Editor’s Note

ONE of the most striking developments in recent burgeoning trade. While some countries have undeniably decades has been the phenomenal expansion of tourism managed to reduce the foreign import component of worldwide. It is one of the fastest-growing sectors in their tourist trade, many others have failed to staunch the world economy, currently accounting for some 10% the continuing ‘leakages’. of global GDP. However, apart from such loss of national Few realise that there is even a United Nations revenue, it is the socioeconomic and cultural conflicts agency, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), to and environmental and human rights violations in host promote the sector. UNWTO views tourism as a ‘driver countries that have made tourism so questionable. The of economic growth’ which can help developing rush to tourism development has resulted in a scramble countries to eradicate poverty, protect cultural and for land to construct the amenities and infrastructure biological diversity, and promote women’s empowerment to support it. This has led to soaring land prices and and gender equality. large-scale displacement of locals. In the name of Already in the 1970s, however, this claim that ‘sustainable tourism’, indigenous peoples like the Maasai tourism was a passport to development came under in Tanzania are being evicted from their traditional lands challenge. Studies of tourism in the West Indies revealed to make way for so-called ‘nature refuges’ operated by that ultimately, most of the receipts from tourist foreign companies. expenditure failed to remain in the host country to Perhaps the best symbol of the mindless, provide the necessary resources for development; destructive development engendered by tourism is the instead, they flowed back to the metropolitan countries. rise of the ‘aerotropolis’ or ‘airport city’ – a city built Thus, according to one study in the 1970s, for every around a new or existing airport. With such dollar spent in the Commonwealth Caribbean, 77 cents infrastructures mushrooming across the globe, even returned in some form to the metropolitan centres. farmlands and wildlife habitats will not be spared. Some two decades later, a study of tourism Where land is in short supply, as in islands such ‘leakage’ in Thailand by the National Institute for as Bali (Indonesia) and Penang (Malaysia), massive land Development and Administration (NIDA) estimated that reclamation projects have become the vogue. Such 70% of all money spent by tourists ended up leaving projects invariably have adverse ecological impacts. Thus Thailand. the Benoa Bay reclamation project designed to link three The reasons for these ‘leakages’ are not difficult important hubs of Bali has drawn fierce protests from to explain. The infrastructure to support tourism, e.g., villagers in adjoining areas who fear that it will cause airports and attendant facilities, road construction, hotels the flooding of their homes. and overseas tourist promotion facilities, quite often As for the claim that tourism promotes gender requires massive imports and expenditure abroad. The equality, this must be set against the backdrop of the situation is made worse where the tourism sector is ruthless exploitation in the form of sex tourism and dominated by Western tourist agencies, airlines and hotel the all-pervasive commodification of women that is chains, particularly multinationals. Far from promoting taking place in the industry. Above all, the truth is that development, critics have charged, tourism serves to the vast majority of ordinary women workers in the entrench the unequal relationship between North and tourism industry are forced to live with discrimination, South which was the whole basis for underdevelopment. sexual harassment and exploitation, job insecurity and Since the 1990s, the dramatic changes in the world low wages. economy which have taken place have served to make Finally, as planetary well-being is threatened by developing countries more vulnerable not only to such climate change, it is important to remind ourselves that ‘leakages’ but also to all the other ills associated with aviation is one of the major sources of carbon tourism. emissions. With new research suggesting that such With the onset of globalisation and the adoption emissions from global tourism could increase by 300% of neoliberalism (either voluntarily or as part of the by the end of the century, global tourism growth may conditionalities imposed by the World Bank or yet prove to be our ruin. International Monetary Fund for loans), tourism has In our cover story, we feature articles which become refashioned and reoriented wholly in accordance discuss many of the negative aspects of tourism with the tenets of this economic ideology. highlighted above. However, in addition, we include an The ideology’s central tenets of privatisation, article on the anomalous case of Palestine. Here, because deregulation and liberalisation have facilitated the of the Israeli occupation of their country, for extraordinary expansion of tourism in developing Palestinians, tourism has acquired a unique role: as a countries and, with it, the import component to support tool of both oppression and resistance! it. The liberalisation of the financial sector and removal of constraints on foreign capital and ownership have provided unparalleled opportunities for the entry of – The Editors multinational tourist agencies and hotel chains in this Visit the Third World Network website at: www.twn.my

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 Third World RESURGENCE www.twn.my No 301/302 Sept/Oct 15 ISSN 0128-357X

The claim that tourism is a boon for developing nations has been belied by its adverse effects on sustainable development in destination countries, including on local communities and the environment. 5

ECOLOGY 22 Tourism for women’s rights? WORLD AFFAIRS – Albertina Almeida 2 It’s alive!: The amazing 26 Maasai fight eviction from 49 A new intifada for a new world of soil – Anna Lappé Tanzanian community land generation – David Hearst by US-based ecotourism 51 A short history of US bomb- HEALTH & SAFETY company – Susanna ing of civilian facilities – Jon Schwarz Nordlund 3 Antibiotic abuse is driving 54 Iraq, Afghanistan and other antibiotic resistance – 29 The puputan struggle against special ops ‘successes’ – Shobha Shukla the Benoa Bay reclamation Nick Turse project – Anton Muhajir 34 Tourism, the extractive HUMAN RIGHTS COVER industry and social conflict in Peru – Rodrigo Ruiz Rubio 57 Ethnicity in Nepal’s new Global tourism growth: 38 Tourism and the consump- constitution: From politics of Remedy or ruin? tion of Goa – Claude Alvares culture to politics of justice – 41 The occidentalisation of the Mallika Shakya 5 Tourism – a driver of in- Everest – Vaishna Roy equality and displacement – 43 The ghettoisation of Pales- VIEWPOINT Anita Pleumarom tine – tourism as a tool of 11 Tourism and the biosphere oppression and resistance – 61 The coming of Corbyn – crisis: Provisions for inter- Jeremy Seabrook generational care – Alison M Freya Higgins-Desbiolles 48 The bitter irony of ‘1 billion Johnston POETRY 19 Rise of the aerotropolis – tourists – 1 billion opportuni- Rose Bridger ties’ 64 To the Bio-Bio – Andres Bello

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE is pub- THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE is pub- Publisher and Chief Editor: S.M. lished by the Third World Network, an in- lished monthly by Third World Network, 131 Mohamed Idris; Managing Editor: Chee ternational network of groups and individu- Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Yoke Ling; Editors: T Rajamoorthy, Lean als involved in efforts to bring about a Tel: 60-4-2266728 Fax: 60-4-2264505. Ka-Min, Evelyne Hong; Contributing Edi- greater articulation of the needs and rights Email: [email protected] tors: Roberto Bissio (Uruguay), Charles of peoples in the Third World; a fair distri- Printed by Jutaprint, No. 2, Solok Sungai Abugre (Ghana); Staff: Linda Ooi (Design), bution of world resources; and forms of de- Pinang 3, 11600 Penang, Malaysia. Lim Jee Yuan (Art Consultant), Lim Beng velopment which are ecologically sustain- Cover Design: Lim Jee Yuan Tuan (Marketing), Yap Bing Nyi (Editorial) able and fulfil human needs. Copyright © Third World Network E C O L O G Y It’s alive!: The amazing world of soil 2015 has been declared by the UN as the International Year of the Soil. Anna Lappé explains why the soil is a matter of life and death.

‘WE can’t eat those carrots,’ the kids treated like the royalty it is. To date, plant is attacked by aphids, trigger- cried out. ‘They’re covered in dirt!’ there’s no mention of soil in United ing nearby plants to mount their own My friend had been regaling me Nations climate change conventions. chemical defence, repelling aphids with stories about teaching public In fact, the only international agree- and attracting wasps, their natural school kids healthy eating and garden- ment that refers to soil is the United predator. ing and this particular comment struck Nations Convention to Combat De- Though mineral subsoils can take a chord: Kids are so used to devour- sertification, and it focuses only on centuries to form, using techniques ing carrots from plastic bags that dry areas. Advocates hope bringing like permaculture and organic agricul- they’re shocked to see the vegetables attention to soil this year will change ture ‘it’s possible to make new soils with soil still clinging to their orange that. consciously and rapidly,’ says ecolo- gist and filmmaker John D Liu, who flesh. has been documenting the incredible What we dismiss as dirt is per- Just a thin band of soil revitalisation of the Loess Plateau re- haps the most valued – and underap- gion in China for 20 years. The re- preciated – part of nature. stands between our gion was one of the most eroded plac- Just a thin band of soil stands es on Earth; revitalisation efforts be- between our species’ survival and to- species’ survival and gun in 1995 are already showing re- tal extinction. We depend on soil for total extinction. sults. ‘We can see a return of trees at food security, biodiversity and climate the tops of the mountains and on the stability. Globally soil organic matter steep slopes, vast orchards on terraced contains three times more carbon – The good news is it’s possible to hillsides and increased production of 1,500 billion tons, to be exact – as all protect soil – even rebuild it – far fast- annual crops in the bottom land,’ Liu trees, shrubs and grasses combined. er than once was thought. It starts with says. Yet we’re paving it over with urban understanding that healthy soil is Ecological agricultural practices sprawl. We’re draining rich soils for alive. A handful of topsoil can con- have the multiple benefits of not only oil-palm plantations in Indonesia and tain more microorganisms than the increasing productivity, but also re- ducing erosion and fostering resil- cutting down vital rainforests for feed- number of people on the planet. Try ience to droughts and flooding. They crop plantations in Brazil. We’re dev- to wrap your head around these num- increase soil carbon content by tak- astating farmlands with a barrage of bers: In one cubic metre of temperate chemical fertilisers and pesticides. ing the greenhouse gas out of the skies climate topsoil you’re likely to find and storing it in the ground. But de- Half of all the world’s topsoil has been more than 10 trillion bacteria; 100 lost in the last 150 years alone, ac- spite the proven benefits of agroecol- billion fungi; 100 million algae; 1 ogy, chemical methods are being cording to the World Wildlife Fund. million nematodes; 10,000 spring- pushed around the globe. In some Propelled by these losses, the tails, mites and millipedes; along with African countries more than half of United Nations and partners around fly and beetle larvae; earthworms; the agricultural budgets are going to the world declared 2015 the Interna- spiders; and lice. This life is key: To synthetic fertiliser subsidies. tional Year of the Soil. kill it with a chemical onslaught or Having just returned from Am- ‘When I started out in organic too much tillage is to undo soil health. sterdam where I participated in an in- farming 40 years ago, we talked about These microorganisms, especial- ternational celebration of soils, I’m healthy soil being key to healthy peo- ly mycorrhizal fungi, are what Indian heartened by the movement underway ple,’ Andre Leu, president of the In- environmentalist Vandana Shiva calls to value this priceless resource. May- ternational Federation of Organic the ‘brains of the plants’. These fun- be in the not-too-distant future, school Agriculture Movements, told me. gal roots bring nutrients and water to kids across this country will have a ‘Back then, we were ridiculed. Today, plant cells and form a kind of com- real appreciation for soil – and not it’s become common sense that soil munication network, which we’re mind a little of it clinging to their veg- health and human health are inter- only just beginning to appreciate. One etables. u British study of broad bean plants locked.’ Anna Lappé is a columnist with Earth Island Journal. Though we appreciate soil more found that mycorrhizal filaments can This article first appeared in the Autumn 2015 issue today, it doesn’t mean soil is being send an inter-plant signal when one of Earth Island Journal.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 2 H E A L T H & S A F E T Y Antibiotic abuse is driving antibiotic resistance Researchers at the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP) recently released new data documenting alarming rates of bacteria resistant to last-resort antibiotics. Though wealthy countries still use far more antibiotics per capita, high rates in the low- and middle-income countries such as India, Kenya and Vietnam raise the spectre of life-threatening infections raging uncontrollably across the world. Shobha Shukla reports.

ANTIBIOTIC abuse is driv- antibiotics are used in hospi- ing antibiotic resistance. So tals/healthcare facilities, and suggests new data released on 80% are used in the commu- 17 September by the Center nity, either prescribed by for Disease Dynamics, Eco- healthcare providers or pur- nomics & Policy (CDDEP) chased directly by consumers via its ResistanceMap, an in- without prescription. Perhaps teractive online tool that al- half of community use is in- lows users to track the latest appropriate, for minor ail- global trends in drug resist- ments that will not benefit ance in 39 countries, and an- from treatment, but add to the tibiotic use in 69 countries. Increased access to antibiotics is saving lives but also burden of antibiotic resist- increasing use – both appropriate and inappropriate – which CDDEP also issued the first- in turn is driving resistance. ance. Hospitals generate ever report on The State of the some of the most dangerous World’s Antibiotics, 2015, that looks dle-income countries (LMICs), par- and difficult-to-treat infections, a re- at the current state of global antibiot- ticularly China, India, Brazil and sult of heavy use of antibiotics (espe- ic use and documents alarming rates South Africa. This increase, driven by cially in LMICs, where antibiotics of bacteria resistant to last-resort an- increased prosperity, includes a great may substitute for infection control). tibiotics that can lead to life-threat- deal of unnecessary and irrational use In hospitals seven times more ening infections across the world. and poses a major threat to public antibiotics are used when they are giv- health. In many countries, like India, en post- rather than pre-surgery. This Key findings antibiotics can easily be purchased not only increases costs but also con- over the counter without prescription. tributes to the potential for antibiotic Cause of antibiotic resistance: Human consumption: Between resistance. Even when antibiotics are The greater the volume of antibiotics 2000 and 2010, total global antibiot- administered before surgery, the reg- used, the greater the chances that an- ic consumption grew by more than imen or duration of the therapy may tibiotic-resistant populations of bac- 30% – from approximately 50 billion be suboptimal: from 19% to 86% of teria will prevail in the contest for to 70 billion standard units (SU), patients in hospitals in India received survival of the fittest. Two trends are based on data from 71 countries. Even inappropriate antibiotic prophylaxis. contributing to a global scale-up in though per capita consumption is still Agricultural/livestock con- antibiotic consumption: (i) rising in- higher in high-income countries, the sumption: As global demand for an- comes are increasing access to anti- greatest increase in antibiotic use be- imal protein grows, antibiotics are biotics, which is saving lives but also tween 2000 and 2010 was in LMICs, increasingly used to raise food-pro- increasing use – both appropriate and where use continues to rise. ducing animals in intensive produc- inappropriate – which in turn is driv- The countries consuming the tion – mostly to promote growth, rath- ing resistance; and (ii) increasing de- most antibiotics overall in 2010 were er than treat disease. The result is an mand for animal protein and result- India, 13 billion SU; China, 10 bil- increasing prevalence of antibiotic- ing intensification of food animal pro- lion SU; and the United States, 7 bil- resistant bacteria in livestock, poul- duction is leading to greater use of lion SU. However, in per capita terms try and aquaculture. Also many farm- antibiotics in agriculture, hence in- among these countries, the United ers are transitioning to intensive agri- creasing resistance. States led in 2010 with 22 SU per per- culture and often use antibiotics to Trends in antibiotic use: Both son, compared with 11 SU in India optimise production. More antibiot- human and animal antibiotic use is and 7 SU in China. ics are used in poultry, swine and cat- rising dramatically in low- and mid- In most countries, about 20% of tle to promote growth and prevent dis-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 3 H E A L T H & S A F E T Y ease than are used by tivise antibiotic over- the entire human popu- use/misuse and incen- lation. Globally, live- tivise antibiotic stew- stock consumed at least ardship; (iv) reduce and 63,200 tons of antibiot- phase out subtherapeu- ics in 2010, accounting tic antibiotic use in ag- for nearly 66% of the riculture; (v) educate estimated 100,000 tons health professionals, of antibiotics produced policy makers and the annually worldwide, public on sustainable which is projected to antibiotic use; and (vi) rise to 105,600 tons by ensure political com- 2030. mitment to meet the In 2010, China was An industrial poultry farm. Antibiotics are increasingly used to raise threat of antibiotic re- estimated to consume food-producing animals in intensive production – mostly to promote sistance. the most antibiotics in growth rather than treat disease. The report advises livestock, followed by that limiting overuse the United States, Brazil, Germany, are still effective against Klebsiella and misuse of antibiotics are the only India, Spain, Russia, Mexico, France infections in 90% of cases in the US sustainable solutions. ‘A rampant rise and Canada. and over 95% of cases in Europe. in antibiotic use poses a major threat Animal antibiotic use provides no India also has the highest rates of to public health. We need to focus health benefits to the animals but ac- Escherichia coli (E. coli) resistance, 80% of our global resources on stew- celerates antibiotic resistance. Recent with strains of E. coli being more than ardship and no more than 20% on analyses suggest that growth promot- 80% resistant to three different drug drug development. No matter how ers have a smaller effect on animal classes, thus increasingly limiting many new drugs come out, if we con- growth than assumed. The countries treatment options. E. coli resistance tinue to misuse them they might as with the greatest expected increases is also high and rising for many drug well have never been discovered,’ said in food demand and animal antibiotic types in other regions too. In Europe, Ramanan Laxminarayan, Director of use currently have the least efficient North America, South and Southeast CDDEP and co-author of the report. farming systems. Emphasis should be Asia and parts of Africa, resistance to One major drawback to focusing on improving productivity without aminopenicillins – a broad-spectrum on drug development as a solution is antibiotic growth promoters. antibiotic class – is around 50%. that new antibiotics are significantly Incidence of methicillin-resistant more expensive than those currently Trends in antibiotic resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a available – and hence unaffordable for highly dangerous type of resistant most people in low- and middle-in- The most recent worldwide esti- pathogen contracted mostly in hospi- come countries. ‘When it comes to mates of global antibiotic resistance, tals, has declined in Europe, the US, antibiotic-resistant infections, the rich published by the World Health Organ- Canada and South Africa during the pay with their wallets and the poor pay isation (WHO) in 2014, list Klebsiel- past eight years. However, it is rising with their lives,’ said Laxminarayan. la pneumoniae, Escherichia coli and in sub-Saharan Africa, India, Latin There is still hope to conserve Staphylococcus aureus as the three America and Australia and was re- antibiotic effectiveness for future gen- agents of greatest concern, associated corded at 47% in India in 2014 and erations. In May 2015, WHO’s World with both hospital- and community- 90% in Latin American hospitals in Health Assembly endorsed the Glo- acquired infections. 2013. bal Action Plan on Antimicrobial Re- In 2014 in India, 57% of the in- sistance, which calls on all countries fections caused by Klebsiella pneumo- The way forward to adopt national strategies within two niae, a dangerous superbug found in years. The new CDDEP report could hospitals, were found to be resistant The CDDEP report stresses that help countries take coordinated and to the last-resort antibiotic class of antibiotic stewardship – reducing the research-backed action to alleviate the drugs carbapenems, up from 29% in inappropriate and unnecessary use of problem. 2008. It was more than 60% resistant antibiotics – is key to controlling an- Instead of being the default treat- for four out of five drug classes test- tibiotic resistance. It lays out six strat- ment for mild ailments like coughs, ed. This is a dangerous trend as the egies that should be incorporated in colds and uncomplicated diarrhoea, Klebsiella bug is around 80% resist- national antibiotic policies to halt its antibiotics must be treated as precious ant to the drug class 3rd generation spread: (i) reduce antibiotic need life-saving medicines, to be used ra- cephalosporins, 73% resistant to fluo- through improved water, sanitation tionally under medical supervision roquinolones and 63% to aminogly- and immunisation; (ii) improve hos- when needed. – cc Citizen News Serv- cosides. For comparison, these drugs pital infection control; (iii) dis-incen- ice (CNS) u

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 4 C O V E R Tourism – a driver of inequality and displacement Promoted as a strategy for poverty reduction and sustainable development, tourism is in reality fuelling the gentrification of the developing world.

Anita Pleumarom

ON the occasion of the Third Inter- national Conference on Financing for Development (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 13-16 July), the World Tourism Or- ganisation (UNWTO) called for high- er support for tourism in internation- al financing for development flows in order ‘to maximise the sector’s con- tribution to sustainable development across the globe’. UNWTO Secretary- General Taleb Rifai said: ‘For an in- creasing number of developing coun- tries tourism means jobs, poverty eradication, community development, and the protection of natural and cul- A tourist taking photographs in Ethiopia. The tourism industry has the potential to tural heritage. Yet, in order to max- seriously harm traditional economies and overexploit natural and cultural resources. imise tourism’s contribution to the development objectives, it is critical sector arm) has long attracted criti- marily supports the private sector, to address the disparity between the cism for its notorious history of in- despite growing criticism of projects sector’s capacity to foster develop- vesting in five-star hotels in some of without a focus on poverty reduction. ment and the low priority it has been the world’s poorest countries. In Au- CDC was recently found to have in- given so far in terms of financial sup- gust 2014, the IFC revealed that vested more than $260 million of ‘aid’ port in the development cooperation across the world it had invested $2 money for battling poverty in 44 prop- agenda.’1 billion in over 270 hotel projects. erty and construction companies in What needs to be emphasised According to the Bretton Woods Latin America, Africa and Asia. At here is that contemporary tourism Project, the IFC in 2014 approved in- least 20 of these can be classified as development is very much a political vestments in a Marriott hotel in Bo- dubious projects as they benefit com- process and in sync with neoliberal livia, in India’s SAMHI Hotels Pri- panies that build or manage hotels, development strategies that primari- vate Limited (whose hotel properties gated communities and commercial ly benefit big business interests with- are operated by Hyatt, Marriott, Ac- centres. For instance, CDC helped to out properly addressing poverty and cor and Starwood), and in other high- finance the Garden City luxury hous- equity aspects. This approach is also end hotels in Burma, Vietnam, Ethio- ing and shopping complex in Kenya favoured by global lending agencies pia, Tanzania and Zambia. This fol- and a luxury hotel in Lagos, Nigeria, and bilateral donors that fund devel- lows previous investments in high- which costs $400 a night to stay in. opment projects in return for reforms class tourism infrastructure in Viet- Alex Scrivener of the UK-based ac- that allow unfettered market-orient- nam and Guinea and deluxe hotels in tion group Global Justice Now that ed growth. Haiti and Jamaica.2 The IFC thus monitors CDC commented: ‘These The idea of fighting poverty in seems to prefer working with big cor- projects are an insult to the millions the developing world by ploughing porations to fulfil its goal of making of people who live in these places grants, loans and investments into lux- profit for the World Bank, rather than without decent housing.’3 ury tourism schemes appears bizarre, targeting its investments at helping the EuropeAid, the European Un- but that is exactly what has become poor. ion’s foreign aid organisation, gave the order of the day. Similarly, the UK Department for over $1.1 million for the establish- The International Finance Corpo- International Development (DfID) ment of the luxurious L’Oasis de No- ration (IFC, the World Bank’s private through its investment arm CDC pri- ria tourist water park in Marrakech,

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 5 C O V E R

Morocco – a vast holiday complex ed out the high financial leakages in in response to the burgeoning tourism comprising a lagoon complete with this industry dominated by transna- critique movement were an opportu- waves, a golf course, almost 1,000 tional corporations and expressed nity for the World Bank to justify its apartments and villas, a spa, tennis concerns about tourism creating new re-entry into tourism-related activi- courts, theatre, shops and restaurants. forms of dependency for poor nations ties. Since then, international finan- Locals wondered why so much EU as tourism development was closely cial and aid agencies have initiated ‘aid’ money was spent on a project that interlinked with international debt and supported a plethora of pro- only benefits the rich whereas pover- politics.5 grammes and projects under euphe- ty remains a rampant problem in sur- Tourism researchers Turner and misms such as ‘eco-’, ‘sustainable’ rounding villages. Ash labelled tourism a ‘dismal sci- and ‘pro-poor’ tourism. In tandem Another blatant case of misplaced ence’, arguing that ‘the economics of with the UNWTO, they have played ‘pro-poor’ funding was reported from tourism are totally deceptive’ and the a crucial role in engineering consent Haiti in the aftermath of the devastat- industry had the potential to serious- among international, government, ing January 2010 earthquake. As part ly harm traditional economies and non-governmental and private sector of the country’s reconstruction pro- overexploit natural and cultural re- organisations that tourism – if prop- gramme, the Clinton-Bush Haiti Fund sources. They described how local erly planned and managed – is a key – set up by former US Presidents Bill peasant communities were disrupted driver of poverty reduction and sus- Clinton and George W Bush to chan- and displaced by tourism schemes, tainable development. nel donations into projects that ‘help living costs skyrocketed and proper- With a global army of tourism Haitian people reclaim their country ty values soared beyond the reach of actors promoting the ideology of a and rebuild their lives’ – invested in ordinary people. They also illustrat- ‘new’, benign tourism and offering May 2011 $2 million in the Royal ed well the substantial opportunity assistance to develop tourism in the Oasis Hotel, owned by a Haitian-Ca- costs of tourism: ‘The locals build the right way, it is not surprising that gov- nadian-American joint venture com- resorts and serve in them which, if ernments of poor nations have em- pany (SCIOP SA) and managed by the fully controlled by foreigners, will braced tourism as a strategy to boost Spanish chain Occidental Hotels & contain few really worthwhile jobs. their economies. But without address- Resorts.4 The 10-storey deluxe hotel In the meantime, the fields return to ing the unjust economic structures and was built in the heart of Port-au- weeds; the locals lose their ability to power relations that are the root caus- Prince, where people were suffering produce anything of direct practical es of poverty, inequality and environ- from extreme hardship. While the use to themselves. While they’ve been mental degradation, tourism remains Fund portrayed the creation of some building the resorts, they haven’t been basically ‘business-as-usual’, with 300 jobs in the hotel as key to helping building the schools, the irrigation large foreign companies implement- poor earthquake victims, hundreds of systems or the textile factories which ing tourism projects without proper thousands of displaced destitute Hai- would educate, feed or clothe them scrutiny and accountability and max- tians persevered in makeshift shelters For the sake of this industry, they imising profits that are repatriated to of cardboard, scrap metal and old bed- can lose their land, their jobs and their headquarters and shareholders in de- sheets, with many of them facing evic- way of life – for what?’6 veloped countries. tions and struggling to have water to Even within the World Bank, drink and food on their table. there was growing discontent over Touristification and using development aid to fund luxu- gentrification No ‘passport to development’ ry tourism projects in poor countries because they ‘inject the behaviour of While sustainability and pro-poor Already in the 1970s, there were a wasteful society into the midst of a development have become defining significant debates about the uneven society of want, but the profits go to themes in mainstream tourism dis- and colonial-style relations ‘Third the elites – those already wealthy, and courses, tourism has actually become World’ tourism creates: the ‘rich’ tour- those with political influence’. one of the major forces for gentrifi- ists who demand and who are served, Under increasing pressure from cation. When the term ‘gentrification’ and the ‘poor’ locals who supply and critics, the Bank management closed was first used in the 1960s, it referred serve. After more than a decade of the down its Tourism Project Department specifically to the influx of upper- World Bank financing massive tour- in 1978 and stopped financing tour- class residents into traditionally work- ism projects in the developing world, ism projects, reasoning that it was ‘not ing-class neighbourhoods in Europe- the Bank and the UN Educational, a good fit with development policies’. an and North American cities, and the Scientific and Cultural Organisation However, the IFC as well as regional subsequent renovation and upgrading (UNESCO) co-published a ground- development banks continued to fund of buildings. But in recent years, it has breaking study by de Kadt which tourism schemes as before. increasingly been examined in the raised serious questions about tourism New concepts of environmental- context of neoliberal globalisation and as a ‘passport to development’. The ly and socially friendly tourism that related economic restructuring not other researchers in the volume point- emerged in the late 1980s and 1990s only of cities but suburban and rural

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areas as well.7 A particular characteristic of gen- trification is that it has become linked with global systems of finance, real estate and tourism. With most coun- tries opening up to direct foreign in- vestments, public land in cities and other attractive locations has been privatised on a massive scale for up- market housing and commercial de- velopments including hotels, casinos, golf courses, theme parks, shopping malls and special economic zones. Often, the monopolisation of land ownership by a few, as well as the absence of effective regulatory frame- works, has spawned disastrous land As part of the reconstruction programme in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake, a fund speculation and led to unreasonable set up by two former US presidents invested in the Royal Oasis (pic), a deluxe hotel and oppressive land prices and rent- in the heart of Port-au-Prince, where people were suffering from extreme hardship. als that are beyond the reach of the poor. Land grabs, displacement, ine- be considered an eyesore by visitors process, green urban spaces are over- quality and social injustices have been that come to enjoy Hawaii’s exotic built, slums demolished and tradition- identified as constitutive elements of environment and luxury tourist facil- al low-income residential and mixed- gentrification, particularly in develop- ities.9 use districts replaced by luxury ho- ing countries, and vulnerable groups Tourists play a role not only as tels, apartments and commercial com- like women, children and ethnic mi- consumers of destinations, but also as plexes that cater to the consumeristic norities are most affected. actors in the real estate market and and wasteful lifestyle of the rich. In Hawaii, which has often been purchasers of vacation apartments, Bangkok, for example, with its high- hailed as a model of tourism devel- second homes and retirement homes. end consumer culture and tourists opment, inequalities created by gen- An increasing number of affluent peo- coming especially for the city’s repu- trification are clearly visible. While ple who originally came seasonally tation as a shoppers’ paradise, has some local residents may enjoy the for short-stay vacations have become seen ‘super-gentrification’ in recent benefits that tourism-related gentrifi- year-round ‘residential tourists’, of- years with the rapid proliferation of cation brings, such as better public ten living in high-end gated commu- extravagant tourism complexes and services, job creation and improved nities that form a stark contrast to tra- shopping malls that boast expensive infrastructure, the majority of Native ditional settlements. There has been foreign brands. According to a recent- Hawaiians and long-time Hawaii res- a dramatic increase in migration of ly published survey, just one of these idents can hardly cope with the rising North Americans and Europeans re- oversized malls with its massive air- costs of living. Hawaii is home to the sulting in the gentrification of coastal conditioning systems consumes near- highest percentage of millionaires in destinations and historical city cen- ly twice as much power annually as the nation, has the highest median tres in the Mediterranean, Latin Amer- all of Thailand’s Mae Hong Son prov- housing costs for renters, and is one ican and South-East Asian regions. ince that is home to about 250,000 of the top three most expensive states This booming ‘real estate tourism’ has people!10 in the United States. Meanwhile, al- in many cases led to conflicts with Supranational policy regimes most 15% of Native Hawaiians live pre-existing communities over the such as UNESCO heritage policies in poverty when compared to the na- appropriation of land and resources have played a significant role in es- tional average of 9.8%.8 Homeless- and eventually to the outmigration of tablishing fundamental bases for gen- ness is at a crisis point in Hawaii, with locals who are usually the losers in trification in historical centres that are the number of homeless persons ris- such struggles. of special cultural and architectural ing 24% over the past year. While In an attempt to climb the hierar- value. For instance, the renovation of wealthy tourists are warmly wel- chy of competitive global cities and World Heritage towns like Lijiang in comed with greetings of ‘Aloha’, so- tourist attractions, the state has often China’s Yunnan Province, Luang Pra- cial justice and respect for human instigated gentrification under the bang in Laos and George Town on the rights appear to be alien concepts. In rhetoric of beautification, urban re- Malaysian island of Penang has been July 2013, Hawaii’s state legislature newal and urban revitalisation, with subjected to criticism as it has led to approved a three-year pilot project to governments acting as enablers to the museumisation and commodifica- remove homeless people living in encourage private investors and de- tion of heritage. The renovated town parks and on beaches as they could velopers to implement projects. In the centres have lost much of their dis-

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tinct character, as old family house- holds and businesses have gradually been forced out in the drive to con- vert properties into hotels and other businesses specifically catering to the needs and tastes of international tour- ists. In Latin America, it has also been common for local administrations to give major concessions to investors that transform architectural heritage into high-end commercial business- es, while small shop owners and street vendors are expelled.11 Now, in view of the restoration of bilateral ties be- The 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Janeiro are seen as an opportunity to tween the US and Cuba, there are se- redevelop the city for the privileged few – rich locals and tourists – while pushing rious concerns about Havana’s un- residents to the periphery. Picture shows residents of a favela next to the Olympic spoilt cultural heritage and social fab- Park in Rio hanging banners protesting the demolition of homes. ric as it is questionable as to how the city will handle the expected on- propriated receive little or no compen- measures against all who stand in the slaught of foreign investments and sation from the government. way. Carlos Carvalho, one of the tourists. Opening up the private sec- It is worth noting that amid a gen- city’s biggest landowners and the de- tor in Cuba has already increased in- eral laissez-faire orientation in most veloper of Rio’s main Olympic site equality, and as Cuban Americans public policies, local and national at Barra da Tijuca, bluntly stated that begin to buy properties in Havana and governments have shown unusual the ‘new’ Rio has to ‘represent on the elsewhere on the island, socioeco- decisiveness in preparing the ground global scene as a city of the elite, of nomic divisions are likely to in- for state-led tourism gentrification. good taste’, so poor residents have to crease.12 One reason is their eagerness to boost go.13 On a nearby plot, Carvalho is Touristification and related their countries’ image as ‘world-class’ building a tourism complex which gentrification has also begun in pov- tourist destinations. As tourism is includes a 3,000-room five-star hotel erty-stricken Burma that has recently widely accepted as a modern and be- and 100-metre-wide boulevards that, begun to liberalise its economy and nign growth industry, it is often used according to Carvalho, ‘will be the now considers tourism as a priority as a justification for the implementa- envy of New York’. Meanwhile, citi- industry. The government has drawn tion of expensive mega-projects in zens have been facing a protracted up a ‘responsible tourism’ policy with preparation for major events. Rio de ‘state of exception’ as the so-called the help of foreign consultants and Janeiro, the host city of the 2014 Olympic Act allows massive devel- civil society groups and put in place World Cup and the 2016 Olympic opment projects to be fast-tracked a Tourism Master Plan supervised by Games, illustrates this well. The city through special decrees and provi- the Asian Development Bank in or- currently represents a highly contest- sional measures in disregard of exist- der to ensure ‘sustainable tourism’ ed scenario for the gentrification of ing laws and without public partici- development. But the rush to estab- favelas located in inner-city areas or pation and scrutiny. lish so-called ‘hotel zones’ in many in the vicinity of beaches and the In metropolitan areas of poor parts of the impoverished country, coastline – both prime locations for countries, from Sao Paulo to Mum- where large tracts of land are com- real estate and tourism development. bai and Manila, the frequency of un- pulsorily acquired for multiple hotels Undoubtedly, the tourism industry is explained slum fires points to the like- and other tourist facilities, has become a main beneficiary of the huge gov- lihood that combustion is not sponta- a cause for grave concern. As the re- ernment infrastructure spending for neous but is often linked to increased form of Burma’s land policy and laws the World Cup and the Olympics, but property values and redevelopment is still incomplete, land grabs and dis- local people are up in arms as their programmes. There are claims by hu- putes with local communities are rights to housing and public services man rights defenders that authorities likely to happen more frequently. Re- are being violated and threatened. and developers are behind the fires to ports have already surfaced about in- The Rio city government in uni- clear the way for projects and force creasing human rights violations as son with private investors takes the out slum dwellers who resist eviction. the government confiscates land for sports events as an opportunity to re- How tourism-related gentrifica- ‘hotel zones’ from villagers despite develop the city for the privileged few tion manifests itself in this capitalist documentation proving their land – rich locals and tourists – while push- era unfettered by state regulation and ownership and rights to use land. In ing residents to the inhospitable pe- unions is well described in the book some cases, landowners who are ex- riphery and taking harsh repressive Dreamworlds of Neoliberalism: Evil

