The chairman of McDonalds plans a talk on "understanding global anger," Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel will discuss the "politics of apology," and hundreds of demonstrators will jostle with police during the World Economic Forum taking place this week in New York.

The Forum, in its 31st year, brings together a guest list of 2,500 leaders out of the world business, religious, governmental and academic communities for a week of schmoozing, debating and A-list partying. Both this year’s theme - "Leadership in Fragile Times: a Vision for a Shared Future," – and conference location pay heed to the catastrophic events of Sept. 11

This year’s forum is the first not held in the Swiss ski village of Davos. The decision was made by Swiss professor and forum founder Klaus Schwab, who was in New York City at the time of the attacks. The events made such an impression on him, that he reportedly called up New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and asked him if they could shift the conference.

Giuliani’s response, according to a Schwab spokesman: "Great, welcome to New York."

If I can make it there

"This is a vote of confidence in our city," said Giuliani, who stepped down as Mayor this year. "It sends a message that New York is back in business, and that New York is the place to be for world leaders and decision-makers."

The participants’ immediate surroundings, at the very least, will be better than Davos. The gray Davos Congress Center is being replaced this year by the glitz and glamour of New York’s fabled Waldorf Astoria, right in midtown Manhattan.

Some of the world’s largest corporations plan to make good use of New York’s nightlife options as well. Coca Cola is hosting their annual economic forum dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel. Goldman Sachs & Company is renting out the Rockefeller Center’s Rainbow Room for a Super Bowl party on Sunday.

The opportunity to network at the forum is unlike any other on earth, according to conference participants. More than 1,000 of the world’s "foremost corporations" have been invited, and many businessmen are happy to pay the forum’s yearly $25,000 membership fee and another $6,000 conference fee, for the opporunity to make friends and influence people.

"I’ve been coming here for 14 years and even though it’s expensive, it’s a lot cheaper than trying to meet all these people any other way," a Lebanese trader told the New York Times.

Something for the little people

But the conference is just not for the rich and powerful. Representatives from more than 40 religious organizations, 200 think tanks and academic centers and 40 union leaders will also be in attendance. For them, the conference provides a place to push their issues to the decision-makers

It also provides a forum, of sorts, for protestors who plan a host of demonstrations outside the Astoria during the week. Representatives from environmental groups to anti-globalization groups will be in force, advocating their cause using placards and megaphones.

"New York City’s Finest" have already held press conference promising police officers will be out in full force and issuing subtle and not-so-subtle threats to protestors wanting to re-create the street riot protests of Seattle in 1999 and Genoa last year.

But there is a general feeling that the protests won’t get out of hand this year, given the trauma the city of New York has already gone through.

"A lot of people may feel that this may not be the moment," said one protestor.