Rebel News Podcast - January 23, 2025


EZRA LEVANT ｜ Donald Trump's RETURN outshines the GLOBALIST WEF cabal


Episode Stats

Length

41 minutes

Words per Minute

156.59009

Word Count

6,494

Sentence Count

498

Misogynist Sentences

5

Hate Speech Sentences

8


Summary

Two days into Donald Trump s presidency, and we're back in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum. I'm standing in front of the BlackRock Pavilion, which is at the end of the main street in the center of Davos. I just landed in Zurich a couple of hours ago. I came in from Washington, D.C., which is the heart of the Trump revolution, a revolution against globalism, against socialism, against environmentalism, and against wokeism. And it's incredible, the energy, America's back. It's a nationalism.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Tonight, we're back in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum, two days into
00:00:20.160 Donald Trump's presidency.
00:00:21.920 It's January 22nd, and this is The Ezra LeVant Show.
00:00:25.000 Shame on you, you censorious bug.
00:00:39.860 Ezra LeVant here in Davos, Switzerland.
00:00:42.420 I'm here for the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.
00:00:45.600 I just landed in Zurich a couple hours ago.
00:00:48.080 I came in from Washington, D.C., which, of course, is the center of the Trump revolution,
00:00:55.280 a revolution against globalism, against socialism, against environmentalism, against wokeism.
00:01:03.380 And it's incredible, the energy, America's back.
00:01:07.340 It's a nationalism.
00:01:08.240 And to fly here to the heart of darkness with this crypto government, that really is what
00:01:14.420 the World Economic Forum is.
00:01:16.320 It's like going from light to darkness.
00:01:19.200 I'm standing in front of the BlackRock Pavilion, which is at the end of the main street in Davos.
00:01:26.120 You can see these perfectly polished Mercedes vehicles.
00:01:31.120 BlackRock, as you know, is the enormous asset manager, trillions of dollars under management.
00:01:36.360 Larry Fink is their boss.
00:01:37.900 You might think, well, that's a super capitalist.
00:01:40.380 That's a Donald Trump kind of guy.
00:01:42.540 You're wrong, because for some reason, and I don't know what it is, Larry Fink and other
00:01:48.220 masters of the universe like that, they use their investment power to corrupt companies
00:01:55.260 through shareholder decisions.
00:01:57.980 For example, if BlackRock owns a big stake of a company, they will insist that that company
00:02:04.240 uses what's called ESG, environmental, social, and governance measurements.
00:02:09.800 That's the corporate version of DEI, diversity, equity, and inclusion.
00:02:14.880 So what's happened is you might think that these massive corporations are capitalist running
00:02:19.820 dogs, but actually they're socialists.
00:02:21.920 I mean, just like George Soros is a billionaire, but he's a socialist.
00:02:27.380 In fact, I think it's fair to say he's a communist and a one-world governmentologist.
00:02:32.360 So you might be asking, well, what is the difference between globalism and nationalism?
00:02:37.440 I'll give you an example.
00:02:39.600 Nationalism, it's tied to the people on the ground in a particular territory, a people,
00:02:44.940 a culture, a language.
00:02:46.340 There's a cohesive local group, but globalism doesn't believe in that.
00:02:50.980 It doesn't believe in the same local democracy.
00:02:54.460 It's the opposite of populism.
00:02:56.920 So, for example, here at Davos, you'll have meetings behind closed doors with people from
00:03:02.180 different countries, none of whom have an elected mandate, and they'll sort of hammer
00:03:06.980 out policy ideas and ideologies and philosophies.
00:03:11.000 You might know the phrase, build back better, or the great reset.
00:03:15.220 These are ideas hatched at the World Economic Forum.
00:03:19.200 Now, they're not passed in laws.
00:03:20.800 They don't issue legislation.
00:03:22.520 They don't debate bills or anything like that.
00:03:24.900 But they come up with these policies, and then all the delegates here go back to their
00:03:29.740 home countries like birds in a flock.
00:03:33.300 They're all in formation, and it's sort of startling.
00:03:36.760 One of the main things about Davos is that it is not transparent.
00:03:40.660 Whereas in Washington, D.C., or in Ottawa, Canada, or in London, U.K., you have a lobbyist registry.
00:03:49.040 You have to—politicians have to disclose who they met with.
00:03:52.980 There's a transcript of, you know, the debates in Congress or Parliament called a Hansard, a congressional record.
00:03:59.860 There is some scrutiny.
00:04:01.020 There's checks and balances.
00:04:01.920 In real nationalist democracies, there's an opposition party.
00:04:06.840 In parliamentary systems like Canada and the U.K., there's a question period.
00:04:11.760 Not so with the World Economic Forum.
00:04:13.800 There's no opposition here.
00:04:15.080 The World Economic Forum is owned by one man, Klaus Schwab, and he cannot be removed.
00:04:21.180 It's his party.
00:04:22.160 He's a billionaire because of him.
00:04:23.460 There's no independent press, as there is in a real government.
00:04:28.080 Oh, there are journalists here, but they're part of the system.
00:04:31.200 They pay to play.
00:04:32.040 They pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for inside access.
00:04:35.620 On the other hand, Rebel News, we apply for accreditation every year, but they don't even respond, actually.
