsorships. Mitra admits to having spent close to Rs 40,000 on the event, rustled up largely through in-house resources. And ‘capitalism rules’ wasn’t quite the case as well — some of the potential awardees of the International Capitalism Award were not so eager to be associated with it; even some of the pro-capitalist NGOs, policymakers and businessmen had specifically asked why the walk was “for capitalism” and not “globalisation,” according to an exasperated Mitra. So much for coming out and admitting to be proud of being a capitalist! And a pity that more practitioners of capitalism in the capital couldn’t find the time to give a boost to their cause.