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Paradises (Mike Davis/Daniel Ber- scale retail businesses as well as con- chased a private island off Belize in trand Monk, 2008).14 It notes that the struction and real estate companies. 2005 and enjoys super-yachts. He has ‘new luxury cities’ are nothing less Across the world, pristine natu- also teamed up with the Four Seasons than a utopian frenzy that ‘enflames ral areas that are often the territories hotel group to ‘create a five-star lux- desires’ for infinite consumption, to- of indigenous peoples are now for sale ury resort based on sustainable design tal social exclusion and architectural to the multi-billion-dollar ‘ecotour- and environmental conservation’.18 monumentality. Probably the most ism’ and ‘remote real estate’ indus- famous ‘luxury palace’ is Dubai, with tries. Tourism-cum-conservation Conclusion gated communities where elite groups projects turn into tools to accelerate live in a privatised heaven amid the economic growth and public-private The concept of gentrification is public squalor that lies just beyond development threatening the rights of useful to explain major trends in con- their enclosures. With only 1.5 mil- local people and exacerbating the loss temporary tourism development and lion people, Dubai has been one of of their ancestral lands and resources how it one-sidedly benefits the the world’s biggest construction sites for livelihood. ‘Gentrification of na- wealthy and privileged, while corrod- in the last decade, with dozens of out- ture’ has arrived with high-end mul- ing urban, rural and indigenous peo- landish mega-projects, including the tinational-owned resorts – or ‘eco- ples’ communities. Yet, the public is artificial archipelagoes of private is- lodges’ – built in the middle of rain- led to believe that tourism has the lands known as ‘The World’ and ‘The forests, wildlife habitats or on ecolog- potential to eradicate poverty because Palm’‚ the earth’s tallest building, an ically fragile islands. it adds value to places and generates underwater luxury hotel, a domed ski In Tanzania, protected areas have huge amounts of money. What is resort and hyper-malls. But Dubai increased dramatically since colonial omitted is that most of the profits ac- depends upon a vast international times and become destinations for tually ‘trickle up and away’ and not immigrant indentured working class. VIP ‘eco-’ and hunting tourists, while down to the poor, and what is not ap- It is people largely from poor Asian small-scale farmers, pastoralists and preciated at all is what local people countries who toil in the construction fisherfolks become homeless in their lose. and tourism industries – and who are homeland. Chambi Chachage reports Impartial and realistic tourism very poorly paid, badly housed, sub- about Vilima Vitatu village: ‘So here cost-benefit analyses are practically ject to racism and to sexual abuse, and we are with a village that has 19,800 non-existent, but what can be evi- living without rights. hectares out of which 12,829.9 hec- denced clearly is that tourism is par- Mega-infrastructure projects tares are conserved within a Wildlife tially responsible for two defining fea- such as super-highways, airports and Management Area (WMA). A French tures of our times: worsening inequal- cruiseship ports play a significant role investor, Un Afrique En Lodge ity and displacement. Economic ine- in tourism gentrification. A new ur- (ULEA), is welcomed to build a tour- quality has become extreme, with ban form enabling explosive growth ist lodge/camp within this WMA as if about half of global wealth concen- in aviation-dependent tourism and s/he is not a threat to the wild. Yet, trated in the hands of the richest 1%, trade is the airport city or so-called the pastoralists have to raze their shel- while the other half is being shared aerotropolis, which comes as a giant ters, abandon their little farms and let by the remaining 99%. The world’s development package including, be- the animals in peace so that tourists richest 20% earn about 50 times as sides an airport and other related in- can gaze at them.’16 much as the world’s poorest 20%. The frastructure, luxury hotels, shopping In recent years, ultra-luxurious ongoing massive displacement of and entertainment facilities, conven- ‘ecotourism’ featuring private islands people within countries and across tion, trade and exhibition complexes, and super-yachts has experienced a borders is another feature of the hu- golf courses and sport stadiums, and major boom from Hawaii to Costa man drama unfolding with egregious industrial parks. Super-modern aero- Rica and Belize to Greece. Private human rights violations and suffering tropolis schemes are even planted in Island News posted in July 2015: wreaking havoc on populations. The remote rural areas and indigenous ‘What do Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and underlying causes of both inequality peoples’ territories. They are not set- Warren Buffett all have in common? and displacement are conflicts over tlements for people to live in but only They’re all said to be buying islands power, wealth and resource sharing. cater to a small privileged minority in Greece ’17 A Marine Protected In tourism development, the pri- of clientele – the hypermobile fre- Area status increases the value of a vate sector and governments all too quent-flyer elite.15 Aerotropolis pro- private island, as well as its privacy. often collaborate to acquire land, wa- tagonists promise these developments In 2014, billionaire Larry Ellison pur- ter and other natural resources with- will boost local economies, attract chased Lanai, the sixth largest Hawai- out the free, prior and informed con- aviation- and tourism-related invest- ian island, for around $500 million, sent of local residents and communi- ments, and generate jobs and income one of the most expensive island pur- ties, resulting in impoverishment and for locals. The main beneficiaries, chases in history. Leonardo DiCaprio, disempowerment of people in the however, are transnational corpora- who has been celebrated by many for process. Tourism has definitely not tions like airlines, hotel chains, large- his environmental activism, pur- changed for the better since the World

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Bank decided in the 1970s to stop mitment to a transformative and peo- 5 De Kadt, E. (ed.) (1979), Tourism: lending to tourism schemes when ev- ple-centred post-2015 development Passport to Development? A joint idence was produced that the Bank’s agenda, it is urgent not only to reject World Bank-UNESCO study, New York: Oxford University Press tourism model involved deleterious the UNWTO’s request for higher sup- 6 Cited in Pleumarom, A. (2012), social, cultural and environmental port for tourism in international fi- The politics of tourism, poverty impacts and added to the already ap- nancing for development. In view of reduction and sustainable parent divide between developed and the many problems tourism causes, development, Third World developing countries. In fact, the sit- financial support for tourism pro- Network, http://www.twn.my/ uation has worsened alarmingly over grammes and projects should be elim- title/end/end17.htm recent decades due to the explosive inated altogether. What the World 7 Moore, R. (2013), Understanding gentrification in Southeast and East tourism growth and the radically de- Bank could do in 1978 for the com- Asia, Interdisciplinary Studies regulated business environment. mon good, can be done again. Journal, Vol. 13, pp. 116-127, After years of steady pronounce- As tourism is fraught with ideol- Faculty of Social Sciences and ments by tourism promoters that ‘sus- ogy, a comprehensive and sincere re- Humanities, Mahidol University tainable’, ‘pro-poor’ and ‘people-cen- view and public debate on tourism 8 Macfarlane, I.L. and Conway, F. tred’ tourism is well underway, the development is needed at all levels. (2013), Development and widespread evidence of tourism-in- For the post-2015 development agen- gentrification in the Hawaiian Islands, http://scalar.usc.edu/ duced hardship for local people ex- da to succeed, it is of utmost impor- works/water-sustainability-and- poses the underbelly of neoliberal glo- tance to restore public rights over the indigenous-knowledge/media/ balisation usually hidden from the privileges of big business and wealthy Gentrification%20Conway.pdf public eye. The notorious conglom- consumers and tourists. Moreover, it 9 http://www.counterpunch.org/ erate of financial, real estate and tour- is imperative to put in place regulato- 2014/01/23/homeless-in-hawaii/ ism industries fuels corruption and ry frameworks that effectively protect 10 http://www.bangkokpost.com/ speculative bubbles worldwide and local citizens and communities from news/special-reports/607460/ drivers-environment-paying-bill- reflects the greed, excess and self-de- harmful tourism development, as well for-bangkok-many-malls lusion of so-called ‘casino capital- as mechanisms that require travel and 11 Janoschka, M.; Sequera, J. and ism’. In the name of tourism devel- tourism businesses to provide redress Salinas, L. (2013), Gentrification opment, unnecessary mega-projects for losses and to clean up the damage in Spain and Latin America – a are implemented and luxurious pri- they created. Clear, transparent and Critical Dialogue, http:// vate paradises created for the wealthy accessible mechanisms of accounta- www.michael-janoschka.de/pdfs/ and privileged few, while the vast bility are also needed to empower Janoschka_Sequera_Salinas_IJUR R_2013_Gentrification_PDF%20 majority of the population must carry people to monitor and hold govern- CC.pdf the burden of debt repayment and aus- ments, financial institutions, develop- 12 http://www.aljazeera.com/ terity schemes. ment agencies and the private sector programmes/talktojazeera/ People may not oppose tourism engaging in tourism accountable for inthefield/2015/07/havana- as such, but local resistance is mount- their actions. ÿu survive-city-150718092905524.ht ing against misguided tourism-relat- ml ed development and gentrification Anita Pleumarom is the coordinator of the Bangkok- 13 http://www.theguardian.com/ sport/2015/aug/04/rio-olympic- schemes that fail to deliver on all based Tourism Investigation & Monitoring Team (tim-team) and member of the Tourism Advocacy and games-2016-property-developer- fronts: the fight against inequality, Action Forum (TAAF). carlos-carvalho-barra eradication of poverty, environmen- 14 Davis, M. and Monk, D.B. (eds.) tal sustainability, protection of human Endnotes (2008), Dreamworlds of rights and the promotion of social jus- Neoliberalism: Evil Paradises, tice and democracy. Recent protests 1 http://media.unwto.org/press- New York: The New Press – from indigenous peoples defending release/2015-07-14/unwto-calls- 15 http://antiaero.org/what-is-an- higher-financing-tourism- aerotropolis/ their ancestral territories and global 16 Chachage, C. (2011), Tanzania: development-cooperation campaigns against land grabs to the Land grabs cum acquisitions, http:/ Occupy and European anti-austerity 2 http://www.brettonwoodsproject. /www.commercialpressuresonland movements to mass demonstrations in org/2014/09/affordable-hotels- .org/sites/default/files/Land%20G Turkey and Brazil – are clear signs ifcs-luxury-development-projects/ rabs-Cum-Acquisitions%20in%20 3 http://www.theguardian.com/ that people in different places reject TanzaniaCo global-development/2015/jul/17/ the current neoliberal development mpress%20Pics.pdf department-for-international- 17 http://www.privateislandnews.com model of which tourism is an integral development-cdc-group-735m-uk- /greece-five-of-the-hottest-greek- part, and are rising up for secure live- aid-private-sector islands-on-the-private-island- lihoods, livable wages, education, 4 http://www.globalresearch.ca/ market-now/ public services and democratic haiti-humanitarian-aid-for- 18 http://hawaiiindependent.net/story/ freedoms. earthquake-victims-used-to-build- private-islands-super-yachts-and- With the United Nations’ com- five-star-hotels/31646 marine-protected-areas

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 10 C O V E R Tourism and the biosphere crisis: Provisions for inter-generational care The biosphere, i.e., the life support systems of our planet, is near tipping point and at risk of irreversible collapse as a result of human activities. Tourism, both as an industry and a lifestyle, is one major contributor to this crisis, which will impact not only the current generation but future generations. Alison M Johnston contends that in the face of the growing severity of tourism impacts on our biosphere, to assure inter-generational care, there must be special measures for children.

Pondering the planet

CRUISING in an aircraft at 10,000 metres, we arrive at a serene view of the Earth. This is a place of tourist imaginaries: where we can suspend our routine thoughts and contemplate ideals. But if intercepted at the airport by climate change activists, the ex- perience can be jarring. We might pre- scribe them a martini on some distant beach. As travellers, we imbibe the in- dustry narrative that tourism is good: a pinnacle of ‘the good life’. It is re- storative for us and seems harmless enough for the planet. However, it ‘Tourism, a pronounced form of consumerism, has been deployed to the remotest turns out that this storyline is incom- frontiers of Earth...’ plete. We don’t have a picture of where tourism is actually taking us. biosphere is endangered by the helix pinge on tourism, as both an industry Getting the facts on tourism can of economic globalisation, consum- and a lifestyle. Given this, we need to feel abrupt, unsettling more than our erism and population growth. ask how tourism alleviates or contrib- holiday plans. Even among activists, The biosphere – meaning, the life utes to the biosphere crisis. the pace of fact-finding has become support systems of Earth – is near a unnerving. Just two decades ago tour- tipping point and at risk of irrevers- Investment impacts: the ism still had some surface shine: a ible collapse, as a result of human debate continues prospect of recalibrating commerce activities.3 Multiple, simultaneous globally through community partici- environmental disasters are acceler- Policies prioritising unrestricted pation or other ‘fair trade’ schemes. ating, approaching perilous thresholds economic growth continue to shape Few researchers anticipated the extent faster than predicted, primarily due to global governance, despite the of caution possibly warranted. corporate excess, shareholder inter- Brundtland Report (1987)5 pivoting Yet the word from Nobel laure- ests and consumer binging.4 Without our attention to the overriding needs ates and other leading scientists immediate remedies, the global norm of future generations. Lawrence Sum- worldwide is that humanity faces a of the next decade will include climate mers, former chief economist of the biosphere crisis: an ecological emer- instability, dead zones in the ocean, World Bank, maintains that raising the gency with acute social dimensions. burning forests and mass extinctions. growth rate ‘is by far the most impor- The ‘World Scientists’ Warning to For humanity this portends spikes in tant thing we can do for future gen- Humanity’ (1992)1 and the ‘State of water shortages, food insecurity, con- erations’.6 the Planet Declaration’ (2012)2 flict and refugee migrations. Overall, global trade is consid- bookend the scientific consensus. Our This situation will directly im- ered sluggish.7 Presently, growth in

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gross domestic product (GDP) during tality (that is, the consumption-based ethics of these evolving consumer 2015 is pegged at 1.1% for Canada, economic model) stewarded by the extremes challenged. 2.8% for Saudi Arabia, 3.7% for the International Monetary Fund, World Today, tourism still has a flavour United States – all petroleum power- Trade Organisation and affiliated of opening other places and subduing houses – and nearly 7% for China, agencies. Tourism, a pronounced form ‘othered’ peoples – of economic inte- which converts imported fossil fuels of consumerism, has been deployed gration.15 The tourism industry func- into consumer ‘goods’ for re-export. to the remotest frontiers of Earth, as tions as a teaser, a concierge for other However, the Organisation for Eco- a means of marshalling profit from the industries to follow. For the demo- nomic Cooperation and Development perimeter, as core commodities sag. graphic North – the affluent, invest- (OECD) laments that the world Tourism – a global complex of ing segment of our global society that economy will grow by just 3.8% in businesses – stands out for its innu- holds bank accounts, stock portfolios, 2016 (or, some sources report, 3.0%), merable manifestations, some quan- pensions and life insurance (some- saying: ‘It’s not something we should tifiable but others understood only times dubbed the ‘rich’16) – tourism be satisfied with.’8 The International through relationships at a village level offers not just a holiday but also an Labour Organisation reports not only (for instance, how people experience investment and shopping outpost, pro- steep unemployment but also dire self-determination or oppression in viding the infrastructure for scouting, poverty among many workers glo- their everyday lives). It has a vast in- brokering and leveraging deals. This bally.9 frastructure across multiple sectors is a central contradiction of tourism: Against this backdrop, the spanning the petrochemical, mining, it heals us from the daily pressures of degrowth strategy urged by the Tour- forestry, fisheries and agricultural in- sustaining the materialist lifestyle, ism Investigation & Monitoring Team dustries. Because of this reach, tour- while priming our shopping impulse. (Thailand) is lacking support. Al- ism is considered a primary engine of Recently, tourism has been am- though the Nobel-feted economist economic growth. Yet this reach of plified by celebrity ‘culture’. After Joseph Stiglitz ‘argues that GDP is a tourism also potentially means unpar- years of Texaco, Esso, DuMaurier and poor measure of how well an alleled costs once the complex bio- other ‘everyday’ companies such as economy is truly performing’10 – be- sphere accounting is done. Nike funding elite sport circuits such cause of rising inequality – the raw Beyond GDP, there is a mam- as show jumping, polo, tennis and ideology of economic growth persists. moth composite story to understand golf, there has been a luxury In 2014 the Group of Twenty (G20) about tourism.13 In most accounts, the makeover of sponsorship, fronted by countries, which control 85% of the needs of those most affected by in- companies such as Longines and global economy, voted for an addi- discriminate tourism growth – espe- Rolex, and paparazzi-charged. tional 2% economic growth by 2020, cially children and future generations Through social media we know that essentially an extra $2 trillion.11 bearing the incalculable costs such as ‘Will and Kate’ became engaged in Since the Ministerial Roundtable climate change – are muted or absent. Kenya; ‘Kim and Kanye’ married in on Tourism of 1998, during United Paris; and ‘Demi’ not only swam with Nations talks in Slovakia on safe- Lifestyle: purchasing peace of sharks in Bora Bora but also cel- guarding biodiversity (put simply, the mind? ebrated her 21st birthday in Kenya. integrity of our biosphere), tourism Countless imitators now pad their has been singled out as a driver of Tourism is rooted in a long line- personal brand by posting selfies from growth. In December 2014 the UN age of men who served as ‘collectors’ across the planet. As thresholds of awe General Assembly voted to promote for colonial powers and institutions, diminish, ordinary tourists graze fur- tourism, via Resolution 69/233. The securing territory and resources in ther afield in ‘poor but posh’ destina- rationale of poverty eradication and distant lands: the explorers, traders, tions. Fast-fashion is entwined with environmental protection is used, as botanists and researchers whose place, with Teen Vogue magazine if GDP delivers equitable benefits and memoirs suggest that acquisition is purring about vacation wardrobes and costs within and between generations. progress. It also sprang from the par- ‘Sweet Escape’.17 The unproven logic is that tourism lour stories of boundary-pushing As consumer aspirations balloon, befits a ‘green economy’.12 This pre- women, among them Freya Stark and travel has become part of the curated supposes that mass tourism can be Gertrude Bell who slipped across cul- childhood emerging in the demo- sustainable, although ecological and tural landscapes mapping terrain for graphic North. Children from China cultural impacts suggest otherwise. early oil speculators. The tourism phe- and South Korea are shuttled off for With tourism endorsed as a res- nomenon always has involved priva- schooling in New York or Vancouver cue industry, it has assumed a promi- tising spaces (be it physical space – often as commuters, becoming tour- nent role in national strategies for eco- such as territory or social space such ists in both the destination country and nomic growth. In 2014 international as knowledge), including very per- their country of origin. Meanwhile, tourism generated a record $1.245 tril- sonal spaces such as culture and now youth from North America, Europe, lion. It therefore nests well with the genomes. Only recently was the tour- Australia and the gated prep schools ‘shop our way out of problems’ men- ist mindset broadly questioned14 or the of Mexico City, Cape Town and Dubai

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regularly go ‘on tour’ as a rite of pas- pad industry growth. This led to a long $50.2 billion in sales (with $20.2 bil- sage, either on school exchange trips period of supportive advocacy by civil lion of firm orders for 154 planes). or through their extracurricular pur- society groups (NGOs) to inform tour- By August 2015 Airbus had secured suits – rowing regattas, rugby tour- ism debates,20 with the campaign an additional order from India’s naments, choir festivals and against the UN International Year of IndiGo, of 250 Airbus A320neo jets voluntouring being top of the menu. Ecotourism (2002) being a rallying for an estimated $26 billion, the larg- The ‘gap year’, once expected by a point. Grassroots groups chastised est ever order for Airbus. Embraer SA few, has swelled into a ‘gap existence’ conglomerates such as Conservation (Brazil), Sukhoi Superjet (Russia), for many. Some families build a travel International, WWF International and Comac (China) and Mitsubishi (Ja- calendar around school breaks, tak- The Nature Conservancy for peddling pan) are clocking vigorous sales as ing three long-haul vacations annu- top-down, market-based partnerships well. With crude oil prices plunging ally; children as young as eight can incongruent with the principles of by over half in the last year, airlines recount multiple foreign trips. sustainability. have posted profits and hatched long- These social trends are buoyed by The gist of NGOs’ message has term plans for market expansion. marketing directed at youth, groom- been that there should be a precau- The recovery of Air Canada is ing them as travellers. The tourism tionary approach. In 2014 the Tour- being touted as particularly encour- industry now spins catchy travel iden- ism Advocacy and Action Forum aging. This carrier has increased its tities for young children, among them (TAAF) formed, asserting ‘we wish international capacity by 50% since Mini Club Med, Ritz Kids and the to inspire a growing community of the global recession of 2009. It Westin Kids Club. Older children are care’.21 TAAF has called for an im- projects that 62% of its business will funnelled brochures from Oxbridge partial evaluation of tourism by the come from international routes by Academic Programs, Blyth Interna- UN, warning that the tourism indus- 2018, up from 54% in 2011. The air- tional and other private academies try has an aggregate impact without line just announced a new non-stop doubling as tour organisers, via high parallel.22 Its research merits our un- route to Australia, and is adding more school counsellors. In Canada, con- flinching evaluation, given the bio- flights to Asia, Europe, South America versation about privilege versus re- sphere stakes. Tourism may not be a and the Middle East. Based on its re- sponsibility lasts as long as Snapchat, sacrosanct industry after all. cent profit postings and general indus- among much of the ‘We Day’ crowd. try trends – including record profits Meanwhile, over 60% of Chinese Aviation: a climate of for Delta Air Lines Inc. and Virgin tourists are under the age of 35.18 contradictions America in the US – the Canada Pen- From a policy standpoint, it sion Plan Investment Board (repre- would seem that tourism is a dream Although a recent crop of books senting Canadian citizens) increased stimulus for the global economy – a attests to many breakthroughs in its investment in US airlines to more democratic, free-market, profitable transforming our global economy,23 than $3.5 billion in 2015, from less version of the UN’s Goodwill Ambas- tourism raises some particularly vex- than $2 billion during 2014. ‘Whether sadors, promoting social responsibil- ing questions about conventional eco- they know it or not ... Canadians are ity among youth and ‘doing good’ in nomic thinking. One doozy is the idea buying in to the airline stocks’,25 in impoverished locales worldwide. But that tourism growth can remedy both the same moment that divestment do the promises and realities really poverty and environmental degrada- from fossil fuels investments gains align? What do we know about tour- tion. So, let’s look at this notion in momentum (led by Oxford Univer- ism legacies in the imagined worlds the context of airplanes, the global sity, World Council of Churches and of ‘others’? Is travel philanthropy tourism emblem. Rockefeller Brothers Fund). Airports possible? Does ‘eco’-tourism exist? The aviation sector is a celebrated are also considered an ‘outstanding In the late 1980s, when sustaina- tale of growth. Although Canada’s investment’.26 ble development was conceptualised, Bombardier Inc. faces sagging sales Global forecasts for tourism ex- there was optimism that the tourism of passenger planes, and a shortfall pansion are soaring, with little discus- industry could generate meaningful of $2 billion, overall industry sales sion of limits, particularly of bio- alternatives for economic develop- have been robust. At the International sphere-related costs. In March 2015, ment,19 benefiting rather than exploit- Paris Airshow in June 2015, investors just prior to China’s currency devalu- ing locals and their environments. were fretting over ‘how quickly a ation, the Bank of America Merrill Within a decade, however, many re- record backlog of jet orders can be Lynch predicted that by 2019 there mote communities experiencing rap- built’.24 In early 2015 Airbus Co. and will be 174 million Chinese tourists, id, unregulated tourism growth report- Boeing Group NV had posted 247 and spending $264 billion internationally ed devastating human rights challeng- 175 aircraft orders respectively. Air- – up from 109 million in 2014 and a es, and sought allies to stop the alleg- bus concluded the show with $57 bil- ‘mere’ 10 million in 2000. India’s edly ‘pro-poor’ tourism and ‘tourism- lion in further sales (with $16.3 bil- aviation market will keep pace, with for-conservation’ hybrids being pro- lion of firm orders for 124 planes); passenger trips tripling to 450 million moted by governments worldwide to meanwhile, Boeing inked another by 2020. Canada and New Zealand,

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 13 C O V E R with ‘approved destination status’ Even purist calculations of GDP billion in 2013 via CNOOC Ltd., from China, will profit handsomely hint at the magnitude of social costs dominates the oil sands in the prov- in their GDP, the latter charting 12% should minimalist implementation of ince of Alberta. Petronas, a state- more arrivals from China yearly be- the UNFCCC continue. The Lancet owned company of Malaysia, is mak- tween 2015 and 2021. If some inves- medical journal calls climate change ing headlines in the province of Brit- tors are profiting, does this mean that ‘the biggest global health threat of the ish Columbia (BC). tourism is ‘good’ for us collectively? 21st century’.30 A recent court case in In 2015 Petronas offered the re- The award-winning Canadian the Netherlands foreshadows a surge mote Lax Kw’alaams community author Naomi Klein has penned a of climate-change litigation if govern- (population 3,350) of the Tsimshian book about climate change that would ments and their industry partners ne- People an eye-popping $1.15 billion shock most tourists. Called This glect the ‘duty of care’ to protect citi- for their approval of a proposed LNG Changes Everything, it presents a co- zens from harm.31 terminal on Lelu Island, Pacific gent argument for examining the ideo- NorthWest LNG: a $36 billion invest- logical sludge of tourism. According Tourism fossil fuels: shifting ment that would include a pipeline. to Klein, airline travel is indeed a hot the winds of globalisation This project, key to government plans business; it is ‘the most carbon inten- to export LNG to Asia, would have a sive form of transportation’.27 That To comprehend the biosphere 25-year lifespan. So far, the proposed said, tourism also generates an risks of tourism, we must evaluate site has been rejected (because it untallied share of global emissions both global and local impacts simul- would harm salmon, a culturally sig- from infrastructure investments such taneously. Industry demand for fossil nificant fish), but the proposal itself as road asphalt which service tourists fuels drives social dysfunction locally. remains under community considera- once the airlines deliver them on-site; In turn, the local dysfunction has cor- tion, prompting speculative purchases from the petrochemicals used to relating global impacts. One illustra- of land by retail property developers. groom tourists and tourist play- tion of this is the prospect of culture Exxon is also courting Lax grounds (among them, fertilisers, pes- loss when corporations encircle dis- Kw’alaams for a $25 billion LNG ticides, detergents and toiletries); enfranchised Indigenous Peoples and project, West Coast Canada LNG. from taxis, outboard motors, propane the people(s) struggle to balance the Elsewhere in BC, Indigenous grills and other fixtures of the tourist economics of cultural recovery with Peoples and/or communities already playbook; from heating and air-con- customary law concerning steward- have opted for provisional approval ditioning accommodations; as well as ship. or partnerships for similar projects, from ‘food miles’ (some obvious ex- In Canada, dysfunctional corpo- due to poverty fatigue. The Squamish amples being the food imports to rations – which are non-functional in First Nation has set conditions for Maldives, Fiji and Easter Island, but their short-sighted accounting sys- approval of the Woodfibre LNG also satisfying ‘foodies’ at hotels and tems32 – are eyeing the sizeable terri- project – which is a subsidiary of Pa- resorts worldwide). The tourism in- tories of Indigenous Peoples, where cific Oil & Gas Ltd. of Singapore – dustry is a primary cause of dirty oil many communities face ‘Third including its own environmental as- sands investments, plus a proliferation World’ conditions yet are described sessment process. The Haisla First of not-so-clean liquefied natural gas as ‘Fourth World’ because of the ex- Nation has endorsed the LNG Canada (LNG) ventures.28 tent of colonial poverty. The dynamic project, led by Royal Dutch Shell Long-term investments by air- has intensified from land grabs to land PLC, the Korea Gas Corporation lines go hand-in-hand with long-term assembly, as companies seek access (KOGAS), Mitsubishi and investments in fossil fuel companies. for the massive infrastructure invest- PetroChina. The Malahat First Nation This warrants a turnabout in both ments linked to pipelines and refiner- is proposing an offshore facility and multilateral and national-level policy ies (especially for crude oil refiner- undersea pipeline in partnership with and planning. Scientists have deter- ies, whose profit margins are rising). Steelhead LNG (a company led by a mined that 2 degrees Celsius is the This brings a new set of geopolitical former executive of Shell Interna- outer yet risky limit of global warm- considerations amid land rights con- tional). ing. This limit was acknowledged by flicts, negotiations, litigation and rec- A voice of opposition to the LNG world governments at the UN climate onciliation initiatives. frenzy is Dave Ige, Governor of tour- summit of 2009 during debates on The national political landscape ism-soaked Hawaii, who has rejected implementation of the long-neglected in Canada, framed by outdated con- imports of LNG from BC, saying ‘It’s UN Framework Convention on Cli- cepts of bilateral Indigenous/non-In- time to focus our efforts on mate Change (UNFCCC), a legally digenous relations, is now upended by renewables’.33 Still, despite reports binding agreement among countries. transnational corporations, whose that LNG is not credible as a ‘bridg- Yet our planet is headed for warming ‘war chests’ dwarf other corporate ing’ fuel,34 investment enthusiasm is of 4-6 degrees Celsius if we adhere budgets for community outreach. not slowing. Many Indigenous Peo- to the economic growth model of gov- Nexen Energy, a petroleum corpora- ples understandably want LNG perks ernance during this decade.29 tion purchased by China for $15.1 and ownership – in other words, a re-

