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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
July 12, 2005
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| January 11, 2005 |
Peace, Tourism and Conflict – Lynda Ann Blanchard |
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| Lynda Ann Blanchard |
Lynda Ann Blanchard works at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) Sydney University. CPACS promotes interdisciplinary research and teaching on the causes and effects of conflict within society and ways of confronting and resolving it to attain just societies across the globe. Having been awarded the King Hussein scholarship in 1999 for her book ‘Creating a culture of peace through tourism’ Lynda came on board not only to discuss peace related issues and asylum seekers in Australia but also to talk about Peace Boat and its relationship with tourism in the various ports of call. |
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In studying about the politics, justice and reconciliation process of the Middle East, the role of poetry in peace and the global history of violence and peace, the researchers and instructors at CPACS are able to offer advocacy projects on a variety of world issues. Lynda explained how “Peace” means different things to different people: for Ghandi it was non-violence, for Aung San Suu Kyi it is dialogue and for Martin Luther King it was about vision. To say that peace means no war is not a concrete solution and way forward as peace is not a world without conflict, peace is a process of negotiating conflict non-violently. Lynda described pioneering peace researcher Johan Galtung’s notion of how the pendulum of human nature swings between two extremes, which constantly engage in conflict: compassion, laughter, respect and forgiveness in contrast with aggression, anger and ignorance. Therefore the principles of peace education are to teach and learn the language and skills of compassion, respect, tolerance and negotiation in a non-violent way.
Peace Tourism is a relatively new concept, which aims to use tourism as a way of creating social force, promoting ecological and economical protection and enhancing cultural understanding. Lynda explained how the basic principle of tourism as we know it, while being recognized under the UN declaration of human rights and WTO code of ethics, still works on the philosophy of taking what we can as tourists as opposed to giving in the places we visit. Alternatives to this kind of tourism are volunteer tourism, reality tourism, justice tourism, reconciliation tourism and peace tourism. Planting trees in Ecuador, visiting the sacred land of Uluru under the guidance of the indigenous people and listening to the social and political problems of the people in Afghanistan are all examples of tourism with conscience. Lynda explained how the system of reciprocity, of giving and receiving, are peace principles which need to be applied to the tourist industry.
So the question is how can the tourism industry and social force really work together? Tourism is the selling of local products and services and tourists consume that ‘tourism’ at their destination by enjoying the people, scenery, culture, food and products. Tourism, however, not only makes the products but it also creates the need and therefore sometimes distorts and exploits what tourism should be. The ultimate aims of tourism should be heading towards creating a better quality of life for all people, tolerance, economical sustainability and the reduction of structural violence. Lynda gave some examples of tourism abuse: the so-called ‘sports tours’ to Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have very quickly become recognized as sex tours, making the women in these countries exploited by the tourism industry. Another example is the safari tours in Africa, which sometimes turn into hunting tours to exploit and kill endangered species, turning these animals into the products and victims of tourism. However sex and hunting bring prosperity to the local economy, so what can be done?
Lynda’s concepts, enthusiasm and willingness to part take in all onboard discussions from women’s issues to indigenous peoples rights made her a friendly and popular contribution to the ship being a forum for freedom of expression and exchange. Her remaining words were that “tourism is not limited by industry. It is limited by our imaginations concerning cultural insensitivity, environmental degradation and lack of respect”. |
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