tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62195901661020454642024-03-20T22:33:32.814-07:00politics of tourisma blog by Jim Butcher on human geography, tourism and educationJim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-30256280683334293042021-07-29T10:45:00.000-07:002021-07-29T10:45:01.428-07:00Politics of Tourism switches to substack.<a href="https://jimbutcher.substack.com/about">I'm switching to substack, so find the articles here, and anything new from 2021, here.</a>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-42399584495065674782021-07-19T00:27:00.000-07:002021-07-19T00:27:25.269-07:00Where’s My Jetpack! How Future-Oriented Thinking Could Revolutionise Tourism<p> I write this for the excellent Areo magazine: <a href="https://areomagazine.com/2021/07/09/wheres-my-jetpack-how-future-oriented-thinking-could-revolutionise-tourism/">Where’s My Jetpack! How Future-Oriented Thinking Could Revolutionise Tourism</a></p><h1 class="entry-title" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: white; font-family: lemonde-journal, serif; font-size: 2.7rem; line-height: 1.125; margin-bottom: 1rem; margin-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; text-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 2px 2px 4px;"><br /></h1>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-39934505186665438182021-05-11T07:50:00.002-07:002021-05-11T07:53:01.820-07:00Universities should not be taking sides in racial politics<p> I wrote about why <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/04/30/universities-should-not-be-taking-sides-on-racial-politics/">universities should not be taking sides in racial politics</a> on Spiked.</p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-85397660695489926812021-04-01T05:59:00.007-07:002021-04-01T06:03:28.489-07:00We can’t rely on students’ unions to defend free speech<p> I wrote this on spiked-online on <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/02/17/we-cant-rely-on-students-unions-to-defend-free-speech/">students' unions and free speech</a>.</p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-20252537193352184072021-04-01T05:57:00.005-07:002021-04-01T06:03:06.670-07:00Shouldn’t students’ unions be free from worrying about others’ free speech?<p> I wrote this on <a href="https://wonkhe.com/blogs-sus/shouldnt-students-unions-be-free-from-worrying-about-others-free-speech/">students' unions and free speech</a>.</p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-19455894763442061322021-04-01T05:55:00.005-07:002021-04-01T06:04:48.149-07:00Tourism's Democratic Deficit<p> I wrote on <a href="https://goodtourismblog.com/2021/02/tourisms-democratic-deficit/">tourism's democratic deficit</a> for the Good Tourism blog.</p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-43227243502354442252021-01-18T14:14:00.004-08:002021-04-01T06:03:46.011-07:00Who will defend free speech?<p> I <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/01/07/who-will-defend-free-speech/">reviewed</a> <i>The Free Speech Wars</i> by Charlotte Lydia Riley for Spiked. </p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-18818510187842537572020-11-20T04:07:00.002-08:002020-11-20T04:23:18.676-08:00In memory of Samuel Paty, teacher<p>My short piece available here:<a href="https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/expertcomment/in-memory-of-samuel-paty-teacher/" target="_blank"> Jesuisprof</a></p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-33253297145307902852020-09-13T02:27:00.001-07:002020-11-20T04:04:04.367-08:00Response to Journal of Sustainable Tourism article<p>An academic journal - the Journal of Sustainable Tourism - published piece claiming to be an analysis of an online discussion (on TRINET, an email list for academics interested in tourism) of an article I wrote. The editors asked me to write a response to the article, which I did promptly. They subsequently decided they did not want to publish a response, and instead asked for an article on the substance of growth / degrowth in tourism post COVID as part of a debate. I have agreed, and look forward to that.</p><p>However, I feel strongly they should have published a response to the article, both because they asked me to write one, and also because it was warranted given the loaded claims, inferences and assumptions in the original piece. I have made it clear to the editors that I feel it is unethical and against the spirit of open discussion to commission the response and then decide for whatever reason to change this decision.</p><p>I have produced the response below (as submitted to JoST) so at least there is a rebuttal of the claims available in print that I, or others involved in the discussion who have contacted me, can refer people to. </p><p><a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/04/the-war-on-tourism/" target="_blank">My original article</a> is available here. </p><p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09669582.2020.1803334" target="_blank">Higgins-Desbiolles's journal piece</a> is here (although institutional access may be required).</p><p class="MsoEndnoteText"></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b>Response to Freya Higgins-Desbiolles’s article<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In 4<sup>th</sup> May I wrote a short, polemical article on the
online magazine Spiked-online titled ‘the War on Tourism’.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The article was well received. Some disagreed, others agreed. This is normal. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Freya Higgins-Desbiolles has chosen to write an analysis of
a brief discussion of the article that took place on Trinet, the popular e-mail
list for academics with an interest in tourism. Higgins-Desbiolles’s
article<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>uses<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>comments from the e-mail list (in my view in
a partial way) to bolster its contentious claims. There is neither anonymity for,
nor consent sought from, list contributors (anyone can easily locate these
comments against individuals’ names on the list discussion or archive). The
paper is inaccurate and contains unfounded and pejorative assumptions and inferences.