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turn to economic independence – af- cause ‘massive’ harm to both the en- over monetary versus spiritual values. ter the historic and game-changing vironment and people.37 Conse- Agreement is elusive, because each Tsilhqot’in court decision (2014) in quently, new opportunities for Indig- is grappling with colonial legacies Canada, which recognised their legal enous Peoples in the political such as poverty, inter-generational title to ancestral lands.35 economy of energy are fuelling rifts, trauma, suicides, social isolation and The BC government is brokering along classic ‘jobs versus environ- culture loss – in the midst of competi- many of the deals and defusing con- ment’ lines. An anti-LNG rally took tive bargaining with corporations. cerns over environmental impacts. place in Vancouver in October 2015, Alongside these community im- Fracking by Progress Energy – an- drawing 180 protesters from disparate plosions over LNG, many Indigenous other project of Malaysia’s Petronas interest groups, but largely environ- Peoples are leading coalition protests – has caused earthquakes of as much ment-focused. against crude oil being transported as 4.4 magnitude, yet will continue Among the Wet’suwet’en People, through their territories via tankers, once basic mitigation plans are filed.36 hereditary and elected chiefs hold dif- railways and the Northern Gateway New LNG projects will be staggered fering views on LNG pipelines, some and Keystone XL pipelines. Indig- to 2020 or later, as the Asian market split by clan; representatives of the enous women have become vocal in price for LNG recuperates. This Unist’ot’en clan have tended a pro- protests since the Idle No More move- means an extended horizon for fossil test camp for several years and now ment. Archbishop Desmond Tutu of fuel impacts provincially, nationally are blocking construction crews, South Africa recently stood in solidar- and globally. which were granted access by the ity on the frontlines. Still, some indi- elected band council. The Pacific vidual Indigenous communities are Industry spinoffs: a real Trails and Coastal GasLink pipelines endorsing divisive initiatives, such as snapshot of tourism to Kitimat, BC, thus offer an instruc- the Trans Mountain pipeline.39 The tive example of how divisive ‘pro- proposed Eagle Spirit pipeline, which Should we applaud the economic poor’ platforms can be. The neigh- would transport refined bitumen from spinoffs of tourism, benefiting Indig- bouring Haisla People, who reside the Alberta tar sands to the BC coast, enous Peoples in Canada? Is this a near Kitimat, are chiming in, calling has consolidated support – including glimpse of the UN Declaration on the on the Wet’suwet’en to resolve their from Lax Kw’alaams leaders – amid Rights of Indigenous Peoples internal impasse without court or po- widespread objections to tar sands (UNDRIP) in action? lice action – so that investments can oil.40 Many communities desire a The emergence of Indigenous proceed. Nonetheless, a new regional profit share (which is viewed as a Peoples as energy power-holders in alliance of Indigenous leaders has chance for self-determination), de- Canada is an offshoot of ‘pro-poor’ emerged opposing fracking on the spite reports of the oil-infused tourism ideology, which promotes basis of customary law. 38 Bigstone reserve in Alberta being tourism as a stimulus across sectors. As this plays out, the Allied ‘Filthy Rich. Dirt Poor.’41 If we decipher the investment web, Tribes of nearby Lax Kw’alaams are Transnational corporations are the same ‘pro-poor’ ideology facili- launching court action to protect fish- adeptly navigating these cultural land- tating tourism growth also appears in ing rights from LNG development. A scapes. Pacific Future Energy, affili- oil and gas proposals, helping govern- hereditary chief of the Gitwilgyoots ated with the giant Grupo Salinas of ment to circumvent historic griev- tribe of Lax Kw’alaams has been in- Mexico, enlisted two former chiefs of ances while maintaining conventional strumental in establishing a protest the national Assembly of First Na- business. On record, the massive pub- camp on Lelu Island to block tions, Shawn Atleo and Ovide lic-private partnerships for fossil fu- Petronas. Yet other hereditary chiefs Mercredi, plus another prominent re- els extraction enable government to of Lax Kw’alaams say the protest gional chief. Engineering firm SNC- deliver economic development to ru- camp is unauthorised and have given Lavalin then recruited the A-in-Chut ral areas, claiming that it brings pros- Petronas conditional access to Lelu Business Group, jointly owned by perity for involved communities. In- Island for studies. Beyond Lax Atleo, to co-create the feasibility formally, however, they essentially Kw’alaams, two other communities of study for Pacific Future to build a bi- privatise reparations for colonialism, the Tsimshian People – Metlakatla tumen refinery for exports to Asia. deferring state financial liability. and Kitselas – already are negotiat- Although fissures among affected Transnational corporations become ing benefit-sharing agreements with Indigenous Peoples have become part of the ‘benefactor’ apparatus of Petronas. Metlakatla has declared its public, and internal concerns about the state. overlapping title to Lelu Island and cultural protocols and customary law Within ‘pro-poor’ ideology, there support for the intended Petronas are mounting, there is one collective is hoopla over industry benefits such pipeline. reality. As these fossil fuels mega-in- as career training and jobs, but little Thus, a crisis of representation is vestments advance – major airlines mention of costs or liabilities – such underway among the Wet’suwet’en, being linked to the dirtiest of them42 as Petronas’ performance audit reveal- Tsimshian and other peoples neigh- (namely, the tar sands, which are a ing past safety issues which could bouring the coveted deep sea ports, climate change tipping point43) – ex-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 15 C O V E R treme weather patterns are hitting lo- tling examples of ethical blindspots – virtual guarantee of a planetary eco- cally. During the summer of 2015, really, of mass dehumanisation. One logical collapse. both British Columbia and Alberta standout is the human and ecological The ‘green economy’ ideology suffered extreme drought, bringing detritus of sweatshop factories sup- adopted at the last UN Earth Summit water bans on farms, uninhabitable plying souvenirs: the Topkapi palace (2012) – also known as Rio+20 – has river conditions for the salmon cher- trinkets, Monet garden mementos and proven particularly damaging in the ished across Indigenous cultures in Kathmandu keychains produced in tourism sector.45 It has set back inno- BC, and risk of catastrophic beetle China, clinching its 30% share of glo- vation by decades. UN agencies are infestations in forests. Extra fire-fight- bal economic growth and a propor- recycling tourism concepts generated ing crews were flown in from South tionate rise in global emissions. An- in the 1980s-90s (such as ‘eco’ and Africa and Australia to contain the other is the toxins seeping from tour- ‘sustainable’ tourism), which indus- extensive forest fires. Evacuation of ism hubs into watersheds, try coopted to maximise growth. A communities is the new ‘norm’ as groundwater, ditches, landfills and new generation of policy makers – summer becomes the season of food chains as ‘pristine’ accommoda- unfamiliar with prior NGO submis- wildfires. tions are prepped for tourists, with- sions of community-based research With this in mind, it would be out regard for impacts on local resi- on actual impacts – are finding these prudent to question future impacts of dents’ health or the overall bio-accu- concepts compelling, although the ‘pro-poor’ tourism spinoffs on the mulation. At hotels and resorts world- predictable outcome is more mass Arctic, among the Inuit and neigh- wide, each buffet staple such as cof- tourism. bouring peoples, as Russia and other fee, bananas, mineral water or fish Given this stalemate, and the circumpolar nations vie for its oil and holds a story,44 revealing a corporate prospect of more unfettered industry gas. It also would be responsible to habit of abbreviated storytelling. growth, we need fresh angles from investigate the irony of Indigenous Although UN Secretary-General which to understand the severity of Peoples being induced (or internally Ban Ki-moon provides strong moral tourism impacts on our biosphere, the motivated, by systemic colonial pov- leadership on the biosphere crisis, the implications for humanity and spe- erty) to adopt economic policies UN agencies responsible for tourism cific impacts on children. The UN dis- which put peoples from the Arctic to oversight show little inclination to- course as presently structured is part Kuna Yala to Tuvalu – plus coastal wards crisis response. The UN World of the problem. Tourism is portrayed zones globally – at risk of becoming Tourism Organisation advocates eco- as a means of meeting sustainable climate refugees. If Indigenous par- nomic growth; the UN Educational, development goals. Instead, tourism ticipation in the national economy Scientific and Cultural Organisation should be tackled for what it is: hyper- heightens biosphere instability, jeop- (UNESCO) promotes mass tourism to consumerism. Without this turna- ardising future generations, it is a sign World Heritage Sites; meanwhile, the round, transnational corporations will of continuing colonial duress and lim- Secretariat of the UN Convention on plot a course which scientific consen- ited opportunities for self-determina- Biological Diversity (affiliated with sus tells us is untenable (socially, cul- tion. the UN Environment Programme, or turally and ecologically). While ‘pro-poor’ initiatives seem UNEP) shepherds a soft, cosmetic To perceive tourism differently, to ease material poverty – if aloof makeover for mass tourism. Overall, it may be helpful to view it as an in- GDP formulas or short-term house- there is a marketing thrust allegedly tense form of urbanisation: a flow of hold measures are used – participa- about fighting poverty and safeguard- commerce producing an urbanised tion may come at the price of cultural ing biological and cultural diversity, world. Urban planner Neil Brenner impoverishment. but which actually inverts the goals, discusses the biosphere in relation to packaging the ‘near-extinct’, ‘disap- ‘planetary infrastructures’ such as Governance options: inter- pearing’ and ‘poor’ as value-added tourism.46 His mapping of global cor- generational care products for industry growth. Thus, ridors of commerce visualises ‘the tourism drives inequality instead of planetary urban condition’, enabling Reflecting on this tourism con- ameliorating living conditions, capa- us to see emergent patterns and re- text, we should bear in mind that cli- bilities and life prospects for humani- think economics from a standpoint of mate change is just one element of the ty’s most vulnerable populations. interconnection. Brenner advises that biosphere crisis driven by tourism, In the context of the UN’s post- we should evaluate ‘the various forms albeit an accelerator of ecosystem 2015 development agenda, revisiting of dispossession’ that are inherent to damage, biodiversity loss and stresses the goals for tourism is key to avert- the capitalist global economy. In do- on endangered species – which in turn ing catastrophic shifts in the bio- ing so, we must acknowledge the in- deepen the conditions for human sphere. Patterns of corporate and con- ter-generational dispossession pres- rights violations (especially vis-a-vis sumer behaviour linked to tourism are ently underway, which is the crux of child welfare, within and between not sustainable, as the fossil fuels data the biosphere crisis. Spatial planning generations). and wider research attest. On the con- needs to embrace the well-being of The dossier on tourism holds star- trary, they represent a ‘sure thing’: a children, including their future pros-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 16 C O V E R pects. 5. World Commission on Sustainable Washington, DC. Fundamentally, we need a con- Development (1987). Our 20. Vocal groups have included the crete discussion about inter- Common Future. Oxford Ecumenical Coalition for Tourism generational care in relation to tour- University Press, United Kingdom. (Thailand), Equations (India), ism. One model that exists is the 6. Summers, Lawrence H. (2015). International Support Centre for ‘There Are Many Ways of Sustainable Tourism (Canada), emerging framework for Child Rights Burdening the Future,’ The Globe Rethinking Tourism Project Impact Assessment, which uses the & Mail, 21 March, p. F3. (USA), Tourism Investigation & UN Convention on the Rights of the 7. Mortished, Carl (2015). ‘Has Monitoring Team (Thailand), and Child (UNCRC) (1989) as a filter for Globalization Run Its Course?,’ Third World Network (Malaysia) decision-making. Using this ap- The Globe & Mail, Report on plus European advocacy networks. proach, we would use the UNCRC as Business, 28 August, p. B2. 21. Tourism Advocacy & Action a baseline to implement the UNFCCC 8. Milner, Brian (2015). ‘Grim Forum (2014). ‘Istanbul and other international law concern- Picture for Global Growth,’ The Statement’. Outline of Rationale, ing care of the biosphere. However, Globe & Mail, Report on Business, Values, Principles and Action. 30 the rights of today’s children and fu- 3 June, p. B1. August. ture generations to a healthy biosphere 9. Chanda, Abhik (2015). ‘Global 22. Tourism Advocacy & Action Unemployment Rate Continues to Forum (2015). ‘Tourism & extend further than the 1989 defini- Soar,’ The Globe & Mail, Report Biodiversity: A Call for tion of child rights. They also include on Business, 19 May, p. B6. Meaningful Action’. Statement the broader human rights of children, 10. Parkinson, David (2014). ‘A issued on the International Day for as understood through evolving stand- Country’s Health Is Not Measured Biological Diversity. 26 May. ards and law. by GDP Alone,’ The Globe & Mail, 23. Kristof, Nicholas D. and Sheryl The post-2015 development Report on Business, 13 November, WuDunn (2014). A Path Appears: agenda on tourism must reflect the p. B2. Transforming Lives, Creating deepest expressions of the rights of 11. Marlow, Iain (2014). ‘G20 Agrees Opportunity. Alfred A. Knopf, New children, to assure inter-generational on Global Growth Plan,’ The Globe York; Boyd, David (2015). The care. This must include special meas- & Mail, Report on Business, 24 Optimistic Environmentalist: ures for children, as provided for in February, p. B1. Progressing Toward a Greener 12. Johnston, Alison M. (2013). Future. ECW Press, Toronto. international law, to protect today’s ‘Tourism: For Next Generations? 24. Bryan, Victoria and Tim Hepher children and future generations from Rethinking the Future We Want,’ (2015). ‘Airbus Steals Show with harm. An ethic of care in the tourism Third World Resurgence, No. 262, Last-Minute $14-Billion Deal,’ The industry will accept no less, in the face pp. 35-38. Globe & Mail, Report on Business, of the present biosphere crisis. The 13. McLaren, Deborah (2003). 19 June, p. B7. Responsibility to Protect doctrine, Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel: 25. Milstead, David (2015). ‘Canadian adopted by the UN Security Council, The Paving of Paradise and What Pensions Raising US Airline is our guide. ÿu You Can Do to Stop It. Kumarian Investments to New Heights,’ The Press, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Globe & Mail, Report on Business, Alison M. Johnston is director of the International 14. Cultural Survival USA (1999). 26 June, p. B9. Support Centre for Sustainable Tourism. ‘Tourism’ issue. Cultural Survival 26. Nelson, Jacqueline (2015). ‘Race Quarterly. Summer. Harvard for the Runway: Bidders Circle Endnotes University, Cambridge, MA. Airports,’ The Globe & Mail, 15. Johnston, Alison (2006). Is the Report on Business, 4 September, 1. Union of Concerned Scientists Sacred for Sale? Tourism & p. B1. (1992). ‘World Scientists’ Warning Indigenous Peoples. Earthscan, 27. Klein, Naomi (2014). This to Humanity’. Cambridge, Mass., London. Changes Everything: Capitalism vs USA. 16. Civil Society Reflection Group on The Climate. Alfred A. Knopf 2. Brito, Lidia and Mark Stafford Development Perspectives (2015). Canada, a division of Random Smith (2012). ‘State of the Planet ‘Goals for the Rich: Indispensable House Canada Limited, Toronto, Declaration’. Planet Under for a Universal Post-2015 Agenda’. pp. 113, 225, 241-243. Pressure Conference, London, Discussion Paper. 28. Ibid., pp. 143-144, 199. March 2012. 17. Vogue Magazine (2015). Teen 29. Ibid., pp. 12, 138. 3. Barnosky, Anthony D. et al. (2012). Vogue. June/July edition, pp. 58, 30. Picard, André (2015). ‘In ‘Approaching a State Shift in 72. “Symbolic Gesture”, Medical Earth’s Biosphere’, Nature, Vol. 18. Curran, Enda (2015). ‘Chinese Association to Get Out of Fossil- 496, 7 June, 48-52. Tourists Heading Your Way with Fuel Investments,’ The Globe & 4. Rees, William E. (2011). ‘Toward $264 Billion to Spend,’ The Mail, 27 August, p. A3. a Sustainable World Economy’. Vancouver Sun, Business Section, 31. Gray, Jeff (2015). ‘Canadian Paper delivered at Institute for New 12 March, p. D6. Courts Could Face Climate- Economic Thinking Annual 19. Boo, Elizabeth (1990). Change Cases,’ The Globe & Mail, Conference, 8-11 April, Bretton Ecotourism: The Potentials and Report on Business, 15 September, Woods, USA. Pitfalls. World Wildlife Fund, p. B3.

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32. Bakan, Joel (2004). The Corporation: The Pathological RIO+20 and BEYOND (Volume 1) Pursuit of Profit and Power. Penguin Canada, Toronto. Reaffirming Sustainable Development Commitments 33. Spencer, Kent (2015). ‘Hawaii’s Governor Says He’s Against Importing BC LNG,’ The Province, THIS is a compilation of Third World 27 August, p. 10. Network’s reports on the Rio+20 34. Byrne, James (2015). ‘LNG Is a intergovernmental negotiation process as Bad Choice for Our Environment,’ well as some broad analysis of the The Vancouver Sun, Letters to progress that has been made in Editor, 3 July. Also see: Jang, Brent implementing the original 1992 Rio (2015). ‘Geoscientist Warns LNG Summit commitments on sustainable Is Not So Green and Clean,’ The development. We highlight the fact that Globe & Mail, 26 May, p. S1. there has been weak implementation, with 35. McKenna, Cara (2014). ‘Chiefs considerable regression on the agreed Band Together to Pursue Benefits principles and commitments by developed from LNG, Mining,’ The Globe & Mail, 6 December, p. A8. countries. Though the 1992 Rio Principles 36. Sieniuc, Kat (2015). ‘Fracking- were ultimately reaffirmed after Induced BC Quakes Are Among considerable debate, unless the regression Largest on Record,’ The Globe & process is arrested and progress renewed, ISBN: 978-967-0747-06-4 214 pp Mail, 27 August, p. S1. the future for the planet and its inhabitants Development Goals, a major 37. O’Neil, Peter (2015). ‘Energy will be a bleak one. In Volume 2 the follow-up from Rio+20, are Giant Petronas Faced reports on the negotiations on Sustainable compiled. “Catastrophic” Safety Issues,’ The Vancouver Sun, 11 September, p. 1. Price Postage 38. Jang, Brent (2015). ‘First Nations Malaysia RM20.00 RM2.00 Form Alliance,’ The Globe & Mail, Developing countries US$11.00 US$5.50 (air) Report on Business, 9 September, Others US$15.00 US$7.50 (air) p. B1. Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. 39. Penner, Derrick (2015). ‘Project Supported by 20 Bands, Firm Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Says,’ The Vancouver Sun, UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order Business Section, 13 February, p. in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate E2. equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is 40. Jang, Brent (2015). ‘Native located in the USA. Leaders Divided on Pipelines,’ The Globe & Mail, Report on Business, Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international 1 October, p. B3. money order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ 41. McMahon, Tamsin (2014). rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. ‘Bigstone’s Lost Opportunity,’ Maclean’s Magazine, 24 All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., November, pp. 16-26. 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; 42. Klein (2014), op. cit., pp. 248-249. Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twn.my 43. McCarthy, Shawn (2015). I would like to order ...... copy/copies of RIO+20 and BEYOND (Volume 1). ‘Scientists Call for Halt of New Oil Sands Developments,’ The Globe I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. & Mail, Report on Business, 11 Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: June, p. B1; Semeniuk, Ivan (2015). ‘Oil Sands Must Remain American Express Visa Mastercard Largely Unexploited to Meet Climate Target, Study Finds,’ The A/c No.: Expiry date: Globe & Mail, 8 January, p. A4. 44. Kurlansky, Mark (2011). World Signature: Without Fish. Workman Publishing Company, Inc., New York. Name: 45. Johnston (2013), op. cit. 46. Brenner, Neil (2013). ‘Theses on Address: Urbanization,’ Public Culture, Vol. 25, No. 1: 85-113.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 18 C O V E R Rise of the aerotropolis One index of the rapid growth of global tourism is the emergence the world over of the aerotropolis, i.e., a city built around a new or existing airport. Challenging the claim of its proponents that it is a growth engine, Rose Bridger says it is a disastrous model of development that must be opposed.

A DISTINCTIVE urban form is emerging all over the world. It’s called an ‘aerotropolis’, or ‘airport city’. In- verting the traditional model of air- ports being built to serve established cities, an aerotropolis is a city built around a new, or existing, airport. Shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, and cultural and leisure facilities are conveniently situated to capture the flow of air passengers. Manufactur- ing and assembly plants, logistics and distribution complexes are linked with the airport’s cargo facilities. The clus- tered development is designed to be aviation-dependent, to serve the Songdo, a city built around Incheon airport in South Korea, is one of the world’s growth of the airport by maximising major aerotropolis developments. passenger and cargo throughput. Flying is the most carbon-inten- Aerotropolis pioneers receive income shopping mall, which opened in May. sive mode of transport, and aviation streams from hotels, restaurants, and Airport income from land can one of the fastest-growing sources of cultural and entertainment facilities include food and non-food crops, and greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, even such as exhibition centres extending the two largest aerotropolis develop- as the urgency of reducing emissions beyond the airport boundary, captur- ments in the US, Dallas/Fort Worth to prevent devastating climate change ing passenger expenditure. Office and Denver airports, profit from fos- becomes ever more evident, a global blocks, meeting rooms and confer- sil fuel extraction. Dallas/Fort Worth wave of airport-centric infrastructure ence centres ensure that business trav- Airport was one of the world’s first development threatens to lock us into ellers spend money on airport land. sites for fracking, extracting gas from an even higher level of fossil fuel de- Airports also secure income from shale wells on its 73 square kilome- pendency. Barely a day goes by with- green space. Golf courses are ubiqui- tres of land. Income from fracking out at least one announcement regard- tous, an easily replicable commercial- supplements conventional commer- ing planning, commencement or ised green space that is uniquely com- cial development including shops and progress of an aerotropolis some- patible with airport operations as the hotels. By July 2008, 60 gas wells where in the world. risk of bird strikes – collisions be- were in production, but the entire The rise of the aerotropolis is also tween birds and aircraft that can re- aerotropolis site is carefully land- a threat to vast tracts of farmland or sult in fatal accidents – is minimised, scaped so that people travelling wildlife habitats as developers seek because the manicured monoculture around it will not see a single well. out greenfield (undeveloped) sites. of short grass is inhospitable to insects The aerotropolis uses non-aero- that attract birdlife. Notable golf nautical revenue to cross-subsidise Non-aeronautical revenue courses on airport land include Nine charges to airlines, such as for land- Eagles at Hong Kong Airport, with an ing and navigation. Thus, airlines are The secret of success of the island green and night lighting, and incentivised to use the airport, and a world’s established major aerotropo- Melbourne Airport Golf Club, known symbiotic relationship between lis developments – including for its water features. Much of Kuala growth of the airport and the devel- Schiphol, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Lumpur Airport’s 100-square-kilome- opment clustered around it is estab- Incheon, Dallas/Fort Worth and Kua- tre land bank remains as oil palm plan- lished. An aerotropolis may proclaim la Lumpur – is that the airport owns a tations, providing a revenue stream itself ‘self-sustaining’, but it achieves large area of land surrounding it, and from palm oil sales until construction this status only by virtue of being reaps ‘non-aeronautical revenue’ from of more lucrative developments, such gifted the land for revenue generation, commercial development upon it. as South-East Asia’s largest outlet which is a form of subsidy.

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high degree of autonomy over activ- ity on land it owns, and local com- munities have little or no control over planning and governance. Construc- tion often begins with erection of a fence to keep out the local population and eviction of people living within it. For example, the Nepalese govern- ment has allocated funds to fence off an 80-square-kilometre site for the planned second Kathmandu airport. Mainly forested land, it hosts a resi- dent community of 6,000 people, Flying is the most carbon-intensive mode of transport, and aviation one of the fastest- mainly from the marginalised Tamang growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions. community, who face displacement and are concerned over how they will The ultimate all-inclusive ing or interaction with the local com- be rehabilitated. munity, and are oblivious to what has Citizens were not even informed Holidays with an ever-increasing been destroyed to gain quick and con- that Istanbul’s third airport is actually proportion of visitors’ time and money venient access to a desirable destina- a vast aerotropolis. The 77-square- spent on airport-owned land herald the tion. Their experience in the kilometre site, predominantly forested dawn of a tourism model that resem- aerotropolis resembles airport passen- land and also lakes and farmland, is bles the cruise ship industry, where, ger terminals – funnelled through re- being systematically destroyed by as well as accommodation, as much tail, advertising and whimsical repre- swarms of bulldozers and earth-mov- as possible is provided on board – sentations of local wildlife and cul- ing trucks. Campaigners opposing meals, casinos, cinemas and other en- ture. Separate from the aerotropolis construction of the airport discovered tertainment, and leisure facilities such facilities for tourists, devoid of the the plans through research on inves- as gyms. Passengers only leave the veneer of artworks and architectural tors and contractors. The emerging boat for excursions. Little economic flourishes maintaining a pretence of aerotropolis is a key component of a benefit filters down to the local com- local specificity, there is a cargo com- megaproject complex which also munity, which nevertheless has to con- plex, an area colonised by a rectilin- comprises a third bridge across the tend with hordes of visitors and high ear grid of identikit ugly grey rectan- Bosphorus Strait, a canal alongside it, concentrations of health-damaging gular sheds. and multilane highways. All feed each diesel pollution from plumes of dense other’s growth. Istanbul’s aerotropolis black smoke belching out of the cruise Exclusion plan is inspired by the artificial con- ship funnel. crete jungle that is Dubai, to the ex- Air pollution from planes is invis- The title of the book Aerotropolis: tent that it plans its own temple to ible, but people living near airports and The Way We’ll Live Next, by Profes- hyperconsumerism – the world’s big- under takeoff and approach flight sor John Kasarda, the most high-pro- gest duty-free shopping mall. paths are exposed to high levels of air- file proponent of the aerotropolis, and An aerotropolis requires heavy- craft noise, which is a causal factor in Greg Lindsay, a journalist and handed, centralised planning and en- illnesses including heart conditions speaker, implies futuristic settlements forcement, so it is not surprising that and strokes. And evidence is mount- in which all of humankind will be the largest aerotropolis developments ing that the cocktail of air pollutants welcome to participate. In reality, the progress unimpeded in autocratic emitted by aircraft causes serious aerotropolis is built for a privileged countries in the Middle East. Dubai’s health problems including respiratory minority – a hypermobile elite of fre- new airport, Al Maktoum, is the start- conditions and certain types of cancer. quent flyers criss-crossing the globe ing point for Dubai World Central, on The intensive industrialisation for power-broking meetings in airport 140 square kilometres of land. that enables flight – most importantly business premises, pampering them- Like Istanbul’s third airport, Kili- the vast amounts of concrete and the selves in luxurious hotels, and shop- manjaro Airport plans to emulate aviation fuel supply chain all the way ping in vast duty-free malls. Dubai, claiming 110 square kilome- to airport fuel tanks that can hold mil- Aerotropolis projects are instant tres of land, long occupied by Maasai lions of litres – is hidden. In the same cities built to a standardised template, pastoralists, as its ‘estate’, triggering vein, aerotropolis tourists are pro- the very opposite of the incremental protests by 10,000 people threatened foundly ignorant of the harsh realities involvement of a multitude of civic with loss of land and livelihood. of poverty, ecological destruction and organisations that characterises the In India’s Andhra Pradesh state, dissent outside the tourism complex history of the world’s enduring cul- massive protest by thousands of farm- bubble. Visitors have no genuine learn- tural centres. An aerotropolis has a ers facing dispossession for a 60-

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square-kilometre aerotropolis at Bhogapuram led to reduction of the project area to 20 square kilometres. India’s first aerotropolis at Andal, in West Bengal, has been stalled by land disputes since 2009, but became op- erational in May. An ‘industrial town- ship’ is planned around the airport. Citizens subsidise Andal aerotropolis – it is lavished with tax exemptions – but they have no control over it as it has been granted authority to sanction building and to collect taxes. It is be- coming a mini-city with its own laws. A retail area within Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport. In an aerotropolis, as in airport Economic enclaves passenger terminals, visitors are funnelled through retail and advertising with no genuine interaction with the local community. All aerotropolis projects claim to be ‘growth engines’ or ‘economic en- Taking on the aerotropolis cal incarnation of globalisation’. It is gines’, a panacea that will inevitably an urban form providing physical in- result in miraculous prosperity for the Aerotropolis plans might seem frastructure, and a supportive regula- wider region. A more apt description like pie in the sky, overambitious tory framework, for turbocharging of an aerotropolis, however, is ‘eco- schemes that will never actually ma- corporate globalisation. Whilst local nomic enclave’. The aviation indus- terialise. Common sense dictates that opposition to aerotropolis projects is try already benefits from tax exemp- they cannot all achieve ambitions of widespread, there is remarkably little tions on aviation fuel for international becoming ‘global hubs’ or ‘global critical analysis or opposition from flights and duty-free shopping. Typi- gateways’. But major aerotropolis NGOs or academia. An audacious cally, at least part of the aerotropolis schemes are among the biggest move of global networked capitalism site is designated as a ‘free trade zone’ megaprojects being imposed by a fu- is slipping under the radar. The (which might go under another name sion of government and corporate aerotropolis is a disastrous model of such as ‘special economic zone’) power. Gargantuan schemes progress development, a neoliberal nightmare bringing a slew of tax exemptions and on a piecemeal basis, the requisite that must be vigorously opposed. A other subsidies, all geared to minimis- physical and regulatory infrastructure new organisation, the Global Anti- ing the costs of international trade, slotting into place. Aerotropolis Movement (GAAM), accelerating corporate growth and Aerotropolis plans with astro- has been formed to bring together maximising profits. Connective infra- nomical growth projections for pas- movements for social, economic and structure, a road network encompass- senger numbers and cargo volumes, environmental justice to build resist- ing ring roads and access roads, wa- such as Istanbul’s third airport’s pro- ance, research and raise awareness of ter and power supply, plus a high- jections for 150 million passengers the aerotropolis, support affected speed fibre-optic network, without per year and the new Mexico City air- communities and build an interna- which the aerotropolis could not op- port’s masterplan for six runways, tional campaign community. ÿu erate, is typically publicly funded. may well prove unfeasible. But it is Claims that an aerotropolis gal- certain that land is being allocated Rose Bridger is a founder member of the Global vanises the economy of the surround- and there will likely be an airport and Anti-Aerotropolis Movement (GAAM) and the author of Plane Truth: Aviation’s Real Impact on People ing region are belied by the intention some degree of aeronautical activity and the Environment, published by Pluto Press. that these developments become ‘des- and commercial development that uti- tinations in their own right’, with visi- lises air services. Several local oppo- Source material tors spending as much time, and sition campaigns suspect the money, as possible on airport land. aerotropolis is a pretext for a land Rose Bridger (2013), Plane Truth: The aim is not to create wealth in the grab, under which land is handed Aviation’s Real Impact on People wider region, but to concentrate over to corporations for real estate and the Environment, Pluto Press wealth on airport property. Facilities speculation, for example Istanbul’s Rose Bridger (2015), ‘Aerotropolis like malls and entertainment centres third airport, the planned Bhogapuram alert! Airport mega-projects driving environmental destruction also capture trade from the resident airport and Taoyuan Aerotropolis on worldwide’, The Ecologist population, and the result is to drain 37 square kilometres of prime farm- Rose Bridger (2015), ‘Aerotropolis rather than boost the local economy. land. Update – No.1, August 2015’, The relationship of an aerotropolis to Kasarda was right when he de- Global Anti-Aerotropolis its hinterland is essentially parasitic. scribed the aerotropolis as ‘the physi- Movement (GAAM)

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 21 C O V E R Tourism for women’s rights? The prevailing oppressive and exploitative tourism industry cannot be allowed to take centrestage in the garb of protection and promotion of women’s rights, says Albertina Almeida.

IN the dominant discourse by nation- grounds that it was just a by-product persons, including women and chil- states on gender concerns, tourism is of some tourism gone bad, or just dren. The Indian government got this touted as a medium for peace, wom- some trafficking masquerading as Code ‘voluntarily’ signed by some en’s empowerment, employment and tourism. The entire character and ba- leading stakeholders on World Tour- economic advancement. It is also pro- sis of the dominant tourism industry ism Day 2010. Peer through it and you jected as providing agency to women. did not come under the Special Rap- will see that it is a retreat from In- These claims sweep under the carpet porteur’s lens, even as 1995 already dia’s own laws, which make it com- the very commodification of whole saw neoliberal politics and globalisa- pulsory – not just voluntary – for peoples and of women that is taking tion sweep Asian countries. stakeholders to comply with laws re- place in the name of tourism. lated to trafficking, sexual violence The Beijing Platform for Action Implementation of the BPFA and representation in the media (BPFA), adopted by the Fourth World through sexually explicit images. Is Conference on Women convened by Given that gender concerns on this yet another example of corporate the United Nations in Beijing in 1995, tourism were reduced to violence social responsibility that seeks to provided an opening, albeit a narrow against women, one of 12 critical ar- evade or dilute corporate legal respon- one, to put the gender scanner on the eas of concern within the BPFA, ironi- sibility? tourism industry. The BPFA specifi- cally, 20 years down the line when The Philippines reported that cally recognised violence against nation-states were called upon to take with the support of the US Agency for women as a critical area of concern, stock of the implementation of the International Development (USAID), being an obstacle to the achievement BPFA, tourism was in fact reported it tried addressing credit constraints of equality, development and peace, by nation-states to be a booster for for small and medium enterprises, and noted the impacts of tourism by women in so far as the other critical particularly in relation to problems of way of calling for the effective sup- areas of concern go. It was seen as a inadequate collateral and developing pression of trafficking of women and medium for boosting employment for a winning business proposal that is girls for the sex trade within this criti- women, a clean non-polluting indus- acceptable for loan applications. The cal area of concern. It invited the UN try, an industry that helps women project also aimed to promote in- Commission on Human Rights’ Spe- break the glass ceiling. There was not creased trade and investment through cial Rapporteur on Violence Against even a deeper look at the links be- better provision of infrastructure and Women to address within her mandate tween sex tourism and trafficking as increased competitiveness of key in- and as a matter of urgency the issue a form of violence against women. dustries such as tourism. There was of sex tourism. Countries presented reports tak- no explanation for the basis of this In her report to the Commission ing stock of implementation of the collaborative project nor a status re- on Human Rights in 2000,1 the Spe- BPFA during the ‘Beijing+20’ delib- port of the project. This would natu- cial Rapporteur noted that poverty and erations at the 59th session of the UN rally leave the reader seized with cu- unemployment increase opportunities Commission on the Status of Women riosity as to whether USAID, whose for trafficking and breed forms such (CSW59) in March.2 A perusal of funding conditionalities include non- as sex tourism in addition to the es- some of the reports from Asian coun- support for abortion, could at all ap- tablished forms of trafficking, which tries, in terms of how they address preciate the problems that trafficking are incompatible with the equal en- trafficking and in terms of the role of women for tourism brings about; joyment of rights by women and with they see for tourism, is instructive in whether USAID, whose economic respect for their rights and dignity and understanding where the problem lies policies attribute bad economics to put women at special risk of violence and imagining a different perspective merely corruption in the literal sense, and abuse. The lack of rights afforded in action. would not overlook the displacement to women serves as the primary causa- Take India’s report, which brags from land and livelihoods that domi- tive factor at the root of both wom- about adopting a Code of Conduct for nant economic models cause. en’s migration and trafficking in ‘Safe and Honourable Tourism’ to aid The Philippines Commission for women. the prevention of prostitution, sex Women is stated to have adopted a But within trafficking, sex tour- tourism and forms of sexual exploi- policy for economic empowerment of ism as such did not encounter a spe- tation like assaults and molestation in women through gender-responsive cial scrutiny, obviously on the tourism, to safeguard the safety of ecotourism. What does that mean?

