Newsgroup: it.hobby.viaggi
Titolo: Birmania: andare o non andare?

Penso di fare cosa gradita agli amici del NG postando un interessante
articolo apparso su Asiaweek Magazine e da me ripreso dal NG
rec.travel.asia
.
L'argomento è il famoso tormentone sul problema del boicottaggio del turismi
in Birmania che spesso è stato affrontato anche in questo NG.
In sostanza, se la mia traduzione dall'inglese non è errata, gli scrittori
della guida Lonely Planet della Birmania sarebbero stati invitati a NON
ripubblicare la versione aggiornata della guida stessa a supporto cioè del
boicottaggio. Gli autori hanno voluto accertarsi di persona della situazione
in Birmania. E si sono convinti che la maggior parte della popolazione è
contraria al boicottaggio. Sia  naturalmente quelli che vivono di turismo
come tassisti, ristoratori, guide, interpreti, piccoli tour operator sia il
popolo comune e gli intellettuali che invitano a non chiudere le porte al
turismo in nome della democrazia. Gli stranieri portano idee, investimenti,
novità, contatti.
E quindi anche di fronte ad una minaccia di boicottare tutte le guide della
Lonely Planet, gli autori, convintiche il boicottaggio del turismo in
Birmania abbia più lati negativi che positivi nei riflessi della
popolazione,  hanno deciso di pubblicare ancora la guida della Birmania. E
questo nonostante che detta guida venda 5.000 copie l'anno contro le 50.000,
per esempio, della Thailandia.
Per chi è interessato riporto qui di seguito il lungo articolo in lingua
originale.
Anche per fugare ogni dubbio o incertezza che periodicamente appare in
qualche post di questo NG.
Ciao a tutti
Mauro Morelli
Holiday In Hell
A well-intentioned travel boycott of Myanmar hurts ordinary people
By RON GLUCKMAN
ASIAWEEK MAGAZINE
FEBRUARY 23, 2001
We're bumping along rutted roads in a dusty rented car, Tony and the
driver up front, Maureen and me in back, when Tony, face pressed in
his Lonely Planet guidebook, suggests another stop. Up ahead is
Thayekhittaya, ruins dating back 2,500 years. The description is
enticing, but we can't help but groan. We've been lurching for eight,
long hours on the road from Myanmar's capital, Yangon. We ache, it's
nearly dark, and tomorrow morning promises another long ride to Bagan,
the ancient city that is our quest.
Besides, we bowed to Tony last time, at Shwe-myetman Paya (Temple of
the Golden Spectacles). The appeal - you guessed it - a Buddha with
big glasses. "It takes nine monks to lift the glasses every fortnight
to clean them," Tony gleefully recites from the guide he keeps close
at hand. To be honest, we are a bit Buddha-ed out, a common condition
among tourists in this pagoda-packed land. Still, it's a
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, exhorts Tony. So, as the sun sets,
we're tramping through muddy fields - only the temples are so far
away, we never reach one. "Gee, this book should better explain the
distance," says Tony, unabashed. "You really need more time here."
You'd think he'd be at least a little bit contrite. After all, it's
his guide book. Literally. Tony and Maureen Wheeler practically
invented budget travel. Their hand-stapled reports back in 1973 from a
honeymoon trek across Asia spawned Lonely Planet and its legendary
backpacker guides. With their down-to-earth, first-person reports of
how to get there, what to see and where to stay, plus their in-depth
sections on history, culture and the environment, all delivered with a
1960s-style counterculture slant, the Wheelers' guides have long been
the bible for independent travelers. But Tony and Maureen were not
trudging through Myanmar to check on the accuracy of travel times in
their book on the country. They came to this tragic but beautiful land
because human rights activists have organized a boycott aimed at
forcing them to cease publication of their Myanmar guide.