However, as the Journal of Sustainable Tourism are publishing it I am, at their
invitation, responding briefly to the paper.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To be clear, Higgins-Desbiolles paper makes no substantive
points about the issues raised in my article which is solely on the value of
degrowth, especially in the middle of a pandemic where the tourism economy
faces disaster. Instead it attempts a discourse analysis, strong on caricature
and false inference, so that is principally what I am responding to here.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">First, Higgins-Desbiolles reads a lot into me using the
’evocative metaphor of war’ - the article’s title is ‘the war on tourism’. In
fact she refers to it around 50 times. She may not be aware that is unusual for
authors to write their own titles for articles placed in magazines or
newspapers. I did not write the title. Literally no individual featured in the
debate, not once, used the ‘evocative metaphor of war’. (Besides, I had assumed
the ‘war’ was between COVID-19 and tourism, not the two schools of thought). I’m
not sure where this leaves a significant portion of her analysis.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Higgins-Desbiolles alleges the article is fighting a ‘culture
war’. I’ll pass over the inconsistency in her attitude to military metaphors. I
am a staunch opponent of ‘culture war’ style politics, as are the publications
I write for, Spiked-online included.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
I have taken issue with the politicisation of culture in my books and talks (for
example, my keynote at ATLAS 2016 was titled ‘tourism’s culture wars’),
especially the sense in which alternatives to mass tourism are sometimes
invoked as a moral or political statement. This was the focus of the book the <i>Moralisation
of tourism</i> – to look at how aspects of lifestyle and culture had become
subject to a political contestation, and the cultural and political consequences
of this.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
In a different context, this analysis is developed in <i>Volunteer tourism: the
lifestyle politics of development</i>, that I co-wrote with Pete Smith in 2015.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would say that Higgins-Desbiolles views are far more in
the ‘culture war’ mould, as they, in my view, sometimes substitute moralistic
argument about cultural preferences - ‘mass tourism versus ‘responsible
tourism’ or ‘alternative travel’ - for politics. That is an argument for
another time.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Whilst ostensibly an analysis of an online discussion, Higgins-Desbiolles
repeats falsehoods about the publication that published my article. Spiked-online
is a socially libertarian magazine with left wing roots. Today it adheres to
Enlightenment values of free speech, popular sovereignty (support for Brexit), the
importance of economic and scientific progress and a universalist opposition to
identity politics of right and left. It includes articles from a range of
authors, including Marxists, conservatives, socialists, trade unionists, ‘Blue
Labour’, feminists, critics of feminism, environmentalists, critics of
environmentalism etc. Commentators and writers who contribute to Spiked-online
are often commissioned by national and international media. I am very proud to
write for Spiked-online occasionally. Many do, including at least one author Higgins-Desbiolles
cites favourably in her attack on the publication. It is a magazine that
features great journalism, commentary and analysis. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the past Spiked-online have applied for and gained
project funding from the US Koch brothers’ charitable foundation to organise ‘free
speech’ related events in the US. Other beneficiaries of this foundation
include a programme called ‘how music unlocks discussions about race’ run by a
prominent Black Studies academic, the National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers (money that has been used to provide lawyers for poor defendants), ‘Cut50’
(a project to reduce the rate of incarceration in the USA), the American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), Families Against Mandatory Minimums (a group calling
for the end of mandatory minimum sentences for various crimes to reduce
incarceration for non-violent crimes) and campaigns promoting academic freedom.