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Tourists/locals warned against sexual National Council for Anti-Trafficking volve regular result-based account- harassment? Women in leadership in Persons and Anti-Smuggling of ability from all development actors, positions in tourist enterprises? But Migrants, headed by the Secretary- and should be based on local wom- what about the base of the dominant General of the Ministry of Home Af- en’s needs, the Forum of Women’s ecotourism industry which fails to fairs, in order to make Malaysia in- NGOs has demanded. address the structural issues of in- ternationally accredited as being free The review from Japan acknowl- equality and is founded on disregard of illegal activities in connection with edged that child prostitution is com- for communities already marginalised human trafficking and smuggling of mitted by Japanese nationals abroad, by caste and class, who are compelled migrants. The language of women’s that it furthers trafficking in persons to either live controlled lives or exit rights took a backseat. in the countries concerned, and that these ecotourism spots? The policy of Nepal’s review is even more dis- efforts were made to raise awareness enjoining the Tourism Promotion turbing. The report brazenly stated of potential perpetrators through post- Board to make the tourism marketing that Nepal wished to upgrade itself ers and distribution of leaflets at travel campaigns gender-sensitive, seems to from Tier Two to Tier One under the agencies and passport centres in Ja- be the lone lantern illuminating the UN Trafficking in Persons Protocol, pan. The report however failed to look trajectory of the tourism industry for hence merely pitching for a better at systemic issues, which is probably women’s rights. place under the UN sun, without at what prompted the New Japan Wom- Malaysia also flagged tourism all trying to redress the prevailing cir- en’s Association to point out that in- skills acquired by women as worthy cumstances that drive women to be- creasing poverty, that is feminisation of incubation under the Single Mother come victims of trafficking, which the of poverty, is to be attributed to the Skills Incubation Programme, to en- UN Special Rapporteur has well financial circle’s neoliberal strategy courage generation of income based documented. So attention is focused backed by government policies. This on these skills, without even consid- on the symptoms rather than the dis- it saw as ‘increasing low-paid and ering the structural character of the ease in recognising trafficking of unstable non-regular workers with no tourism industry today that is increas- young girls and women in the domes- rights, while adversely revising the ingly condominium-ising various tic sex industry operating under the social security system to deepen pov- tourism products, where independent ambit of the entertainment sector. Ire erty and to widen the gap between rich small and medium entrepreneurs have is channelled towards proposing bans and poor’. The Association called no chance to survive being swallowed on this domestic industry under mor- upon its government not to lift regu- by mega-tourism in the era of global alist garb, rather than improvement of lations on the use of temporary agency corporate capital. So a tiny shack is the working conditions of women in workers, ‘which will undermine the not acceptable and may be accompa- the entertainment or hospitality indus- very basis for working women to be nied by the attendant insecurities of try as a whole, or a scrutiny of the self-reliant’. It also asserted the need yearly allotment, apart from various entertainment industry managed by for implementation, stating that agree- other hurdles placed by starred tour- the dominant transnational and do- ments and commitments are just not ist resorts which see them as obsta- mestic players. enough. cles to good business in their own res- Kyrgyzstan’s review offers some taurants. The overall suppressive attempt at structural redressal by mak- Post-2015 development trend of dispensing with small busi- ing a beginning towards establishing agenda nesses and glamorising brand names a system of indicators on trafficking is simply not addressed. What needs significant for improving gender sta- Several of the statements taking to change is ‘the playing field upon tistics. It would help to know whether stock of the implementation of the which commerce has continued to these indicators were developed BPFA have reiterated in different play the game over the past 200 through participatory processes. Con- words that the critical financial situa- years’, as the World Union of Small trast the state’s report with the state- tion of developing countries and deep- and Medium Enterprises expressed in ment of the Forum of Women’s NGOs ening inequalities between countries its statement circulated at CSW59.3 of Kyrgyzstan circulated at CSW59. have made the achievement of the The Anti-Trafficking in Persons It makes a clear reference to economic BPFA and the Millennium Develop- Act 2007 enacted by Malaysia made losses of women leading to dramatic ment Goals unreachable. The Interna- the salutary provision of not prosecut- migration of rural women, who be- tional Muslim Women’s Union, for ing trafficked victims for illegal en- come subjected to discrimination on instance, called upon the international try with fraudulent documents. But many grounds abroad. Forced migra- community to support the developing this would by no means address the tion for rural women to entertainment countries by working to relieve debts issue of forced prostitution within the industries, even to other Asian coun- and lift sanctions, so as to enable them ambit of the tourism industry, a pros- tries which exploit, is so visible! State to achieve the Sustainable Develop- titution that is forced by economic policy changes should be accompa- ment Goals of the post-2015 devel- circumstances. Malaysia’s report it- nied by means of implementation, in- opment agenda. Already at CSW58, self acknowledges that it has set up a cluding adequate finances, should in- an expert group report had clearly in-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 23 C O V E R dicted the prevailing neoliberal eco- agenda, it is necessary to look at how farmers. There are no figures, how- nomic model as incapable of support- tourism is being positioned vis-a-vis ever, to check the inflation that tour- ing gender-equitable sustainable de- the post-2015 agenda. A presentation ism in an unequal world causes, which velopment. made by David Randle,5 CEO of the hikes up prices of the staple food of The political declaration by na- WHALE Center on Sustainable Tour- host communities and takes it off their tion-states at CSW594 emphasised ism Development, as part of the World plates, or leaves the women who are that ‘the full and effective implemen- Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) del- saddled with home budgeting shoul- tation of the Beijing Declaration and egation to the High Level Political dering the burden of juggling scarce Platform for Action is essential for Forum on Sustainable Development, real money for various basic necessi- achieving the unfinished business of which is the main UN platform on ties. As for the contribution to com- the Millennium Development Goals sustainable development, holds por- post, it would have to be measured and for tackling the critical remain- tents of what is to come and to be jus- against the loss of composting poten- ing challenges through a tified in the name of sustainable de- tial due to occupation and consump- transformative and comprehensive velopment. It is worth examining in tion of huge tracts of land by such approach in the post-2015 develop- order to highlight what a manicured massive tourism projects. ment agenda, including through the projection and implementation of the The point is also sought to be sustainable development goal on 17 Sustainable Development Goals of made that the tourism industry re- achieving gender equality and em- the post-2015 agenda can look like quires a healthy environment to suc- powering all women and girls, as pro- and mean, particularly for women. ceed and that the industry will find it posed by the Open Working Group on in its best interests to assist people to Sustainable Development Goals in its Unravelling tourism claims reconnect with nature and inspire report, which shall be the main basis them to take action to protect the for integrating sustainable develop- To start with, tourism has been Earth. Tourism resorts and destina- ment goals into the post-2015 devel- justified as an industry that can offer tions do indeed require healthy envi- opment agenda, while recognising means of implementation of the Sus- ronments to attract visitors. But the that other inputs will also be consid- tainable Development Goals, as it massive tourism enterprise kills the ered, in the intergovernmental nego- contributes to 9% of the world’s gross very nature goose that lays the golden tiation process at the sixty-ninth ses- domestic product (GDP). It is pro- environment, by consuming it beyond sion of the General Assembly, and jected as one of the strongest drivers its carrying capacity. And when the also through the integration of a gen- of world trade and prosperity and environment is killed, it simply moves der perspective into the post-2015 hence possessing wealth-creating to greener pastures, literally and figu- development agenda’. power to alleviate poverty. What is not ratively, casting on women a triple Women the world over have been said is that GDP is a measure of ‘eco- burden of gender, poverty and dis- declaring they do not want empty nomic growth’ that is about the gross placement from livelihoods. The promises that the governments will value of goods and services produced healthy lifestyle practices that tourism later say are not implementable or will for the market. It does not consider is said to promote, by way of exer- not or cannot hold themselves ac- who the profits from these goods and cise, stress management and safety, countable for. The Asia Pacific Forum services go to – the proportion that may be necessary and affordable for on Women, Law and Development, goes to the women who run small and the leisure-seeking tourists, not the in its statement, reiterated the impor- medium tourism enterprises, for in- women from the host communities on tance of transforming the macroeco- stance – therefore leaving the foun- whom the burden of organising that nomic environment and of a commit- dation of inequality and injustice in- leisure is substantially cast. ment to ‘international trade, finance tact. Another argument sought to be and investment arrangements that Randle also said tourism can end advanced on the side of sustainable support and complement national ef- hunger by better feeding the world’s development through tourism is that forts to develop sustainably and eq- hungry through promoting sustainable tourism, if developed sustainably, uitably’. The conclusion of the delib- agriculture so that 50% of all food is brings improved water and sanitation erations at CSW59 with only a resolve sourced locally and waste is diverted to a local area. It is said that ‘tourism, to fully implement the BPFA, but no to the poor, used for compost for farm- unlike other businesses, has incentive accountability for non-compliance ers or as an energy source. An exam- to provide safe water and sanitation and no redressal of the problems of ple that was given to illustrate this was to both attract visitors and encourage macroeconomic policies that of the Walt Disney World theme park, them to return’, but what this claim proactively enable women’s rights which was said to provide 704,845 hides is that this is about safe water violations, is disconcerting in great pounds of food to feed the hungry in and sanitation for tourists, often at the measure. three different Florida counties. cost of lowering groundwater tables With the Beijing+20 delibera- Randle also said Disney produces and diverting finances away from sus- tions concluded and with the final about 11,000 tons of compost each tainable water infrastructure for the stamp on the post-2015 development year, most of which is given to locals, driving women to walk long

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 24 C O V E R distances to fetch water. ceived as having an inbuilt feature that terity measures. When the industry speaks of us- promotes world peace and cultural At the very least, implementation ing affordable and reliable energy, it understanding. Mark Twain seems to of the post-2015 development agenda completely masks the subsidies for come to its aid through his quote, must contextualise the targets for the electricity to hotels including starred ‘Broad, wholesome, charitable views achievement of the Sustainable De- hotels, which come at the cost of rais- of men and things cannot be acquired velopment Goals set. The responsibil- ing the rates for electricity consump- by vegetating in one little corner of ity for implementation by developed tion by the common person, again the earth all one’s lifetime.’ ‘Tourism countries, transnational actors and casting on women the burden of jug- can help create better understanding dominant local actors cannot be the gling the dwindling household of different cultures and traditions and same as that cast on individuals on the budget. at times engage in track II diplomacy,’ margins and on local communities. The goal of reducing inequality David Randle asserts. The prevalently oppressive and within and between countries and pro- Contrast this with E Bernstein exploitative tourism industry cannot moting gender equality is made to and E Shih’s article,6 where they con- be allowed to take centrestage in the seem achievable through such means clude that ‘reality tours’ also serve to garb of protection and promotion of as signing of codes of ethics and to- confirm ‘what participants have al- women’s rights, and of the post-2015 ken awards for women artisans. This ready learned to feel and to believe agenda of Sustainable Development completely misses the point about prior to travelling, perhaps because Goals.7 ÿu structural inequalities which was the commercially packaged tours, by their basis of this strong demand in the first very nature, must resist political com- Albertina Almeida is a lawyer, researcher and human place. plexity, in order to appeal to a dedi- rights activist based in Goa, India. A myth surrounding tourism is cated market niche of consumers’. Endnotes about the jobs it generates and the You have a distorted picture of what driver that it is for economic growth. tourism can do unless and until its 1 UN Commission on Human It is not that tourism cannot create jobs structural base is interrogated. How Rights, ‘Report of the Special and drive economic growth, but that can peace be fostered so simplistically Rapporteur on Violence against has to happen by reviewing the indi- between peoples who are divided Women, Its Causes and cators of growth as well as assessing along the lines of class, caste, gender, Consequences, Radhika what kind of jobs it creates, and and where there exists discrimination Coomaraswamy, submitted in marginalised sections, including on grounds of disability, age and accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 1997/44. women, must be involved in envision- sexual orientation? Addendum: Report on the mission ing that tourism. to Haiti’, 27 January 2000, E/CN.4/ The tourism industry has been An opportunity 2000/68/Add.3, available at: http:/ portrayed as having demonstrated the /www.refworld.org capability to change production and Randle himself says every crisis 2 All the country reports can be consumption patterns, with targets of is a danger and an opportunity. In- accessed from http://www.unwom reducing waste in landfills to zero. deed. So may we seize the opportu- en.org/en/csw/csw59-2015/ This again is possible and desirable, nity of the post-2015 agenda of Sus- preparations#National 3 All the NGO statements circulated but will they seriously work on these tainable Development Goals and tar- at CSW59 can be accessed from targets? Studies on non-gradable gets to bring them down to the earth http://www.unwomen.org/en/csw/ waste generation and disposal suggest on which they are located? csw59-2015/official-documents otherwise. Even sewage treatment As the International Alliance of 4 http://www.un.org/ga/search/ plants are known to be switched on Women has pointed out in its state- view_doc.asp?symbol=E/CN.6/ by starred resorts only when inspect- ment at CSW59, a post-2015 frame- 2015/L.1 ing officials are about to land on site work must ensure that the interna- 5 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ dr-dave-randle/sustainable- – all for the sake of reaping higher tional financial system works to ad- tourism-an-op_b_7774380.html?ir profits by saving on the operation of vance gender equality, women’s em- =India&adsSiteOverride=in such plants. The consequences for powerment and women’s rights. A 6 Elizabeth Bernstein and Elena health are borne by the host commu- critical challenge concerning the im- Shih, ‘The Erotics of Authenticity: nities and again an excruciating bur- plementation of Beijing+20 has been Sex Trafficking and “Reality den is felt by women, who suffer both the ongoing financial, economic and Tourism” in Thailand’, Social because they are traditionally in- social crisis which has affected most Politics: International Studies in volved with healthcare work and also regions of the world and has had par- Gender, State and Society, Vol. 21, because the best of healthcare and ticularly adverse effects for women No. 3, Fall 2014, pp. 430-460. healthcare service providers is now by, for instance, directing attention 7 Albertina Almeida and Anita being diverted towards medical tour- away from gender equality objectives Pleumarom, ‘The uncertainties for women in tourism’, http:// ism. towards seemingly pressing policy www.sundayobserver.lk/2015/03/ The tourism industry is also per- imperatives such as establishing aus- 15/spe02.asp

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 25 C O V E R Maasai fight eviction from Tanzanian community land by US-based ecotourism company Pastoralist land in Tanzania is under threat because of commercial agriculture and conservation. In some places ‘philanthropic’ ecotourism companies also add to the problem. This article focuses on a case in Loliondo.

Susanna Nordlund land as before. Thereafter TBL stopped cultiva- IN Loliondo, the northern division of tion altogether and Ngorongoro district, near Serengeti left due to condi- National Park in Tanzania, Thomson tions that were too Safaris, a safari company from Bos- dry for barley and ton, USA, claims to be developing due to opposition. 12,617 acres of Maasai grazing land In 2003-04, into a model for community-based many years after tourism and conservation initiatives, having left, TBL with the goal of fostering a symbiotic managed to se- relationship made possible by cure, despite alle- ecotourism. It calls the land its pri- gations of forgery Maasai in Loliondo, Tanzania. Maasai villages in the area are vate Enashiva Nature Refuge (or by the Maasai, a involved in a court case against a US-based safari company sometimes Eastern Serengeti Nature 99-year ‘certifi- that has developed a ‘nature refuge’ on their grazing land. Refuge). cate of occupancy’ The Maasai on whose land for 12,617 acres, which they then put which organises hunting for the high- Thomson’s project takes place, on up for sale in 2006. This is how est levels of United Arab Emirates their part, report about harassment, Thomson Safaris, through its sister society and was granted the hunting beatings and arrests of ‘trespassers’, company created for this purpose, block – right to hunt in Loliondo – in and three villages surrounding the Tanzania Conservation Ltd, came to 1992 without the consent of the nature refuge are, with the support of buy Maasai land. These companies Maasai. Minority Rights Group International, are subsidiaries of the parent company OBC does not claim to own any involved in a court case to regain their Wineland-Thomson Adventures Inc., land, but with its authority from the land. owned by Rick Thomson and Judi government it has caused much abuse The tour operator from Boston Wineland. and conflict trying to manage it. This came to claim ownership and right to Since Thomson’s intention was to is aggravated by a system in which manage Maasai land after 10,000 create its own private nature refuge, the District Commissioner – the high- acres in Soitsambu village were in it started restricting grazing on land est central government representative 1984-85 allocated to the then that the Maasai depended on for the in the district – and district officials parastatal Tanzania Breweries Ltd cattle on which their livelihoods and work for the interests of the central (TBL) for barley cultivation. The min- culture are based. Needless to say, this government and investors against the utes of the meeting in which the vil- required use of force, and herders interests of local people. lage council is supposed to have risked beatings and arrests when ac- The main threat by OBC is agreed to the land transfer look highly cessing grazing or the nearest water- against 1,500 km2 of dry-season graz- anomalous and are in the name of ing point in the ‘nature refuge’. ing land bordering Serengeti National ‘Sukenya village’. Sukenya was at the Maasai resistance has been made Park (there was already a huge loss time a sub-village of Soitsambu, and difficult due to elaborate divide-and- of land when the Maasai had to leave would not become a village until a rule tactics. Thomson did not need to the national park in 1959). In 2009 quarter-century later. TBL cultivated develop these tactics, which were al- there were violent extrajudicial evic- 100 of the 10,000 acres in 1985-86 ready in use by the central govern- tions from this area by a special po- and 700 acres in 1986-87 while the ment and another investor in the area: lice force, the Field Force Unit, and Maasai continued using the rest of the Otterlo Business Corporation (OBC), OBC’s rangers. A 7-year-old girl,

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Nashipai Gume, was lost in the denied any wrongdoing and evictions and has not been claimed to be victims of a mi- found. nority with selfish interests that People eventually moved are spreading lies about it. How back, but in 2010-11 a draft dis- specific it is about this minor- trict land use plan – paid for by ity varies, but many have heard OBC, as its managing director the story narrowed down to the had told the press – was re- founder and director of the non- vealed which proposed turning governmental Pastoral Wom- the 1,500 km2 into a protected en’s Council, Maanda area (not protected from hunt- Ngoitiko, who was born and ing). This plan was strongly re- raised just north of the land that jected by the District Council, Thomson claims ownership to. and the government seemed to Thomson Safaris has been very active and aggressive In April this year Ngoitiko was back off. Then in 2013 the in online PR for Enashiva Nature Refuge (pic). named Tanzania’s Rural Hu- Minister for Natural Resources man Rights Defender of 2014 and Tourism at the time made state- before transferring it to Thomson for by the Tanzania Human Rights De- ments that the 1,500 km2 would be a paltry $1.2 million. fenders Coalition. taken from the Maasai for a protected Thomson has also been very ac- area – but he did this in a very rounda- Accounts of arrests and tive and aggressive in online PR for bout way, pretending that the whole beatings Enashiva Nature Refuge, and has re- of Loliondo was protected and the ceived several awards, not least one Maasai would be generously ‘given’ Through the years there have from the Tanzania Tourist Board in the remaining land. been many accounts of arrests and 2009 for the nature refuge. After many meetings and protest beatings by Thomson’s guards to- Charity is one weapon in delegations to Dar es Salaam and gether with the police. Visitors have Thomson’s war for managing Maasai Dodoma, Prime Minister Pinda in experienced how young herders run land. This is also something it shares September of the same year revoked away in a panic upon seeing a vehi- with OBC. Its charitable branch the threat in a speech – but this has cle. FoTZC has built classrooms and still not been put in writing. In Au- In 2008 Lesinko Nanyoi from teachers’ housing with funds raised gust 2012 the online petition site Enadooshoke next to the nature ref- from former tourists. Thomson is very Avaaz had, without much explanation uge was shot in the jaw, having to proud of a women’s group that sells or detail, launched a petition against spend months in hospital, after the beadwork to its tourists. It has also the threat posed by OBC, and this led police were called in to deal with a built a dispensary in Sukenya; in May to more international coverage that, confrontation between herders and 2015 there were protests against the while of great help, was unfortunately Thomson guards, and started shoot- land grab and against the increasingly not always very fact-based. ing. Authorities absolved both the ‘investor-friendly’ – now voted out – The land occupied by Thomson guards and the police of blame for the MP for Ngorongoro, Telele, who was is just outside the 1,500 km2 and add- shooting, and Lesinko is yet to see any there to inaugurate the dispensary. ing to the problem. There are three justice. The Minister for Health who had also Maasai sections in Loliondo – the In 2012-13 Thomson dragged a been flown in left early because of the Purko, the Loita and the Laitayok – group of herders, two minors in- protests. and OBC has focused on working cluded, to court for ‘trespass’. The Foreigners wanting to report with Laitayok leaders to divide and case was eventually dismissed since about Thomson have got into trouble: rule. Thomson has done the same, and the herders had a good lawyer from In 2008 a photographer from New the same leaders that express support the Legal and Human Rights Centre Zealand, Trent Keegan, who wanted for OBC also do so for Thomson. and the plaintiffs were contradicting to investigate alleged attacks on the Soitsambu has over the past five themselves. Maasai had told friends he was wor- years been split up into several vil- In January 2014 several herders ried for his own safety after being ap- lages, and Enashiva Nature Refuge were beaten up by Thomson’s guards proached by the police and now falls within the areas of Sukenya and the police, and taken to the tour Thomson’s guards. He then decided and Mondorosi villages. Thomson has operator’s camp. This angered warri- to leave Tanzania for Nairobi. Tragi- tried to use this to its advantage, but ors (young men) who wanted to burn cally, a few days later, he was found the villages have joined in a court case down the camp, and the police fired beaten to death in a drainage ditch in to get back the land. This case is based shots into the air. the Kenyan capital. Keegan’s laptop on the fact that the land had returned Thomson has through the years and phone were stolen, but not his to the Maasai through adverse pos- – with minor adjustments according money and credit card. Two men session due to TBL’s long absence to time and to who is asking – flatly charged in 2008 with his death (al-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 27 C O V E R legedly in the course of a robbery) journalist Jean Friedman-Rudovsky In June 2015 I went to Loliondo were acquitted for lack of evidence, and photographer Noah Friedman- to get further information from the as was another man in 2011. Rudovsky managed to arrange an in- ground, but before I could visit Keegan’s friend Brian terview with Daniel Yamat and were Sukenya and Mondorosi I was ar- MacCormaic from Ireland, who was taken to a community meeting ar- rested, locked up for three nights with- working as an adviser to a school in ranged by the councillor for Oloipiri, out being allowed to contact friends the area, met with Rick Thomson and William Alais, whose letter praising and family, and again declared a pro- Judi Wineland to inform them about Thomson and OBC was published in hibited immigrant. After being re- the complaints the Maasai had against the Jamhuri newspaper that was stok- leased in Kenya it was discovered that their employees on the ground. When ing negative sentiment against the my computer had been seriously tam- MacCormaic wanted to leave the Maasai of Loliondo. Alais wasn’t to- pered with during my arrest. meeting, the atmosphere became tally happy with the reporters and On the evening of 8 July 2014 threatening; he was held up by 10 called up the District Commissioner, Olunjai Timan was looking for cows armed men arriving in a Thomson and a lengthy and threatening inter- vehicle and not let go until after phone rogation by the Security Committee that had been chased and dispersed calls were made to the Irish Embassy followed. What prevented any esca- by Thomson’s guards after his sons and the Regional Commissioner. lation was the reporters’ explanation had been herding and the cows en- Later, outside the District Commis- that they would spend their last day tered Enashiva Nature Refuge. A sioner’s office, Thomson’s manager in Loliondo visiting Thomson’s Thomson vehicle appeared when Daniel Yamat boasted to MacCormaic projects, talking to their supporters Olunjai was on his way home, there about having files from his laptop. and interviewing Alais. Alais’ men was an order to shoot and a bullet hit Later in a meeting, this manager, ac- were told not to leave the reporters Olunjai’s thigh. He was hospitalised cording to those present, also pre- alone, but even so the Thomson sup- for a week. The identity of the police- sented files that appeared to be from porters they were introduced to had man who fired the shot was known, Keegan’s laptop to the District Com- their own complaints about harass- but the only action taken was to trans- missioner. ment by the company’s guards. fer him to another area. There were In 2009 British journalist Alex In 2010 a British social justice protest meetings and warriors again Renton and photographer Caroline organisation that works, among oth- wanted to burn down Thomson’s Irby visited Enashiva Nature Refuge ers, on the issue of land rights in camp but were calmed down by with an invitation from Thomson’s Loliondo received a letter from a Lon- elders. After more meetings the then manager in Arusha. The local man- don law firm instructed by Thomson. District Commissioner and district ager Yamat refused to answer ques- The tour operator wanted to stop this officials advised Thomson to allow tions, and some 10 minutes after leav- organisation from mentioning it on the grazing until the court case was over. ing, the reporters were picked up by organisation’s website. An even According to reports, herders have the police. They were taken by the starker example of Thomson’s aggres- been entering with their animals with- police to the District Commissioner’s sive litigiousness concerns the Stop out suffering any violence. office, after which they were escorted Thomson Safaris website, started in In court the defendants were to out of the district. The District Com- 2012 by anonymous people in Tan- have been heard on 24 July, but the missioner’s secretary told them they zania who had seen firsthand the ef- hearings were postponed until Sep- were acting on a complaint by fects of Thomson’s occupation on the tember and then the judgment date Thomson. residents of Loliondo and decided to was set for 28 October, when the court After having come across this raise awareness about the situation. totally failed to protect the land rights conflict in an online travel forum in These people were sued and had to of the Maasai, ruling against all but May 2008, this writer, in 2010 when agree to a settlement to keep their one minor point. The Maasai’s law- on a tourist visit, asked the Ward Ex- anonymity. The website was taken yers, Wallace N. Kapaya and Rashid ecutive Officer (WEO) of Soitsambu down. S. Rashid, told Minority Rights if what was written on Thomson’s Group, ‘We are tremendously dissat- website corresponded with reality. Harassment isfied with this judgment and intend The WEO phoned the District Com- to appeal it at the first opportunity. missioner, who said he would answer Based on the evidence at trial the court my questions, but instead the follow- Local people who speak up against the land threats are often vic- did not come to a fair decision, and ing morning I was picked up by the this judgment only serves to cement police and taken to the Ngorongoro tims of intense harassment. One tac- tic often employed by authorities and the marginalisation of the Maasai in Security Committee. The District Ngorongoro in the name of conser- Commissioner took my passport and not least certain segments of the Tan- zanian press is to accuse them of be- vation.’ I had to go to Immigration in Arusha, The battle for justice goes on! u where I was declared a ‘prohibited ing ‘Kenyan’. The most rabidly ‘pa- triotic’ journalist extends this to claim- immigrant’. I visited Loliondo in 2011 Susanna Nordlund is an independent blogger and 2013 without any problems. ing that 70% of the population of focusing on land-grabbing ‘investors’ in Loliondo, In December 2014 American Loliondo would not be Tanzanian. Tanzania.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 28 C O V E R The puputan struggle against the Benoa Bay reclamation project Fearful that the project will result in the flooding of some of their villages, the people of Bali have been waging a bitter struggle for the past three years against the reclamation of Benoa Bay which links the island’s three important tourist hubs. Anton Muhajir reports.

FIFTY-year-old Pande Ketut Merta has faithfully participated in a street protest for the last three years. In every protest organised by the Forum Rakyat Bali Tolak Reklamasi (ForBALI – Bali People’s Forum to Reject Reclamation), he and the peo- ple of Benoa Bay are always present, as was the case in July 2015. About 1,500 people marched from the east side of the the Niti Mandala Park in Denpasar, the civic centre of Bali. In a neat file, they walked about 200 metres towards the Bali Provincial Parliament building, carrying posters and banners and shouting slogans as they walked. Merta wore a T-shirt bearing the words ‘Reject Benoa Bay Reclama- tion’. For the last three years, I have Map of Benoa Bay. seen Merta among the thousands of young people participating in such protests. His is a familiar face, always Such an action is called ngurek Klungkung Puputan of April 1908. in the frontline. in the Balinese language. It is usually Both were waged to fight the Dutch At times, Merta also made fiery conducted as part of a ritual among colonial government. speeches, such as during the July pro- the Balinese Hindus. Usually the per- More than a century later, the test. He stood atop a pickup truck and son conducting ngurek will first be in Balinese people are determined to began his oration. ‘Benoa Bay is ours, a trance; he will stab his chest very pursue another puputan. This time, it it does not belong to investors. We forcefully, but no blood will be spilled will be to fight the investors that want should not let investors damage it. and no wound will result. to colonise Benoa Bay in Bali’s Kuta Reject reclamation of Benoa Bay!’ Ngurek is a symbolic act to de- Selatan district. This was instantly followed by the note the intention to let go of oneself shouts of the participants: ‘Reject!’ for a higher purpose. That was the Strategic area Layar Priatna is another interest- case for Priatna, 40, the coordinator ing participant. A year ago, he partici- of the Renon Community to Reject The ‘battlefield’ of Benoa is lo- pated in a protest against the recla- Reclamation. For him, ngurek is a cated in southern Bali, covering about mation and took dramatic action. In symbol of willingness to sacrifice 1,988 hectares. It lies within the rich- full traditional Balinese costume, himself, even to the extent of est parts of Bali encompassing Priatna raised a sword and, with an commmiting puputan. Denpasar city and Badung Regency. angry expression, aimed the sword at Puputan, in Balinese terminol- It is also very strategic in terms of the his chest. Around him some 1,500 ogy, means going into battle until the tourism economy and politics, being people cheered and shouted slogans. last drop of blood. There were two big situated in the middle of the ‘golden ‘The people of Bali are prepared to wars or puputan on this island that are triangle’, the heart of Bali’s tourism commit puputan to stop the Benoa still remembered today as acts of hub: Sanur in the north, Kuta in the Bay reclamation,’ Priatna shouted, heroism. They are the Badung west and Nusa Dua in the south. before stabbing his chest. Puputan in September 1906 and the Sanur is a pioneer in tourism de-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 29 C O V E R velopment in Bali. It hosts the first veloped on four new islands cover- were halted due to the 1997-98 eco- five-star hotel on the island, the Inna ing 270 hectares, to be reclaimed and nomic and political crisis in Indone- Grand Bali Beach, constructed in built by PT BBM. sia. PT BBM had not begun construc- 1966. To this day it remains a hub for Under PT BBM’s 1996 master tion, and the PT BTID development Bali’s tourism, especially for tourists plan, the four islands were given was only about 60% complete. About who enjoy sunrise scenery. names and designations. Pulau Utama 75% of the total land in the reclaimed Kuta, in the west of Benoa Bay, (Main Island), which would also serve Serangan island is lying idle. is the heart of tourism. This interna- as the ship harbour, would be 43.7 tional village is a magnet for tourists hectares, Pulau Bali Village 39.5 hec- New investment plans from all over the world. Its spectacu- tares, Pulau Lapangan Golf 164 hec- lar sunsets draw millions of travellers, tares, and Pulau Venice 22 hectares. Seventeen years later, Benoa Bay especially young people, making this It was clear that the largest island remains a target of investors. This area the icon of Bali tourism. would house an 18-hole golf course, time it is PT Tirta Wahana Bahari Nusa Dua in the south is the most to be surrounded by hotels, resorts and Internasional (TWBI) which is plan- elite area in Bali. It hosts the hotel housing areas. The total investment ning to build high-end tourism facili- complex for conferences and conven- was to be $260 million, and the target ties in the area. tions, managed by the Bali Tourism market was clearly the wealthy. PT TWBI is a Badung Regency- Development Corporation (BTDC). It At about the same time, in the based company dealing in property includes the Bali International Con- northern part of Benoa Bay, another development, construction and man- vention Centre, which has hosted mega-project was underway: the rec- agement services. Its director Hendi many UN meetings on the environ- lamation of Serangan Island. Origi- Lukman is also the director of busi- ment, including the 2007 UN climate nally, Serangan, in the south of ness development at PT Jakarta Inter- change conference. Denpasar, was an island separated national Hotels and Development Linking these three important from Bali. It was a turtle breeding site. Tbk. Established in 1969, this com- tourism hubs of Bali is Benoa Bay. PT Bali Turtle Island Development pany builds and manages hotels, of- Additionally, Benoa Bay is lo- (BTID), owned by two of then presi- fice buildings, shopping centres, cated between two important public dent Soeharto’s sons, Bambang apartments and business centres. facilities: the Benoa harbour in the Trihatmojo dan Tommy Soeharto, and PT Jakarta International is the north and Bali’s Ngurah Rai Interna- the Military Kodam IX/Udayana, owner of Hotel Borobudur Jakarta, tional Airport in the west. These are wanted to develop tourism facilities Discovery Hotel & Resort Manage- two of the main entry points into Bali. here. ment, and PT Danayasa Arthatama About 98% of tourists visiting Bali For this purpose, PT BTID then Tbk. The latter is the developer and enter through the airport. reclaimed 481 hectares of land in manager of the Sudirman Business Two years ago, Bali’s first tolled Serangan, four times the original size Centre, or SCBD Sudirman, in South highway cut across Benoa Bay. The of Serangan Island. The company Jakarta. Bali Mandara toll road, 12.7 kilome- wanted to develop Serangan as a Henry Sutanto, who sits on the tres long, was inaugurated in Septem- luxury tourism complex. The facili- PT TWBI board, is also involved with ber 2013 and connects Denpasar with ties planned were, among others, a PT Kharisma Arya Paksi, owner of the Ngurah Rai Airport, the airport golf course, resorts, lagoons for wa- Hotel Discovery Kartika Plaza and with Nusa Dua, and Denpasar with ter sports, a yacht club, a beach club- Discovery Shopping Mall in Kuta. Nusa Dua. It has become a new route house and villas. Also in the offing The Kartika Plaza owner also has ho- for tourists to visit Nusa Dua. were a turtle research centre, hotels tels in Jakarta, Riau and other places. and restaurants. The holding company for all these is Eyed by investors This was in 1995, and the new the Artha Graha Network, owned by island was reclaimed on the southern tycoon Tomy Winata. It is no wonder, then, that many part of the old island. There is a canal PT TWBI has had plans to de- investors want to control Benoa Bay. to separate the old island, on which velop Benoa Bay since September In 1994, PT Bali Benoa Marina about 2,500 people lived, from the 2012. It signed a contract to cooper- (BBM) came up with plans to develop new island, wholly owned by PT ate with the Community Research and a world-class cruise ship harbour and BTID. Service Agency (LPPM) of the Uni- marina, hotels, resorts, housing and Although there was opposition versity of Udayana (UNUD), the larg- golf course in the area. The location from many communities in Bali, in- est public university in Bali. The co- was exactly the site of the currently cluding the inhabitants of Serangan operation involves joint research be- planned reclamation. A master plan, itself, the reclamation continued. This tween LPPM and PT TWBI for five formulated by design and construc- was different from the PT BBM years beginning in September 2012. tion consultant PT Cameron project, which did not get off the LPPM formed a team to conduct Chisholm Nicol Indonesia, revealed ground beyond the master plan. a feasibility study on the Benoa Bay that this plush project would be de- These two ambitious projects area. Its report states that PT TWBI