00:04:40.580 They don't even bother to reject us because we ask skeptical questions.
00:04:44.340 So it's iconic to me that BlackRock is at the beginning of the main thoroughfare because they are, in some ways, the dominant force of the World Economic Forum.
00:04:57.580 One last thing before we start making our way down the street.
00:05:00.760 As all Canadians know and those who follow Canada would know, a few weeks ago, Justin Trudeau, who was a young World Economic Forum global leader,
00:05:11.440 he announced his intention to resign.
00:05:14.340 And you might recall that Klaus Schwab had boasted about Justin Trudeau's government, that half the members in the cabinet were World Economic Forum.
00:05:23.320 There's that classic phrase where he said, we have penetrated the cabinets.
00:05:28.000 Here's that.
00:05:28.500 What we are very proud of now is the young generation, like Prime Minister Trudeau, President of Argentina and so on, that we penetrate the cabinets.
00:05:41.560 So yesterday I was at a reception for Prime Minister Trudeau and I know that half of this cabinet or even more half of this cabinet are for our actually young global leaders of the World Economic Forum.
00:06:02.280 Well, you might think that Klaus Schwab is losing his right-hand man in Canada, Justin Trudeau.
00:06:08.200 But the two leading candidates to replace Justin Trudeau, Chrystia Freeland and Mark Carney, both of them are World Economic Forum directors or former directors.
00:06:19.720 I don't know how that was even possible for Chrystia Freeland to maintain her position as a World Economic Forum governor while she was a member of the Canadian cabinet.
00:06:29.740 Such a clear conflict of interest.
00:06:31.240 But don't worry about Klaus Schwab.
00:06:34.000 With Trudeau gone, he's got a choice between two World Economic Forum prime ministers.
00:06:39.020 And I'm afraid the next prime minister of Canada will be like the last prime minister of Canada, a World Economic Forum pawn.
00:06:46.920 Sort of like the king is dead, long live the king.
00:06:49.740 Justin Trudeau will be gone, but a new puppet will be put in place.
00:06:53.320 It's interesting to me that Pierre Polyev, the leading candidate, the head of the Conservative Party, most likely to win 46% in the polls right now, has said that he will not permit his cabinet to come to the World Economic Forum because it's not a democratic place.
00:07:07.960 And same thing with Alberta's popular premier, Danielle Smith.
00:07:11.820 She says that the kind of power-hungry boastfulness of manipulating the world.
00:07:19.020 I mean, Klaus Schwab really is a Dr. Evil character.
00:07:21.300 That she would not have her cabinet come here as well.
00:07:26.940 So that's why we're here.
00:07:28.660 We're here because so many of the decisions in our lives are made here in Davos.
00:07:33.920 And we're here because they don't want us here.
00:07:36.380 And we're here because there are very few, if any, other independent media here.
00:07:42.140 So I hope that in the course of our time here, you'll see things you don't see anywhere else.
00:07:47.000 I just arrived myself because I was in Washington for the inauguration.
00:07:50.440 I'm glad I was there.
00:07:51.880 A year ago, the only two words on anyone's lips here were Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
00:07:57.880 And it turns out that those two men succeeded.
00:08:00.420 It'll be curious to me what the spirit of the World Economic Forum is, especially given that Trump has said he will address them, not in person, but by video.
00:08:09.300 It'll be interesting to me.
00:08:10.260 Do these masters of the universe try to push back against Trump, try to stop Trump and block him?
00:08:16.060 Or do they go with the flow and try and profit off it?
00:08:18.920 It'll be interesting to me to see.
00:08:20.840 Some companies are indeed peeling back their ESG globalism.
00:08:25.300 I think in many cases, they're just renaming it, but keeping it in its intentions.
00:08:30.660 It is socialism or cultural Marxism, pure and simple.
00:08:34.040 I don't think they'll give it up easily.
00:08:35.760 For all our reports, you've got to go to wefreports.com.
00:08:41.000 And it's pretty hard to get here.
00:08:42.880 I took three flights.
00:08:44.360 I went Washington, Toronto, Montreal, Zurich.
00:08:47.860 And then I took three different trains to get here.
00:08:51.880 They make it hard to get to the World Economic Forum.
00:08:55.000 It's in this ski village called Davos.
00:08:57.260 And they take over the whole town.
00:08:58.880 They book every hotel room and every Airbnb.
00:09:01.860 So we have to stay one town over in Closters.
00:09:04.900 And it's a 40-minute train ride.
00:09:06.500 They really, really don't want outsiders here.
00:09:09.960 It's, you know, the old saying, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
00:09:14.280 What happens in Davos stays in Davos.
00:09:16.360 Like I say, there's no independent press.
00:09:18.180 There's no checks and balances.
00:09:19.760 There's no lobbyist registry.
00:09:21.940 There's no independent media.
00:09:23.540 We are trying to find out what goes on in Davos.
00:09:26.400 And we have one advantage.
00:09:28.520 And that is when these VVIPs leave their protected fortress and come out and mix with the peasants.
00:09:37.100 They let their guard down.
00:09:39.020 Because this is their safe place.
00:09:41.260 Because, like I said, there is no independent press other than Rebel News.
00:09:44.840 So when we actually encounter these very, very important people, not that many of them choose to talk with us.
