The Jeff Bezos Wedding Party Crashers

Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, made his money by himself. He did it lawfully, endured the risks that entrepreneurs take, gave employment to millions of people across the world, brought in billions in taxes to governments, changed the nature of ecommerce and improved the lives of customers. It is a success story of capitalism. And now, he has decided to marry and the venue chosen was Venice, where about 200 to 300 guests would gather. He is, by some estimates, spending close to 50 million Euros. It might look like an obscene amount for one man to splurge but all that money is going into the system, much of it to the residents of Venice themselves, who will provide services for the occasion. And yet, the marriage is being met with opposition.

There are local groups and international ones like Greenpeace agitating against it, threatening to disrupt it through tactics that border on the coercive. Bezos shifted the venue because who wants to deal with such unpleasantness in a moment like this. The protestors’ rationale ranges from overtourism to impact on climate change, all somewhat stretched. Overtourism might be a real problem for the city but then they need to change laws to fence it out. Disrupting the wedding is hardly going to make a difference. The climate change connection is even more forced. There is neither correlation nor causation between it and weddings of billionaires, but the term is loaded with moral fervor and so anything can be put under its umbrella.

These protestors are actually aspiring for vicarious publicity. Bezos is famous and his wedding is big news. It is an easy opportunity to get some of it to rub off to them and their causes. The residents of Venice might have real issues to contend with but to get a reputation for inhospitality is only adding another problem to the mix. And for organisations like Greenpeace to bring in weddings into the ambit of what once used to be genuine environmental activism reflects the desperation to stay relevant.

activismAmazonbillionairescapitalismclimate changeeconomic impactGreenpeaceJeff Bezosluxury spendingMadhavankutty PillaiOvertourismprotestsVeniceWeb Exclusivewedding