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 30 C O V E R will develop various facilities such as green areas, places of worship, a cul- tural centre, a Disneyland-type recrea- tional park, social and public facili- ties, housing and accommodation, commercial areas and sports facilities. At one point there was also talk of building a Formula One racetrack. A marina and beachfront houses would also be built which would have direct access to the harbour so private yachts can come. The main sports facility would be a golf course. PT TWBI would also conduct reclamation, much like in the unrealised plans of PT BBM and the partially realised reclamation of Serangan Island by PT BTID. Accord- ing to the LPPM report, the reclama- tion would use sand from the south- ern coast of Bali, i.e., the Sawangan beach, and from Sekotong in neigh- bouring Lombok island. The poster for a concert organised by the ForBALI protest group against the Benoa Bay reclamation. Masking the whole plan under claims of ‘revitalising’ Benoa Bay, PT on the feasibility of this plan. For in- Sidakarya is only 2 metres above sea TWBI’s Hendi Lukman said that re- stance, where would the water and level and located about 2 kilometres vitalisation will improve the condition electricity come from? How would from the coast of south Denpasar. This of Benoa Bay, which currently suf- waste be disposed of? Who will actu- makes the village prone to flooding fers from sedimentation that is threat- ally be recruited as labour? Where in the rainy season, and indeed it was ening the remaining mangroves. would the sand to reclaim the land badly flooded in 2009. According to PT TWBI’s plans are in line with come from? What would happen to villager I Made Suardana, every full the national policy under the Bali residents who want to conduct moon the water from both rivers can- Masterplan for Acceleration and Ex- sea water cleansing rituals in Benoa not flow freely into the sea because pansion of Indonesian Economic De- Bay as part of their ancestral customs? of their position which is at the same velopment, known as MP3EI. Under What is the cultural value of this plan level. Even without reclamation, the MP3EI, Bali is included in the Bali- for Bali? Who will be responsible for people of Sidakarya have had to deal Nusa Tenggara corridor, where devel- mitigating the impacts of the new is- with sea water inundating their vil- opment would be focused on tourism land construction? All these need an- lage. ‘We are sure that if reclamation and food production. Benoa Bay is swers – answers that have not been takes place, we will be flooded,’ part of the Investment Focus Zone or forthcoming. Suardana said. Kawasan Perhatian Investasi (KPI), Such fears are confirmed by a hence the intent to reclaim the bay as Protests modelling exercise conducted by per the plans of PT TWBI. Conservation International (CI) Indo- There is a political-economic in- Once it became known to the nesia. According to the Denpasar- tent behind the reclamation plan. public, the PT TWBI plan met with based NGO, Benoa Bay is like a sur- Firstly, investors want to create and opposition. Community groups, par- face runoff reservoir for five river control new lands. Islands would be ticularly in the southern part of Bali, watershed areas surrounding it. constructed and these would have rejected the plan for several reasons. Made Iwanatana, a researcher at value like any other prime land. Bali For example, while the village of CI Indonesia, said that reclamation is a small island where the land hold- Sidakarya in South Denpasar district will directly reduce flood water car- ing of investors is limited, so creat- is not directly connected to Benoa rying capacity. ‘When it rains during ing new lands would guarantee their Bay, two rivers – Tukad Rangda and high tide, the surrounding areas would future profits. Secondly, the intent is Tukad Punggawa – that pass through be flooded,’ he said. These areas are to develop another elite area, where the village flow into the bay. The vil- Sanur Kauh, Suwung Kangin, local businesses would not be able to lagers are concerned that if Benoa Bay Pesanggaran, Pemogan, Simpang participate, thus creating a monopoly is reclaimed, Sidakarya will be Dewa Ruci, Bandara Ngurah Rai and among the big investors. flooded during the rainy season. Tanjung Benoa. Many questions have been raised There is basis for this concern. Based on this, the villagers of

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Sidakarya rejected the Benoa Bay rec- lamation project. They established a group called Jaringan Aksi Tolak Reklamasi Sidakarya (JALAK or Sidakarya Reject Reclamation Net- work). Similar groups were formed in other areas, such as Tanjung Benoa Tolak Reklamasi (TBTR) and Forum Pemerhati Pembangunan Bali (FPPB) Kedonganan. They have different rea- sons for protesting, but the most com- mon is fear of flooding. I Gede Sudiana, the head of FPPB in Kedonganan village, said that rec- lamation would also threaten the lo- cal fisherfolk. At present some 200 Kedonganan villagers are fishing in Benoa Bay in the very location tar- A protest against the Benoa Bay reclamation and Presidential Regulation No. 51/ geted for reclamation. ‘If our fishing 2014 which changed the status of Benoa Bay from a conservation to an economic ground is reclaimed, what would we and tourism area. do to make a living?’ asked Sudiana. will be damaged,’ said Tila. He said ous groups such as activists, students, Other livelihoods could also be this project will affect not only the music fans, musicians, housewives, undermined by the new tourism fa- villages in the surrounding areas but even local entrepreneurs. cilities in Benoa Bay. Kedonganan is also other beaches in Bali. Associated with the demands for a centre of seafood restaurants owned The voices of dissent found a a halt to the Benoa Bay reclamation by local villagers; one can see a line common register at ForBALI. This plan are calls for the revocation of of restaurants stretching along the forum was initiated by activists, uni- Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. west coast, facing the Ngurah Rai versity students and musicians, and 51/2014. This regulation was signed Airport. ‘If there is a new tourism many village-level youth groups from by the then president Susilo Bambang place, one that is supported by big all the regencies in Bali have also Yudhoyono. It changed the status of capital, we will not be able to com- come on board. As of September Benoa Bay, which previously was pete,’ Sudiana said. 2015, about 70 groups have joined designated as a conservation area, to The mushrooming protests ForBALI. ‘The voices of dissent are an economic and tourism area, pro- against the reclamation of Benoa Bay showing that the Benoa Bay reclama- viding policy support for the reclama- are in general initiated and coordi- tion is indeed a problem for all the tion plan. The protests now aim to nated by young people. One of the people of Bali,’ said ForBALI coor- pressure current president Joko expressions of protest is through ban- dinator Wayan Gendo Suardana. Widodo to revoke this regulation. ners and baliho (billboards) placed in Protests have also taken place in the streets. Kadek Tila, a young man Jakarta, in East Java’s Banyuwangi Intimidation and scare tactics who helped in erecting one baliho in Regency (where the people reject Sukawati, about 20 kilometres from plans to mine the sands of In response to the island-wide Benoa Bay, said they protested against Banyuwangi to be sent to Bali for the rejection of the Benoa Bay reclama- the project out of concern that their Benoa Bay reclamation) and even tion project, intimidation and scare village will experience erosion. abroad. There are similar plans for tactics were directed at the protesters According to Tila, the villages in reclamation in other coastal areas of in various forms: destruction of the southern part of Gianyar Regency Indonesia, and the protest in Bali is baliho/banners, initimidation by are vulnerable to the impacts of any seen as important to halt the other hoodlums, even arrests. I Kadek reclamation of Benoa Bay. Such ar- projects. Bobby Susila, a young man from eas are mainly the Ketewel, Purnama The protests take various forms. Banjar Suwung Kauh in South and Lebih beaches. Until the 1990s, ForBALI regularly organises street Denpasar, was among the first to be the coast was still tilted towards the protests in front of the Bali Gover- on the receiving end. He stays at the sea. But after the reclamation of nor’s office and the Bali Provincial north of Benoa Bay and, with his Serangan Island in 1996, these areas Parliament building. Protests are also friends, have voiced out their rejec- experienced erosion. Many buildings given voice through musical concerts, tion of the reclamation plan. They were affected, including cafes, the tra- social media, discussions, lobbying participated in ForBALI and other ditional village meeting stalls and and even community prayers in the group protests, and have also erected even houses. ‘If Benoa Bay is really Hindu way. Thousands of people at- a baliho calling for rejection of the reclaimed, the beaches in our village tend these events, coming from vari- reclamation.

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Most of the baliho that have been put up bear the message ‘Bali Rejects Change Tourism, Not Climate! Reclamation. Revoke Perpres No. 51/ 2014’. Such baliho have sprung up in By Anita Pleumarom other areas such as Denpasar, Gianyar, Jembrana, Klungkung, even TOURISM has been identified as one of Bangli in Bali’s hill region. Often, the major contributors of global warming, however, just a few days after the primarily due to the high energy use for baliho appear, they would be torn transport. If tourism was a country, its down, and it is not known by whom. current Greenhouse Gas (GHG) One destruction spree occurred in emissions would today rank fifth, after the August 2014; in one night alone many USA, China, the European Union and baliho were torn down in 11 places in Russia. Given the expected international Denpasar. tourism boom in the coming years, the Hoodlums would also make an forecasts are even more perturbing. appearance at the sites of protests This book sets out to explain why this staged by ForBALI or other groups. untenable situation has emerged, namely Kadek Duarsa, a Tanjung Benoa com- the failure of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to munity representative and an activist explicitly include GHGs generated by tourism in any global reduction targets with TBTR, said that in August 2014, ISBN: 978-967-5412-10-3 40 pp as well as in the negotiations on the post- a clash almost erupted between the 2012 reduction targets. It highlights the protesters and these hoodlums. ‘I told absence of considerations of equity and justice in tourism and climate the police and army officials, let the change discussions among policymakers and industry leaders and hoodlums come and watch our pro- critically assesses the UN World Tourism Organisation and its position tests. But if any one is beaten up or on sustainable tourism. our equipment is damaged, we will Unless tourism policymakers take drastic action to reverse the make Tanjung Benoa a battlefield dominant ‘business-as-usual’ attitude within the industry, tourism will fighting them,’ he said. become a key force of GHG emissions in the world, undermining the The villagers of Sidakarya have overall progress made to stem global climate change. also experienced intimidation and even arrest. Four members of JALAK, Price Postage I Wayan Saniyasa, I Wayan Adi Malaysia RM7.00 RM1.00 Jayanatha, I Made Murdana and I Developing countries US$4.00 US$2.00 (air) Wayan Tirtayasa, were arrested by the Others US$6.00 US$3.00 (air) police in March 2014. They were ac- Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. cused of threatening the Governor of Bali during a protest. Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, UK, The arrests were condemned by USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate equivalent of many community groups at the na- US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. tional and local levels. Groups such as Greenpeace, Kontras and Walhi (a Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money national-level environment and hu- order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. man rights group) wrote letters to the All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., police. Almost a month later, due to 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; pressures from the public, the four Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twn.my were released after their detention was suspended. ‘But we will continue to I would like to order ...... copy/copies of Change Tourism, Not Climate! demand revocation of the plan to re- I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. claim Benoa Bay,’ said Tirtayasa af- Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: ter his release. The voices of people such as American Express Visa Mastercard Tirtayasa, Duarsa and Ketut Merta A/c No.: Expiry date: continue to ring out today, three years after the first protest was launched. Signature: ‘We will continue to fight until the reclamation plan is stopped,’ said Name: Duarsa. ÿu Address: Anton Muhajir is a freelance journalist based in Bali and has been involved in the environmental and human rights movements. This article was adapted, added on to and translated into English by Hira Jhamtani. THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 33 C O V E R Tourism, the extractive industry and social conflict in Peru Mining companies in Peru, facing local opposition to their activities on account of the environmental damage they are causing, have turned to tourism to clean up their image. Rodrigo Ruiz Rubio explains this incestuous relationship between two unlikely partners.

EVEN as the economies of the devel- the mining industry in Peru has placed policies in the sector. oped world face trying times, the Pe- this country among the top producers In 1981 the Vice Ministry of ruvian economy is experiencing con- of precious metals, being the third Tourism under the Ministry of Indus- tinued expansion; Peru is forecast to largest producer of copper, silver, tin try, Tourism, Integration and Trade lead economic growth in Latin and zinc worldwide and the leading Negotiations (MITINCI), which as- America in 2015. At least 20 more gold producer in Latin America.3 sumed management of the sector, was years of economic expansion is pre- Mining exports have increased nine created. Despite measures to promote dicted,1 sustained by the demand for times in the last 10 years, with China tourism applied during that period, the natural resources worldwide. (copper), Switzerland (gold) and the industry stagnated between 1980 and Within this favourable outlook United States (silver) being the ma- 1990 due to political instability and for investment, the mining sector ac- jor markets. civil war that ravaged the country. counts for about 60% of total exports. With the decline of political vio- Adding the oil and fishing sectors into Tourism lence and the defeat of subversive the picture gives an average share of movements, and in the context of 80% of all exports by companies Tourism has played a significant structural reforms promoted by the based in the country, defining the Pe- role in many developing economies International Monetary Fund and the ruvian economy as a primary export like Peru, although the history of this World Bank, the early 1990s brought economy. economic activity is much shorter with it new expectations for tourism. In this sense, Peru has become an compared to that of other sectors. As in other productive sectors, all attractive destination for mining in- In 1946, the Peruvian govern- state tourism companies, including 25 vestment, given the vast natural re- ment created a specialised agency strategic hotels and the train service sources and favourable conditions for called the National Tourism Corpo- to Machu Picchu, were privatised. foreign investors. In the decade from ration, which, over two decades later, However, it is only from 2000 that 1999 to 2009, the Peruvian economy was renamed the National Company important initiatives which define the received $14.4 billion in investment for Tourism, tasked with establishing current model of tourism develop- in the development of mining opera- and promoting the hotel infrastructure ment and the gradual increase in tour- tions from several of the world’s larg- in major cities. In 1969 the ist arrivals and international invest- est mining companies.2 To draw such COPESCO Plan was drawn up, the ment in the sector came about. investments, there has since the 1990s first initiative to promote tourism The Commission for the Promo- been a series of political and eco- through the preservation of cultural tion of Private Investment (COPRI), nomic reforms that favour invest- heritage, developing and implement- currently called ProInversión, was ments in the extractive industry. ing tourism plans in impoverished empowered to undertake processes of First, a process of privatisation of areas. One of the first measures taken, privatisation and concession of state public enterprises was set in motion, financed by the Peruvian state and the assets, and, through the Special Com- which, among other things, involved Inter-American Development Bank, mission for the Promotion of Invest- large job layoffs and led to the virtual was to create a pole of tourism devel- ment in Tourism (CEPRI-Tourism), is disappearance of miners’ trade unions. opment between Cusco with Machu responsible for identifying, evaluat- Then progressively until today vari- Picchu as its main attraction with ing and promoting tourism projects ous labour, tax, administrative and Puno and Lake Titicaca as the axis. concessionable to the private sector. environmental regulations and re- In the 1970s the private sector This body has identified 45 new gimes of land ownership were created National Chamber of Tourism, which projects with the possibility of being and modified. represents all tourist associations in transferred to the private sector, al- At present, the outlook remains the country, was established. Over the most all of which are related to the expectant despite the vagaries of the years it has progressively grown in country’s cultural and natural herit- global economy. The development of presence and influence over public age.4

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From the perspective of tourism, Table 1 this spectacular cultural and natural environment has great potential to be Region % of land under Number of social promoted, and many attractions are mining concession, conflicts, April 2015 already being exploited. Tourist arriv- October 2014 als numbered more than 3 million in 2014 and $2.5 billion in investment Arequipa 48.4 6 in hotels is projected in the coming years. Cusco 23.2 16 Meanwhile the mining potential Puno 20.2 17 is scattered throughout the country, mainly on the coast and in the moun- Cajamarca 40 14 tains, over a total area that makes up Ancash 58.9 21 20.4% of national territory, encom- Source: Coperacción – The Office of the Public Defender of Peru passing different ecosystems, regions and rural and urban areas.7 In the specific case of indigenous and peasant communities, these oc- CEPRI-Tourism started out by Conditions have become quite cupy about 27% of the country. Fam- trying to push through two projects conducive for the development of ily farming is the main economic ac- in parallel: the Northern Beaches Ho- tourism in Peru, which is attracting tivity that contributes 70% of national tel Complex and the provision of in- growing investment and tourists to its food security,8 and collective land frastructure for tourism services in the diverse cultural and natural heritage management continues to be quite archaeological complex of Kuelap. In sites as well as for its increasingly re- widely practised. It is largely these the first case, the project required the nowned cuisine. For example, Machu indigenous and peasant lands, or their imposition of restrictions on the use Picchu, the country’s major tourist adjacent areas, which possess tourism of the land and sea by hundreds of landmark, has been considered by and mining potential, and which in farmers and fishermen, and called for many specialised publications as the many cases are also home to the coun- the state to make up the amount paid best tourist destination in the world try’s poorest communities. by the investor for the concession or for several consecutive years. The The government’s main develop- privatisation through public works to World Travel Awards also deemed ment strategy in these regions is to benefit the project. Both this and the Peru as the world’s best culinary des- promote large mining investments, Kuelap project triggered social mo- tination in 2014 and various Peruvian resulting in mining concessions in bilisation by the local population who restaurants have been ranked among 45% of the communal territory,9 organised to prevent violation of their the best in the globe. which is generating growing social rights. conflicts nationwide. In 2008 a national law for the de- Bringing together mining and This juxtaposition of territories velopment of tourism services in cul- tourism for sustainable and activities has sparked much de- tural heritage areas was enacted. The development? bate and conflict, and defines the eco- aim was to target investments that can nomic and political landscape. Ac- meet a minimum four-star hotel clas- The Peruvian territory is consid- cording to the Office of the Public sification. The regulation opened up ered one of the six cradles of civilisa- Defender of Peru, a government the possibility for investors to enjoy tion, and cultural development has agency which tracks social conflicts, a monopoly on providing services in taken place over more than 5,000 from March 2015 there have been 141 the country’s historical heritage areas, years. Throughout the territory there environmental conflicts, 94 of which with possible effects on the manage- are important vestiges of the differ- were related to the mining sector, fol- ment and conservation of the sites in ent cultures that existed in the coastal, lowed by the hydrocarbon sector with light of an inefficient and weak state mountain and jungle regions, which 22 conflicts. Such a scenario can trig- in matters of heritage protection and define the current cultural diversity. ger serious situations of confrontation control over the operations of private In terms of natural heritage, Peru is involving the state, populations and capital.5 This law was rejected by the one of the world’s ‘megadiverse’ businesses. population of Cusco and a massive countries, with 84 of the 117 life zones This state of affairs becomes clear protest led to minor modifications to and 28 of the 32 climates on the if we look at the situation in the two the standard along with a claim of planet.6 The Andes mountain range most important tourist circuits in the unconstitutionality. The claim was and the Amazon, the river which is country: the southern circuit, which eventually rejected by the Constitu- the largest in the world and which includes the regions of Arequipa, tional Court and the law remains in gives its name to the Amazon rain- Cusco and Puno; and the northern cir- force. forest, pass through Peruvian territory. cuit, which brings together the regions

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 35 C O V E R of Ancash, La Libertad, Lambayeque, ered as truly sustainable. In this per- ing programmes and investments for Cajamarca and Amazonas (Table 1). spective, tourism is repeatedly pro- local tourism development. This As an indicator of the extent of posed as an alternative to extractive policy is implemented through foun- conflict, from 2006 to May 2015 there mining activities. dations or associations created by the were 258 dead and 2,247 injured,10 Taking advantage of this positive mining companies under their corpo- most of them after repression by the view of tourism, the mining compa- rate social responsibility programmes authorities against strikes and protests nies have in recent years been financ- that channel private funds for the de- called on environmental grounds. ing several studies and tourism velopment of tourism projects in their Added to that, in the mining sector projects in their areas of operation. In areas of operation. there have been 8,618 cases involv- 2005 the president of the National ing serious environmental liabilities11 Society of Mining, Petroleum and Final thoughts damaging the health and natural re- Energy (SNMPE) stated: ‘The tour- sources of hundreds of rural commu- ism sector and the mining sector have ‘We are a democratic society nities, according to official reports. obvious similarities, they are very where the rule of law prevails and in According to the Office of the dynamic sectors, decentralised and which all people have a high quality Public Defender, the main causes be- main foreign exchange earners. The of life and equal opportunities to de- hind communities’ rejection of the mining [sector] now stands to sup- velop their full potential as human presence of mining investments are:12 port the development of tourism.’ beings ... Poverty and extreme pov- – environmental problems, the The statement was made in the erty have been eradicated, feeling of uncertainty and fear of con- context of the signing of an agreement redistributive mechanisms exist to tamination between SNMPE and the Peruvian achieve social equity, and natural re- – social problems: exclusion, in- Export and Tourism Promotion Board sources are used sustainably, main- equality and discrimination (Promperu) seeking cooperation in taining good environmental quality.’14 – violation of human rights four areas: raising awareness about The above quotation is from the – the partiality of state enter- good treatment and tourist services; national vision in the ‘Strategic Na- prises: management problems that are working on infrastructure projects; tional Development Plan by 2021’ sources of public distrust towards the allowing the derivation of the surplus document that must guide the various state generated by mining activity, that is, public policies emanating from the – negative environmental exter- identifying tourism development central government. In the case of nalities and their impact on different projects that will involve regional and sectoral policy formulated by the extractive economic activities local governments and access mecha- Ministry of Energy and Mines, one – negative performance of com- nisms generated by the mining indus- of its four objectives is to ‘promote panies in the environmental conflicts. try; and developing tax exemptions the preservation and conservation of On occasion, support can be seen for tourism projects. the environment by companies in the for the presence of mining invest- The SNMPE-Promperu agree- energy and mining sector in the de- ments, motivated by the prospect of ment aims to present the mining sec- velopment of different sectoral activi- immediate direct benefit. Such is the tor as one of the main drivers of the ties fostering social inclusion and the case with La Oroya, which is consid- tourism sector. This clever proposal harmonious relations of companies in ered the fifth most polluted city in the is designed to leverage on recommen- the energy and mining sector and civil world, a situation brought about by dations for impoverished rural society’. With regard to tourism, the the presence of a US mining company populations to develop tourism as an guiding document is the National called Doe Run.13 Despite this terri- activity that would help raise their liv- Tourism Strategic Plan 2008-2018, ble situation that seriously affects the ing standards. From this perspective, which holds as its mission ‘organise, health of the population, there are this need for tourism development promote and guide the sustainable and those who come to protest to protect would be met by the mining corpora- competitive development of tourism their jobs and defend the interests of tions. The companies can then im- in Peru by integrators, concerted and the company so that it can continue prove their image among the local decentralised processes, promoting to operate without meeting environ- populations and reduce opposition to economic and social development, mental standards set by the govern- their presence in the community or creating decent jobs that improve the ment. This demonstrates the precari- adjacent territories. They would thus quality of life of the population and ous socioeconomic position of a be able to minimise losses due to ensuring the assessment and conser- population that is prepared to strikes and protests, and, on top of vation of historical, natural and cul- prioritise jobs over health. that, enjoy tax exemptions in return tural heritage’. It is quite common in such situa- for investments in the tourism sector. The various quotes above evoke tions to put forward, as an alternative Many mining companies that are altruistic, democratic, redistributive to mining expansion, other economic the source of serious environmental and even ecological principles within activities that are seen as having much conflicts and corruption and that pro- the overall vision of sustainable de- less negative impact and are consid- mote repressive policies are undertak- velopment that should inform sectoral

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 36 C O V E R policies which define the conditions Gustavo Yamada, 2014. See: http:/ a-empresas-mineras and development of productive activi- /laprensa.peru.com/economia/ 10 http://www.rumbosdelperu.com/ ties in the country. If we were to un- noticia-peru-tiene-20-anos-mas- la-oroya-sigue-siendo-la-quinta- dertake a concrete analysis of the cur- seguir-creciendo-segun-bcr-29143 ciudad-mas-contaminada-del- rent Peruvian reality, however, we 2 However, it is important to note planeta-V914.html#.VcgGpyu9lD that in the latter half of the decade, will see a clear contradiction between A.facebook from 2005 to 2009, only five 11 A call to remediation: Advances the rhetoric and practice of public mining companies obtained net and pending in state management policy. But from the perspective of the profits of $19.535 million. to environmental liabilities mining central government and the private 3 In 2010 Peru exported 150 tons of and hydrocarbons. Office of the sector, there would be no inconsist- gold illegally, which, added to the Public Defender of Peru. Report ency between discourse and practice, 180 tons produced legally, makes No. 171. June 2015. and between productive activities that the country the second largest gold 12 Special Report. Conflict at first glance appear incompatible, as producer in the world. Much of this Socioambientales for Extractive the discursive mantle of ‘sustainable illegal gold is bought by companies Activities in Peru. Available at: development’ and appeal to techno- linked to the London Bullion http://www2.congreso.gob.pe/sicr/ logical advances would make coex- Market Association, the guild cendocbib/con2_uibd.nsf/ securing the international price of istence possible. In this respect, ‘sus- 83FF3D60EB998C34052575C8007 gold. See: http://ojo-publico.com/ tainable’ tourism is conceived and 5DAA9/$FILE/info.pdf oro-sucio-la-pista-detras-del- 13 http://www.rumbosdelperu.com/ developed as any other economic ac- london-bullion-market/ tivity within the capitalist develop- la-oroya-sigue-siendo-la-quinta- 4 Fernández, R. and Ruiz, R. (2010). ciudad-mas-contaminada-del- ment model where genuine environ- Políticas públicas, beneficios planeta-V914.html#.VcgGpyu9lD mental and social sustainability con- privados: Mecanismos, políticas y A.facebook actuaciones públicas para la siderations are subordinate to the su- 14 CEPLAN (2011). Plan globalización del turismo. Madrid: preme goal of economic growth. Bicentenario Visión Compartida From that perspective, tourism is Foro de Turismo Responsable. 5 In the energy and mining sector De Futuro Para El Siglo XXI. not contradictory to activities that Available at: http://www.ceplan.go over a thousand environmental have a strong environmental impact, b.pe/sites/default/files/plan_bicent are environmentally destructive and monitoring reports only on hydrocarbons and electricity were enario/PLAN_BICENTENARIO_ upset the socioeconomic dynamics CEPLAN.pdf and local culture. In the case of envi- filed in the last three admimis- trations, thus avoiding penalties for ronmental conflicts and violations of offending companies. Likewise, human rights, the conflict is seen as the government enacted law No. References an opportunity to encourage mining 30230 initially exonerated 40 companies to finance tourism as a mining companies and reduced the CEPLAN (2011). Plan Bicentenario strategy of containment against local fines for violating environmental Visión Compartida De Futuro Para social rejection. standards during the mining El Siglo XXI. http:// In this case, as in many others, process. See: http://convoca.pe/ www.ceplan.gob.pe/sites/default/ we see that tourism practices do not investigaciones files/plan_bicentenario/PLAN_BI necessarily contribute positively to 6 Ministry of Environment of Peru CENTENARIO_CEPLAN.pdf the natural and social environments (2009). National Environmental Fernández, R. and Ruiz, R. (2010). in which they take place. Unfortu- Policy. Available at: http:// Políticas públicas, beneficios nately in the Peruvian context, the www.minam.gob.pe/wp-content/ privados: Mecanismos, políticas y practices in the tourism sector can uploads/2013/08/Pol%C3%ADtic actuaciones públicas para la contribute instead to strengthening a-Nacional-del-Ambiente.pdf globalización del turismo. Madrid: public policies that run contrary to real 7 Considering overlay data Foro de Turismo Responsable. sustainable development and respect concessions. Available at: http:// Instituto del Bien Común (2014). for human rights. ÿu cooperaccion.org.pe/main/mapas/ Informe 2014. La seguridad nacional. Territorial en el Limbo. El estado de las comunidades indígenas en Rodrigo Ruiz Rubio is a Peruvian anthropologist 8 Instituto del Bien Común (2014). who has worked on issues of sustainable Informe 2014. La seguridad el Perú. http://americalatina.landco development, tourism, community involvement, Territorial en el Limbo. El estado alition.org/sites/default/files/ cultural heritage, public health, social- de las comunidades indígenas en Informe_SEGURIDAD_TERRITORIAL environmental conflicts, indigenous people and _2014.pdf climate change. el Perú. Available at: http://americ alatina.landcoalition.org/sites/ Ministry of Environment of Peru default/files/Informe_SEGURIDA (2009). National Environmental Endnotes D_TERRITORIAL_2014.pdf Policy. http://www.minam.gob.pe/ 9 http://archivo.larepublica.pe/18- wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ 1 Statement by the Director of the 11-2013/45-de-territorios-campesi Pol%C3%ADtica-Nacional-del- Central Reserve Bank of Peru, nos-en-peru-estan-concesionados- Ambiente.pdf

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 37 C O V E R Tourism and the consumption of Goa Claude Alvares has seen all the major tourism changes that Goa in India has gone through over the past 40 years and believes each has been worse than its predecessor, each taking Goa further away from itself.

I CAME to Goa in 1977, after hav- ing. An area that looked after a ing lived half of my then life in the modest population of less than one industrialised city of Mumbai. At million inhabitants is now being that time Goa – 600 km below called upon to service seven mil-

Mumbai on the west coast of India Tourism Concern lion. No wonder the ugliness is – was not a place that could be lo- showing, even if you do not wish cated on any tourist map and nei- to look. Some parts of Goa now ther did it provide any reason for compete with the slums of Mumbai generating the fantasies and excite- or, worse, its concrete jungles. The ment it has now come to engender garbage, the litter, appears to have in people who develop a yen to been spread by a cyclone: it is eve- visit. rywhere. Untreated sewage has The first thing that struck me contaminated the groundwater. about Goa at that time was that it The Campal Creek in the capital appeared to be actually a work of city of Panaji reeks of untreated art, a painting. When you look at a sewage. The Sal River is equally good painting, you can tell from it black with sewage. something of the quality of the Goan culture is a fish-curry- painter. When you visit art exhibi- and-rice phenomenon. Fish, curry tions, you may in fact rarely en- and rice are the principal elements counter the painter herself. But you Dumped waste and sewage behind hotels at of the staple diet. They also mani- can deduce from the artwork itself Colva Creek, Goa. ‘After the tourism excesses fest the overt face of the ecosys- whether the painter is technically of some three decades, some parts of Goa tem: the coconut tree for the cur- good, whether she is obsessed with already look ravaged, torn, tattered and ries; the paddy fields for the rice; dismantled.’ animals or nature, whether she is a and the fish harvested from the depressive or a joyous personality, homes, maintained the orchards and adjoining ocean. We see these ele- and so on. From the painting you try coconut palms. The people are a fun- ments now being progressively and figure out what was it in the mind damental part of this place. You can’t stressed and dismantled. The fish is or soul of that person that could pro- separate Goan ecology from Goans. now severely priced because of obvi- duce this painting that communicated They are the ones who are responsi- ous scarcity in sharing the same com- to you joy or pleasure or even anxi- ble for creating, nurturing and protect- modity between seven million in ety. ing it. If you want to try and figure place of one. So those who have the One thing that has happened over out how indeed they created this work ability to pay get the best fish laid out the last 25 years is the arrival of these of art, it takes a great deal of effort on the table. The ecological assets thousands of people who have de- and a great deal of study, a quality or hitherto used for living in perpetuity scended on Goa (the bulk of them In- dispensation that tourists distinctly – the paddy fields, the coconut groves dians), simply because they all wanted lack. Therefore, most do not care. – have been replaced by concrete to see this painting called Goa – a Paintings are displayed for peo- structures that will not be able to sus- unique and remarkable place that ple to see or enjoy, but nobody knows tain themselves over a single genera- doesn’t exist anywhere else on the of anyone who has enjoyed a paint- tion but for the moment are happy earth. And this extraordinary area of ing by wrecking it through their col- breeding grounds for speculators. The enchantment did not encompass just lective actions. But after the tourism real estate developers – who always the plants, the mountains, the streams, excesses of some three decades, some follow closely on the heels of the tour- the endless beaches and so on. It in- parts of Goa already look ravaged, ism developers – offer those who are cluded the people, those responsible torn, tattered and dismantled. If those enchanted with Goa a permanent for the painting: those who had carved areas are shown in the fancy tourism piece of the Goan cake even though out the paddy fields, raised the lovely brochures, few tourists will come call- they know that every piece of con-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 38 C O V E R crete means that much less vegeta- And with those vital changes, model of tourism – like the rice pad- tion. Thus large areas in small Goan there has been a deluge of offers to dies – could have continued forever coastal villages, once picture-perfect satiate other desires: sex, child sex and without damage to either environment settings, have been rapidly colonised liberal quantities of alcohol. The fan- or culture. The last thing the flower by hordes of resorts or mega-housing tasy that Goa represents is a complete children wanted was to change things projects. freedom from inhibition. Almost over- or get them ‘modernised’, since they Over the years, control of the night, a dozen gambling ships or ca- were themselves rejecting the West- tourism trade itself has passed over sinos have crept into the capital’s ern style of economy and consump- from local people and communities – major river. They invite gamblers tion or fleeing from it, so there was responsible for creating the naturally from across India, but ruin equally no question of imposing changes. splendid-looking environment – to effectively the permanent assets and This changed forever in the mid- those who come routinely to invade, savings of small traders and mer- 1980s once the big actors – the tour conquer and occupy for business or chants, wrecking their families as operators – came to know. Always on profit. The Goa Marriott and the well. Everything is money even if the lookout for newer and cheaper Grand Hyatt now jockey for tourists everything leads to destitution. places to prey on for their entertain- side by side with the hotels of the Taj Nobody who knows Goa from ment and adventure menus – after the Group, owned and managed by the the past 40 years would not weep at existing ones quickly became jaded Tata clan. Like Palestine, Goa has seeing what it was once and what it is or overcrowded – they saw Goa as the begun to look like ‘occupied terri- today. It was never like this. innocent, unspoiled new star on their tory’. The starkest demonstration of The outward image of this small- firmament, ready for mass consump- this status is the recent attempt to en- est of states in the Indian Union is tion and sale. force the installation of a golf course mostly taken from the coastal beaches The German charters operated by which proposes to claim the lands of which attracted the original Portu- Condor discovered Goa first and the an entire village, leaving the original guese adventurers led by Afonso de pattern of tourists arriving in droves Goan inhabitants place only for their Albuquerque as early as 1510. Rem- – mass, destination tourism – became homes and their graveyard. nants of old forts still dot the land- entrenched rapidly thereafter. Follow- Occupiers take, they rarely give scape after that first discovery. ing the first invasion of 1987, it has or contribute. I have seen over the past But the second discovery of Goa been a picture of continuous gang- 40 years not a single initiative from was left to the hippy generation of the rape thereafter. First the Germans, the new conquistadores to ensure that late 1960s. The flower children were then the English, then the Israelis, nature is not phenomenally damaged part of a younger era that was disillu- then the Russians. Goa has seen what or polluted from their activity. Though sioned with lifestyles – including mili- is called ‘consuming the earth’-type the natural and cultivated beauty of tary duty in Vietnam – in the West. tourism – people interested only in an Goa was the source for the almost They would often be found living sim- exotic destination, with little concern tropic dash to its shores, once here, ple, almost naturalistic lives, with low for the fate or concerns of local those who come to occupy are unable carbon footprints, often outside the populations; in fact, the more isolated to resist replacing what they find with pale of the Goan village. From that from the latter, the better the comfort their own fantasies – which have noth- time till the present in fact, foreign- levels. The fate of any locale selected ing of what the original dwellers cre- ers are still sometimes referred to as as an international tourism destination ated, keeping the ends of ecology in ‘hippies’ even if the hordes of foreign is that it will be wholly transformed view. The ultimate thrust of destina- tourists today have nothing in com- and consumed, till only the rind is left, tion tourism is to make the destina- mon with the benign flower children for discarding. Little of itself will sur- tion a replica of home, with mindless of yesteryear. vive the ordeal of the hurricane. coca-colonisation by the same flam- So Goa has had an easy relation- It has taken just three decades to boyant chains selling the same mer- ship with foreigners. The flower chil- move from the original low-footprint chandise you see whichever part of dren found the local population not tourism represented by the hippies to the world you go. Industrial culture just tolerant but hospitable. (Can we Goa’s present-day ‘full-blown’ desti- recognises only itself. It brooks no forget that the Taino and the Arawak nation tourism status, with local peo- competitors. were hospitable to Christopher ple and foreigners now enthusiasti- So Goa disappears, bit by big bit. Columbus who therefore easily en- cally collaborating to dismantle eco- Goan fish curry and rice are now slaved them?) The important aspect logical assets, unmindful and uncar- found on menus from Penang to San of ‘hippy tourism’ is that the local ing of problems their loud activities Francisco, because everyone has been Goan economy received some stimu- inflict on people unconnected with to Goa. However, restaurants in Goa lus directly from their arrival, since tourism, and with a political leader- now offer a menu that is bewilder- there were no hotels and the flower ship incapable of responding to the ingly unGoan. Menus cater to what children could not afford them in any rapidly changing thrust and demands people want, not what the local peo- case and preferred either small shacks imposed by an increasingly mean and ple can offer or eat. or staying with local villagers. That apathetic trade, anxious only to cut

