Good day Freya and green-travel members, There is no question that there are many roads to peace through tourism. And the larger issues are not only fine, they are crucial. Certainly peace is related to globalization. One of the main complaints people seem to have about globalization is that corporations are taking advantage of their multinationalism to supercede the nation state, and that the international free-trade blocs subvert sovereignty at the behest of corporations. The well known financier and philanthropist George Soros has said that one of the main problems facing the world today is the lack adequate international institutions. I think there have been ample examples of the ineffectualness of the United Nations in recent history.
I believe the confrontations resulting from the effects of globalization have just begun. For instance, with all due respect for everyone in the world - even everyone who has ever been in the world, it is my sincere feeling that the amount of pornography on the Internet has contributed to the terrorist activity which has so devastated the global tourism industry; I say this because the globalized Internet is now reaching into homes, living rooms, and bedrooms worldwide with this representation of the decadence of western culture so dominant. It can only but reinforce the overwhelming conviction in the minds of more traditional peoples of the clearly wrong, if not evil, direction in which unfettered free market forces are currently driving western society. In short, we did not hear much about globalization before the advent of the Internet, and this rapidly shrinking world is bringing people and groups not only together, but in confrontation with one another in an unprecedented if not alarmingly increasing way. In my investigation into arms campaigns, I have noticed that the best ones seem to be treaty-based, and I have even mentioned the necessity of an international tourism stabilization treaty insuring against acts of war. This increasing focus on international treaties seems to be struggling with the issue of inadequate international institutions, and where to go next beyond the nation state - toward something like the "European Union-ization" of the world. The failure or inadequacy of democracy as currently practiced is evident not only in the greatest nation on Earth, but glaringly so in the Arab world as well. In the tourism industry, we have our own classic example of globalization on the table now with the funding institutions including the Inter-American Development Bank essentially calling the shots in the global sustainable tourism certification scheme currently being plotted, attempting to define the the long term future of our industry apparently without answering to any democratic body.... Fascinatingly, it may also be too soon to proclaim the eradication of Marxism for two reasons. First, China seems to be not only weathering the current economic shocks, but set to profit and thrive from them. Second, 19th century class issues may surge to the fore once again in the confrontation between the north and the south as a direct result of globalization. We see this every day in the service industries of the south hosting consumers of the north... even in Australia... which is not to say that tourism is still not the best way we have to redistribute wealth from the north to the south. Certainly power and violence go way beyond the simple act of arms creation to violence against the Earth and the violence of poverty, as well as the decimation of cultural and linguistic diversity so vital to the tourism industry; even so, nothing personal, but it seems only an American could refer to a focus on community-based arms production as a red herring.... In fact, I see the real red herring as diverting attention from immediate, practical action to abstract philosophizing. We see this constantly from corporate controlled groups within this industry, diluting the message so much until it becomes an essentially meaningless platitude. Personally, I am an explorer, preferring to think outside the box, and seek new solutions for age old problems. >From one Australian-American to another, thanks for the vegemite! ;-) - Marcus Endicott http://www.mendicott.com