"The development of tourism in Burma is directly linked to mass human
rights abuses including rape, torture and murder," declares Tourism
Concern and Burma Campaign, two London-based activist groups. "Lonely
Planet's promotion of tourism to Burma . . . have left pro-democracy
activists with no choice but to call for a boycott." The campaigners
last year asked concerned travellers to stop buying any Lonely Planet
books as long as the company publishes a Myanmar guide. The Wheelers
were stunned. After all, their guides provide blunt expositions of
human rights violations in addition to explaining how to get to
obscure pagodas and where to find the best cheap meals. The company
donates part of its profits to causes like women's rights and the
environment (and including, for many years, Tourism Concern and Burma
Campaign). Only repressive governments ban Lonely Planet guides for
being too honest about the problems in countries they cover. Or so the
Wheelers thought.
The boycott is one of the latest acts in the long-running tragedy that
is Burma - or Myanmar, as it was named by the generals who seized
power in 1988 over the bodies of thousands of student protesters. They
later refused to relinquish control following elections in 1990 won by
the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi. Her courage in the years of
resistance and house arrest since has earned her a Nobel Peace Prize.
Tourism might seem a strange target in the battle against the junta,
but the long stalemate has forced drastic tactics. The regime's plan
to boost visitor numbers in the 1990s presented an obvious Achilles'
Heel. Aung San Suu Kyi called on would-be tourists to shun her
country, arguing that their money only helped the military, not the
ordinary people. From there, the boycott has grown from telling
foreigners not to go to Myanmar, to insisting that they not even buy
books about going to Myanmar.
Should you stay or should you go? "The message from Aung San Suu Kyi
and the NLD {her National League for Democracy party} has been
unequivocal," says Patricia Barnett, director of Tourism Concern.
"They say don't go, and they are the legitimate government. We have to
respect their wishes." The Wheelers were not sure. A two-page section
in the Lonely Planet Myanmar guide outlines the pros and cons, but
concludes: "Tourism remains one of the only industries to which
ordinary people have access. Any reduction in tourism automatically
means a re-duction in local income earning opportunities. For this
reason alone, we continue to believe that the positives of travel to
Myanmar outweigh the negatives." Still, logic dictates that the debate
be decided in the country in question, not at the home office. Hence,
Tony and Maureen have come to Myanmar to see things for themselves.
Asiaweek tagged along for our own look.
Tourism is bad, say boycott groups, since it props up the military
regime and helps no one in Myanmar. That argument puzzles Soe Tint, a
taxi driver in Yangon. Glancing in the mirror, he ponders this for
perhaps a nano-second before replying, "How can anyone think that?" If
no tourists come, the 49-year-old grandfather would need a new job.
Tint worked as a government civil engineer for 20 years. He saved up
his money, and in 1995 bought a second-hand car and went into the taxi
business. Now he can make $10 a day, six times his old salary. "What
is bad," he says, "is this boycott. We need more tourists, not less."
Investors in the travel sector feel particularly disenfranchised.
"Most of us came in the early 1990s, when there was great promise,"
says Arbind Shrestha, general manager of Trader's, Yangon's largest
luxury hotel. "The government made a commitment to open the market."
His company, Shangri-la Hotels and Resorts, put $85 million into
Myanmar, where it planned two hotels. Only the 392-room Trader's was
completed. The shells and abandoned construction sites of stalled
projects litter the capital, reminders of a tourist boom that never
happened. Occupancy around Yangon runs 25%-30%, against normal
industry targets of 70%-80%. Says Shrestha: "We all feel cheated."
Of course, one might dismiss five-star hoteliers as a pack of greed
heads and sneer at their losses. But it's not just the big-time
investors losing out. Dun-can MacLean, manager of the swank
Equatorial, says entry-level positions in his hotel pay $100 per
month. That's a fivefold increase over the mid-1990s, when hotel
clerks earned four times as much as nurses. The spread has only
widened, he guesses. "I'd estimate that tourism brings Myanmar at
least 100,000 jobs, and a million or more indirectly."