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 39 C O V E R corners and remain competitive. Cavelossim have been stalled by – on earth and have replaced it instead For those Goans dependent on it, adroit legal and mass protests, lead- with the capacity to create hell out of mass tourism itself has now become ing to huge losses for their propo- available paradises. We cannot pro- a new subsistence economy: one year nents. duce any more the genre of paintings a bomb scare cancels reservations; But the resistance faces a huge that places like Goa represent. All that another year, a Russian tour operator wall of inevitability. Predator tourism we are clever at is the preparation of collapses. Peace of mind has been re- has a constant and perennial source obituaries. What we can do today with placed by continuous anxiety. With a of fuel: it originates in the ruins of the all our science and technology and all monsoon restriction of four months soul left after human beings are con- our study and academic research is to every year, the period for exploiting sumed by the arrangements laid down investigate and analyse how effec- tourists is reserved for the balance in societies that call themselves ‘in- tively we are destroying these com- eight. From being once a hospitable dustrialised’. In this theory, the ori- plexities. people, those dependent on tourism gins of mass tourism lie in the system In fact, our speciality today is this now compete in exploiting those they of mass production to which human growing ability to describe destruc- wish to serve. beings in industrial societies must tion. The Millennium Ecosystem As- Of course, all this development submit themselves. The soulless con- sessment report of the United Nations, was not without resistance. The takeo- ditions of work create individuals who for example, brought together over ver of Goa for tourism of this inva- need entertainment and release from 1,300 scientists to report on how 60% sive category was denounced from the the violent manner in which they must of the earth’s ecosystems – providing start. In 1987, the first German char- work and organise their lives. essential ecosystem services like ters were met at the airport by a hos- Tourism is a safety pressure valve clean water and air – were in irrevers- tile group of local social activists for those trapped in demeaning indus- ible decline. We have repeated those armed with cowdung and rotten eggs. trial jobs which most people abhor. studies of destruction with an even The gradual imposition of the new The secret of its relentless expansion grander study on climate change or industry on the local population led is to be found here. Those who find similar stories on the impending col- to a movement for responsible tour- themselves trapped in industrial jobs lapse of world fisheries. ism – which failed. It was a campaign must find release far away from their But tourism was always consid- run by NGOs stricken by the disclo- miserable workplaces or go insane. ered – when compared with industrial sures of Pattaya in Thailand or child They are willing to submit to indus- pollution – somewhat less destructive sex tourism in the Philippines. To cir- trial discipline provided they get their in that sense, softer in its conse- cumscribe the environmental destruc- annual three weeks of full release. It quences on the natural environment. tion of Goa for entertaining the tour- is no wonder that the biggest tourist Many people who have donned the ists, groups and networks emerged in hordes across Asia and Africa come mantle of a tourist at some point of the 1980s and 1990s (e.g., the Ecu- from industrial shores. Normal peo- time in their lives would in fact be menical Coalition on Third World ple living meaningful lives in these troubled if they were told they were Tourism, Equations in India and Tour- continents find no need for this kind also part of the dismantling of nature ism Concern in the UK) which did of tourism or, for that matter, for tour- and societies in locations that have no considerable, committed work in rais- ism at all. direct connection with the strong hand ing protests and alarms. They ex- For these reasons, the tourism of industrial civilisation. But it is panded public consciousness of the industry has never had a serious chal- maybe time for the naivete to end. negative impacts of mass tourism and lenger, not even climate change. Like The conclusion is inevitable: even led to the creation of the idea of automobile manufacturers – who tourism of the kind that has taken alternative tourism. Their main con- couldn’t care less if the roads are charge in Goa destroys people and cern was predator tourism, which is crammed with expensive cars all nature as effectively as does the in- the most offensive face of this indus- moving at snail’s pace and burning dustrial civilisation which gave rise try. down the atmosphere provided they to it, as symptom, in the first place. It Even today, the installation of sell more cars – the tourism industry is the landmark quality of industrial fresh tourism infrastructure continues knows there are people who need re- civilisation pushed by capital that it to stoke rebellion. The golf course laxation and escape from the hellhole can effectively transform hospitable proposed at Tiracol village is facing which industrial society has become. people into inhospitable caricatures of resistance full blast. So are the new They are flies on human dungheaps, themselves, or discard totally the marinas proposed in the middle of camouflaged as glamour and enter- value of nature by drowning it in con- Goa’s splendid rivers. The casinos tainment. They will disappear only crete. And yet claim that human be- face continuous anger, on streets and when the dungheap ceases and peo- ings are better off in the process. u in the local parliament. Mega-hous- ple become wholesome and human ing projects and new five-star resorts again. Claude Alvares is Director of the Goa Foundation, proposed in relatively intact and co- Today we admit we have lost the an environmental monitoring group based in Goa. The Foundation has been monitoring the hesive villages like Carmona and ability to create paradises – like Goa environmental impacts of tourism over decades.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 40 C O V E R The occidentalisation of the Everest Nepal is a popular destination for ‘adventure tourists’, not least because of Mount Everest. In making the observation that a movie mimics life, Vaishna Roy, in this critique of the Hollywood movie Everest, laments that the magnificence that is the Everest has long been turned into an arena ‘where dollars can create a messy hash of Disneyfied tourism, jingoism and machismo’.

THERE is a prophetic moment early in the movie Everest, when a long line of climbers is waiting to cross a gorge using a rope bridge during an accli- matisation exercise. Texan climber Beck Weathers finally gets his turn, and he is midway on the terrifyingly flimsy rope contraption when a strong gale loosens a cache of snow that al- most knocks him off into the abyss below. Expedition leader Rob Hall climbs across to help him and asks if he is okay. Beck turns around and snaps that he didn’t pay $65,000 to stand in queue; he could have had that back home at Wal-Mart. Tourists taking a breather on their way up the Everest. Climbing the mountain has In many ways, that moment un- been reduced to ‘a quick-fix adventure high that you can buy and make comfortable derlines the movie. Because Everest by paying lots of money’. somehow never manages to make you hold your breath in awe for the feats what naively I suppose, for a modi- thing similar? There’s always one of bravery undertaken. Instead, it just cum of nuance. solitary man on a tropical island try- fills you with scorn for the foolhardi- So, you have these bunches of ing to make it out alive, surviving on ness of the climbers and the rampant adrenaline-high, overwhelmingly grubs and hacking at the undergrowth commercialism of what should ide- white, rock-star climbers thronging with a machete. Then, at a tense mo- ally be only a high-endurance sport, the foothills of the Everest to tick off ment when he is millimetres away or left well alone. That moment en- another ‘been there, done that’ box on from being stung by a vicious scor- capsulates the sort of throwaway bra- their impressive bucket lists. The at- pion, it strikes you that he is not ex- vado that climbing the Everest has mosphere at the base camp is annoy- actly that alone, is he? There is a so- been reduced to. ingly like a Goa beach, with hordes phisticated TV crew just yards away Everest is, of course, the classic of climbers lounging about on deck with bacon sandwiches and a thermos Hollywood adventure movie, where chairs, asking stupid questions like of coffee. you are invited to admire a band of ‘Do you speak English?’ to the In just such an awkward moment courageous men and women who Sherpas, swigging liquor, dancing to in the film, there are these intrepid brave all odds to overcome an impos- lounge music and worrying about es- climbers gasping and struggling up a sible challenge, in this case, the presso coffee. In fact, that is exactly steep and icy slope, hooking their world’s highest peak. But I think it’s what it is – climbing reduced to tour- carabiners with numb fingers to the time for even Hollywood to invest a ism, where you pay $65,000 a pop to fixed ropes that snake up the little more subtlety into its efforts. Yes, grab Facebook bragging rights about mountainside, when you have a eu- we all know that it is the ultimate how you made it to the top of the reka moment. Who fixed those fixed propaganda tool of the civilised West, world. ropes anyway? And you realise that a and the most brilliant move in cultural But here’s the thing. Remember whole team of Sherpas has already colonialism since the British launched those reality shows on Discovery climbed up ahead, not only fixing the English-medium schools in far-flung Channel called ‘Survival’ or ropes that will be the lifeline for the colonies. But one still hopes, some- ‘Stranded’ or ‘Marooned’ or some- adventure climbers but carrying all

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 41 C O V E R

immediately returning to Camp IV, Rob Hall decided to help the older and inexperienced Doug Hansen begin the last ascent well after 2 p.m. Doug made the peak but both of them died in the descent, caught squarely in the blizzard. When somebody has paid all his life savings to make this trip, it becomes difficult to insist that he turn back when the summit is in sight. It’s this commercialisation that has col- oured how and why the mountain is climbed. To talk of logjams and bottle- necks on the Everest appears like an absurdity but that’s just what climb- ing it has been reduced to: a quick- fix adventure high that you can buy and make comfortable by paying lots A tourist camp at the base of Mt Everest. Rampant commercialisation has coloured of money. Tour operators offer one how and why the mountain is climbed. ‘personal Sherpa’ per climber and fresh meats and fruits flown in by their supplies as well and laying out dining tents, the toilet tents and first- choppers. They promise ‘nutritious extra oxygen cylinders at all the cru- aid tents, setting up the chairs and ta- Western menus’, ‘imported snacks’ cial nodes. bles and dishing out hot soup at and ‘propane barbeque grills and ov- If it was difficult before, it be- 18,000 feet. ens’ for baked treats. There is even a comes impossible after this to take the Sure, they do it for money. But if cocktail hour with appetisers! One climbers as seriously as they take that makes them any less courageous, website talks of a ‘carpeted, heated themselves. If we must make a movie then why laud the courage of a Rob and solar-lit toilet and shower tent’. about the fortitude and courage it Hall, whose outfit ‘Adventure Con- From muffins and crèpes with Nutella takes a human being to climb the Ev- sultants’ is the one that charges cli- to heated toilets and chip-and-dip with erest, it is laughable that we make the ents $65,000 a climb? Why make a your Martini, the occidentalisation of Sherpas invisible. Is courage only hero of a Scott Fischer, who heads the Everest is complete. Now, keep- white in colour? adventure travel group ‘Mountain ing up with the Joneses is not just Yes, the film has Sherpas, but Madness’, and whose endless bravado about getting the bigger Merc, it’s also their characterisation is extraordinar- not only grates on the nerves but ulti- about getting more selfies on the ily patronising. One is given a line mately kills him on the peak? world’s most dangerous spots. where he gets to show off (of all use- If there’s one thing missing in the less skills on a climbing expedition) True story movie, and in climbers today, it is re- his fluent English. Two others are spect – for the magnificence that is shown sulking and quarrelling as the Everest is based on the true story the Everest. When the climbers reach bwana kindly explains why everyone of the disastrous 1996 expedition the peak, the first thing they do is plant must work together to survive. They when eight climbers lost their lives not a puny little flag of their country in next make an appearance when the just due to the fierce blizzard that the snow. Really? You are on top of brave mountaineers need to be res- struck the peak but also due to some the world and all you can think of is cued from the impossibly dangerous rash decisions taken by expedition stupid geographical boundaries and situation into which their stupidity has leaders and the sheer crowding on the national pride? landed them. peak. That year, there were several But the movie, after all, is just In the campsites, across the din- commercial operators on the Everest mimicking real life. The world’s most ner table, there’s a whole bunch of and around 40 people were attempt- astonishing natural phenomena have clichéd stuff about how they are ing the summit. long been turned into arenas where climbing the mountain because it is At Hillary Step, the final leg, a dollars can create a messy hash of there, how it’s about attitude and not queue waited to hook up to the single Disneyfied tourism, jingoism and altitude, about how they climb so that fixed line. This meant that when 2 machismo. ÿu their children know what they are p.m. arrived, the last safe hour at made of and so forth. What we don’t which the climbers absolutely had to Vaishna Roy is Associate Editor of The Hindu daily get to see are the Sherpas reaching begin their descent, most climbers had in India, and edits the paper’s Sunday Magazine. This article is reproduced from The Hindu’s thREAD way ahead of each group, pitching the not even reached the top. Instead of blog (www.thehindu.com/thread).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 42 C O V E R The ghettoisation of Palestine – tourism as a tool of oppression and resistance While Israel has employed the most draconian measures to isolate and control Palestine and the Palestinians, there has been considerable creative resistance. Tourism in this context has become a means for connecting Palestinians to the external world and fostering solidarity. Freya Higgins-Desbiolles explains.

Freeing Palestine through a struggle by Israel ‘to consolidate a istered by the Israeli military, which travel and tourism “normal peaceful life” inside a colo- issues far too few passes for the nial settler state ’ built on the per- number of Palestinians who need to ‘The 21st Century is witnessing the manent dispossession of Palestinian travel to other places for work, edu- most blatant ghettoisation of a peo- people (for greater detail on the back- cation, medical care, to visit family ple since the Second World War’ – ground to Israeli restrictions, see or conduct religious pilgrimage, for Australians for Justice in Palestine B’Tselem). In fact, it was the failure instance. Some sites of Palestine are of the Oslo Process from 1993 and becoming almost completely cut off, THERE is no place like Palestine; a the failure to secure a viable Pales- including Jerusalem and Gaza. place of unique spiritual significance tinian state which generated the hope- Acknowledging that analysts to some of the world’s major religions, lessness, humiliation and desperation such as Jeff Halper, with his articula- a place subject to settler-colonialism that sparked the violence of the tion of Israel’s ‘matrix of control’, and in an era in which such actions are intifadas. Sari Hanafi, with his concept of the antiquated, a place subject to severe In 2006, Gaza was placed under ‘politics of spacio-cide’, have offered oppression and seemingly beyond the an Israeli blockade because of the insightful discussions of these devel- provisions of international law and democratic election of Hamas (Eu- opments, what this article offers is an human rights as its oppressor acts with rope and the US suspended aid, des- analysis of the role that tourism and impunity. Such a situation sees travel ignating Hamas a terrorist organisa- travel plays in this systemic oppres- and tourism used as political tools in tion). While Hamas were labelled ter- sion, with an opportunity for gather- a singular fashion, which could in- rorists, a key factor was that this party ing new insights into the situation. form us not only about the specifics was likely to prove less compliant or The issue of the mobility of Pal- of this conflict situation, but also po- corruptible than the Fatah party, estinians has multiple angles, includ- tentially about the role of tourism in which was left to dominate the Pales- ing the ability of Palestinians to travel the world we are creating. tinian National Authority governing within Palestine (under Occupation or Because of the decades of con- the West Bank. This blockade has re- into the territories of 1948) and travel flict and occupation, the Palestinian inforced the cantonisation of Pales- on return journeys outwardly from people have been under a complex tine and undermined hopes for a uni- Palestine, and non-Palestinians trav- and ever-changing regime of re- fied state despite international law elling to Palestine. stricted movement which is quite un- declaring such actions illegal. precedented for a nation of people. This is the context of the unprec- The impediments to travel While in the past, Israel’s economy edented restrictions on mobility which imposed on Palestinians depended on cheap labour from Pal- are the focus here. estine and so movement was easier, it This restriction of movement is Since the Occupation imposed was the two intifadas that saw free carried out through physical struc- from 1967, Palestinians have found movement extremely restricted. Isra- tures, including permanent structures it increasingly difficult and sometimes el’s military used the issuance of per- such as the well-known ‘Apartheid impossible to travel within Palestine mits to travel into Israel allegedly as Wall’ (see box next page), numerous and conduct return journeys out from a means to prevent terrorism and vio- gates, trenches, checkpoints, guard Palestine. Understanding curbs to lence. In 2011 about 60,000 permits towers, earthworks and bypass roads, travel gets more complicated with the were issued; a token amount for a but also temporary and unpredictable necessity to then adapt considerations population of 2.5 million people. barriers through things like ‘flying of Palestinians living under occupa- As Ghassan Hage has pointed checkpoints’. These are supported by tion in the West Bank, East Jerusa- out, lying behind Israeli actions was a complex system of permits admin- lem and Gaza Strip, Palestinians liv-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 43 C O V E R ing as citizens of Israel, Palestinians living stateless in refugee camps in the The ‘Apartheid Wall’ region and Palestinians living in diaspora throughout the world. THE ‘Apartheid Wall’ describes a and well-being for Palestinians. Writ- The restriction on movements of separation barrier built by Israel al- ing inscribed on the wall entitled Palestinians is part of Israel’s closure legedly to protect itself from attacks ‘The Wall is on my heart’ expressed policy and sees such things as inabil- originating in the West Bank. It is this: ‘After the Wall around Rachel’s ity to travel within the West Bank, particularly controversial because, in Tomb was built, I felt terrible. No- between the West Bank and Gaza, to places, it goes inside the 1949 Armi- body was walking here, only the cats East Jerusalem and into Israel, exit stice Line (or ‘Green Line’) and and dogs. The wall creates a feeling from any point of Palestine, or travel therefore expropriates Palestinian the feeling that it surrounds you; efficiently on public roads or trans- land. It also separates Palestinians that you are not permitted to move. port systems. Arbitrary impositions from their schools, their fields, their Every time, every day you see the include the need for a permit which relatives and from each other, and, Wall. When I look outside through can be very difficult to obtain, par- together with limited crossings with the window to see the sunrise or the ticularly for men of a certain age and limited opening hours, arguably lo- sunset the Wall is in front of me. with any record of imprisonment calises people affected in a way that When I go to the Wall I feel that (when a majority of men have served is more suited to the dark ages. On something closes in my heart, as if time as political prisoners at some completion, it will be approximately the Wall is on my heart When I point during the Occupation). 700 kilometres in length. Amongst see the Wall I also feel ashamed of In addition to the inconvenience the other impacts of the impediments myself, because it is created by hu- of these obstacles to travel, there are to movement the Wall causes, it un- man beings. – Melvina, Bethlehem’ considerable time and economic costs dermines possibilities to harness The International Court of Jus- that have damaged the emerging Pal- tourism for Palestinian benefit as it tice made a ruling in 2004 that the estinian economy. For instance, many cuts off major tourist drawcards such ‘construction by Israel of a wall in Palestinians are forced to use the as the holy site of Rachel’s Tomb the Occupied Palestinian Territory Allenby Bridge to exit through Jor- from Palestinian control. and its associated regime are contrary dan for international business travel, More significantly, such actions to international law’; and yet it con- which extends the length and costs of work to negate feelings of autonomy tinues to be built largely unimpeded. travel, if indeed travel is permitted. The Gazan economy has been come a variety of obstacles to travel undertake ‘visiting friends and rela- crippled by the closure of the borders abroad or forgo academic aspirations tives’ forms of travel which are seri- under an Israeli blockade, seeing ag- altogether.’ ously impeded by these policies. ricultural produce on which the Additionally, checkpoints, border B’Tselem captured the story of economy depends rot at the check- restrictions and policies work to un- Nihayah Seif who explained how she points. Less tangible but no less nega- dermine an emerging Palestinian tour- is separated from her family in Jor- tive is the racism underpinning these ism sector. For instance, the manager dan as a result of marrying a resident initiatives which degrades Palestinian of the Jericho Resort gave a testimo- of Tulkarm in the West Bank and how lives, such as the highway networks nial to the Israeli human rights organi- she may never see her elderly mother of ‘Jews-only’ roads that are devel- sation B’Tselem in 2011 attesting to again. With these anecdotes, we be- oped to connect the settlement out- how the resort has been crippled as gin to sense the imposed immobility posts while isolating and preventing checkpoints and barriers have ham- and its effects. Palestinian movement between places pered domestic travel, diaspora travel A final illustration is found in the previously very accessible and near. and international travel with the in- more well-known case of the Pales- The impacts of these arbitrary, clusion of Jericho, a significant tour- tinian soccer team which is the only discriminatory and oppressive restric- ism location, into Area A (areas in the national team in the world that com- tions prevent the Palestinians from West Bank under full Palestinian con- petes under occupation, thus finding enjoying the multiple benefits of mo- trol) from 2000. it difficult to get sufficient training bility and tourism. This includes At a more personal level, Raja together as a team as permits and blocking Palestinians from accessing Shehadeh’s book Palestinian Walks checkpoints often impede their train- higher education opportunities over- evokes his anguish, as an avid walker ing and competition schedules; they seas, which is most pronounced with of the Palestinian landscape, at the in- have also suffered the loss of players the blockade of Gaza. As Amnesty creasing barriers to unrestricted trek- in the bombing of Gaza in 2009. International has noted: ‘If a student king; but even more than that, he Arguably the worst harm im- wants to study for a degree that isn’t records ‘a vanishing landscape’ under posed concerns Jerusalem. As Rifat offered in Gaza, or the programmes Israeli occupation and settlements. Kassis described it in 2014, Jerusa- in Gaza don’t meet the individual’s Another example concerns the abil- lem represents ‘the city we love most needs, the student is expected to over- ity of Palestinians of all categories to and visit least’. As both a religious and

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 44 C O V E R political centre, Jerusalem is the most contested site and arouses the great- est passions. With the creation of Is- rael, Jerusalem was divided and both sides in the conflict have considered it vital for their peoples’ future. With the Occupation from 1967, Israel took Freya Higgins-Desbiolles control of East Jerusalem but went further in illegally annexing it and saying an undivided Jerusalem is its capital. In East Jerusalem, Israel has com- mitted gross violations of interna- tional law. Rifat Kassis describes this by noting how simultaneously Israel works to dispossess the people of Je- rusalem by revoking their residency unfairly and settle its own population A section of the Apartheid Wall. in imposed settlements, with the ef- fect that ‘Israel is not simply trying dressed the impediments to free intent to visit Palestine, it in fact can to find its place in Jerusalem. Rather, movement of Palestinians. The justi- be quite difficult to pass through such it is trying to monopolise Jerusalem fications for such a system of impedi- border points. and exclude Palestinian Christians ments are contradictory, with some As the Grassroots Guide to Je- and Muslims from the city’. claiming they ensure Israeli security rusalem guidebook advises: ‘Landing Connected to this inability of Pal- and others labelling it a blatant land in Palestine can be stressful. Expect estinians outside of Jerusalem to grab and secret agenda for ethnic to face rigorous questioning about travel into Jerusalem is the attempt to cleansing. However, a testimony gath- your political and religious affilia- expel Palestinians from residing in ered by B’Tselem from an anonymous tions, your recent travels and your East Jerusalem. The Palestinians of Israeli soldier offers a different in- plans while in the country. If you have East Jerusalem are in a special legal sight: ‘The spirit of things was to stamps from other Arab countries in category under modern Israeli law. make life unbearable for the Palestin- your passport you can expect pro- Most of them are not Israeli citizens, ians. Stop them, inspect them a thou- longed questioning upon arrival and nor are they classified the same way sand and one times so that they won’t departure. Keep in mind that social as people in Gaza or the West Bank; want to drive that route. It seemed stu- media profiles may be accessed by instead they are permanent residents. pid to me. You harm people’s liveli- guards as a condition of entry. Israeli In recent years, significant efforts hood, harm people’s life, detain chil- authorities are interested in limiting have been made to displace the Pal- dren on the way to school, what good the number of international activists estinians of East Jerusalem, in some can come from this to the army, or to and visitors to the “Palestinian terri- cases rendering families homeless for the country?’ tories”.’ the second or third time since the However, it is often even worse Nakba of 1948. The impediments to travel to for Palestinian visitors with dual na- A World Bank report of 2007 en- and within Palestine imposed tionality, visitors of Palestinian de- titled ‘Movement and access restric- on international visitors scent as well as visitors of Arabic her- tions in the West Bank’ informs us of itage. There is also no guarantee that the impacts of these restrictions. It A different issue to consider is the people attempting to enter Israel as a states: ‘While Israeli security con- Israeli ability to determine who can gateway to Palestine through any cerns are undeniable and must be ad- visit Palestine and under what degree crossing will not be turned back alto- dressed, it is often difficult to recon- of difficulty. It is significant that tour- gether, particularly if they are identi- cile the use of closure for security pur- ists cannot get to Palestine without fied as supporters of Palestine. poses from its use to expand and pro- passing through an Israeli control Tourists are confronted with a tect settlement activity and the rela- point; since 1967 Israel has control- series of impediments to movement tively unhindered movement of set- led all entry points to Palestine, in- into and around Palestine. One can tlers in and out of the West Bank. Lim- cluding Ben Gurion International Air- simply be the lengthy and arduous iting Palestinian access to the impor- port in Israel and all land crossings extra border crossings that Israeli tant agricultural and tourist potential including from Jordan, with access by Occupation entails. For all but the of the Jordan Valley is one such ex- the Allenby Bridge or Wadi Araba, most intrepid traveller, such impedi- ample.’ and from Egypt, with the Taba Cross- ments, insecurity and uncertainty de- This section has only briefly ad- ing. If one is travelling with the clear ter the desire to visit Palestinian ar-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 45 C O V E R eas. Furthermore, if one hopes for focus on economic ties for future the development of reconciliation investment and state develop- between Israelis and Palestinians, ment. While this cannot address the fact that since 2001 it has one of the biggest issues in the been discouraged if not illegal for conflict, ‘the right of return’, Israeli citizens to travel into Area what it does do is ensure that

A in the West Bank undermines Freya Higgins-Desbiolles Palestinians compelled to live in any hope that understanding can diaspora are helped to continue develop through cross-cultural their connections to Palestine. contact. Palestine is also home to a This discouragement of in- cutting-edge tourism NGO, the ternational tourism matters in a Alternative Tourism Group of multitude of ways. Like many de- Palestine (ATG), which has an veloping nations, Palestine looks extensive programme of solidar- to tourism as a source of income ity and justice tours. ATG Execu- and employment, and it should tive Director Rami Kassis has have a competitive advantage defined justice tourism as ‘a so- with its holy sites, rich culture cial and cultural response to the and unique natural assets. But policy of cultural domination as more fundamentally in a world reflected in the globalisation of predicated on globalisation and tourism’. ATG’s work in Pales- the interaction of peoples, a coun- tine occurs on a number of lev- A sign warning Israelis against going into Area A, try is left in a state of profound els, from reaching religious pil- the area in the West Bank under full Palestinian social isolation if cut off so control. grims by calling on them to hear starkly from the global commu- the ‘Living Stones’ of Palestine, nity. This may in fact be a key gality of the Law of Entry into Israel, to solidarity tours aiding Pales- reason why the Palestinian narrative which allows every Israeli and every tinian farmers to undertake their ol- of the Nakba and oppression has so Jew to move freely in all regions be- ive harvests, to half-day tours to reach little traction in some quarters against tween the Mediterranean and the Jor- backpackers and the independent the Israeli narrative of the plucky lit- dan River while depriving Palestin- travel segment. ATG has modelled tle Western democracy in a sea of dan- ians of this same right. They are not best practice in global-local commit- ger in the Middle East. permitted free movement within the ment and action, as it models justice occupied territories nor are they al- tourism practice, participates in policy Tourism as a tool for resisting lowed into the towns and cities across and planning within Palestine, while enforced isolation the green line, where their families, also contributing to global action their nation, and their traditions are through such initiatives as the Tour- While Israel has worked very deeply rooted. ism Advocacy and Action Forum. hard to isolate and control Palestine ‘They and we, all ordinary citi- Additionally, travel and mobility and Palestinians through the measures zens, took this step with a clear and has also been used by transnational recounted here, there has been con- resolute mind. In this way we were solidarity activists as a tool for advo- siderable creative resistance. Tourism privileged to experience one of the cacy, consciousness-raising and tan- in this context has become a means most beautiful and exciting days of gible action. Prominent examples in- for connecting Palestinians to the ex- our lives, to meet and befriend our clude the Gaza flotilla and the 2011- ternal world and fostering solidarity. brave Palestinian neighbours, and to- 12 ‘aerial flotillas’ which were/are Palestine represents one of the lead- gether with them, to be free women, aimed at drawing attention to Israel’s ing sites for solidarity or justice tour- if only for one day.’ border restrictions and the impacts of ism, advanced at a number of levels. Specifically focused on the Pal- occupation as well as tangibly break- For instance, in reaction to the estinian diaspora, the ‘Know thy her- ing the imposed isolation of the Pal- travel restrictions imposed on Pales- itage’ programme founded by Pales- estinian people. tinians of the West Bank which block tinian businessman Rateb Rabie, cre- The Gaza flotillas were started in them from the ‘simple joys at the ated to reconnect youth in the Pales- 2008 by a group of Palestinian, Israeli beach’, a group of Israeli women tinian diaspora with their homeland, and international activists aiming to formed a movement called ‘We will demonstrates another approach. With break the Israeli blockade imposed on not obey’ with an aim to smuggle Pal- funds raised from Palestinian busi- Gaza by bringing in humanitarian as- estinian women into Israel to visit the nesses in the West Bank and the US, sistance and to express solidarity with beach and other prohibited places. In these tours have had less of a politi- Gazans. The aerial flotillas followed a newspaper announcement they ex- cal focus than the Israeli Birthright with a campaign called ‘Welcome to plained: ‘We cannot assent to the le- tours they are compared to and instead Palestine’ and involved internationals

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 46 C O V E R attempting to fly into Israel to reach all of Palestine’s borders and regulates borders of Palestine. It asks us to Palestine from all over the world. all movement inside those borders, reimagine tourism: rather than being Event organiser Fahdi Tantas stated: impeding Palestinian-led tourism is merely the hedonistic activity of mod- ‘The idea was for them to come in and just another tactic employed by a ern mass tourism or, worse, the op- say, “We are going to Palestine”, to comprehensive occupation.’ pressive force of exploitation of work- change the discourse and what is re- Most tourists book with Israeli ers and destination communities in the quired usually from a foreigner com- tourism agencies, use Israeli tour corporatised form of tourism, we see ing to Palestine. It is a basic right for guides, stay in Israeli hotels, and in this example the potentiality of a them and for us Palestinians to receive therefore receive Israeli perspectives. political form of tourism to create our guests.’ In fact, tourists may visit sites like bonds of understanding, solidarity and However, the dangers of Bethlehem in the West Bank and not political transformation. Freeing Pal- transnational solidarity activism were even realise they have crossed from estine through travel and tourism may starkly revealed with the killing of Israel into Palestine. When this is just be a step in freeing ourselves. u nine activists in May 2010 when Is- added to Israel’s capacity as an occu- raeli naval commandos stormed the pying power to restrict tourism infra- Freya Higgins-Desbiolles is a Senior Lecturer in Gaza flotilla ship the Mavi Marmara, structure and tourism services (such Tourism at the School of Management, University of South Australia. She has researched and taught sparking international outrage, but lit- as limiting Palestinian tour guide li- in Tourism Studies for more than a decade; using a tle change to Israeli practices. cences) and to deter the visitor in a critical, activist approach, her work focuses on One final initiative to mention is multitude of ways, tourism in Pales- human rights, justice and equity issues in tourism. the ‘Open Bethlehem’ campaign and tine remains in an imposed infancy. She is a founding member of the Tourism Advocacy and Action Forum, an affiliate of Equality in Tourism the Bethlehem passport initiative of Despite this situation, Palestin- and co-convener of the International Peace Tourism 2005 which had a declared aim of ians are forced to use tourism to the Commission of the International Peace Research making the city open to anyone in the best of their capacities to foster soli- Association. world. In reaction to the isolation im- darity through the social contact it posed by the building of the Apart- might offer even in these inauspicious References heid Wall around Bethlehem and other conditions. In fact Kassis has been one impediments to access to and from the of the leaders of the Kairos Initiative B’Tselem (no date). http:// city, ‘the initiative is designed to tran- which was launched in 2009 and chal- www.btselem.org. Grassroots Jerusalem (2014). The scend imprisonment’. As the website lenged visitors, particularly pilgrims, Grassroots Guide to Jerusalem, stated: ‘Open Bethlehem’s vision is to ‘come and see’. As Kassis argued, Jerusalem: Grassroots Jerusalem. to support a lasting peace settlement these initiatives are based on truthful- Hage, G. (2003). ‘“Comes a time we are between Palestine and Israel using ness and ‘was born of our belief in all enthusiasm”: Understanding Bethlehem as a doorway for global the significance of tourism as an eco- Palestinian suicide bombers in engagement. As an iconic city, and a nomic, political, and spiritual force times of exighophobia’, Public Palestinian city, Bethlehem has both that can effectively and truthfully ad- Culture, 15(1): 56-89. power and responsibility to act and vocate for the Palestinian struggle and Halper, J. (2009). ‘Dismantling the use its global outreach to promote for peace with justice through Pales- matrix of control’, http://www.me positive change.’ tinian-organised tours’. rip.org/mero/mero091109. Open Bethlehem built a cam- Hanafi, S. (2009). ‘Spacio-cide: Colonial politics, invisibility and paign focused on the Bethlehem pass- Conclusion rezoning in Palestinian territory’, port, ‘a symbolic citizenship of an Contemporary Arab Affairs, 2(1): iconic town that stands for Joy and For better or worse, our world is 106-121. Goodwill to all’. Such efforts are in- now characterised by mobility. Those Kassis, R.O. (2014). ‘Jerusalem: The tended to raise awareness and pro- who are mobile are able to better city we love most and visit least’, mote solidarity. thrive in this era when being con- http://www.maannews.com/eng/ However, these efforts represent nected is everything. This article has ViewDetails.aspx?id=689634 small niches reaching only small looked at how obstacles to the ben- (accessed 15 April 2014). numbers of tourists to the area. It is efits of travel and tourism are used to Kassis, R.O. (2015). ‘A Kairos clear that Israel controls the vast ma- ghettoise Palestinians as an attempt perspective of tourism and jority of tourists who travel to Israel/ to break their spirit and block their pilgrimage: Come and see’, This Week in Palestine, 204: 22-28. Palestine and this has ramifications on access to transnational solidarity. Yet, World Bank (2007). ‘Movement and the ability of Palestinians to connect following the dialectics of oppression, access restrictions in the West with the outside world. As Rifat travel and tourism are also clearly Bank: Uncertainty and inefficiency Kassis of Kairos Palestine stated: used as tools of resistance; in fact in the Palestinian economy’, http:/ ‘During the past few decades, Israel Palestine has gifted us the example of /siteresources.worldbank.org/ has actively prevented Palestinians ATG which has been a global leader INTWESTBANKGAZA/ from taking the initiative in their own in justice tourism. Resources/WestBankrestrictions9 tourism industry. Since Israel controls This holds relevance beyond the Mayfinal.pdf

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 47 C O V E R The bitter irony of ‘1 billion tourists – 1 billion opportunities’ The following is the text of the Statement by the Tourism Advocacy and Action Forum (TAAF) for World Tourism Day (27 September 2015), prepared by the Tourism Investigation & Monitoring Team.