00:09:52.880 But we at least have the chance to put questions to them in a way that we wouldn't in other jurisdictions.
00:09:59.020 In Canada, as you may know, my colleague David Menzies was arrested five times in 2024 just for asking questions of politicians.
00:10:06.680 Including asking questions of the aforementioned Chrystia Freeland, one of the candidates for prime minister.
00:10:13.960 What I like about Davos is that the Swiss police have a very light touch.
00:10:18.780 And as long as you don't threaten a VVIP or touch them, they'll let you ask them whatever questions you like.
00:10:24.900 So it actually is a very journalist-friendly culture in Switzerland, even if it's hard to get here to Davos.
00:10:31.900 All right, that's my introduction.
00:10:33.820 I'm delighted to be here.
00:10:35.060 I'll get over the jet lag.
00:10:36.220 We've got work to do.
00:10:37.220 I'm going to go meet up with my colleagues, Avi Amini and Sheila Gunn-Reed.
00:10:41.380 Check out all our work at wefreports.com.
00:10:45.020 And if you can chip in to our economy class airfare to get here, boy, I'd be grateful to them.
00:10:50.000 I mean, they make it tough to get here.
00:10:51.840 They make it expensive.
00:10:53.520 We're doing some home cooking to keep the prices down.
00:10:56.180 And, of course, there's a cafeteria there that we sort of warm up in.
00:10:59.900 So if you can help us out, please do.
00:11:02.480 All right, we'll keep you posted at wefreports.com.
00:11:12.600 Mr. Fink, are you going to follow Donald Trump's plan and get rid of DEI and ESG in your companies?
00:11:21.600 BlackRock really is the opposite of Donald Trump in so many ways.
00:11:25.760 You're authoritarian, you're anti-populist, you're top-down.
00:11:29.840 Are you going to change it all in light of the U.S. presidency?
00:11:35.520 How has Donald Trump...
00:11:37.280 Have you talked to Donald Trump since he was elected?
00:11:42.000 Is the World Economic Forum a counterpoint to Donald Trump?
00:11:46.620 Why are you running away from simple questions?
00:11:51.740 Just answer a question.
00:11:52.600 Have you talked to President Trump yet?
00:11:55.120 Why are your bodyguards pushing away journalists, Mr. Fink?
00:11:59.000 They're simple questions.
00:11:59.960 Is it that hard to answer a question that you need bodyguards and to swerve through traffic?
00:12:05.460 Is the next four years going to be bad for business with Donald Trump in charge?
00:12:08.760 Is peace the last thing you want on this world?
00:12:13.680 Which makes more money for you, war in Ukraine or peace in Ukraine?
00:12:17.340 Ezra Levant's my name, Mr. Fink.
00:12:19.760 Did you just take a photo of you?
00:12:22.120 Am I supposed to be scared? Is that a threat, Mr. Fink?
00:12:25.720 Are you used to bullying your way through life?
00:12:27.960 Is that how you've lived your entire life without having...
00:12:40.520 Look at this.
00:12:41.480 Don't push back, mate.
00:12:43.400 Don't push me, bro.
00:12:45.280 Don't push me.
00:12:46.240 When was the last time you answered a question that you didn't know was coming?
00:12:51.500 Why are you so unaccountable?
00:12:54.320 Isn't that what you love about the World Economic Forum?
00:12:56.760 You control everything.
00:13:01.060 Why do you think you deserve so much power?
00:13:05.560 Hey, I'll be your mini.
00:13:07.700 Should I be scared now?
00:13:09.440 Which of your former directors do you want to run Canada?
00:13:13.560 Mark Carney or Chrystia Freeland?
00:13:17.680 Hey, push me, bro.
00:13:21.420 What?
00:13:22.620 What are you getting violent for, man?
00:13:24.400 I could push just like you can, mate.
00:13:27.620 No, no, there's going to be general speaking about focus.
00:13:29.780 Let's try and break it.
00:13:30.520 Look at these thugs.
00:13:32.820 They fund wars around the world and then you question them.
00:13:38.000 They try not only to intimidate you, but physically assault you.
00:13:43.000 Greg, what's with taking photos of journalists who ask you prickly questions?
00:13:48.060 Who's more powerful, you or President Trump?
00:13:50.620 Why do you think you're so disliked around the world?
00:14:02.240 Why are so many U.S. states divesting from your ESG schemes?
00:14:06.760 Why are you putting your ideology ahead of your investors with ESG, Mr. Fink?
00:14:15.680 Isn't that being disloyal to shareholders?
00:14:18.380 Putting your ideology ahead of rate of return?
00:14:21.980 Why do you think you're above accountability?
00:14:24.100 Is it because you're rich?
00:14:32.740 I just feel like walking with him now because his big scary bodyguards.
00:14:38.460 And I don't know, Ezra.
00:14:39.920 I just want to make it clear I will not kill myself.
00:14:43.760 I have no suicidal thoughts either.
00:14:45.960 Mr. Fink's taking pictures of me and Abiyamini.
00:14:48.840 I think that's meant to intimidate.
00:14:50.460 It's a little weird, though.
00:14:51.700 It feels a little thin-skinned.
00:14:53.220 Do you think you're above questions?
00:14:58.700 Like, why don't you even answer?
00:15:00.260 Surely you have the answers.
00:15:05.140 Why do you think BlackRock has become so hated?
00:15:08.020 One of the world's most reviled brands.
00:15:11.080 Do you take any responsibility for that?
00:15:17.240 Who do you feel accountable to?
00:15:19.080 It's obviously not shareholders.
00:15:20.400 Do you have a God complex?
00:15:24.200 Was Biden the best thing for you?
00:15:27.380 And did you fail by not being able to get another Democrat president?
00:15:34.500 Why don't you run for public office and test the support for your ideological ideas?