Among those small timers benefiting are locals like Hillary Newton
(who despite his Anglo-sounding name is Burmese) whom I met on my
first visit in the early 1990s. Newton used to sit at Sule Pagoda in
Yangon, approaching tourists with the smattering of English learned as
a seaman, offering a range of services guide, translator, fixer -
anything to earn cash. Much has changed in Myanmar, but there was
New-ton outside the stupa, still chasing a fast buck. Now, he boasts
business cards and works for a local travel agency. And he's not
afraid to speak his mind. "We want change," Newton says over a curry
in a shop not far from Sule. "But this movement really needs the help
of our friends," he adds. "We need tourists and we need business.
Reform will come later."
I hear that sentiment expressed everywhere I go. It's repeated so
often by tour operators, hoteliers, taxi drivers, students, waiters,
old friends that I fret about balance. Surely, somewhere there is
someone who supports the boycott. Finally, I meet Herve and Thuzar.
Herve's a Frenchman who quit selling stocks in Paris to roam around
the world. In Burma, he fell in love with a land, a people, and
Thuzar. They run a boutique travel agency taking small groups to
amazing parts of the country. "Perhaps with a boycott, it will give
Burma a chance to go slowly and avoid all the mistakes of places like
Thailand," he muses one magical night at a rooftop restaurant with
moonlit views of the golden domes of Sule and Shwedagon. The latter
inspired Rud-yard Kipling to write: "This is Burma and it will be
quite unlike any land you know." Herve knows the feeling. "Of course,
anyone who really wants to come will. They would be fools not to." Not
quite the kind of support the boycotters are looking for.
Still, British tourism has skidded to a halt as agencies dropped
Myan-mar. Australian outfits like Intrepid Travel, which specializes
in small-group adventure tours, also abandoned the market. "We
agonized over the decision to start trips to Burma," says Intrepid's
responsible travel coordinator Jane Crouch. Trips started in 1995 and
were among the company's most popular offerings, she says. But the
last tours finished a year ago. Melbourne staff felt the trips implied
support of the junta. (Some say the firm bowed to pressure.) Tour
leaders in Myanmar stayed on. "I couldn't just leave all these people
we had trained. They trusted us," says Ian Marsh, a former Intrepid
guide who now runs a firm called Global Drift and sells trips to
essentially the same clientele, but quietly. "Nobody here wants the
boycott," he says. "They want us here, and I believe we should be
here, too."
Boycott groups have a long list of gripes, most legitimate. Myanmar's
record on human rights is abysmal. The junta's suppression of dissent,
oppression of minorities, and links with drug traffickers is
notorious. Keeping the focus on the tourist trade, the International
Labor Organization said in 1998 that the government uses forced labor
widely, including in tourism projects. Residents have been evicted
from some tourism sites, such as the ancient city of Bagan (also known
as Pagan) in 1990. Authorities claimed it was to protect the
archeological zone, then cluttered with guesthouses and tourist
stalls. Critics countered that poor folk were swept aside for
military-linked hotels. A decade later, Old Bagan's only new
development is a big museum.
Aung Nyet was evicted from Old Bagan. And New Bagan? "It was hard at
first," Nyet says of the move. Only two weeks notice was given. "But
things are better in New Bagan, We have better lights, more water."
Nyet has bulging muscles from building his riverside restaurant, where
he serves Burmese favorites. Crafts from nearby villages are displayed
for sale. Recent visitors included a group of German doctors, in
country to perform free operations to repair cleft palates. "Tell
people this boycott is completely wrong," he says. "The government and
the people are different. Boycotts hit the people. When tourists don't
come, everybody suffers."
Bagan makes an interesting study. Easily Myanmar's most impressive
site, this deserted city of 5,000 temples that flourished from the
11th to the 13th century ranks with Angkor Wat and the Pyramids of
Egypt as a true world wonder. At sunset, tourists flock to Bupaya, a
cylindrical stupa with stunning views over the Irrawaddy River. Long
before the crimson glow fades from the plain, most of them rush down
to buses, then roar off to dinner shows at huge riverside restaurants.