THIS year’s World Tourism Day creasingly criminalised, facing xeno- actions of authorities, which include theme, ‘1 Billion Tourists – 1 Billion phobia plus policies of isolation and denying entry to, arresting, summar- Opportunities’, sounds like a slogan deterrence in destination countries. ily rejecting and returning refugees, for an advert to entice consumers to Formerly open or lightly pa- using disproportionate force against buy a product like a laundry detergent trolled borders are closing. Israel has migrants and refugees. For instance, or hamburger. The World Tourism Or- built a ‘Separation Wall’ (also dubbed the UN High Commissioner for Hu- ganisation (UNWTO) invites us to ‘Apartheid Wall’) that violates Pales- man Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein celebrate one billion tourist arrivals tinians’ right to freedom of move- recently strongly criticised the Hun- per year and the seemingly unlimited ment. The United States, Europe and garian government for breaching in- growth of the travel and tourism in- Australia are also fortifying their bor- ternational law, saying the country’s dustry; it is hoped that by 2030, al- ders, sometimes with barbed-wire harsh measures are ‘an entirely unac- most two billion people will have em- fences and heavily armed police and ceptable infringement of the human braced the tourist lifestyle. military forces. The result is that the rights of refugees and migrants. Seek- UNWTO’s party could not take conventional travel industry is supple- ing asylum is not a crime, and neither place at a more inconvenient time as mented with a burgeoning multi-bil- is entering a country irregularly.’ the world is experiencing an acute lion-dollar industry – that of human How these developments will af- humanitarian crisis with more people trafficking, which puts migrants’ and fect the global travel and tourism trade being displaced than at any time since refugees’ lives at risk. is unpredictable at this point. But in World War II, according to UNHCR the face of millions of displaced peo- [the UN refugee agency]. As UNWTO UNWTO must stop ple being forsaken, UNWTO’s mantra cheers the one billion people officially of tourism’s potential for poverty re- counted as tourists, there is no appre- acting like a PR agency duction and sustainable development ciation of countless other ‘irregular for the travel and is a great travesty. tourists’ who are forced to travel be- Given this situation of utmost cause they have become homeless in tourism industry emergency, UNWTO must stop act- their homelands due to war, civil ing like a PR agency for the travel and strife, loss of livelihoods, environ- The notion of the Mediterranean tourism industry and genuinely work mental destruction and climate change Sea as a popular holiday heaven is for the common good of humanity as impacts. rapidly eroding as it has become the deemed appropriate for a UN body. It Although governments, tourism world’s deadliest maritime migration is unreasonable and immoral to talk officials and businesses consider con- route, with ships full of refugees cap- about ‘1 billion opportunities’ includ- venience, connectivity and mobility, sizing and people, many of them chil- ing livelihood opportunities for the health and safety for travellers as pri- dren, drowning almost on a daily ba- poor, while disregarding all research orities, there are few legal and safe sis. There is now a state of exception and scientific data that reveal tour- travel routes for the disadvantaged in Europe. National governments ism’s vast opportunity costs, includ- migrants and refugees who are seek- have even begun to ‘temporarily’ sus- ing displacement, dispossession and ing to reach destinations where they pend the Schengen agreement – the impoverishment of people(s) particu- can rebuild their lives free of war, treaty that gives most EU citizens the larly in the developing world. destitution and persecution. right to travel freely across European An impartial and sincere review While countries in the South have borders – with the argument that the of tourism is long overdue to explore opened up and created a welcoming influx of migrants and refugees poses the question: tourism offers opportu- culture for vacationers, residential a ‘serious threat to public policy or nities for whom? Victor Hugo’s say- tourists and business travellers, many internal security’. ing ‘The paradise of the rich is made rich countries in the North are now The militarisation of borders has out of the hell of the poor’ appears implementing measures to combat the devastating consequences for human perfect to describe tourism in a world supposed threat of ‘illegal immigra- rights. Reports are mounting about of growing inequality and receding tion’. The ‘irregular tourists’ are in- callous – and in some cases illegal – human rights. u

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 48 W O R L D A F F A I R S A new intifada for a new generation Young Palestinians are making their own decisions in defiance of both Fatah and Hamas.

David Hearst

A FEW days before he stabbed and killed two ultra-orthodox Jews in the Old City of Jerusalem before being shot dead, Muhannad Halabi ad- dressed himself on his Facebook wall to his president. Mahmoud Abbas had accused Israel in his UN speech of letting extremists into the Al-Aqsa compound. ‘Nice speech Mr President, but we do not recognise East and West Jerusalem. We know only that Jeru- salem is one, undivided, and that Palestinian youths hurl stones at Israeli soldiers following a protest against Jewish every part of it is holy. Excuse me, settlements near the West Bank city of Nablus. ‘A new generation is attempting to Mr President, but what is happening shake off its occupier.’ to the women of Al-Aqsa and to Al- Aqsa itself will not be stopped by from the plans of Tony Blair and lem’s sectarian politics. Despite the peaceful measures. We were not Salam Fayyad to regenerate the Chief Rabbinate’s prohibition on Jews raised to be humiliated.’ economy of the West Bank. Instead, entering the compound it knows as the The 19-year-old’s message was what this generation saw was 600,000 Temple Mount, the status quo at Al- clear: the time for words is over. The settlers, the gradual disappearance of Aqsa is changing. The Waqf, the Jor- Third Intifada, he said, has already Palestinian East Jerusalem, a Pales- danian-controlled Islamic institution started. tinian security force whose role was administering holy places, no longer Halabi speaks for his generation. to stop protest, and the daily encroach- collects entrance fees nor can it ban He was born a year after the second ments of Israeli Jews, who defined non-Muslims from passing through Oslo Accord was signed in Taba, themselves initially as tourists, in the the Israeli-controlled gate. which set up an interim Palestinian Al-Aqsa compound. Instead of a fi- ‘While the Waqf continues to self-governing authority for the West nal settlement, Halabi’s generation work with the police to enforce the Bank and Gaza. By the age of four, has experienced the final loss of all Jewish prayer ban, it can no longer Halabi should have seen a compre- hope. determine the size of Jewish groups hensive peace agreement in which This then, more than the numbers or the rate of their entry; nor can it Israel would have ceded control of the of deaths or injured, or the phenom- veto the entry of specific activists it territories in exchange for peace. enon of stabbing attacks occurring all considers provocateurs. Israel at times When Halabi was seven, Israel had over the country, is what makes this has allowed Jews to enter in groups begun constructing the wall that was an intifada – which in Arabic means of 10 to 30, even 50, including in army to divide the West Bank into ‘shaking off’. A new generation is at- uniform, which previously had been bantustans. By the time he was eight, tempting to shake off its occupier. A forbidden,’ the International Crisis Yasser Arafat had died, ridding Israel new generation has rediscovered the Group recently reported. of a Palestinian leader it described as struggle of its forebears. What hap- By 2012, Israeli members of par- ‘two-faced’. He was replaced by pens in the following weeks, months liament, deputy ministers and minis- Mahmoud Abbas, whose one face or even years will become their strug- ters were filmed declaring Israeli sov- was, and is, implacably opposed to gle. ereignty over the entire site. violence. The spark for this is Al-Aqsa, a For Halabi’s generation this is not Halabi’s generation should have symbol which stone by stone is being only a religious issue. Al-Aqsa is a seen peace. It should have benefitted attacked by the acid rain of Jerusa- symbol of national identity, the last

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 49 W O R L D A F F A I R S symbol standing of an identity which Fatah and Hamas. If one picture Minister Avigdor Lieberman and pro- has been so comprehensively trashed encapsulates this, it was of a girl in settler Education Minister Naftali by the Israeli state. It unifies both re- jeans and a kuffiyeh handing rocks to Bennett, came first and second. As ligious and secular Palestinians. The a masked boy wearing a green Hamas foreign minister, Lieberman commis- first Palestinians to attack religious headband. Secular and religious youth sioned lawyers to examine plans for Jews over Al-Aqsa came from a secu- were at one in protest. Each and every the so-called ‘static transfer’ of the lar revolutionary group, the Popular youth who picks up a knife or throws Palestinian population of northern Is- Front for the Liberation of Palestine a stone is their own leader. rael to a Palestinian state. (PFLP). Defending Al-Aqsa from the But Israelis are also being encour- encroachment of national-religious Unique factors aged to take the law into their own Jews is an existential issue. It tells all hands. Already a heavily armed soci- Palestinians: ‘If we don’t fight for this, This creates unique dangers for ety – in 2013 about 160,000 permits we might as well give up.’ Israel. It can deal with groups by ar- were issued for private citizens to Halabi did not need to be incited. resting or assassinating their leaders carry firearms, and 130,000 for or- Nor did he wait for orders from Fatah and eventually negotiating a ceasefire. ganisations – Israel is about to become or Hamas. He made his own decision, It cannot stop individuals from mak- more so. In Jerusalem this is with the as thousands of others are doing irre- ing their own desperate decisions. It explicit encouragement of mayor Nir spective of whether they live in the can only provoke them more by re- Barkat, who along with his bodyguard West Bank, Gaza or Israel. sorting to house demolitions or other disabled a Palestinian who had Both the First and Second measures of collective punishment. stabbed a Jewish man on the street. Intifadas took the Palestinian leader- There are other unique factors Afterwards Barkat was seen in the ship by surprise. The first was started about this intifada. The First and Sec- Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit when an Israeli army truck crashed ond Intifadas were conducted from Hanina with an assault rifle. Vigilante into two vans carrying Palestinian the West Bank and Gaza. The Pales- mobs have already appeared hunting workers, killing four of them. The tinian citizens of Israel, who have for Palestinian workers on the streets second was ignited by Ariel Sharon, been present since 1948, took part in of Jerusalem, planning their route to then in opposition, appearing at the protests at the start of the Second areas where Palestinian cleaning Al-Aqsa compound with a thousand Intifada, but they were shortlived. Not workers would be employed. Israeli police officers and repeating since Land Day in 1976 have the Pal- All the ingredients are there for a the phrase that was broadcast when estinians of ’48 been at the forefront long and bloody struggle, in which Israeli troops seized East Jerusalem of popular protest. On 30 March 1976, countless innocents on both sides will in the 1967 Six Day War: ‘The Tem- thousands of Palestinians from the be killed. If you like, Israel has dis- ple Mount is in our hands.’ But within northern triangle region marched to covered the secret that has eluded gen- days of each, the leadership asserted protest the expropriation of huge erations of physicists: the secret of control and began giving orders. tracts of land as part of an openly de- perpetual motion. Every time its se- Jamal Zakout, who wrote ‘Com- clared policy to ‘Judaise’ the area. curity establishment congratulates it- munique No. 2’ on behalf of the Uni- Today, however, no wall or sepa- self on having extinguished one fied National Leadership of the 1987 ration barrier contains the uprising. intifada, another one comes. Each Intifada, reminded us of its purpose: The recent attacks have been taking time the flame is rekindled by another ‘It considered the Intifada, its leader- place in areas the PLO has no control generation’s personal experience of ship, and its grassroots activism as an of – East Jerusalem, Afula, Tel Aviv. despair, hopelessness and indignity. integral part of the PLO [Palestine There are other factors. This is the first There is only one way out of this Liberation Organisation], not a sub- intifada where Palestinians are not cycle of conquest, repression and re- stitute for it.’ Today the PLO, under looking for neighbouring Arab states sistance. It is for the Jewish Israelis Abbas’s leadership, does not want to to intervene. Perhaps it’s a sign of the to look themselves in the mirror and know, and, for that very reason, strug- times or the chaos around Israel’s own reconcile – as equals – with the peo- gles to control the situation. borders. ple of the land that they now share. A recent poll conducted So far, Israel’s reaction to the For one reason and one reason only. by pollster and political scientist intifada has been to lose trust in Is- Palestinians are here to stay, one gen- Khalil Shikaki found that 42% of Pal- raeli Prime Minister Benjamin eration after another. u estinians believed that only an armed Netanyahu and back even more right- struggle would lead to an independ- wing leaders. The latest poll published David Hearst is editor-in-chief of Middle East Eye ent Palestinian state, and 57% no by the Yediot Ahronot daily on 11 (www.middleeasteye.net), from which this article is longer believed that a two-state solu- October showed that 73% were dis- reproduced. He was chief foreign leader writer of tion was possible. Two-thirds wanted satisfied with Netanyahu’s handling The Guardian, former Associate Foreign Editor, European Editor, Moscow Bureau Chief, European to replace Abbas as president. of the recent attacks. When asked who Correspondent and Ireland Correspondent. He The new generation is making its was best qualified to deal with them, joined The Guardian from The Scotsman, where he own decisions in defiance of both two ultra-nationalists, former Foreign was education correspondent.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 50 W O R L D A F F A I R S A short history of US bombing of civilian facilities The recent bombing by the US of a civilian hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan run by the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières provoked almost universal outrage. But as Jon Schwarz shows below, this bombing of a civilian facility is not the first.

ON 3 October, a US AC-130 gunship attacked a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Kunduz, Afghani- stan, partially destroying it. Twelve staff members and 10 patients, includ- ing three children, were killed, and 37 people were injured. According to MSF, the US had previously been in- formed of the hospital’s precise loca- tion, and the attack continued for 30 minutes after staff members des- perately called the US military. The US first claimed the hospital had been ‘collateral damage’ in an Debris after a US airstrike on a hospital run by Médecins Sans Frontières in Kunduz, airstrike aimed at ‘individuals’ else- Afghanistan. The US has repeatedly attacked other civilian facilities in the past. where who were ‘threatening the force’. Since then, various vague and Ghraib suburb of Baghdad. Iraq de- facility’. The original US claims have contradictory explanations have been clared that the factory was exactly nevertheless proven impossible to offered by the US and Afghan gov- what its name said, but the adminis- stamp out. The George W Bush ad- ernments, both of which promise to tration of President George HW Bush ministration, making the case for in- investigate the bombing. MSF has claimed it was ‘a production facility vading Iraq in 2003, portrayed the called the attack a war crime and de- for biological weapons’. Colin factory as a symbol of Iraqi deceit. manded an independent investigation Powell, then chairman of the Joint When the Newseum opened in 2008, by a commission set up under the Chiefs of Staff, chimed in to say, ‘It it included Arnett’s 1991 reporting in Geneva Conventions. is not an infant formula factory. It was a section devoted to – in the New York While the international outcry has a biological weapons facility – of that Times’ description – ‘examples of dis- been significant, history suggests this we are sure.’ The US media chortled tortions that mar the profession’. is less because of what happened and about Iraq’s clumsy, transparent more because of whom it happened propaganda, and CNN’s Peter Arnett Air raid shelter, Amiriyah, Iraq to. The US has repeatedly attacked was attacked by US politicians for (13 February 1991) civilian facilities in the past but the touring the damaged factory and re- The US purposefully targeted an targets have generally not been affili- porting that ‘whatever else it did, it air raid shelter near the Baghdad air- ated with a European, Nobel Peace did produce infant formula’. port with two 2,000-pound laser- Prize-winning humanitarian organisa- Iraq was telling the truth. When guided bombs, which punched tion such as MSF. Saddam Hussein’s son-in-law, through 10 feet of concrete and killed Below is a sampling of such in- Hussein Kamel, defected to Jordan in at least 408 Iraqi civilians. A BBC cidents since the 1991 Gulf War. 1995, he had every incentive to un- journalist reported that ‘we saw the dermine Saddam, since he hoped the charred and mutilated remains. Infant Formula Production US would help install him as his fa- They were piled onto the back of a Plant, Abu Ghraib, Iraq (21 Janu- ther-in-law’s successor – but he told truck; many were barely recognisable ary 1991) CNN ‘there is nothing military about as human.’ Meanwhile, Army Lt. Gen. On the seventh day of Operation that place. It only produced baby Thomas Kelly of the US Joint Chiefs Desert Storm, aimed at evicting Iraqi milk’. The CIA’s own investigation of Staff said: ‘We are chagrined if [ci- military forces from Kuwait, the US- later concluded the site had been vilian] people were hurt, but the only led coalition bombed the Infant For- bombed ‘in the mistaken belief that it information we have about people mula Production Plant in the Abu was a key BW [Biological Weapon] being hurt is coming out of the con-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 51 W O R L D A F F A I R S trolled press in Baghdad.’ Another US 15E fighter jet fired two remotely- Observer newspaper in the UK later general claimed the shelter was ‘an guided missiles that hit a train cross- reported the US had in fact deliber- active command-and-control struc- ing a bridge near Grdelica, killing at ately targeted the embassy ‘after dis- ture’, while anonymous officials said least 14 civilians. Gen. Wesley Clark, covering it was being used to trans- military trucks and limousines for then Supreme Allied Commander mit Yugoslav army communications’. Iraq’s senior leadership had been seen Europe, called it ‘an unfortunate in- The Observer quoted ‘a source in the at the building. cident we all regret’. While the F-15 US National Imagery and Mapping In his 1995 CNN interview, crew was able to control the missiles Agency’ calling Cohen’s version of Hussein Kamel said, ‘There was no after they were launched, NATO re- events ‘a damned lie’. Prodded by the leadership there. There was a trans- leased footage taken from the plane media watchdog organisation Fair- mission apparatus for the Iraqi intel- to demonstrate how quickly the train ness and Accuracy in Reporting, the ligence, but the allies had the ability was moving and how little time the New York Times produced its own in- to monitor that apparatus and knew vestigation finding ‘no evidence that that it was not important.’ The Iraqi jet’s crew had to react. The German the bombing of the embassy had been blogger Riverbend later wrote that newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau a deliberate act’, but rather that it had several years after the attack, she went later reported that the video had been to the shelter and met a ‘small, slight sped up three times. The paper quoted been caused by a ‘bizarre chain of woman’ who now lived in the shelter a US Air Force spokesperson who missteps’. The article concluded by and gave visitors unofficial tours. said this was accidental, and they had quoting Porter Goss, then chairman Eight of her nine children had been not noticed this until months later – of the House Intelligence Committee, killed in the bombing. by which point ‘we did not deem it as saying he believed the bombing useful to go public with this’. was not deliberate – ‘unless some peo- Al Shifa pharmaceutical fac- ple are lying to me’. tory, Khartoum, Sudan (20 August Radio Television Serbia, Bel- 1998) grade, Serbia (23 April 1999) Red Cross complex, Kabul, Af- After al Qaeda attacks on US Sixteen employees of Serbia’s ghanistan (16 October and 26 Oc- embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in state broadcasting system were killed tober 2001) 1998, the Clinton administration tar- during the Kosovo war when NATO At the beginning of the US-led geted the Al Shifa factory with 13 intentionally targeted its headquarters invasion of Afghanistan, the US at- cruise missiles, killing one person and in Belgrade. President Clinton gave tacked the complex housing the In- wounding 11. According to President an underwhelming defence of the ternational Committee of the Red Bill Clinton, the plant was ‘associated bombing: ‘Our military leaders at Cross in Kabul. In an attempt to pre- with the bin Laden network’ and was NATO believe that the Serb tel- vent such incidents in the future, the ‘involved in the production of mate- evision is an essential instrument of US conducted detailed discussions rials for chemical weapons’. Mr. Milosevic’s command and con- with the Red Cross about the location The Clinton administration never trol. It is not, in a conventional of all of its installations in the coun- produced any convincing evidence sense, therefore, a media outlet. That try. Then the US bombed the same that this was true. By 2005, the best was a decision they made, and I did complex again. The second attack the US could do was say, as the New not reverse it.’ US envoy Richard destroyed warehouses containing tons York Times characterised it, that it had Holbrooke told the Overseas Press of food and supplies for refugees. not ‘ruled out the possibility’ that the ‘Whoever is responsible will have to Club immediately after the attack that original claims were right. The long- come to Geneva for a formal expla- it was ‘an enormously important and, term damage to Sudan was enormous. nation,’ said a Red Cross spokesper- Jonathan Belke of the Near East Foun- I think, positive development’. Am- son. ‘Firing, shooting, bombing a dation pointed out a year after the nesty International later stated it was warehouse clearly marked with the bombing that the plant had produced ‘a deliberate attack on a civilian ob- Red Cross emblem is a very serious ‘90% of Sudan’s major pharmaceuti- ject and as such constitutes a war incident. Now we’ve got 55,000 cal products’ and contended that due crime’. people without that food or blankets, to its destruction ‘tens of thousands with nothing at all.’ of people – many of them children – Chinese embassy, Belgrade, have suffered and died from malaria, Serbia (7 May 1999) Al Jazeera office, Kabul, Af- tuberculosis and other treatable dis- Also during the Kosovo war, the ghanistan (13 November 2001) eases’. Sudan has repeatedly re- US bombed the Chinese embassy in Several weeks after the Red quested a UN investigation of the Serbia’s capital, killing three staff and Cross attacks, the US bombed the bombing, with no success. wounding more than 20. The defence Kabul bureau of Al Jazeera, destroy- secretary at the time, William Cohen, ing it and damaging the nearby office Train bombing, Grdelica, Ser- said it was a terrible mistake: ‘One of of the BBC. Al Jazeera’s managing bia (12 April 1999) our planes attacked the wrong target director said the channel had repeat- During the US-led bombing of because the bombing instructions edly informed the US military of its Serbia during the Kosovo war, an F- were based on an outdated map.’ The office’s location.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 52 W O R L D A F F A I R S

Al Jazeera office, Baghdad, Iraq (8 April 2003) Negotiating a ‘Development Agenda’ for Soon after the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq, the US bombed the the World Intellectual Property Baghdad office of Al Jazeera, killing Organisation (WIPO) reporter Tarek Ayoub and injuring an- other journalist. David Blunkett, the Edited by Martin Khor and Sangeeta Shashikant British home secretary at the time, subsequently revealed that a few THE World Intellectual Property Organisation weeks before the attack he had urged (WIPO), a UN agency that deals with issues Prime Minister Tony Blair to bomb Al of intellectual property rights, has been Jazeera’s transmitter in Baghdad. undergoing an interesting change in recent Blunkett argued, ‘I don’t think that years. In 2004, many developing countries there are targets in a war that you can initiated a process of reform to make WIPO rule out because you don’t actually development-oriented, which they consider have military personnel inside them to be important for a UN agency. The initiative, if they are attempting to win a propa- which is known as the ‘Development Agenda’, ganda battle on behalf of your enemy.’ has since snowballed into a movement to In 2005, the British newspaper review the role of intellectual property rights The Mirror reported on a British gov- in the process of development. ernment memorandum recording a 16 According to developing countries, NGOs April 2004 conversation between and experts, WIPO has been too much oriented towards promoting IP at the expense Blair and President Bush at the height ISBN: 978-983-2729-71-6 376 pp of the wider development concerns and public of the US assault on Fallujah in Iraq. interest. Whether the Development Agenda movement succeeds in The Bush administration was infuri- reorienting WIPO remains to be seen especially since this initiative has ated by Al Jazeera’s coverage of been resisted by developed countries, that want to cling on to the status Fallujah, and according to The Mir- quo. ror, Bush had wanted to bomb the On the ‘Development Agenda’ initiative, this book is an eyewitnesses channel at its Qatar headquarters and account of the twists and turns of the Development Agenda movement. It elsewhere. However, the article says, is indispensable for those who want to understand the origins, rationale Blair argued him out of it. Blair sub- and history of the Development Agenda at WIPO. sequently called The Mirror’s claims Price Postage a ‘conspiracy theory’. Meanwhile, his Malaysia RM40.00 RM2.00 attorney general threatened to use the Developing countries US$10.00 US$5.00 (air) Official Secrets Act to prosecute any Others US$15.00 US$7.50 (air) news outlet that published further in- Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. formation about the memo, and, in a Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, UK, secret trial, did in fact prosecute and USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order in own send to jail a civil servant for leaking currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate equivalent of it. US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money Palestine Hotel, Baghdad, Iraq order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If (8 April 2003) paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., The same day as the 2003 bomb- 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; ing of the Al Jazeera office in Bagh- Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twn.my dad, a US tank fired a shell at the 15th I would like to order ...... copy/copies of Negotiating a ‘Development Agenda’ for floor of the Palestine Hotel, where the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). most foreign journalists were then staying. Two reporters were killed: I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. Taras Protsyuk, a cameraman for Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: Reuters, and Jose Couso, a camera- man for the Spanish network American Express Visa Mastercard Telecinco. An investigation by the A/c No.: Expiry date: Committee to Protect Journalists con- cluded that the attack, ‘while not de- Signature: liberate, was avoidable’. ÿu Name:

Jon Schwarz is a senior writer and editor with The Address: Intercept (theintercept.com), from which this article is reproduced.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 53 W O R L D A F F A I R S Iraq, Afghanistan and other special ops ‘successes’ President Obama’s recent decision to dispatch US Special Operations forces to Iraq caused a stir but few are aware of the record number of such deployments in recent years. Nick Turse looks into claims of their record of success.

THEY’re some of the best soldiers in the world: highly trained, well equipped, and experts in weapons, intelligence gathering and battlefield medicine. They study foreign cultures and learn local languages. They’re smart, skilful, wear some very iconic headgear, and their 12-member teams are ‘capable of conducting the full spectrum of special operations, from building indigenous security forces to identifying and targeting threats to US national interests’. They’re also quite successful. At least they think so. ‘In the last decade, Green Berets have deployed into 135 of the 195 recognised countries in the world. Successes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Trans- The Green Berets are among the best known of the US’ elite Special Operations Sahel Africa, the Philippines, the An- forces. dean Ridge, the Caribbean, and Cen- nations on the planet, which repre- have achieved in those countries tral America have resulted in an in- sents a jump of 145% since the wan- rather than the overall US military creasing demand for [Special Forces] ing days of the Bush administration. effort,’ he says. As he points out, the around the globe,’ reads a statement On any day of the year, in fact, Ameri- first post-9/11 months may represent on the website of US Army Special ca’s most elite troops can be found in the zenith of success for those troops. Forces Command. 70 to 90 nations. The initial operations in the invasion The Army’s Green Berets are There is, of course, a certain logic of Afghanistan in 2001 – carried out among the best known of America’s to imagining that the increasing glo- largely by US Special Forces, the CIA elite forces, but they’re hardly alone. bal sweep of these deployments is a and the Afghan Northern Alliance, Navy SEALs, Air Force Air Comman- sign of success. After all, why would backed by US airpower – were ‘prob- dos, Army Rangers, Marine Corps you expand your operations into ever ably the high point’ in the history of Raiders, as well as civil affairs per- more nations if they weren’t success- unconventional warfare by Green sonnel, logisticians, administrators, ful? So I decided to pursue that record Berets, according to Naylor. As for the analysts and planners, among others, of ‘success’ with a few experts on the years that followed? ‘There were all make up US Special Operations subject. sorts of mistakes, one could argue, forces (SOF). They are the men and I started by asking Sean Naylor, that were made after that.’ He is, how- women who carry out America’s most a man who knows America’s most ever, quick to point out that ‘the vast difficult and secret military missions. elite troops as few do and the author majority of the decisions [about op- Since 9/11, US Special Operations of Relentless Strike: The Secret His- erations and the war, in general] were Command (SOCOM) has grown in tory of Joint Special Operations Com- not being made by Army Special every conceivable way from funding mand, about the claims made by Army Forces soldiers’. and personnel to global reach and Special Forces Command. He re- For Linda Robinson, author of deployments. In 2015, according to sponded with a hearty laugh. ‘I’m One Hundred Victories: Special Ops Special Operations Command spokes- going to give whoever wrote that the and the Future of American Warfare, man Ken McGraw, US Special Op- benefit of the doubt that they were the high number of deployments is erations forces deployed to a record- referring to successes that Army Spe- likely a mistake in itself. ‘Being in 70 shattering 147 countries – 75% of the cial Forces were at least perceived to countries ... may not be the best use

