The Internationalists' movement includes representatives of unions, schools, churches, community groups and local government who look for nonviolent ways to wage world peace and end poverty. They are traveling across the globe to discover concrete ways of supporting their Third World counterparts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2.0 out of 5 stars
Pre-Internet Book Focusing on World Inequality and Tourism,
By Judah (Terre Haute In USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Bridging the Global Gap: A Handbook to Linking Citizens of the First and Third Worlds (Paperback)
The internet changed everything, and it changes a high volume of the points and issues raised in this book (example -- the Twitter domino democracy starting in Egypt). Today you can go on 'virtual tours' too. The problems of inequality stem from the lines of governmental forms and corruption, as opposed to increasing spendy upbeat tourists (which the book focused on). The internationalist movement described had little real power, because the people involved were persecuted by their respective regimes.
In short, an older idealism even back in it's day. Now, it's outdated and not worth reading, despite being a good book of hope.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
An Idealistic, Dated But Fair Intro to the Global Divide,
By
This review is from: Bridging the Global Gap: A Handbook to Linking Citizens of the First and Third Worlds (Paperback)
A good friend of mine with an intellectual bent gave me a copy of this book to read. I obtained the book shortly before the hostile festivities broke out in Iraq and gave it a read. While I do not agree with all of its content, and do not espouse or support some of the book's more objectionable forms of advocacy and support of certain causes, I did find the text to have particular insight into some of the problems, well-publicized or not, that all of us on the planet face.
The book seeks to redefine travel and tourism not as opportunities to escape, take a break or unwind but as chances to learn and connect with others. The text places a lot of weight on communion and solidarity with the down-trodden in the Third World. I regard these to be admirable sentiments, but I object to the author's advocating that readers should put themselves in harm's way to engage and confront pressing world problems. While visiting war-torn or strife-filled areas does indeed have its merits (first-hand eyewitness accounts and whatnot), these areas are inherently dangerous, and the natives may question your sincerity for being there (if they do not harm you directly or indirectly regardless of your sincere intentions). Some have rightly criticized the approach advocated by the authors, but no one can heap abuse upon them for the reasoning behind it. We often receive a biased account of things and events from traditional and established media sources, and we should, wherever possible, seek out all forms of information wherever possible. However, I do not think that such information gathering should legitimately include putting oneself in harm's way, but this is just my opinion. The real value of the text rests in its exposure of the exploitative aspects of tourism, especially in the developing countries and the Third World. Granted, we do not travel in order to see other people's problems (as we generally travel to get away from our own problems for the most part), and when we do take a break in an exotic foreign locale, it is with the purpose of having fun in mind. However, we must also keep in mind that our desire to have fun often comes at the expense of others and their environment, and our travel dollars often do not benefit the natives of the exotic locale at all. Rather, concerted effort has been taken to exclude them from the tourist experience at every conceivable opportunity. While the book does delve into the exploitative nature of tourism in the Third World, one does not have to go outside the country to see just how a dependence on tourism ravages an economy and demeans and exploits a group of people. Anyone who has traveled to Hawaii can see this very easily. Although the focus on tourism is a big theme of the book, the book also devotes space to ways in which those in the First World can connect with those in the Third World, chiefly through things like Fair Trade outlets featuring goods from a particular country or region, or through grassroots organizations. Much of the content, however, does reflect a lot of the misplaced idealism of the middle to late 1970s and early 1980s. Most notably, a few of the pictures, particularly those of idealistic young men and women sporting afros (complete with afro-piks!) and bell-bottom pants, gave me a few chuckles. I have no problems with ideaslism, and I believe it to be a good thing, so long as it is grounded in the real world and put to practical use and sensible use. So, in spite of its dated nature and at times idealistic rhetoric, I liked the book. The reading was a little dense at times, but the topics were important and dead-on. The text forced me to think deeply about some topics and issues that I previously had not considered, or simply had given short shrift. Once again, I do not recommend that people place themselves in harm's way to obtain information, or show 'solidarity' with some dubious cause, as this book advocates, but I do encourage people to read this book, and reconsider the whole idea behind such things as eco-tourism, romance tourism, and sex tourism, and what effect such activities have on the people of the Third World.
0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
fantasy,
By A Customer
This review is from: Bridging the Global Gap: A Handbook to Linking Citizens of the First and Third Worlds (Paperback)
This is a completely unrealistic book that doesn't seem to grasp why the first world IS the first world.
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