Left behind are a few awe-struck young travellers who came by bike.
This is the ironic unintended consequence of the boycott. Sensitive
travelers, the kind who patronize privately-owned guesthouses and
small businesses, stay away. Group tours, from France, Italy and Japan
especially, are pouring into state-run hotels. ("Business was better
before 1996, but then it stopped," Hillary said back in Yangon. "For
group tours, Burma is still popular, but individual travellers are
much less than in the old days.") And why have few independent
travellers come? "It's a beautiful country and everyone is happy to
see us," one replies. "Nobody says, 'Why did you come?'" Peter, from
Germany, sits in a tourist-oriented eatery, munching pizza. "I wanted
to see for myself. Who's to say if tourists don't come the government
will change?"
That's the big question. Do boycotts work? Is the one against Myanmar
having a positive impact? "Most likely it will turn the clock back,
not forward," says Joe Cummings, who wrote the Lonely Planet guide.
"Believe me, I want to see {the junta} toppled as much as anyone," he
adds, "but there isn't a single indication that isolation will work. I
remain convinced at least for the time being that it can only bring
negative results."
People who profit from tourism - from guidebook writers to taxi
drivers - would be expected to oppose the boycott. But it does have
strong support among Burmese, outside the country at least. "We
advocate a total tourism boycott," says Soe Aung, the Thailand-based
director of foreign affairs for the All Burmese Students Democratic
Front. "Lonely Planet is a business that acts in its own interest.
They don't care about the Burmese. They only want to sell books."
Maung Maung, general secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions of
Burma, says the world should ratchet up the pressure. "Engagement
doesn't help," he says over coffee at Starbuck's in Bangkok. And the
suffering inside Myanmar? "This is a crisis situation. People just
have to tighten their belts."
Inside Myanmar, however, many feel they have suffered enough. Like a
friend I will call Kyaw. He was jailed for six years following his
election as an NLD parliamentarian. The junta couldn't break his
spirit, but he was booted out of the NLD for daring to question its
policies. "They insisted that we agree to follow their stand without
consultation. I couldn't. I was an elected official. That's not
democracy." He adds: "This boycott is bad for the country. The
generals just get richer and the poor get poorer. We need contact
{with the outside world}, investment and industry. Foreigners bring
ideas, skills. That's what we need. That's the only way forward."
Ma Thanegi, jailed for three years after serving as an assistant to
Aung San Suu Kyi, feels much the same. "Why should the people suffer?
All these advocates on our behalf say that will help inspire people to
take to the streets. But we already had a revolution in 1988. Burmese
don't want to go through that again." When we discuss Burmese
activists working outside their country, her eyes burn. "Tell them,
come back here. Bring your children and march in the streets, then
I'll march with you." Ma Thanegi is a painter and writer well known to
the Burmese lobby. One piece penned for an Asian magazine was
reprinted by Lonely Planet as "The Burmese Fairytale." It concludes:
"Myanmar has many problems, largely the result of 30 years of
isolation. More isolation won't fix the problems. Don't close the door
on us in the name of democracy."
Yet activists don't talk to Ma Thanegi. Nor Kyaw. They're out of the
loop. On the plane out of Yangon, I meet Ivan, a Danish activist who
has worked years for the cause. This was his first visit. He spent
five days in the capital, time enough to visit aid groups and others
in his network before returning to Thailand for four weeks of
consultation with refugee workers. "I didn't want to stay longer in
Burma because tourism is so bad," he says. "Besides, that was enough
to get a feel of the situation." Ivan is wearing a anti-child labor
T-shirt. "It's another of our causes," he notes. As we leave the
plane, he slips on an Aung San Suu Kyi pin. "I want to see the
reaction of the stewardesses," he confides conspiratorially.