Some feel the Koch brothers have also used their oil wealth extensively to
lobby for oil interests and promote free market economics, and I would definitely
agree that they have. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But so what? Why would <a name="_Hlk47014282">Higgins-Desbiolles
</a>regard this as in any way relevant to a brief online discussion on a short
article on tourism degrowth during COVID-19 ? Why not take up the article
itself rather than hint, entirely without foundation, that there is some sort
of nefarious agenda? My concern with degrowth is more with friends losing their
jobs in droves at Rolls Royce industries in my home town of Derby, and
relatives expecting post furlough unemployment, than it is with ‘Big Oil’. I
suppose I should at least be grateful to the reviewer of her article who asked Higgins-Desbiolles
to tone down the ad hominem attacks.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Higgins-Desbiolles criticises what she regards as the ‘binary’
view of degrowth versus growth put forward in the article. The purpose of a
polemic is precisely to set out the ‘poles’, to prompt a discussion. My article
does this concisely, briefly and fairly. It identifies a positive orientation
towards economic growth versus a critique of it, the latter exemplified by
degrowth. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">These are simply different perspectives that, as I emphasised
in the Trinet debate, we need to discuss. One sees growth broadly as part of
the problem, the other, part of the solution. I do not dismiss degrowth, and in
my writing and accept that it raises some good questions. I do regard it, as a development
philosophy, as backward looking and, in the context of COVID-19 especially, an
overly cautious, conservative approach to development that would be a disaster for
many who derive a living from the industry. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Having objected to my ‘binary’ view, most of Higgins-Desbiolles
paper seems intent on pushing everyone into precisely that very binary. Take
the following excerpts:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Some within the tourism academy saw such extraordinary
circumstances [COVID-19] as a moment to reflect on the lessons from this pause
in tourism and travel and use it to spark reform and transformations that place
tourism on a more responsible and sustainable trajectory. Others within the
academy called for tourism academics to support the tourism industry in
developing recovery strategies that could reignite stalled economies and
restart tourism enterprises leading to a return to “business as usual” as soon as
possible.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Arguably, the group of TRINET emails of May 2020 we might
call the “war on tourism” debate revealed a moment of truth in the tourism
academy suggesting two distinct and opposing schools of thought.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘In the tense and troubled context of the COVID-19 global
pandemic with its serious damage to travel, tourism and affiliated sectors, the
dispute concerning boosterism versus limits to tourism has erupted with renewed
vigour.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘A global pandemic of extraordinary impact on travel and
tourism resulted in a pivotal moment. With travel and tourism halted, sharp
dividing lines between calls to return to business as usual versus those that
would pause for reflection and reset became evident.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In these quotes and in the analysis Higgins-Desbiolles not
only presents a binary, but ends up misrepresenting individuals by
superimposing the binary on people with varied views. In reality few ‘pro-growth’
academics are uncritical of the industry. Many would eschew the term ‘boosterism’
as an accurate description of their views. One can be pro-growth and
anti-boosterism (a term sometimes associated with short termism, a lack of
planning etc). Contrary to Higgins-Desbiolles binary worldview, it is quite
possible to be pro-growth <i>and</i> a critic of business practice or even capitalism
– in fact up until the last few decades this would have been largely assumed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Contrary to <a name="_Hlk47015031">Higgins-Desbiolles</a>, academics
who are not of the ‘critical tourism studies’ school of thought are still
concerned with social justice. They may well view social justice <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- its meaning and how to achieve it –
differently from Higgins-Desbiolles. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The article contains much hyperbole and further misrepresentations.
