Touring for Social Justice

Although it may feel like there is a plethora of negativity regarding touring, eating, recycling, and all the many versions of consumption that exist, there has to be something which can be done to increase not only awareness, but the amount of fairness which is distributed around the globe. The rich get richer; the poor get poorer; the planet continues to fall apart. When will everyone stop and realize that we can’t continue living the way we have been living, and expect to have a future? This simple question has such a variety of complex answers that it is impossible to answer in one blog post…or even with multiple posts over the course of a semester.

Even narrowing the question to how can tourism result in a better global social order…people write books about these topics, many of which I can’t understand. What I do understand is that something has to change. So is there a way to tour in a manner that will promote social justice rather than encouraging social inequalities and banishing the impoverished to lives of hopeless destitution? Simply answered: yes. There must be a manner of enjoying a vacation, touring another culture, and partaking in points of luxury which does not ignore the poverty, nor does it take advantage of those who have little choice in whether or not they act as glorified servants.

Voluntourism is one means of doing this. Joining a group and traveling with the goal of giving back to the communities or cities that you visit helps those who live in third world areas. It also allows the tourist an opportunity to share something of the “true” culture of an area. Although this doesn’t seem like a large step toward true social justice, it is a means of offering something of ones self to the cause of a more equal global society. According to Dr. Paul Farmer, writer and philanthropist, social justice starts with the willingness to give time, the most valuable and cherished belonging of a true American. Of course the world is a large place, and not everyone will give their time so willingly, making it that much more vital that those who have the opportunity and willingness, do so.

Our world has come to a critical point in time. I would agree with Zygmunt Bauman (assuming I understood my readings of his work correctly), that while technology has given this world the opportunity to be as united as it could ever be in the history of mankind, people continue to push each other away. Using one another, ignoring (and in some cases taking advantage of) the destitute situations of the majority of the worlds’ population; humanity should have higher expectations for how we treat those who share the same air as us.

I certainly don’t expect that tourism as we think of it now will ever end. Luxury cruises in the Caribbean, vacation resorts in the Bahamas, Jamaican holidays; people enjoy these and are willing to spend a tidy sum of money to enjoy them. All I can do is take a step toward responsible traveling. Enjoying the good points of another culture is not evil, but if every culture has an undesirable aspect attached to it (i.e. children being sold as sex slaves), a responsible effort needs to be made to do what is right and work toward creating a global social justice. This doesn’t mean creating an ultimatum for third world countries to become democracies, republics, or capitalist societies. A poor man is not able to live with the same lifestyle as a rich man. It is no different when it is an entire country.

In a nutshell, I guess what I am trying to say is that while tourism has the capacity to destroy cultural uniqueness and can impose great restrictions on third world areas, it also has the capacity to rebuild and draw together an entire world of cultures, religions, and viewpoints. It will only take convincing an entire world, that we need to care about something other than ourselves. That is the hardest part….

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