00:15:42.480 Is this the most uncomfortable you've ever felt?
00:15:54.240 Do you think this is okay?
00:16:00.220 You're a security guard, a thug?
00:16:04.180 You sure?
00:16:04.580 Obviously you do.
00:16:05.480 You took my photo because you're hoping he'll catch up with me later.
00:16:08.780 Is that supposed to scare me?
00:16:10.800 Have your bodyguards learned from you to disrespect the little people?
00:16:15.260 Is that how you feel about the little people, Mr. Fink?
00:16:17.640 Are you not worried because you own the local police?
00:16:24.720 What politicians have you had meetings with or is that a secret?
00:16:36.480 Why don't you publish your itinerary?
00:16:39.200 Is it because you're doing lobbying or being lobbied?
00:16:43.200 Do you think this makes BlackRock look better or worse?
00:16:49.120 The fact that you've got hired thugs pushing journalists into cars, into buildings, is that just typical?
00:17:00.780 Is that the way you do business?
00:17:02.060 Doesn't it look a little bit weird that someone as rich, powerful, and smart as you can't answer any questions?
00:17:19.200 Or is it that you just think you're above questions?
00:17:23.580 That's horrible.
00:17:25.140 Your security guard called that comma, huh?
00:17:27.020 Is that how you feel?
00:17:32.060 What's the end game for you?
00:17:35.480 You're rich.
00:17:36.780 You're powerful.
00:17:38.400 What's next for you?
00:17:40.680 Do you want to run for president one day?
00:17:44.520 Or do you have bigger goals?
00:17:46.600 Don't push me on the ice.
00:17:48.620 You don't want a lawsuit now, do you?
00:17:55.260 Do you think there's no point in running for office because you can control them?
00:17:59.780 You can control both sides from outside.
00:18:02.380 Why are you pushing ladies?
00:18:04.400 Mate, where are you from?
00:18:07.860 Why are you such a thug?
00:18:09.260 What are you so angry about in life?
00:18:13.820 Did somebody hurt you as a kid?
00:18:15.300 Who are we going to meet tonight for dinner?
00:18:25.080 Run away.
00:18:26.500 Run away.
00:18:28.200 There you go.
00:18:30.580 Well, I reckon that pretty much demonstrates exactly what Black Rock is about.
00:18:35.680 That weird move.
00:18:38.440 I mean, he's got two bodyguards who are really handsy.
00:18:41.280 There was no punches, but there was lots of pushing.
00:18:43.800 The move by Think himself to take photos of us.
00:18:47.320 That's weird.
00:18:48.260 Weird.
00:18:49.300 I'm not suicidal.
00:18:51.240 Definitely not suicidal.
00:18:52.460 I just feel like, let's walk the other way.
00:18:55.040 You know, normally, masters of the universe don't tread on the ground like us commoners.
00:19:01.880 They have vehicles to ride them around Davos.
00:19:05.620 But he made the mistake of walking down the street, and I think that's the first time he's
00:19:09.800 been asked unscripted questions ever.
00:19:13.540 And how angry did he get?
00:19:15.120 First trying to whiz through traffic, which was everything about his behavior was so bizarre.
00:19:20.180 The only thing that seemed to actually come really natural to him was having people do
00:19:25.860 his dirty work.
00:19:27.500 Yeah.
00:19:28.060 You know, there's some very, very important people at Davos.
00:19:32.440 I mean, John Kerry is an example.
00:19:34.860 I bumped into Tony Blair last year.
00:19:36.680 There are some very powerful people.
00:19:38.660 At most, they have sort of one assistant.
00:19:40.620 There's no need for bodyguards in this town.
00:19:42.320 There's armed Swiss security everywhere.
00:19:44.580 But to have two thugs to push and shove, I think that shows the mindset of Larry Fink
00:19:50.420 himself.
00:19:51.460 And taking pictures of us, I'm happy to tell him my name.
00:19:55.620 My name is Ezra Levant, and I ask questions about BlackRock.
00:19:59.100 And I'm Avi Eumini, and I'll also ask questions no matter who you have near you, and it's exactly
00:20:04.520 why we're here, wefreports.com.
00:20:07.240 Check out all our reports from on the ground this week.
00:20:10.460 And if you support our work, please consider chipping in for the enormous costs to get
00:20:16.440 here, and potentially some security.
00:20:28.220 Ezra Levant here at the heart of Davos for the World Economic Forum.
00:20:31.980 Behind me, you can see the security perimeter up in that stall.
00:20:36.660 You can see three snipers, maybe?
00:20:39.380 I don't know.
00:20:40.000 You can see some military police in that vehicle over there.
00:20:42.840 It's not just regular police.
00:20:44.160 It's police in these camouflage vans.
00:20:47.580 As you know, Rebel News is denied accreditation for good reason.
00:20:50.800 We ask prickly questions, so we stay outside the perimeter.
00:20:54.460 I like to say it's like we're outside the moat.
00:20:56.540 And every once in a while, the drawbridge comes down, and these VVIPs come out, and we
00:21:01.400 ask them questions in our signature Rebel News style.
00:21:04.460 Sheila, how's it been the past few days?
00:21:06.160 You know what?
00:21:06.600 It's been very low-key, I think, compared to other years.
00:21:09.060 This is my first year here.
00:21:10.920 But it feels as though, for some of these people, they're mourning themselves, because
00:21:17.880 a lot of Trump's executive orders are undoing a lot of WEF policies, like Net Zero, DEI.
00:21:27.020 So they're kind of depressed, I think.
00:21:31.140 Yeah.
00:21:31.340 I mean, Donald Trump said we're getting out of the World Health Organization.
00:21:35.340 We're getting out of the Paris Climate Accord.
00:21:37.780 We're getting out of most of the foreign aid business.
