"Earlier tonight, Elie Wiesel" -- the Auschwitz survivor and Nobel laureate -- "was sitting next to the King of Jordan, and you've got Israeli and Arab leaders here," Zagat said. "No one is going at each other, but they have a chance to drink and talk."
On Saturday night, the New York Stock Exchange hosted a black tie gala with different areas of the trading floor decorated like regions of the world.
US Senator Bob Graham, Democrat of Florida, noshed on Middle Eastern food with filmmaker Michael Mann, and Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, chatted with business leaders as a salsa band played in the background. Gene Simmons, lead singer of the 1970s rock band KISS, mingled with the guests.
Corporations pay about US$26,000 to become members of the forum, which gains admittance to the conference. Invited celebrities, religious leaders, academic experts, and other non-corporate guests get in free.
Marinoff, a philosopher who works as an independent consultant to companies, comes to hobnob with potential clients.
Entertainment figures such as Bono, lead singer of U2, and Quincy Jones, a music producer, come to lobby for political causes.
Bruce Raynor, president of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, was both a participant and a protester. He said that while substantive work takes place at conference events, the high-level networking feeds the concerns of the anti-globalization movement.
Raynor said he noticed that "the first thing that people do is start handing out business cards, to see who they can do business with later."
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