Here are some examples:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Butcher’s article denounced a body of tourism work he
portrayed as hostile to the industry and as<span style="color: red;"> </span>using
COVID-19 as an opportunity to attack it’. Nowhere in the article or anywhere
else did I suggest anyone was ‘using COVID 19 as an opportunity to attack [Higgins-Desbiolles
views]’. That is a pretty low and unfounded claim. As for ‘denunciation’, here
is the key passage in my article: <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Though no one doubts that coronavirus is a disaster, rather
than redoubling efforts to help prospective recovery, some industry
commentators see the pandemic as a chance to hit pause, rewind a little, and
change the track. Reform is emphasised over recovery. And that reform often
looks forward to a diminished industry and lower levels of leisure mobility.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This is just disagreement. There is no ‘denunciation’ here,
or anywhere else in the article. Neither is there a ‘Butcher agenda of
pro-industry boosterism’ with ‘followers’, ‘pressing’ itself ‘into the academic
domain’. It’s a bit more mundane than that – just some people with different
views.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Higgins-Desbiolles claims that her analysis ‘explains how
advocates of industry rapid recovery stand opposed to wider efforts to reform
tourism to be more ethical, responsible and sustainable’. This is not
explained. It is asserted. The assertion is contradicted by the views of many
pro-growth academics who absolutely would see themselves as ‘ethical, responsible
and sustainable’.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">She writes: ‘Critical theory is a body of work that seeks to
diagnose the problems of current society and identify the nature of the social
change required to secure greater justice, equity and empowerment. It holds a
belief in the efficacy of social action for social change to achieve
emancipation and well-being.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The debate
sparked by the “war on tourism” piece is a debate about the very legitimacy of
efforts to pursue such an agenda in tourism thought and practice.’ <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This assumes that an opponent of degrowth would be against
‘justice and equity’. That they may see achieving justice and equity
differently to the modern social justice movement is ruled out. Higgins-Desbiolles
places herself on the moral high ground in a borderline Manichean struggle, a
position from which criticisms are interpreted as an affront to those seeking a
better world from those who do not care much.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I don’t want to take up the substantive issue of degrowth
here as it is not the issue addressed in the Higgins-Desbiolles article.
However, I do want to take the opportunity to begin to question the notion,
implicit and often explicit in her article, that degrowth, as she represents
it, has a monopoly on ethical reflection and moral concern for others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Higgins-Desbiolles’ cites Arundati Roy’s views resetting the
economy (in her article) and Jane Goodall’s opposition to modern ‘industrial
agriculture’ (in the Trinet discussion) as exemplary figures in the degrowth debate.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Goodall is a died in the wool, unapologetic Malthusian,
recently claiming that: ‘All these [environmental] things we talk about
wouldn’t be a problem if there was the size of population that there was 500
years ago’.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The world population 500 years ago is estimated between 420 and 540 million
—<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>6.7 billion fewer people than today. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Certainly, Goodall’s opposition to industrial agriculture –
cited favourably by Higgins-Desbiolles in the Trinet discussion as yielding
lessons for ‘industrial tourism’ post COVID-19 (a comment that did not make the
cut in her discourse analysis) - would necessitate a population billions
smaller than currently. This is more misanthropic than radical.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Roy has strongly opposed industrialisation and development projects
in India, in particular the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sardar
Sarovar Project. One Indian environmental historian has said regarding this that:
‘Ms. Roy's tendency to exaggerate and simplify, her Manichaean view of the
world, and her shrill hectoring tone, have given a bad name to environmental
analysis’.<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Certainly, Roy’s rejection of the damn and other large scale development
initiatives, <i>on principle</i>, is worth challenging given the prospective
benefits of the damn for potable water supply, irrigation and electricity
generation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And so too with tourism. Higgins-Desbiolles critiques of
some of the problems attending tourism growth (and economic growth more
generally) seem to condemn growth <i>per se</i>. Critiques of capitalism or
‘big business’, in the absence of the class based movements of the past to
transcend it, seem to have morphed into <i>critiques of growth itself</i>. This
was noted as far back as 1967 by civil rights activist and socialist Rustin Bayard,
in an article that rings true today. Rustin cites favourably social democratic
theorist and Foreign Secretary in the UK Labour government of the time, Anthony
Crosland, as mirroring his own view:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘My working‐class constituents have their own version of the
environment, which is equally valid and which calls for economic growth. They
want lower housing densities and better schools and hospitals. They want
washing machines and refrigerators to relieve domestic drudgery. They want
cars, and the freedom they give on weekends and holidays. And they want
package‐tour holidays to Majorca, even if this means more noise of night
flights and eating fish and chips on previously secluded beaches—why should
they too not enjoy the sun? And they want these things not … because their
minds have been brainwashed and their tastes contrived by advertising, but
because the things are desirable in themselves.’<a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A truly radical approach would be to celebrate the growth of
tourism as liberating and progressive, <i>and</i> propose that can be done
differently – more democratically and equitably. My contention is that a socially
progressive tourism that can better address equity would involve more, not less
growth, and more, not less, tourism. That is worth thinking about and debating
in good faith.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">END<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;"><!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Butcher.