00:21:42.480 We're getting out of the transgender wokeness.
00:21:46.480 That's-
00:21:47.480 We're getting out of wars, getting out of wars.
00:21:49.500 The first day that we were here, we confronted BlackRock, and those guys are just war profiteers.
00:21:54.260 They sell arms on one side and then make money rebuilding on the other side.
00:21:58.640 And I think they have to rethink their business model.
00:22:00.580 Yeah, it'll be interesting to me, because there are some real ideologues here, but there's
00:22:04.140 also people here just to hustle, to lobby, selling, pitching and selling.
00:22:08.680 And will they tack towards Donald Trump?
00:22:11.900 Mark Zuckerberg has realigned Facebook away from censorship, away from wokeness.
00:22:17.600 And I mean, he signed a deal with Dana White of UFC.
00:22:21.000 Google's doing the same.
00:22:22.200 Oh, is Google doing that?
00:22:23.020 I didn't know that.
00:22:24.180 Google, last week, made a statement that they are considering moving away from DEI.
00:22:28.420 I'll believe it when I see it.
00:22:30.940 So, I suppose a pragmatic business approach would be aligned with Donald Trump and the
00:22:36.540 richest country in the world, but the ideologues might resist that.
00:22:40.120 I wonder if there's any entity that says we're going to be the anti-Trump.
00:22:44.580 I tell you, last year, everyone was very butch about how they were going to stop Trump, fight
00:22:48.380 Trump.
00:22:49.260 Maybe they're just resigned to it.
00:22:50.740 I mean, Donald Trump has only been president for a couple of days, and yet his dominance,
00:22:55.980 not just of America, but of the world, is already so evident.
00:22:59.740 I mean, it really is incredible how quickly he got the transition going.
00:23:05.380 I mean, and I think half of the purpose here, like Mark Carney, he loved the World Economic
00:23:11.480 Forum because he was always pushing green capitalism, green environmental rules for businesses.
00:23:17.720 That is dead now.
00:23:19.360 Yeah, you know, we have tried to talk to a few people about what they think about Donald,
00:23:23.720 just the victory of Donald Trump and what that means for the World Economic Forum.
00:23:28.520 They do not want to talk about it.
00:23:30.040 I think they have to rethink their reason for being now.
00:23:32.720 Well, also, there's the different stages of grieving.
00:23:35.800 They're probably still bargaining with their grief.
00:23:37.940 Well, listen, Sheila, thank you.
00:23:39.080 You've made a very long journey.
00:23:40.400 Avi came all the way from Melbourne, Australia.
00:23:42.620 But to get here from Edmonton, Edmonton, Toronto, Zurich?
00:23:48.620 Edmonton, Amsterdam, then Zurich, then a train here.
00:23:53.460 Very long journey, but I appreciate it.
00:23:55.520 We do this every year.
00:23:56.420 I think it's a real flagship project for Rebel News because we realize that although no actual
00:24:03.620 laws are passed here at the World Economic Forum, the ideas are hatched and marinated.
00:24:08.820 It's like a laboratory.
00:24:09.600 It's the headwaters of all the bad ideas.
00:24:11.720 And I have to tell you, our presence here is actually pretty well received by the locals.
00:24:16.600 But walking the streets with Avi, you know, this is his fourth year.
00:24:19.520 This is my first.
00:24:20.680 He could run for mayor of Davos.
00:24:23.000 Everybody is stopping him, thanking him for the journalism.
00:24:26.420 The police today said that they saw our BlackRock video.
00:24:29.980 Really?
00:24:30.860 It's kind of fun.
00:24:33.300 Right now, I think we're the only skeptical journalists here.
00:24:35.900 I think you're right.
00:24:36.700 I mean, and we had a little bit of that, too.
00:24:38.100 There are some locals who live here year-round, and you can sort of detect them pretty quickly.
00:24:44.040 And not all of them are thrilled with these VVIPs.
00:24:47.240 Up there, there's a sign where they want the WEF out.
00:24:52.260 So the locals put up their little protest signs.
00:24:54.560 I think I've seen that before.
00:24:55.720 I get a kick out of coming here because where else are you going to have this close access to VVIPs?
00:25:03.600 And I'll give credit to the Swiss police.
00:25:05.240 They have a light touch.
00:25:06.740 If I was this close to Chrystia Freeland, Justin Trudeau in Canada, I would be arrested.
00:25:11.900 In fact, that's happened to our friend David Menzies five times.
00:25:14.540 So we're not allowed in the Sanctum Sanctorum, but we are able to do some work out here.
00:25:20.320 And I'm really glad you're out here.
00:25:22.120 It's in sync with what you've done so many times with the UN's global warming conferences.
00:25:27.380 So I'm glad we're here.
00:25:28.840 And there's still two and a half days to go, so we'll keep at it.
00:25:32.480 We will.
00:25:33.320 Thanks, Sheila.
00:25:33.700 For all our reports and to help crowdfund our cost of getting here, please go to wefreports.com.
00:25:40.700 And Carmen, why are you here at the World Economic Forum?
00:25:50.860 Because I'm the government councillor of the canton of Zurich for economics.
00:25:55.900 Oh.
00:25:56.340 And that's why I'm here.
00:25:58.020 Well, what do you make of the earthquake of Donald Trump and his inauguration?
00:26:03.040 How does that change things?
00:26:04.080 We don't talk about international politics.
00:26:07.560 Well, I don't mean the politics.
00:26:08.820 I mean, how will that change the world?
00:26:11.440 I mean, put aside politics, put aside whether you like it or not.
00:26:14.160 What changes will it cause?
