Ethical Travel?

This is a reflection from my RTW diary of November 2003.

As I wandered around Tian'anmen talking to students, it was sobering to know that the security police are there to crack down on the first sign of any form of demonstration. The Lonely Planet goes into lurid detail about how the secret police hurl demonstrators into the back of prowling police vans.

The Square is officially ‘The Heart’ of China and remains a focus for dissent. Indeed, several members of the banned Falun-Gong religious sect have set fire to themselves in the Square recently and of course in 1989 a 30 day student sit-in led to a massacre of perhaps 4,000-10,000 pro-democracy campaigners. I remember Kate Adies’ verbal report from that night, during which she was shot in the arm by a bullet that had killed the man in front of her.

It was interesting too to see how life moves on though. Kate Adies’ blood, indeed no-ones blood was anywhere to be seen. There were no memorials of course, no bullet-holes and no weeping relatives or campaigners were hurled when I was there.

There were just a lot of families, flying a lot of kites and taking a walk in the beautiful sunshine. I wonder how long it took to return to this scene of normality?

I have to say too that the security presence in the Square never felt intimidating and wasn’t overbearing. Perhaps the Square is too big for that. A few marching soldiers? Well we have those on The Mall in London too. The difference is that taking the photo of soldiers in London does not risk arrest.

However spruce Beijing and the regime make themselves in the run up to the 2008 Olympics though, I don’t think you can enter China without being aware that it is still one of the most repressive regimes in the world with a horrific human rights record. Day to day experience provides you with little evidence of this aspect of Chinese society. I have come away with the impression of a cheerful and hardworking people with eyes fixed firmly on an optimistic future. I can’t write about Tian’anmen, just as I couldn’t walk through it without remembering the sound of the gunfire of 1989 and the silence surrounding the disappeared of today.

I’ll be honest – before going to Zimbabwe I worried about the ‘ethics’ of travel. Back in 1989 I remember swearing that I would never go to China until it’s first democratic election had been held. I worry so much about how to do what is right by everybody.

It has been interesting talking to people who live more locally to some difficult ethical situations and getting their perspectives. I have concluded that if you’re going to see the world, then you’ve got to look at all of it – it isn’t just white sand beaches. I've also come to conclude that sanctions do not work in changing government or governmental behaviour. Engagement does change perspectives though.

Also, where do you draw the line? If you are against the iraq war do you refuse to go to the US? If you are in favour of press freedom do you boycott Berlusconi's Italy?

What does anyone else think?