|
|
 EDITORIAL:
Tragedy is the mother of Change
The Tsunami disaster hit
hard members of the ECOCLUB Community, and in particular Golden
Buddha Beach. On behalf of all Members, I offer my deepest
condolences to the relatives of the deceased, staff and guests, and
pledge to support the current reconstruction effort at Golden Buddha,
because life and Ecotourism, rather than megatourism or luxotourism, must go on. A
few thoughts follow on the big, tragic picture slowly emerging from
the events of the last weeks, and what good can come out of all the
suffering.
Tragedies,
such as the one caused by the Tsunami [Japanese tsu, (port) and
nami, (wave)], bring out the best and worse in people: from heroic
salvation stories and generous donations by poor people, to
donation scams, politics, to organised trade in orphaned minors.
Still, one could say
that civilisation itself has been molded through disasters and
tragedy, natural or
man-inflicted; paraphrasing Heraclitus, tragedy is the father of all.
The world
community, as represented by the UN, should focus on implementing positive
permanent changes through this disaster: not just the much
talked-about missing Indian Ocean tsunami
warning system - a tsunami may indeed not happen for another three
generations in the area - but in terms of meeting the more pressing
everyday needs of education, sanitation, health for the impoverished masses of
Asia (and Africa, that should not be forgotten). The devastation may have not made any separation between rich
and poor, young and old, local or foreign - and in that it is similar
to a hundred Titanics - but it is the surviving poorer residents who
will find it harder to cope with the aftermath. And like the
Titanic, it was an accident that could have been prevented, with
proper information, training, communication, and above all education:
a 10 year old British girl on a family holiday in Thailand, remembered
her geography and recognised the ominous signs when the tide rushed away from shore, and
warned
in time her parents and others on Maikhao beach. Also important,
the preservation of traditional wisdom: witness one of the few populations that evacuated before the
tsunami, in the island of Simeulue, very close to the epicentre: a local
legend advised that after an earthquake they should RUN to high land.
The
disaster is showing the power of the Internet in terms of mobilising and raising an unprecedented level of
donations and bridging various divides. But I wonder, is the temporal,
worldwide display of philanthropy (be it genuine or self-serving - it
does not matter to the needy) and governance by non-governmental
proxy, a substitute for accountable, non-corrupt, states that respect
their citizens, instead of wasting billions on munitions? Even basic
systems were not in place: a simple warning system from public radio
stations and policemen going around with loudspeakers could have been
enough to save most lives. Some officials heads surely will roll, even
as a scapegoat-type gesture. In the mean time, aid still does
not seem to reach those who need it most, and tensions over aid
management are
about to erupt to further complicate aid diffusion. It is also
depressing to see antagonism to the UN from some of its Members, on
who will have the upper hand in philanthropy...On the positive side,
it was encouraging to see armies effectively using their skills and
means for relief.
In the affected areas,
during the past few
years, one tourism-affecting disaster follows the other: terrorist
violence, civil war, SARS, now the
tsunami. So can countries, and I am not necessarily referring to any
of the affected ones, really develop sustainably just by depending on
mass tourism and in particular sea & sand tourism, sex tourism,
destroying-mangroves-coastal-erosion-tourism,
building-all-over-the-place-tourism, to meet the insatiable western
exoticist demand for new, postcard-perfect beaches?
It took the
tragic loss of many tourist lives for many in the rich north to realise(?) the
everyday horrors of underdevelopment that lie underneath the glossy
travel brochures, the parallel world that does not reap any benefits
(to put it mildly) by the prevailing tourism model. No, it's not enough to rebuild the mega-hotels as they
once were, and for tourists to return to the affected areas. The
affected countries deserve a better tourism and a better type of
development, that brings basic amenities, dignity and rights to all
their citizens.
Antonis
B. Petropoulos
ECOCLUB Editor
|
ISSUE
HIGHLIGHTS