00:26:15.340 It always changes the world, sometimes too better and sometimes not too better.
00:26:21.540 Yes.
00:26:21.980 The World Economic Forum sometimes is called globalist and environmentalist.
00:26:27.100 And Donald Trump is a critic of those things.
00:26:29.560 Do you think the World Economic Forum might shift direction a little bit now?
00:26:33.000 I think the most beautiful is here in Davos that people talk together.
00:26:40.540 And this is necessary that we are talking together even in the future.
00:26:45.400 But to come here to talk is extremely expensive.
00:26:48.160 It's hard to get here and to be allowed inside costs hundreds of thousands of dollars.
00:26:52.740 So, given the populist wave in Europe and in America, are these just the elites talking to themselves?
00:27:01.360 No, I don't think so because there are many people that are very important for their countries are here.
00:27:09.500 And it's important that leaders, political leaders and even leaders in economic affairs are talking together.
00:27:16.720 One of the themes of Davos is high-tech and Amazon is here and Meta is here and Palantir is here.
00:27:29.520 Twitter's not here.
00:27:30.300 I think they would regard this as a waste of money.
00:27:33.320 But as you can see behind me, Meta has quite a large pavilion and then they have sort of an outreach to the public.
00:27:38.480 They're giving away free hot chocolate and it's pretty chilly out here so that's well received by the delegates.
00:27:43.660 A fascinating thing happened just in the last few weeks and that is Meta, which has been probably the world's largest censor, you know, measured by actual people censored.
00:27:55.580 There's about 2 billion users of Facebook and Instagram and WhatsApp.
00:28:01.020 All three of those companies are owned by Meta.
00:28:03.940 I mean, Facebook alone is enormous and then Instagram is a little bit younger demographic and WhatsApp is especially popular outside the United States.
00:28:13.660 Mark Zuckerberg really was a leader in censorship and I was shocked to learn recently that Facebook has 40,000 employees who work in censorship in every language on the globe.
00:28:32.300 And that's just the people.
00:28:34.340 They also use AI or machine learning to censor.
00:28:38.120 They detect images and words or even sounds and they automatically detect things.
00:28:43.560 Mark Zuckerberg, you could say he's in the social media business, the communication business.
00:28:48.360 It would be just as accurate to say he's in the don't communicate business, the stopping of communication.
00:28:54.180 All that was true until a few weeks ago when Mark Zuckerberg started to do strange things.
00:29:01.560 He announced that he was going to have a huge partnership with Dana White of UFC, the most masculine, expletive, lace, profane man's man and a close personal friend of Donald Trump.
00:29:14.400 I thought that's weird because Facebook has been a Democrat organization to the bone, including massive donations and donations in kind from Mark Zuckerberg,
00:29:24.400 who spent actually the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars on a get out the vote scheme in 2020 for the Democrats.
00:29:31.840 So he started hanging out with Republicans and then boom, he released a video where he said they're going to fire those 40,000 censors.
00:29:42.600 They're going to move away from censorship, including on key issues like immigration and transgenderism.
00:29:48.780 Here's a clip of Zuckerberg saying that.
00:29:51.440 First, we're going to get rid of fact checkers and replace them with community notes similar to X starting in the U.S.
00:29:57.840 After Trump first got elected in 2016, the legacy media wrote nonstop about how misinformation was a threat to democracy.
00:30:07.020 We tried in good faith to address those concerns without becoming the arbiters of truth.
00:30:11.920 But the fact checkers have just been too politically biased and have destroyed more trust than they've created, especially in the U.S.
00:30:19.220 So over the next couple of months, we're going to phase in a more comprehensive community notes system.
00:30:24.480 He also said something very interesting.
00:30:26.360 Zuckerberg said that he was going to stand up for free speech, not just in America, but in other countries in the world.
00:30:32.860 He alluded to Brazil.
00:30:35.280 And I think the most important thing he said was that he was going to stand up for free speech with the support of the State Department.
00:30:43.820 Because, of course, when any multinational company operates in Brazil or in France or whatever, you must operate subject to the laws of the land.
00:30:53.180 And if you don't, you might be blocked, your people might be arrested or whatever.
00:30:57.200 So for Zuckerberg to say he was going to have a free speech stand around the world requires him to have the support of the State Department.
00:31:04.240 Obviously, he had that support from Trump before he made the statement.
00:31:08.440 There's one last thing I want to show you from Zuckerberg's comments.
00:31:11.260 He said this is going to start in the United States.
00:31:13.460 I'm not sure when it's going to roll out around the world, including in my home in Canada.
00:31:18.720 Here's Zuckerberg saying that.
00:31:20.180 Finally, we're going to work with President Trump to push back on governments around the world that are going after American companies and pushing to censor more.
00:31:29.620 The U.S. has the strongest constitutional protections for free expression in the world.
