3 - 2000

EXPO 2000 - More than a Show?

Industrial entertainment

Why there is no criticism of the economy at EXPO 2000

by Alexander Meister

The EXPO 2000 shows an unprecedented influence from industry. To a large extent it appears as an industrial show with "entertainment value", according to journalist Alexander Meister. Here he takes a look behind the scenes at the "21st Century" thematic area.

The thematic area in Hall Nine is one of eleven different display areas on themes such as "Nutrition", "Health in the Future", or "Energy". A few of these give central emphasis to sustainable development in the countries of the so-called Third and Fourth Worlds. "We are showing inhabitants of cities in different continents in their social and occupational contexts," says Maja Neske, explaining the details of the "21st Century" exhibits. These include a scientist in Shanghai in 2030 who works in a "virtual office", and a family business in Dakar, in Senegal, West Africa, which produces textiles à la mode - EXPO hits, being paraded by fashion designers in Paris and Milan.

The visitor also meets Maria, who lives in a poor neighbourhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil - a fictitious personage like the other people whom the exhibit shows in action. Her personal commitment is helping to lift her out of poverty. She started a citizens’ initiative which has brought about the extension of Sao Paulo’s subway system, so that by the year 2030 it reaches into the suburbs.

This means less air pollution for Brazil’s industrial metropolis. But how does Maria manage, over the years, to escape from the vicious circle of poverty? Maja Neske hesitates a moment before answering the question: "Maria is often late to work because there is not enough public transportation available to her. She cannot afford a car, so she keeps losing jobs, until she is able to come on time."

Mathias Waselowsky, speaker of the Federation of Development Policy Action Groups (BUKO), is sceptical about such visions of the future. "People in the slums of Sao Paulo can hardly have the problem of being late to work - they can’t even find work. Most of them don’t know where their next meal is coming from. And there is practically no medical care available to them."

Of the three million or so people in the favelas (slums) of Sao Paulo, many haven’t even a roof over their heads. They live under highway bridges, in unused sewer-pipes or lean-tos made of boards. Infant mortality and illiteracy are high in the favelas. The mere stigma of living in the favelas makes it almost impossible for such poor people to find jobs. Thus Waselowsky finds it hard to imagine that extending the subway and minibus systems is going to help solve the basic problems. To him, the story of Maria is a typical example of Europe-centred solutions conceived by the makers of EXPO: "They’re just imposing German living conditions onto South America, one-to-one." Maria’s being able to improve her situation through her own initiative completely fails to take account of the economic interests and unequal distribution of material resources in Brazil.

"These typically idealised examples exclude the way in which the differences between the so-called First and Third Worlds came about," the development worker continues his criticism. "They sweep under the rug the structures of dependency which are still at work today between the wealth of the North and the poverty of the South, which go back to the colonial era."

New technologies are especially lacking in countries of the South - EXPO project manager Neske calls this a central problem. "They don’t have the machines which are the basis of everything here in Europe. They have neither hardware nor software, nor knowledge of how to use the Internet. This has to be changed." Tilman Brunner, of the EXPO Participation Society of German Commerce and Industry, largely excludes the aspect of sustainable development. "The main theme of the EXPO is not environmental protection - it’s the transition from the machine age to the information age. The contents of the sponsors’ exhibits are expected to get the public to be more open towards new technologies."

It is precisely these new information technologies that Abdurahman Aden, former ambassador to Germany from Somalia, evaluates critically in his book, From Drum to Mobile Phone. Here he is thinking not only of the well-known seductive character of the new information media, whether it is the impoverishment of one’s "real life" experience or the flight from reality into games of war and violence. He is warning us, first and foremost, against a new dependency for the poorer countries of the world. According to his analysis, most Internet databases are located in the USA (70 per cent) and in Europe. And even to have access to the Internet, Africans must first buy computers, which are produced by western industrial countries and thus, for most, are beyond their means.

For regions where the annual per-capita income is not much more than 100 US dollars, Aden considers coverage with Internet access unlikely, especially if private homes are to be included. In these areas the cost of Internet access would equal a family’s living expenses for a year. Many people lack not only the money, but also the elementary skills needed to use the machines: reading and writing, and also the English language. In view of these facts, Mathias Waselowsky is sceptical about the influence of the EXPO sponsors of the "21st Century" thematic area - they include a bank, an energy giant and a German high-technology enterprise.

"They’re not talking about getting at the roots of the problems people in the South have, but rather about these people as new markets. In any case, the basic problems can’t be solved with information and communications technologies," he says in criticism. "The problems of the environment, poverty and hunger are not based on an information deficit."

From the founding of EXPO plc, it was clear to all concerned that public funds alone would not be enough to cover such a huge event. And indeed there is nothing new about business helping to sponsor a World’s Fair. In Seville, Siemens, Fujitsu and Rank Xerox even had their own pavilions.

But it is new to have representatives of industry among the organisers.Private businesses make up half the members of the EXPO board of directors, since the federal government and that of the State of Lower Saxony gave up some their seats. The result is an unprecedented influence of industry on the planning for content. Then is the EXPO thematic area at most a glorified Hanover Trade Fair, an industrial show with "entertainment value"? Tilman Brunner of the EXPO Participation Society of German Commerce and Industry thinks back. "At first the EXPO plc was considering content that was very critical of industry and the economy. Then they tried to find businesses which would sponsor it, which was pretty naive."

This means that ideas like the two-litre automobile, socially sustainable concepts for combatting overpopulation, conservationist agricultural methods and just distribution of food resources world-wide are long gone from the agenda. "In the thematic area we are at the point where, although the businesses can’t just do anything they like, they can make the Fair represent their point of view very strongly," says Tilman Brunner. "We have to get a reasonable return on our involvement in the EXPO," several public relations directors of large firms had said previously. Persistent criticism and lobbying towards the end of preparations for the EXPO brought about a few changes in the content of the exhibits, under the leadership of the German Non-Governmental Organisations’ Development Policy Association (VENRO) in particular.

But this led to absurd polarisations among the exhibits. For example, amnesty international has an exhibit in the thematic area on "Humanity", where EXPO visitors can use a computer to participate in a special campaign against arrests and torture. This is worthy of notice because the protest is directed against some of the nations which are exhibiting at the EXPO. But the apportionment of display space speaks an unambiguous language. Above the wall display giving information on torture and human rights, which is being looked after by a volunteer Amnesty member, the Chemical Industry Association (VCI) has its technological display, titled "Life is Chemistry".

The computer-controlled trains rolling through huge tubes 280 metres long cost a hefty 22 million DM. On the way, visitors can learn all about the advantages of chemical products. VCI even gives the reasons why the dining tables of the world’s peoples are unevenly provided for: poverty and hunger are caused above all by agricultural pests and insufficient conservation of food during storage and transport. For help, we should look to genetic engineering, pesticides and modern manufactured materials.

This article was taken from Nr. 6/2000 of the monthly journal Evangelische Kommentare.