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 54 W O R L D A F F A I R S of SOF,’ she told me. Robinson, a sen- ior international policy analyst at the Rand Corporation, advocates a ‘more thoughtful and focused approach to the employment of SOF’, citing en- during missions in Colombia and the Philippines as the most successful special ops training efforts in recent years. ‘It might be better to say “Let’s not sprinkle around the SOF guys like fairy dust.” Let’s instead focus on where we think we can have a suc- cess ... If you want more successes, maybe you need to start reining in how many places you’re trying to cover.’ A video grab purporting to show Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq’s Nineveh province. Most of the special ops The US Joint Special Operations Command’s failure to completely destroy al-Qaeda deployments in those 147 countries in Iraq allowed IS to grow. are the type Robinson expresses scep- ticism about – short-term training The elite warriors of the Somali pirates, and asserts that such missions by ‘white’ operators like warrior elite missions might ‘inhibit others from Green Berets (as opposed to the ‘black seizing Americans’. One wonders, of ops’ man-hunting missions by the elite In addition to training, another course, if similar high-profile failed of the elite that captivate Hollywood core role of Special Operations forces missions since then, including the and video gamers). Between 2012 and is direct action – counterterror mis- SEAL raid that ended in the deaths of 2014, for example, Special Operations sions like low-profile drone assassi- hostages Luke Somers, an American forces carried out 500 Joint Combined nations and kill/capture raids by mus- photojournalist, and Pierre Korkie, a Exchange Training (JCET) missions cled-up, high-octane operators. The South African teacher, as well as the in as many as 67 countries, practising exploits of the men – and they are unsuccessful attempt to rescue the late everything from combat casualty care mostly men (and mostly Caucasian aid worker Kayla Mueller, might then and marksmanship to small unit tac- ones at that) – behind these operations have just the opposite effect. tics and desert warfare alongside lo- are chronicled in Naylor’s epic his- ‘Afghanistan, you’ve got another cal forces. And JCETs only scratch the tory of Joint Special Operations Com- fairly devilish strategic problem surface when it comes to special ops mand (JSOC), the secret there,’ Naylor says and offers up a missions to train proxies and allies. counterterrorism organisation that in- question of his own: ‘You have to ask Special Operations forces, in fact, cludes the military’s most elite and what would have happened if al- conduct a variety of training efforts shadowy units like the Navy’s SEAL Qaeda in Iraq had not been knocked globally. Team 6 and the Army’s Delta Force. back on its heels by Joint Special A recent $500 million pro- A compendium of more than a dec- Operations Command between 2005 gramme, run by Green Berets, to train ade of derring-do from Afghanistan and 2010?’ Naylor calls attention to a Syrian force of more than 15,000 to Iraq, Somalia to Syria, Relentless JSOC’s special abilities to menace over several years, for instance, Strike paints a portrait of a highly- terror groups, keeping them unsteady crashed and burned in a very public trained, well-funded, hard-charging through relentless intelligence gath- way, yielding just four or five fight- counterterror force with global reach. ering, raiding and man-hunting. ‘It ers in the field before being aban- Naylor calls it the ‘perfect hammer’, leaves them less time to take the of- doned. This particular failure fol- but notes the obvious risk that ‘suc- fensive, to plan missions, and to plot lowed much larger, far more expen- cessive administrations would con- operations against the United States sive attempts to train the Afghan and tinue to view too many national se- and its allies,’ he explains. ‘Now that Iraqi security forces in which Special curity problems as nails’. doesn’t mean that the use of JSOC is Operations troops played a smaller yet When I ask Naylor about what a substitute for a strategy ... It’s a tool still critical role. The results of these JSOC has ultimately achieved for the in a policymaker’s toolkit.’ efforts recently prompted retired country in the Obama years, I get the Indeed. If what JSOC can do is Army colonel Andrew Bacevich to impression that he doesn’t find my bump off and capture individuals and write that Washington should now question particularly easy to answer. pressure such groups but not deci- assume, ‘when it comes to organis- He points to hostage rescues, like the sively roll up militant networks, de- ing, training, equipping, and motivat- high-profile effort to save ‘Captain spite years of anti-terror whack-a- ing foreign armies, that the United Phillips’ of the Maersk Alabama af- mole efforts, it sounds like a recipe States is essentially clueless’. ter the cargo ship was hijacked by for spending endless lives and end-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 55 W O R L D A F F A I R S less funds on endless war. ‘It’s not my Naylor notes that JSOC’s failure JSOC’s operators ‘the finest warriors place as a reporter to opine as to to completely destroy al-Qaeda in Iraq who ever went into combat’. Even whether the present situations in Af- allowed IS to grow and eventually accepting this – with apologies to the ghanistan, Iraq and Yemen were sweep ‘across northern Iraq in 2014, Mongols, the Varangian Guard, Per- “worth” the cost in blood and treas- seizing town after town from which sia’s Immortals, and the Ten Thou- ure borne by US Special Operations JSOC and other US forces had evicted sand of Xenophon’s Anabasis – ques- forces,’ Naylor tells me in a follow- al-Qaeda in Iraq at great cost several tions remain: Have these ‘warriors’ up email. ‘Given the effects that JSOC years earlier’. This, in turn, led to the actually been successful beyond achieved in Iraq (Uday and Qusay rushing of special ops advisers back budget battles and the box office? Is Hussein killed, Saddam Hussein cap- into the country to aid the fight against exceptional tactical prowess enough? tured, [al-Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu the Islamic State, as well as to that Are battlefield triumphs and the abil- Musab] Zarqawi killed, al-Qaeda in programme to train anti-Islamic State ity to batter terror networks through Iraq eviscerated), it’s hard to say that Syrian fighters that foundered and relentless raiding the same as victory? JSOC did not have an impact on that then imploded. By this spring, JSOC Such questions bring to mind an ex- nation’s recent history.’ operators were not only back in Iraq change that Army colonel Harry Impacts, of course, are one thing, and also on the ground in Syria, but Summers, who served in Vietnam, successes another. Special Operations they were soon conducting drone had with a North Vietnamese coun- Command, in fact, hedges its bets by campaigns in both of those tottering terpart in 1975. ‘You know, you never claiming that it can only be as suc- nations. defeated us on the battlefield,’ Sum- cessful as the global commands un- This special ops merry-go-round mers told him. After pausing to pon- der which its troops operate in each in Iraq is just the latest in a long se- der the comment, Colonel Tu replied, area of the world, including European ries of fiascos, large and small, to be- ‘That may be so. But it is also irrel- Command, Pacific Command, Africa devil America’s elite troops. Over the evant.’ Command, Southern Command, years, in that country, in Afghanistan So what of those Green Berets Northern Command and Central and elsewhere, special operators have who deployed to 135 countries in the Command or CENTCOM, the geo- regularly been involved in all man- last decade? And what of the Special graphic combatant command that ner of mishaps, embroiled in various Operations forces sent to 147 coun- oversees operations in the Greater scandals, and implicated in numerous tries in 2015? And what about those Middle East. ‘We support the Geo- atrocities. Recently, for instance, Geographic Combatant Commanders graphic Combatant Commanders members of the Special Operations across the globe who have hosted all (GCCs) – if they are successful, we forces have come under scrutiny for those special operators? are successful; if they fail, we fail,’ an air strike on a Médecins Sans I put it to Vietnam veteran says SOCOM’s website. Andrew Bacevich, author of Breach Frontières hospital in Afghanistan that With this in mind, it’s helpful to of Trust: How Americans Failed Their killed at least 22 patients and staff, for return to Naylor’s question: What if Soldiers and Their Country. ‘As far an alliance with ‘unsavoury partners’ al-Qaeda in Iraq, which flowered in back as Vietnam,’ he tells me, ‘the the years after the US invasion, had in the Central African Republic, for United States military has tended to never been targeted by JSOC as part the ineffective and abusive Afghan confuse inputs with outcomes. Effort, of a man-hunting operation going af- police they trained and supervised, as measured by operations conducted, ter its foreign fighters, financiers and and for a shady deal to provide SEALs bomb tonnage dropped or bodies military leaders? Given that the even with untraceable silencers that turned counted, is taken as evidence of more brutal Islamic State (IS) grew out to be junk, according to prosecu- progress made. Today, tallying up the out of that targeted terror group, that tors. number of countries in which Special IS was fuelled in many ways, say ex- Operations forces are present repeats perts, by both US actions and inac- Winners and losers this error. There is no doubt that US tion, that its leader’s rise was bolstered Special Operations forces are hard at by US operations, that ‘US training JSOC was born of failure, a phoe- it in lots of different places. It does helped mould’ another of its chiefs, nix rising from the ashes of Opera- not follow that they are thereby actu- and that a US prison served as its ‘boot tion Eagle Claw, the humiliating at- ally accomplishing anything mean- camp’, and given that the Islamic tempt to rescue 53 American hostages ingful.’ u State now holds a significant swath from the US Embassy in Iran in 1980 of Iraq, was JSOC’s campaign against that ended, instead, in the deaths of Nick Turse is the managing editor of eight US personnel. Today, the elite TomDispatch.com – from which this article is its predecessor a net positive or a reproduced – and a fellow at the Nation Institute. A negative? Were special ops efforts in force trades on an aura of success in 2014 Izzy Award and American Book Award winner Iraq (and therefore in CENTCOM’s the shadows. Its missions are the stuff for his book Kill Anything That Moves, his pieces area of operations) – JSOC’s post-9/ of modern myths. have appeared in the New York Times, The Intercept, In his advance praise for Naylor’s the Los Angeles Times, The Nation, and regularly 11 showcase counterterror campaign at TomDispatch. His latest book is Tomorrow’s – a success or a failure? book, one cable news analyst called Battlefield: US Proxy Wars and Secret Ops in Africa.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 56 H U M A N R I G H T S Ethnicity in Nepal’s new constitution: From politics of culture to politics of justice In September this year, Nepal’s Constituent Assembly promulgated the country’s new constitution after a protracted constitutional process lasting nearly nine years. In many ways, the document is a remarkable achievement and embodies many progressive and positive principles. To be sure, it did not succeed in satisfying the aspirations of a number of ethnic groups such as the Madheshis and Tharus. But in a country of more than a hundred ethnic groups, this failure was not irremediable, as the country’s leaders made it clear that they were open to further amendment to accommodate such grievances. Unfortunately, India’s unwarranted interference in this internal matter (see following article) has muddied the waters. In the following article Mallika Shakya offers background analysis of Nepal’s constitutional odyssey and the varied interpretations of the decade-long struggle waged by the Maoist movement to realise their demand for a new constitution.

NEPAL promulgated its constitution on 20 September – the first after end- ing the monarchy, and one replacing the interim constitution in place since 2007. That interim constitution had been put in place to mark the peace agreement with the Nepali Maoists, mainstreaming them into democratic politics and unarming them under the UN mediation. While there were oth- er obstacles in finalising the constitu- tion, the hardest nut to crack has been the issue of federalism because it in- volved finding a way to work Nepal’s multiple ethnic and regional identities into the mono-ethnic nationalism in- stitutionalised by the state thus far. Students light candles to celebrate Nepal’s new constitution, which was promulgated There are more than a hundred on 20 September. ethnic groups in Nepal scattered in its diverse terrain ranging from the (Dalits) and flatland dwellers (Mad- thropologists’ take on the Maoists and Himalayas in the north to the Tarai/ heshis) remained marginalised in all ethnic politics in Nepal. Madhesh flatlands of the south. The spheres of public life. The Nepali caste hill Hindu elite (CHHE), com- Maoists targeted ethnic exploitation Nine years, two assemblies prised mostly of Bahuns and Chhe- during their People’s War between and one constitution tris, rose to power after Prithvi Naray- 1996 and 2006 and were the first to an Shah, a Chhetri king, conquered demand a new constitution. The first Constituent Assembly numerous small kingdoms to form the In this article, I briefly summa- began its term exuberantly in 2008. modern state of Nepal in 1769, and rise the constitutional negotiations Its first act was to officially dethrone they remained privileged even after spanning nine years, showing that eth- Hindu King Gyanendra, who had as- Nepal became democratic in 1990. nicity and exploitation took centre- sumed power in 2001 after the royal The indigenous nationalities from the stage, and this informs a review, in family was allegedly massacred by hills (Janajatis), Hindu low castes the second part of the article, of an- the crown prince, who later shot him-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 57 H U M A N R I G H T S self dead. Initially a constitutional monarch, like his slain brother, King Birendra, Gyanendra committed a coup d’état of sorts, trying to sideline all political parties based on what he said was an urgent need to clamp down on Maoist guerillas. This failed in 2006 not least because the parties, especially the Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Unit- ed Marxist–Leninist) – referred joint- ly as NC–UML hereafter – instead joined hands with the Maoists to se- cure a comprehensive peace agree- ment and end a decade-long People’s Nepal’s Constituent Assembly. After a protracted deadlock, a ‘16-point deal’ was struck War. to pass the constitution through the Assembly. However, as they sat down to write the constitution, disagreements track’ the constitution-writing process standing the Maoist movement and its surfaced. The Maoists and Madhesh- through bahumat backfired on NC– aftermath. I offer some preliminary is, significantly large in number in the UML forces when the Maoists and reflections on how our research fo- first Assembly, wanted ethnic griev- Madheshis physically barred the con- cus and questions may be adjusted. ances about persistent historical ine- stitution document from reaching the qualities to be addressed and over- speaker of the Assembly by encircling An anthropology of the come by way of federalisation and (gherao) the rostrum. People’s War affirmative action. The NC–UML in- Three months after failed at- stead argued that federalisation, if tempts at fast-tracking, Nepal was hit Anthropologists have been reluc- done, should be based on economic with a devastating earthquake on 25 tant to problematise the ethnic viability. Multiple maps with varying April 2015. With more than 9,000 realpolitik at play in their field sites. numbers of federal states and how deaths and 22,000 injured, the coun- Among the first to produce these should be delineated floated in try united in grief. Capitalising on this ethnographies of villages under Mao- the Assembly, and expert committees fleeting moment of national unity, the ist influence was Anne de Sales were commissioned to advise on tech- three largest parties in the Constitu- (2000), who argued that the Magar nical matters. Although the Maoists ent Assembly – NC–UML and the Janajatis from the Maoist heartland in and Madheshis could have secured a Maoists – but also one of the many Rolpa were ‘cleverly’ exploited by the majority at this time, all parties agreed factions among the Madheshi parties Maoists to protest state indifference that a constitution should be promul- seized a ‘16-point deal’ to pass the to their isolation. Judith Pettigrew gated only through consensus constitution through the Assembly. (2004) argued that young people in (sarvasammati) and not majority (ba- Even though the only Madheshi fac- Maurigaon joined the guerillas rather humat). Unfortunately, however, a tion walked out because the federal as a rite of passage toward ‘moder- consensus could not be reached, and map that emerged from this deal over- nity’ than as an act of political con- after the Supreme Court ruled against looked its concerns, the ‘big three’ still science. Much of the early anthropo- extending its term, the Assembly for- went ahead amid wide protests in the logical literature went on to portray mally disbanded at midnight on 28 southern flatlands of Tarai/Madhesh. the Maoists as crude rebels May 2012. That the battle on federalism was piggybacking on cultural idioms to The second Constituent Assem- so acrimonious in terms of ethnic and sell communist jargon while the vil- bly, emerging from general elections regional divisions of power shows the lagers were depicted as innocent vic- in 2013, had a different composition. centrality of ethnicity and its politi- tims caught in the crossfire between The federalist forces (i.e., the Mao- cal representation in Nepal’s ongoing the rebels and the state. The politics ists and Madheshis) secured many transformation. This is what prompts of the (guerilla) war itself formed just fewer seats while the old parties NC– me to review how anthropologists a backdrop in anthropological narra- UML won the majority. The Assem- have problematised ethnicity and tives, which were largely put together bly remained caught in a deadlock identity in Nepal, especially in the through secondary sources and not even as the opposition intensified pro- context of the People’s War led by the ethnography per se. Ethnographies of tests to ensure that the state stayed Maoists that lasted a decade. Below, political institutions – Maoist and oth- committed to federalism and that eth- I show how this focus and its very ers – were rare. In other words, early nic grievances were addressed. An particular understanding of how to ethnographies established few con- attempt to override the earlier under- research a ‘people’s war’ now almost nections between the events in indi- standing on sarvasammati to ‘fast- overshadows all other ways of under- vidual villages and a national phe-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 58 H U M A N R I G H T S nomenon, which rested on an ideol- ogy speaking to broader issues and which had an apparatus similar to many revolutionary movements in the era of decolonisation. To better understand how anthro- pologists studying Nepal’s People’s War have dealt with the discipline’s more general and fairly existential problem of explaining the ‘part’ while not losing sight of the ‘whole’, I will divide the corpus of anthropological writings on the People’s War into two approaches. The first focuses on the Maoist movement itself and explores The Nepali Maoists targeted ethnic exploitation during their People’s War between the ideology and practice of Nepali 1996 and 2006 and were the first to demand a new constitution. Maoists as armed rebels. The second chiefly considers the everyday lives nic justice. In other words, anthropol- pal have kept the wider, national and of ordinary people living in Maoist ogy contributed to a discourse por- ultimately decisive ‘politics’ outside areas. The latter approach soon be- traying the Maoists as ‘outsiders’ and of their ethnographic gaze. Otherwise, came dominant whereas the former knowledgeable exploiters of culture such politics have been reduced with- remains a rarity. in pursuit of a crude party agenda pro- out further questioning to ‘everyday Saubhagya Shah (2004) correctly moting emancipatory class struggle politics’ – to the extent that even identified that Nepali Maoists focused (de Sales 2003). The central argument ethnographies claiming to analyse ter- less on Mao’s economic and political of Pettigrew’s (2004) ‘first hand’ ac- ror and violence, jan sarkar (people’s programmatic while they offered count of living conditions in insur- government) and Maoist model vil- greater clarity and commitment on gency-affected areas was that villag- lages have muted the realpolitik that proposals for ethno-religious and re- ers negotiated the terms of Maoist in- would change Nepal’s constitution for gional mobilisation. Philippe Ramirez trusion into their intimate spaces good. (2004) contextualised the Nepali (houses and courtyards) by invoking The case of the People’s War in Maoist movement with similar move- cultural protocol of hospitality. Nepal and how this culminated in con- ments elsewhere in the world. Regret- Although more recent writings stitutional change and an end to royal tably, this line of anthropological writ- largely reproduced this second genre rule then indicates how in anthropol- ing more or less disappeared after of anthropological approaches to the ogy it still seems possible to deny Shah died a few years later and People’s War, there have been a few universalistic claims on modernity by Ramirez left Nepal to study northeast exceptions. Sara Beth Shneiderman way of localising desire(s) for eman- India. (2009) is probably among the few cipation and denying the wider ambi- The second group of writings has who confessed that the size of the tion of villagers to end conditions of proven prolific. Almost all of the writ- Maoist rally in her field site made her terror. What a future anthropological ings in this category took the position rethink earlier claims, and she ac- research agenda on Nepal may want that the ethnic associations and their knowledged that the persistence of to illuminate is not the obvious fact leaders ‘oscillated’ between concerns ethnic exploitation and their campaign that there are overlaps between party that the Maoists were either ‘exploit- against this might have offered the tactics and cultural-religious senti- ing’ ethnicity or could help realise Maoists a hegemonic device against ments, but instead how the movement greater equality among ethnic groups state. Susan Hangen (2013: 124) fur- originated, gained momentum and (Lecomte-Tilouine 2004: 129). Based ther substantiated this hegemony ar- then transformed itself through a com- on research in Nepal’s central hills, gument in her study of ethnic inter- plex web of alliances and counter-al- Shneiderman and Turin (2004: 103) locutors’ boycotting of a major Hindu liances between political parties, cul- argued that even if the Maoists were festival, Dashain, in the eastern hills tural entities and others. Such a re- ‘quick to adopt’ cultural means to as a rebellious ‘mnemonic practice’. minder might be timely as Nepal is spread their messages, they offered no However, anthropologists who con- turning a new constitutional page to reassurances towards ethnic au- tributed to a volume edited by Marie shed Hindu monarchy and embrace a tonomy or a federal state. The Mao- Lecomte-Tilouine (2013) on the multiethnic federal structure. ÿu ists were portrayed as opportunists ‘revolution in Nepal’ focus primarily adopting the stylistics of Hindu on ‘tears’ and what she called a ‘li- Mallika Shakya works as Assistant Professor in the lifecycle rituals to articulate emanci- bidinal economy’. Department of Sociology at South Asian University in Delhi. She works on nationalism, development patory class struggle but refraining In sum, it may be fair to say that politics, industrialisation and trade union from making any commitment on eth- accounts of the People’s War in Ne- movements in Nepal, South Africa and beyond. She

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 59 H U M A N R I G H T S has a PhD from the London School of Economics Lecomte-Tilouine, Marie (2013). CPN (Maoist) had given a big hope and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Revolution in Nepal: An for peace, stability and development Oxford. This article is reproduced from FocaalBlog anthropological and historical (www.focaalblog.com). in Nepal. We recall our solidarity we approach to the people’s war. extended during Jana-aandolan II of Oxford: Oxford University Press. Nepal in 2006. The newly promul- References Pettigrew, Judith (2004). ‘Living gated constitution in Nepal has guar- between the Maoists and the army de Sales, Anne (2000). ‘The Kham- in rural Nepal’. In Hutt, Himalayan anteed a federal, inclusive, secular Magar country, Nepal: Between people’s war, pp. 261-284. and republican state and ensured fun- ethnic claims and Maoism’. Ramirez, Philippe (2004). ‘Maoism in damental and human rights including European Bulletin of Himalayan Nepal: Towards a comparative the economic-social and cultural Research, 19: 41-71. perspective’. In Hutt, Himalayan rights of the people. de Sales, Anne (2003). ‘Remarks on people’s war, pp. 192-224. Immediately after the promulga- revolutionary songs and Shah, Alpa, and Judith Pettigrew tion of the constitution, Nepal’s south- iconography’. European Bulletin of (2009). ‘Windows into a revo- ern neighbour India imposed an un- Himalayan Research, 24: 5-24. lution: Ethnographies of Maoism Hangen, Susan (2013). ‘Boycotting official trade and transport embargo. in South Asia’. Dialectical It ‘noted’ but did not welcome the Dasain: History, memory and Anthropology, 33(3): 225-251. adoption of a constitution by Nepal. ethnic politics in Nepal’. In Shah, Saubhagya (2004). ‘A Himalayan Mahendra Lawoti and Susan red herring? Maoist revolution in This ‘big brother’ and interventionist Hangen, eds., Nationalism and the shadow of the legacy Raj’. In attitude is highly objectionable and ethnic conflict in Nepal: Identities Hutt, Himalayan people’s war, pp. unwelcome. That too when the Nepa- and mobilization after 1990, pp. 192-224. lese government has agreed to con- 121-144. New York: Routledge. Shneiderman, Sara Beth (2009). ‘The sider the genuine issues being raised Hutt, Michael, ed. (2004). Himalayan formation of political conscious- by the agitating political parties and people’s war: Nepal’s Maoist ness in rural Nepal’. Dialectical social groups, and to democratically rebellion. Bloomington: Indiana Anthropology, 33(3): 287-308. revise the constitution. University Press. Shneiderman, Sara Beth, and Mark The undeclared blockade im- Lecomte-Tilouine, Marie (2004). Turin (2004). ‘The path to Jan posed by India on all goods at the ‘Ethnic demands within Maoism: Sarkar in Dolakha district: Towards Indo-Nepal border has led to severe Questions of Magar territorial an ethnography of the Maoist difficulties for the common people of autonomy, nationality and class’. In movement’. In Hutt, Himalayan Nepal to go about their normal lives. Hutt, Himalayan people’s war, pp. people’s war, pp. 79-111. This act of collective punishment is 112-135. deplorable and it is totally against the concept of a South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) 2004; and other agree- SAAPE welcomes the promulgation of the new ments such as Indo-Nepal Treaty of constitution of Nepal and condemns the trade and Peace and Friendship 1950; Motor Vehicle Agreement among Bangla- transport embargo imposed by Indian government desh, Bhutan, India and Nepal (BBIN) on the Indo-Nepal border 2015; Convention on Transit Trade of Statement by the South Asia Alliance for Poverty Eradication Landlocked States (1965) and United (SAAPE), 1 October 2015 Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. We deplore the Government of THE South Asia Alliance for Poverty this context, we express our solidar- India’s arm-twisting tactics and we Eradication (SAAPE), a regional- ity with the people of Nepal and the further demand that the Government level civil society network encom- genuine demands of Tharu, Dalit, of India stop punishing the common passing all eight countries of South Women, Janatis and Madhesis, which people of Nepal and immediately Asia, welcomes the new constitution we urge the government of Nepal, the withdraw the blockade and make a of Nepal promulgated on 20 Septem- political parties, and groups that are public commitment not to repeat such ber 2015 by an overwhelming major- protesting to settle through peaceful an action in the future. It is incum- ity (90% votes in favour) of Constitu- dialogue and by incorporating amend- bent upon the Government of India ent Assembly members. Although we ments in the constitution as appropri- to respect the sovereignty of Nepal had witnessed several problems dur- ate. and let the Nepali people and the Gov- ing the constitution making process Nepal has gone through a pain- ernment of Nepal handle their inter- that the Constituent Assembly of Ne- ful political, socio-economic transi- nal issues amongst themselves and act pal had encountered, we welcome the tion for a genuine change in its soci- to promote peace and harmony in the result that followed the democratic ety for many years. The ‘Comprehen- region instead of harassing its neigh- processes during the constitution sive Peace Accord, 2006’ which was bours and interfering in their internal drafting and finalisation process. In held between the state and the then matters. ÿu

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 60 V I E W P O I N T The coming of Corbyn Few political events in recent times have created such a political stir as the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Britain’s Labour Party. Jeremy Seabrook explains this extraordinary reaction, especially by the British media.

THE election of Jeremy and media appearances Corbyn as leader of the worth over £45,000), he Labour Party (with 59% of was nevertheless ‘the poor- the vote of its members) est person I know in poli- has already performed one tics’. He was called homo- great service to an atro- phobic for referring to gays phied political debate in as ‘fags’, sexist and racist, Britain. He has widened the and had spoken of ‘Mus- shrunken realm of discus- lim ghettos which were no- sion, which had narrowed go areas for the police and into arguments reminiscent operate under sharia law’. of religious disputes be- In spite of this system- tween medieval schoolmen atic demolition, Farage’s whose minute scriptural Jeremy Corbyn, newly elected leader of the British Labour Party. UKIP received 13% of the exegeses were irrelevant to popular vote in the 2015 believers. Corbyn has opened up ter- of popularity, and secondly, when election, while the Greens achieved ritory on which No Trespassing signs Nigel Farage of the United Kingdom 4%. Although a flawed electoral sys- had been erected by a political estab- Independence Party (UKIP) threat- tem yielded a single MP for each lishment which lays down the rules ened to undermine the vote of both party, the onslaught of media and rul- of the game, the rituals of a politics ‘mainstream’ parties. Bennett, with ing elite failed to wipe out the confi- designed to resist all serious challeng- her ‘honking voice and strident opin- dence which a proportion of the Brit- es to wealth and power. ions’, a ‘bombastic blonde Austral- ish public placed in these – apparently Whatever Corbyn’s fate – ian’, was described as offering ‘hard- ridiculous and unelectable – figures. whether he becomes Prime Minister, Left’ policies, a desire to ban the mon- How much more severe the cen- proves ‘unelectable’, as the press vir- archy and the House of Lords and sure when Her Majesty’s Loyal Op- tually unanimously declares, or with- much of the armed services and make position voted as leader a man who draws before the election of 2020 – illegal fur and ‘cruel foods’ like foie had always been a thorn in the side of he is already owed a debt of gratitude gras. She would make it easier to join Labour governments, a radical paci- by all who defy the institutionalised Islamic terror groups. She gave a TV fist, a man who publicly said he conservatism of a somnolent Labour interview described as a ‘car crash’, wanted to abandon the fiction of Brit- Party. and was called a ‘poor media per- ain’s ‘independent’ deterrent. It is a Jeremy Corbyn, modest and in- former’, proof that she was ‘not up to savage irony that Corbyn’s name was experienced in the braying art of lead- the job’. only placed on the leadership ballot ership favoured by the Conservatives, Similarly, Farage was represented by certain Labour MPs who were showed up the hollow rhetoric of the as a phony, projecting himself as an alarmed at the reduced prospectus on Labour elite, its timid respectability ordinary bloke in the pub with his pint offer. It was something of a game to and poverty of imagination. The other and forbidden cigarette, in spite of his widen the range of opinion among contenders in the leadership contest private education and even more pri- aspirants and to initiate debate. Only invoked their ‘principles’ and ‘pas- vate fortune. This was calculated to at the last minute were enough MPs – sion’ and, at the same time, their ‘re- expose him to ridicule and therefore by no means all supporters of Corbyn alism’ in recognising that you couldn’t to electoral oblivion. In a curious re- – persuaded to set their names to what do anything for the weak and vulner- version to an archaic attribution of was intended as cosmetic extension able until you had gained power; even human character to the ‘humours’ of of discussions that would never take though to acquire that power you have Hippocrates, he was said to be full of place. to jettison all principles. ‘bile’ and ‘spleen’; he was ‘dyspep- And if the media had had their It was inevitable that the media tic’ and ‘rancorous’. His image as man way, they would not. One of the less would seek to destroy him. There had, of the people was further undermined controllable features of the modern after all, been two precedents in the by his complaint that, despite a house- world is that public opinion, that hith- recent past. Firstly, when Natalie hold income of £109,000 a year (as erto malleable putty-like substance, to Bennett’s Green Party showed a surge well as a £60,000 chauffeur allowance be shaped at will by a few newspaper

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 61 V I E W P O I N T

he said he could not im- agine himself pressing the button, this was tan- tamount to surrendering the country to anyone who cared to take it over. ‘Beating the bounds’

All this recalled the ancient English custom of ‘beating the bounds’ of a parish in order to re- assert its limits, now a quaint archaic ritual. The Labour Party conference in September. ‘Whatever Corbyn’s fate... he is already owed a debt of Children would follow gratitude by all who defy the institutionalised conservatism of a somnolent Labour Party.’ the parish priest, strik- ing the outer landmarks owners and their paid ‘opinion-form- Russian oligarchs and the interna- with green boughs of willow or birch, ers’ in the interests of the globally tional rich quit (‘British Airways re- and the priest would say, ‘Cursed is powerful, has been modified by the ported record ticket sales on first-class he who transgresseth the bounds existence of social media. These have flights out of London’); a Britain sub- of his neighbours.’ Such practices become a technological version of jected to power blackouts, a siege have not fallen into disuse, although that word of mouth which, a century economy, hyper-inflation, disorder on no longer directed against a land-grab ago, permitted the Labour Party to the streets, riots and families living by neighbouring parishes or covetous emerge from the limited traditional under curfew. landlords. The terrain now most rig- straitjacket of a politics that saw Lib- It was relentless. In Corbyn’s first orously policed and guarded is politi- erals and Conservatives as sole par- days as leader, the media accused him cal, and this epic work of containment ticipants. of failing to sing the national anthem employs thousands of people. The If the media were insulting to during the commemorative service for contemporary media are the equiva- Farage and Bennett, they reached a the 75th anniversary of the Battle of lent of the ecclesiastical court, which paroxysm in their vitriol against Britain. As Opposition leader, it was adjudicated claims of trespass and the Corbyn, even before he had been automatically assumed he would be- alienation of more material lands. elected. He was leading the ‘loony come a member of the Privy Council, The fear of these custodians of Left’ and at the same time the ‘hard a body of ‘advisers’ to the monarch – electability, the beaters of the bounds Left’, his supporters were ‘adolescent clergy, royalty, former ministers and of democratic propriety, has, in little thugs’, ‘hordes’, ‘an alien brood’, ‘in- aristocratic luminaries who still orna- more than two years, expressed itself surrectionists’. The Labour Party had ment British social life. They must in intemperate efforts to shame or been ‘captured’ by extremists who take an oath of silence which dates undermine alternatives, on both the would reduce Britain to Zimbabwe from the 13th century (‘keep secret Right and Left. Democracy is clearly and ‘the politics of the past’. Corbyn all matters committed and revealed to a stunted concept in its heartland: was a ‘Hamas lover’, he would en- you’). Corbyn did not attend the first from the Mother of Parliaments now danger the security of the nation. His meeting of the Council, and this was issues a very muted clash of ideas. ideas were ‘crackpot’ and ‘danger- interpreted as a ‘snub’ to the Queen. In its way, it demonstrates once ous’. He is ‘economically illiterate’ (a He had a prior engagement, which more the ‘lessons’ of Greece, namely, curious charge this, coming from turned out to be a walking holiday in that when the electorate votes the those whose competence led to the Scotland; although when current wrong way, this can easily be re- global financial crisis) and a traitor, Prime Minister David Cameron be- versed. This should not astonish us. since he would ‘betray the armed came leader of the Opposition, he at- After all, we recently witnessed the services’. Even his bicycle was called tended no Privy Council meeting for prolonged immorality-play of the rul- ‘a Mao-bike’. The Daily Mail ran a three months; and his ‘loyalty’ was ing Syriza party’s doomed attempt to horror story, an account of three years not called into question. protect the poor of Greece from the of a Corbyn government in 2023. It Corbyn was asked whether he vengeful policies of the European paints a Britain reduced to Greek-style would wear a ‘white poppy’ on Ar- Union, International Monetary Fund borrowing, money flooding out of mistice Day, whether he would aban- and European Central Bank. After all London, property prices in freefall as don ‘our’ nuclear deterrent; and when the breathless, down-to-the-wire

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 62 V I E W P O I N T rhetoric, the last-minute ‘compro- mises’, how much energy and effort (not to mention money) has been ex- pended on pulling the wayward Greeks into line? Corbyn has been associated with these same ‘losers’ and ‘no-hopers’; a risk to ‘financial stability’ with his ruinous idealism. The Conservative victory in 2015, paltry and opportunistic though it was, has become a ‘mandate’, en- dorsement of a newly arrogant Con- servative Party, which has set the tone for the kind of country we are sup- posed to live in. (At his party confer- ence, Cameron called Corbyn ‘secu- rity-threatening, terrorist-sympathis- ing, Britain-hating’.) Efforts to out- ‘[The media] reached a paroxysm in their vitriol against Corbyn...’ law even the most modest question- ing of the existing political order show ceptable disturbance of our way of year-old, demanding that he repudi- whose voices are actually speaking life, even when the prevailing order ate any vestigial ‘Marxist’ beliefs, and through the dutiful echolalia of most plunges people into poverty, cuts in- avoid splits and divisions in a Labour ‘commentators’, ‘observers’ and au- comes, creates homelessness, pun- Party always anxious to distance it- thoritative conveyors of ‘messages’ ishes the poor and reduces prospects self from a radicalism it is bound to acceptable to the great landlords of for the next generation. A party that deny once more – particularly now knowledge. would leave financial institutions, that ‘radicalism’ has taken on quite They have dug up skeletons of the transnational companies and the glo- other connotations than a serious 1980s from the shallow graves in bal rich to their continuous attrition questioning of the roots of social and which Michael Foot, ‘entryism’ and of the civilities and amenities of pub- economic injustice, and has been Leftist ‘takeovers’ were interred, in- lic life, transforming tax into a vol- transformed in the lexicon of power voking the Communist Party of Great untary alms-giving, destroying wel- into advocacy of violence. Britain – that shrunken and powerless fare, increasing surveillance, widen- The ritual of beating the bounds rump of nostalgics – as though this ing inequalities and overheating the of discourse in the reduced parish that were representative of a world-con- social as well as the meteorological is Britain never ceases. But most of spiracy to bring down democracy, climate, would retain ‘credibility’ and the time it remains in the background, with Corbyn its stalking-horse. The show itself worthy of power (or is it a solemn if constant reminder of what revivalism of this anti-Left pathology impotence?) once more. may not be said, in a world of blue is faded; a savourless taste, an odour The moderation, reason, good skies, pushed envelopes and thinking of damaged goods, a scarecrow in a sense and humanity of Jeremy Corbyn the unthinkable. The mainly young landscape which even the crows have must be shown as a rapacious assault people who affiliated themselves to abandoned. ‘Entryism’ is an uncon- the Labour Party did so to elect some- vincing fable in countries where the There is a disproportion one whose ‘extremism’ turns out to Left is supposed to have been defini- be a few simple questions: Why, if the tively routed for all time. in the extravagant and Bank of England can create £375 bil- There is a disproportion in the blood-curdling rhetoric lion in phantom money to give to the extravagant and blood-curdling rheto- banks, can it not do the same for ric employed to diminish Corbyn, as employed to diminish infrastructural projects and popular empowerment? Against whom could though he – and not war, a global refu- Corbyn, as though he gee crisis, disease, inequality, ISIL, we imagine launching our nuclear terror, drugs, global warming and were the greatest ‘deterrent’? Why should we fatalisti- cally accept that inequality is as mass migration into city slums – were danger facing the world. the greatest danger facing the world. unbiddable as a force of nature? Why It is a measure of our parochialism in have hope and idealism been banished the presence of the real threats to the on all we hold dear. All the artful de- from the parched political landscapes planet. Any challenge to the comfort- vices of power have been employed of contemporary Britain? u able politics of alternation between by the sightless visionaries of the ‘real what are labelled ‘centre-Right’ and Jeremy Seabrook is a freelance journalist based in world’ to castigate the extreme and the UK. His latest book is The Song of the Shirt ‘centre-Left’ is regarded as an unac- outlandish, embodied in a humane 66- (published by Navayana).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 63 P O E T R Y

The Venezuelan-Chilean poet, jurist, philosopher, philologist and educator, Andres Bello (1781-1865), who served the cause of South American independence, also extolled the natural beauty of the continent in his poetry, exemplified by the following poem about the Bio-Bio river in Chile.

To the Bio-Bio

Andres Bello

Blest were he, O Bio-Bio! This to me in truth were sweeter Who could dwell forevermore Than the Babel wild and loud In a deep grove, cool and shady, Where in chase of a chimera Upon thine enchanted shore! All are rushing in a crowd;

Just a lowly thatched-roofed Where dark treachery and falsehood cottage Near the quaking altar stay Where thy limpid waters are seen That the people’s favour raises Pouring their calm flood in silence To the idols of a day. Amid foliage fresh and green; Sweet repose, most blissful quiet, Where, instead of shifting changes Earthly paradise divine! In the fickle things of state, Has the palm of war or wisdom Wind-stirred oaks and maitens Worth which can outrival thine? murmur, And the forest peace is great; Truth I love, not adulation — Truth all unadorned and plain, Where the bird amid the branches, Not the clamorous applauses In the early dawning gray, That are raised in Fortune’s train. Sings its untaught, artless music, Greeting thus the new-born day. Growing old, for that false treasure I would cease my soul to fret — In that humble thatched-roof Say ‘Farewell to disappointments! cottage, The forgetful I forget. Oh, how happy were my lot, In the peace that nothing troubles, ‘Others call excitement pleasure, Envied not and envying not! Madly seeking fame or pelf; I in earth’s most hidden corner Wish to live now for myself.’

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 301/302 64 Amedeo Vergani Credit:

Third World Gallery Along the banks of the Nile: a village near Daraw, Egypt.