00:31:34.520 Europe has an ever-increasing number of laws institutionalizing censorship and making it difficult to build anything innovative there.
00:31:42.080 Latin American countries have secret courts that can order companies to quietly take things down.
00:31:47.160 China has censored our apps from even working in the country.
00:31:51.400 The only way that we can push back on this global trend is with the support of the U.S. government.
00:31:57.580 And that's why it's been so difficult over the past four years when even the U.S. government has pushed for censorship.
00:32:04.200 By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further.
00:32:10.460 But now we have the opportunity to restore free expression, and I am excited to take it.
00:32:15.420 It will take time to get this right, and these are complex systems.
00:32:19.760 They're never going to be perfect.
00:32:21.460 There's also a lot of illegal stuff that we still need to work very hard to remove.
00:32:26.080 But the bottom line is that after years of having our content moderation work focus primarily on removing content,
00:32:32.940 it is time to focus on reducing the stakes, simplifying our systems, and getting back to our roots about giving people voice.
00:32:40.460 Which brings us back to Davos.
00:32:43.340 Meta, and you can see meta AI, artificial intelligence, that's the big buzzword in 2025.
00:32:51.040 I think people are coming to terms with what does AI mean, how will it affect our privacy, how will it affect jobs,
00:32:57.120 how will it affect our perception of reality when there's so many fake images now it's hard to even tell what's real.
00:33:03.140 AI is a big focus of the World Economic Forum, but until now AI has been used for the nefarious purpose of censorship.
00:33:13.720 And it will be interesting to me to see if this pavilion, which is so popular with the cold delegates here warming up with hot chocolate,
00:33:21.540 will they become champions of free speech in a non-free speech jurisdiction.
00:33:26.580 I say again last year, the two names on everyone's lips at Davos were Donald Trump and Elon Musk,
00:33:32.760 and they wanted to stop both of them.
00:33:34.800 Well, now add Mark Zuckerberg to that list.
00:33:37.720 Will the forces of free speech and Trumpist America overwhelm the forces of globalism and censorship
00:33:45.320 as presided over by Klaus Schwab and Larry Fink?
00:33:48.980 It will be very interesting to see, but this company just flipped.
00:33:56.580 Ezra Levant here on the streets of Davos at the World Economic Forum.
00:34:00.640 And, you know, we've been coming here for several years, and we've, believe it or not,
00:34:04.940 gotten to know some folks, including an excellent social activist, Fernando Morales de la Cruz,
00:34:13.040 who believes in fighting against child labor.
00:34:16.440 That is a major scourge around the world.
00:34:20.260 We might not think about it in Canada, but it's a serious problem.
00:34:23.760 Fernando, why don't you give us an update on the state of child labor across the world?
00:34:27.240 Well, first of all, I have to tell you that Canadians have child labor in their coffee,
00:34:31.660 in their lunch, and in their dinner.
00:34:33.420 And as every one of us also, they have child labor in their smartphones and in their laptops.
00:34:38.320 You're right.
00:34:39.020 In their clothes.
00:34:39.600 We don't think about that because we don't see it.
00:34:41.980 Yes.
00:34:42.240 Because it happens far away.
00:34:43.420 Yes, but brands from Apple to Zara all use child labor and even luxury brands.
00:34:47.880 So I'm here complaining because 54 years the WEF has been saying that they are improving the state of the world
00:34:53.540 or having entrepreneurship for the common good, and unfortunately, it is the opposite.
00:34:58.140 They have increased misery, hunger, malnutrition, and there are hundreds of the top thousand companies in the world,
00:35:03.600 which are actually members of the WEF, that actually have, in total, more than 75 million children.
00:35:09.860 This is absolutely unacceptable because, I mean, how many children are they going to have before they stop?
00:35:14.600 This has to stop immediately because not only is it cruel and illegal, the press is the problem.
00:35:22.080 There are very few journalists like you trying to hold power to account.
00:35:27.960 Wow.
00:35:28.460 And nobody's even tickling the dinosaurs, as I tell my daughters.
00:35:31.940 You know, somebody has to tickle the dinosaurs and make them move.
00:35:34.660 And worse, if we have here world leaders and people like Chrystia Freeland and others,
00:35:39.320 they should actually be complaining to the corporates instead of saying,
00:35:42.820 yeah, don't worry, in Canada, we are going to legalize child labor, as is happening.
00:35:47.620 There's a law in Canada, Bill S-211, which unfortunately doesn't stop child labor.
00:35:53.020 And in the parliament, a former friend of mine, I say former because I disagree totally with what she did,
00:35:58.280 Senator Miville de Chien, put forward a proposal which became law
00:36:03.360 that only protects the companies that exploit children by allowing them only to make a report,
00:36:09.020 and then they are not liable.
00:36:09.920 Just a report. That's crazy.
00:36:11.380 Now, you mentioned to me you had something you wanted to show,
00:36:14.660 and you have like a poster in there.
00:36:17.060 Can we take a look at that?
00:36:18.620 Sure. I can show you.
00:36:19.980 This is one of the hundreds of cartoons made by cartoonists from all over the world
00:36:24.940 complaining and protesting against the World Economic Forum.
