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Connected Traveler: Cancun and Burma
Before podcasting became all the rage, Russell Johnson at the
Connected Traveler was doing audio stories for download from
around the world. He calls his site "the world's first 24 hour per day world travel and culture radio station". You can
argue that the stories are kinda "newsy", maybe a bit too polished and buttoned up, but they are informative and
certainly well-produced. The "nat sound" in the pieces is particularly good. It's actually amazing how many stories you
can find at the site.
This story on Cancun sounds a bit like a corporate
commercial, but after listening to it for a while, it actually grew on me, and I ended up listening several others. In
this one, he takes on Burma, which
we blogged about a bit yesterday. Russ actually advocates
that travelers NOT visit Burma, saying that the "democratization" efforts there are not far enough along and that
supporting the ruling junta through tourism is a bad idea. Dunno about that. Seems that it's a good thing for people to
be exposed to what's happening in Burma, and for Burmese to encounter people outside their borders, but he makes a good
point.
I like what Russ is doing here, and will tune in again to see what he's doing and where he goes.
Filed under: Arts and Culture, History, Learning, Blogs
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tara Dec 18th 2005 5:08PM
>>Seems that it’s a good thing for people to be exposed to what’s happening in Burma, and for Burmese to encounter people outside their borders, but he makes a good point<<
Well, your assuming that if you traveled there you'd actually see what was going on. The truth is, you see what the junta allows you to see. You're not going to see the forced labor that built the hotels. You're not going to see the ethnic minorities who had their land confiscated so the gov't could resettle ethnic Burmese in their 'modern villages'. You're not going to see the systematic rape, torture and oppression that goes on everyday. I once met two English blokes who'd lived in Yangon for over 7 years - they didn't even seem to know the full extent of what was going on, and even said that political prisoners were stupid for protesting inside Burma. riiight.
And as for them seeing people from outside their borders, what good does that do if you are complicit in their oppression?