| By Gavin Chait,
on 01 July 2007
|
 Anti-west riot cancelled due to flood Most tourists have trouble-free experiences, meeting people grateful for their presence and aware that their daily bread (or chapatti) depends on it. But that isn't true everywhere. Thomas Friedman coined the McDonald's Theory of Conflict Resolution to explain why he thought nations that shared a common fast-food culture wouldn't go to war. But then Friedman enjoys artery-clogging burgers while I enjoy independent travel. Tourism is the largest employer and most valuable industry in the world. And so I present the Tourism Theory of Conflict Resolution, or – more simply – the Trouble with Paradise.
The Trouble With Paradise (my ebook) is dedicated to the idea that travel is not about sitting on idyllic beaches sipping banana daiquiris. That funny smudge on the horizon might be a tsunami. Seriously, though, who are you going to give money to come a terrible disaster? Iran after an earthquake in Bam that levelled a city and buried half-a-million people? Or Thailand and Indonesia where you had such a fantastic experience two years ago while there on vacation? The tsunami which so devastated parts of South East Asia happened around the same time as the earthquake in Iran. Aid agencies are still somewhat embarrassed at how much money they got to deal with the tsunami. Billions of dollars was needlessly wasted. No-one talks about Bam. And now we have Pakistan awash in water and begging the west for money to help clean up the mess. I'm willing to bet that, apart from the UN, the response will be minimal. Perhaps, if the television images get really bad, and nothing much else comes along to distract you, some people will give. But nowhere near the epic proportions of the Indonesian tsunami. There is a trade-off in the community of nations. If you choose to go it alone - if you choose to shun the world – then you are truly alone. In the past few weeks we have seen rioting in Pakistan as people protested the knighting of Sir Salman Rushdie who once wrote a book that esoterically referred to a disputed section of the Koran. British and, to keep things even, American flags were liberally burned. Pakistan is a country infamous for the murder of Daniel Pearl, a US journalist. For their detonation of a nuclear weapon in contravention of international agreements. A country that keeps a troubled and messy relationship with international terrorists such as al Qaeda. This isn't a country that western tourists are rushing off to include on their itineraries along with Vienna, Milan and Paris. Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela, is in the process of cutting his country off from the rest of the world. His regular pronouncements on the inequity of the west project from every channel and newspaper. As long as the oil flows he can afford what he likes. But it won't always flow. And this is the trouble with paradise: it isn't sufficient that your land be beautiful; it isn't sufficient that you be in need; you must, in every way, be conscious of the humanity of others. Otherwise they are frightened of you and cannot see your humanity in your time of need. As in relationships between people so in the politics within the community of nations we call Earth. |