00:36:28.460 This cartoon is especially important because it is about ESG investments.
00:36:33.560 And Canada has the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, which actually...
00:36:36.760 Very large. Very large.
00:36:38.220 And we are talking about a lot of money.
00:36:39.560 But the money is not theirs.
00:36:40.980 The money is from the teachers who work very hard and actually are educating children in Canada.
00:36:45.540 But the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan is also a shareholder in companies that have slavery.
00:36:51.560 So let's take a look.
00:36:52.320 It says WEF, improving the state of the world, ESG investments, investment class.
00:36:58.420 But you've changed what the letters are.
00:37:00.360 E is exploitation.
00:37:02.060 S is slavery and child labor.
00:37:04.180 G is more gains.
00:37:06.040 Yes.
00:37:06.400 And Dr. Schwab, BlackRock, Church of England, Catholic Church, ABP Netherlands, Norwegian Pension Fund, Ontario Teachers' Pension Fund.
00:37:14.660 And so these are massive investments.
00:37:19.840 We were just talking about BlackRock.
00:37:21.760 They have more than $10 trillion.
00:37:23.460 It's a little amount of money.
00:37:24.700 $10 trillion.
00:37:26.220 And they talk about ESG, but you're saying it's just a pay...
00:37:30.060 It's just like we've heard the phrase greenwashing or pinkwashing.
00:37:34.220 Investor fraud.
00:37:35.020 But here we have Dr. Schwab.
00:37:37.340 It's a very important cartoon by Paco Baca from Mexico, where a little girl is complaining to Dr. Schwab.
00:37:43.200 And he's got the corks in his ear, says earplugged.
00:37:45.380 He doesn't want to hear it.
00:37:46.580 But the truth is, 54 years claiming to be improving the state of the world, and there are tens of millions of children who work in the supply chain.
00:37:53.440 Every coffee we have here in Davos has child labor and slavery.
00:37:57.360 We can continue like this, because the coffee growers receive less than 1% of what we pay for a coffee here, which is 4 francs, 50 or 5.
00:38:06.220 Fernando, have you had any luck?
00:38:08.800 I mean, every year you're so passionate.
00:38:11.160 I love to see you.
00:38:12.300 You're such a friendly and engaging personality.
00:38:15.300 But you talk about difficult things, and you've come to their party.
00:38:19.760 They don't want to think about these tough things.
00:38:22.500 If anything, they want to cover them up.
00:38:24.480 Have you had any luck?
00:38:26.080 Is there anyone on the inside who's open to your message?
00:38:30.480 Well, I must say that I'm grateful to the Holy Father, who from Rome has been sending messages, especially just a few days ago he sent a message complaining about the complicity of the media in regard to child labor.
00:38:43.600 Of course, within the WEF, there are a few people who are actually fighting inside.
00:38:48.300 I'd rather not name them because there are very few.
00:38:50.360 But they are the very few who say, we have no business in slavery and child labor, and every one of us should get out.
00:38:58.840 There are companies that have begun to do that.
00:39:00.940 I can say Ikea, for example.
00:39:03.320 Ikea, yep.
00:39:03.900 But Ikea did it because it's a family.
00:39:06.820 So the Kamprad family has a CEO, and this CEO is very passionate, and he says, we don't want anything to do with this, and they're working on it.
00:39:14.980 Well, that's good to hear.
00:39:15.860 It's, let's say, 99% good.
00:39:18.600 It's already good.
00:39:19.280 But there are some companies here, like Nestle, that exploit millions of children, Unilever, McDonald's, Starbucks, and I can continue, but they add up to more than 75 million children.
00:39:27.740 And I would like to tell the Canadians, who are, most of them are wonderful human beings, to think that when they are eating something from Mexico, tomatoes or strawberries or drinking coffee or having a chocolate with sugar, it has child labor.
00:39:41.340 But it's not the fault of the Mexicans.
00:39:43.900 It's the fault of the Canadian companies, which are exploiting the people, or the American companies, which are multinationals, or Nestle.
00:39:49.980 And all of these companies have business models based on exploiting the weak and the poor.
00:39:54.200 And I hope the next prime minister of Canada, we don't know who he's going to be, it's a little bit more serious because in Canada, there's also child labor.
00:40:02.000 Even in Quebec, there are children exploited.
00:40:05.220 Really?
00:40:05.900 Yes.
00:40:06.320 Okay, I didn't know that.
00:40:07.380 Well, Google it.
00:40:08.240 Fernando, it's so nice to bump into you, and thank you for giving us a strong message.
00:40:13.040 And do you have a website or something we can check out?
00:40:15.620 The most important thing is to Google my name, Fernando Morales de la Cruz.
00:40:19.380 I let others like you interview me, and whatever you post, people will be able to learn.
00:40:27.300 And thank you so much for this opportunity because the Canadians have to stop being indifferent.
00:40:32.840 They can change things by also writing to their representatives and demanding zero slavery and zero child labor.
00:40:40.260 Thank you so much.
00:40:41.000 Great to see you again.
00:40:41.800 There you have it.
00:40:42.620 Fernando Morales de la Cruz, an activist against child labor.
00:40:46.300 75 million kids around the world.
00:40:48.900 Shocking to hear.
00:40:50.060 To follow our reports and to help cover our crowdfunding to get out here, please go to WEFReports.com.
00:40:58.300 We'll see you again next time.