But Myanmar needs more than gestures from well-wishers. The message in
the country is clear: people want better government, but also
investment and contact with the outside world. Not later, now. At the
end of their trip, the Wheelers are exhausted but clear. "We wrestled
with the idea of putting out the book even before we heard from the
boycott people," says Maureen. "We believe tourism can be a good
thing, but we wanted to see for ourselves. Every-where we went, people
were positive about tourism." Pulling the book would actually be the
easy way out. It sells less than 5,000 copies per year; the Thailand
guide sells 50,000 annually. But taking it off the shelves? "No way,"
says Tony. Myanmar, he reckons, isn't helped by censorship or
isolation. That's not how democratic debate works.
---
Source: 
http://www.asiaweek.com

in Birmania che spesso è stato affrontato anche in questo NG.
caro Mauro,
ti ringrazio per aver postato questo importante documento.
Questa notte lo leggero con calma...
Ciao
Easy!
____________________________________
Problemi? Dubbi? Perplessita'? fatti un giro su
http://utenti.tripod.it/faqihv/index.html
il sito FAQ di It.Hobby.Viaggi

 Myanmar outweigh the negatives."
Il succo e' tutto qua.
Grazie Mauro, molto interessante.
Riguardo a questo problema del boicottaggio devo
dire che inizialmente, prima di frequentare questo NG,
la pensavo molto diversamente.
Sono stati un vecchio post di Pietrone e un altro tuo
intervento su questo argomento a farmi ragionare e
cambiare radicalmente idea. Quindi grazie anche per questo.
--
stefano(upo)
______________________________
please remove the OBVIOUS to reply

Mauro ha scritto:
E quindi anche di fronte ad una minaccia di boicottare tutte le guide della
Lonely Planet, gli autori, convintiche il boicottaggio del turismo in
Birmania abbia piů lati negativi che positivi nei riflessi della
popolazione,  hanno deciso di pubblicare ancora la guida della Birmania. E
questo nonostante che detta guida venda 5.000 copie l'anno contro le 50.000,
per esempio, della Thailandia.
Grazie mille per l'informazione, Mauro:-)
Gabriele
http://www.magiedelleande.it
-- 
Posted from 
altair.interplanet.it
 [192.106.95.10] 
via Mailgate.ORG Server - 
http://www.Mailgate.ORG

 originale.
Grazie per l'inormazione, se continuiamo così mettiamo in piedi un giornale
virtuale sulle notizie nel mondo ... sarebbe magnifico :-))
IHV Time
--
Ciao Marco S.

 Grazie per l'inormazione
scusate la fretta ... informazione

in Birmania che spesso č stato affrontato anche in questo NG.
Innanzitutto ti vorrei ringraziare per questo msg che ho letto con
molto interesse.
Premesso che non conosco la questione a fondo, mi permetto di fare un
paio di commenti:
1) bisognerebbe sempre informarsi il piů possibile e valutare sempre
le informazioni dirette molto piů di quelle indirette per quanto
autorevoli
2) il boioctaggio, ovunque e comunque esso sia praticato tende a
danneggiare sempre i piů deboli e spesso ad arrichire ancora di piů
quelli che ne dovrebbero essere penalizzati. Mi viene in mente
l'embargo all'Iraq, giusto per citare un esempio ecclatante.
3) Riagganciandomi ad un interessante post - mi scuso ma non mi
ricordo di chi fosse - sugli effetti del turismo sulla popolazione
locale, mi sembra di trovare qui conferma che il turista a
zero-budget-in-viaggio (ovvero che spende il suo budget acquistando
tutto da casa, ad esempio villaggio all inclusive o tour super-guidato
tutto compreso) non porta, generalmente vantaggi, alla popolazione di
un paese. O meglio, li porterebbe se il governo utilizzazze gli
introiti per chi ne ha veramente bisogno ma putroppo i governi cosě
illuminati sono davvero molto pochi....
My two cents.
Bye
---------------------------
Andrea "Wyvern" Gaboardi

 Sono stati un vecchio post di Pietrone...
Dio che memoria...!
Eravamo nel Giurassico inferiore?
Cia Upo
Pietrone
(Che gli piace essere "ricordato", così si sente un fossile)