Briarpatch articles from November 2006

Briarpatch archives from November 2006

The business end of the 'patch.
November 1, 2006... A Note on "No Problem" The painting that graces this issue's cover is the work of Burmese artist Myat Kyawt. It's a fittingly irreverent caricature of a tourist in his natural element-snorting locals up his nose! (Or at least, that's how...

Letter from the editor.
November 1, 2006... ... and now I am one more soul walking free in a white skin, wearing some thread of stolen goods: cotton or diamonds, freedom at the very least, prosperity. Some of us know how we came by our fortune, and some of us don't, but we wear it all...

Wal-Mart vs. the flower vendors.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Dear Briarpatch: I must say kudos for the article about the horrendous activities that ensued in Atenco (Andrew Kennis, "And flowers bled in Atenco," August 2006). But there was a key point missing from the article: the flower stalls were...

Belaboured voters.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Dear Briarpatch: Why is it that when subscribing to and reading a magazine purportedly of the left I am subjected to an article ("Labour and the Ballot Box" by IF Conway, September/ October 2006) where organized labour is given the credit...

Haiti's struggle.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Dear Briarpatch: I would like to thank you for Roger Annis' thorough article on the ongoing situation in Haiti ("Foreign Troops on the National Territory" August 2006). Any attention paid to the injustice of the foreign occupation in Haiti...

Intelligent design?(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the editor)
November 1, 2006... Dear Briarpatch: What were the designers of your kitsch Sept/Oct cover smoking when they created your garish, ghoulish image of a mean-looking young-adult character in a neck-to-toe uniform, wielding a black weapon, colored in incendiary...

Naming the movement: what is fair travel?
November 1, 2006... FAIR TRAVEL [far trav'el] is a nasceent movement of tourism providers, tourism-reliant communities, social justice advocates, and concerned tourists that is seeking to apply "fair trade" principles to the tourism industry. Fair travel...

You know you're a tourist when ... your malaria pills are giving you recurring nightmares about goats staging armed revolution.
November 1, 2006... STRANGE AND VIVID DREAMS ARE a well-known side-effect of anti-malarial medication. But when you wake up cowering from imaginary gun-wielding billies for the third night in a row, don't expect the general population to empathize. Even in regions...

"I've come to help": can tourism and altruism mix?
November 1, 2006... IMAGINE ARRIVING AT WORK one day and finding a new co-worker has joined your team. He comes from abroad, and he'll only be working with you for a little while--after graduating from university, he wanted to come to a different country and...

Ross A. Klein navigates the hazards of the cruise ship industry in ... attack of the oversized floating playpen ... who loses when you goon cruises?
November 1, 2006... WHAT COULD BE MORE idyllic than a cruise vacation--clear blue skies, gently rolling seas, the cold temperatures of home a distant memory, and a variety of encounters with different places and people in a single week? This is the kind of imagery...

The forbidden route? Most human rights activists agree that tourism in Burma is "a difficult question.".
November 1, 2006... WHEN I TRAVELLED AROUND BURMA in 1995, I was mostly immersed in research work. I'd be lying, though, if I didn't mention there were times of simple enjoyment. Burma is a special land, blessed with abundant natural beauty, tantalizing cuisine,...

Begging questions: what do you do when a four-year-old asks you for money?(Personal account)
November 1, 2006... She calls out to the man on the street sir, can you help me? It's cold and I've no where to sleep. Is there somewhere you can tell me? He walks on, doesn't look back He pretends he can't hear her Starts to whistle as he crosses the street...

St Petersburg.(Poem)
November 1, 2006... St Petersburg Why is beauty not enough? This city is a rotting corpse, her limbs stretch-marked streets and varicose alleyways, kids crawl through courtyards, schools, konditerskayas, and coffee shops. The kids, they are...

The Gulags at Ust'-Omchuk.(Poem)
November 1, 2006... The Gulags at Ust'-Omchuk. (i.) My tour guide He meets me at the bus stop. Walking ,stick. Glass eye. Wife eaten by uraniumcancer. Two sons will need walking sticks soon. In a Soviet Ural, the windshield ...

Dear traveller.(The Well-Intentioned Guest: A letter from somewhere between here and there)
November 1, 2006... "Travel light, on strong legs and with a fakir's stomach" -Ernesto Guevara IN YOUR TIME ABROAD YOU can be a guest or a parasite--it depends upon how you treat your hosts. My intention in this letter is to give you, the intrepid,...

The Gringo Trail.(Poem)
November 1, 2006... The Gringo Trail (sung to the tune of Paul Simon's "Graceland") My skin in Nicaragua was burning like a Sandinista star I am travelling by school bus to Honduras through the wreckage of the Contra War. I'm...

Code Green: Experiences of a Lifetime.
November 1, 2006... Code Green Experiences of a Lifetime By Kerry Lorimer et al. Lonely Planet, 2006 No Holiday 80 Places you Don't Want to Visit By Martin Cohen The Disinformation Company, 2006 The Ethical Travel Guide Your Passport to Exciting...

Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel.
November 1, 2006... Rethinking Tourism and Ecotravel By Deborah McLaren Kumarian Press, 2nd edition, 2003 www.kpbooks.com "The World Tourism Organization (WTO) claims that tourism is currently the world's largest industry. With annual revenues of almost $3...

The Art of Pilgrimage: The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred.
November 1, 2006... The Art of Pilgrimage The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred By Phil Cousineau Conari Press, 1998 "The path around our home is also the ground of awakening." THICH NHAT HANH In late 2003, I took my first foray into international...

Heading South (Vers le Sud).(Movie review)
November 1, 2006... Heading South (Vers le Sud) Directed by Laurent Cantet France, 2005 "We all change when we get here," says Sue, speaking directly to the camera from her comfortable beach-front room at a resort near Port-au-Prince. It is the mid-1970s and...

End of an Era.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Excerpt)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... "Even Muhammed Bruce had grown despondent by then. He had lived in Morocco for more than thirty years. He had witnessed the country gain independence from France. He'd known plenty of foreigners who'd been murdered in the cities during those...

Travel tips.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
November 1, 2006... "Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on, I'll be mad." RUMI "We would do this anywhere.... Anywhere we go we will make gardens with...

Support our "oops"?(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... All Canadians support our troops in the sense of admiring their courage and their devotion to their duty as defined by Parliament. All Canadians grieve with the families of the fallen. Harper's cynical and manipulative ploy of trying to...

"Underdeveloped" countries.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)(Brief article)
November 1, 2006... "The great contrast between the United States and Haiti is not, theologically speaking, that God has abandoned us and looks after the United States, but that our wealth has been, is, and will be stolen by the United States. It is clear that God...

The entire world a foreign place.(QUOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND)
November 1, 2006... "The person who finds his homeland sweet is still a tender beginner; he [sic] to whom every soul is as his native one is already strong; but he is perfect to whom the entire world is as a foreign place. The tender soul has fixed his love on one...

The hidden geography of Body Worlds: Third World bodies on display.(Parting Shots)(Gunther Von Hagens)
November 1, 2006... MY RECENT TRIP TO Gunther Von Hagens Body Worlds 2 in Toronto got me wondering if this art/science exhibit is just another act of exploiting Third World bodies for First World consumption. Von Hagens, a German anatomist and self-proclaimed...