J (20200 The War on Tourism. Spiked-online Available at: https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/04/the-war-on-tourism/<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> By
way of a clear example, see Furedi, F. (2014) Culture War: the narcissism of
minor differences. Spiked-online. Available at: <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2014/02/12/culture-war-the-narcissism-of-minor-differences/">https://www.spiked-online.com/2014/02/12/culture-war-the-narcissism-of-minor-differences/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Butcher, J. (2001) The Moralisation of Tourism. London: Routledge<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Butcher, J. (2015) Volunteer Tourism: The Lifestyle Politics of International
Development. London: Routledge<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Cited in Alberro, H. (2020) Don’t blame overpopulation for the climate crisis.
City Metric. March 24. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Available at: https://www.citymetric.com/horizons/don-t-blame-over-population-climate-crisis-4920<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Note also that Goodall’s claim that industrial agriculture is responsible for
increasing the risk of pandemic disasters is entirely spurious. Modern
industrial societies have witnessed fewer pandemics and, in spite of massively
increased populations, fewer pandemic deaths even in absolute terms. This is in
no small part due to a modern, hygienic food system, transport, markets and
refrigeration – in other words what Goodall condemns as ‘industrial
agriculture’. <o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn7" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> Guha,
R (2000) Perils of extremism, The Hindu, 17 December<o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div id="edn8" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><a href="https://cccu-my.sharepoint.com/personal/bjb4_canterbury_ac_uk/Documents/Documents/chapterspublished/Response%20to%20Freya.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" style="mso-endnote-id: edn8;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span face="" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Cited in Rustin, B. (1976) No Growth has to mean Less is Less. New York Times
May 2<sup>nd</sup>. Available at: <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/02/archives/no-growth-has-to-mean-less-is-less-growth.html">https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/02/archives/no-growth-has-to-mean-less-is-less-growth.html</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoEndnoteText"><o:p> </o:p></p>
</div>
</div><br /><p></p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-5153626490472124032020-08-20T13:30:00.010-07:002020-11-20T04:09:32.490-08:00How to Save Our Universities<p> The UK think-tank Cieo published a report titled <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/08/11/how-to-save-our-universities/" target="_blank">How To Save Our Universities</a> written by academics Phil Cunliffe and Lee Jones. I wrote about it on Spiked.</p>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-78424596833098413082020-07-14T07:14:00.000-07:002020-11-20T04:10:18.360-08:00Why degrowth just won't do after COVID-19.I wrote this on <a href="https://goodtourismblog.com/2020/07/why-tourism-degrowth-just-wont-do-after-covid-19/" target="_blank">degrowth</a> on the Good Tourism blog, published by David Gillbanks.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-14981523654431868992020-07-02T06:26:00.001-07:002020-11-20T04:11:02.131-08:00The vital importance of being in the pub I wrote this on the <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/07/02/the-vital-importance-of-being-in-the-pub/" target="_blank">reopening of pubs</a> post lock down.<br />
<br />
We should celebrate the reopening of the hospitality sector. It is the very engine of our sociability.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-27520471129830100632020-06-22T07:17:00.003-07:002020-11-20T04:11:35.237-08:00Baden-Powell’s legacy should be celebrated, not toppledIn response to the toppling of statues, I wrote<a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/06/15/baden-powells-legacy-should-be-celebrated-not-toppled/" target="_blank"> this</a>.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-90212388120384850572020-05-07T02:09:00.000-07:002020-11-20T04:12:23.578-08:00Should We Decolonise Geography ?I wrote <a href="https://areomagazine.com/2020/02/11/should-we-decolonise-geography/" target="_blank">this</a> for the excellent Areo magazine.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-39021107862469193512020-05-06T00:57:00.001-07:002020-11-20T04:12:45.533-08:00The Importance of Democratic Control over ImmigrationI wrote <a href="https://ukandeu.ac.uk/the-importance-of-democratic-control-over-immigration/" target="_blank">this</a> for the blog 'UK in a Changing Europe'.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-80231839990486119222020-05-06T00:52:00.000-07:002020-11-20T04:13:20.283-08:00The War on Tourism<a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/04/the-war-on-tourism/" target="_blank">This</a> dramatically titled piece caused a debate. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much support it had, although perhaps the reality of the COVID and post - COVID economy has made people think carefully about the claims of the travel degrowth advocates.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-90595728037693982632020-05-06T00:47:00.000-07:002020-11-20T04:13:58.143-08:00Trade Unionists Must Stand Up For Freedom of SpeechI wrote <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/03/05/trade-unions-must-stand-up-for-workers-freedom-of-speech/" target="_blank">this</a>.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-62176588399859760382019-08-16T08:38:00.000-07:002020-11-20T04:14:44.292-08:00The War on Wrongthink academicsI wrote <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/05/28/the-war-on-wrongthink-academics/" target="_blank">this</a> in Spiked on the Trade Union backed campaign to get a lecturer sacked for right wing views.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-2185466726739879572019-07-03T02:50:00.001-07:002020-11-20T04:15:27.194-08:00Brexit: working class revolt or middle class outlook?<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px;">
It has become the norm for Remain backing academics to assert that an association between lower social class / poverty and voting Brexit is a 'myth'. Danny Dorling and other prominent academics argue this line.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; margin-top: 6px;">
It may not be the whole story by any means, but it is no myth. And in trying to deny this, these academics have created a narrative of their own that is very misleading. I wrote this to try to demystify the basic class / Brexit debate.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://discoversociety.org/2019/07/03/brexit-working-class-revolt-or-middle-class-outlook/" target="_blank">Here's</a> the piece.</div>
Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-54637599494149047102019-05-16T03:48:00.001-07:002020-11-20T04:15:48.891-08:00The merits of lecture capture<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Universities are currently introducing ‘lecture capture’ –
lectures will be recorded and made available to those unable to attend or who
may want to review the class. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been met with a high degree of criticism from staff.
Many fear that attendance will fall – students will stay at home and watch the
video. Most of us know that a good lecture ideally involves ‘being there’ – the
chance to engage with the lecturer and with other students during and perhaps
after the class. It is about being an active part of an academic community,
rather than an adjunct to it. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many classes are flexible, involving lecturing alongside
questions and discussion. Granted, this is very difficult given the large lecture
sizes that many deal with. Nonetheless, the flexibility to teach as one sees
fit is very important. It would be a backwards step if lecturers felt
constrained in any way by the technology. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet the right for students to not be recorded is a part of
the policies that are being introduced. Muting individuals within a class at
their request is awkward. Will some students simply stay quiet? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Will a lecturer feel as free to broach a controversial
topic? Will they be prepared to go out on a limb and present a new argument considered
left (or right) field? Will they be prepared to deviate from the schedule when
they might otherwise feel it is justified by current events to do so? Will they
feel brave enough to simply to turn off the lecture slides and run some key
issues raised by the class? <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Having spoken to many staff about this – partly in my role
as a union representative and partly out of professional interest – the
majority of staff admit that they will change the way they teach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whilst the problems are real, they do not lie with lecture
capture. The real issue, and culprit, is university culture itself. The
consumer model of education now prevalent promotes two things that are likely
in practice to encourage lecturers to adapt when using the technology.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, lectures have increasingly become part of a formal
‘delivery’ of an academic ‘service’ tied in to a pseudo contractual
relationship between fee paying ‘consumers’ and their ‘providers’. The language
of ‘learning outcomes’ that are in some cases compulsory and ‘mapped’ to
specific classes and assessments doesn’t help. Students are socialised into
seeing higher education as an overly formal ‘delivered’ product with clear
specifications.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Second, and also a part of the consumer model, universities
are no longer spaces where free thought and free speech are guaranteed. The
wider political climate in which disagreeable ideas and words are sometimes
associated with offence and psychological damage is manifest in numerous speech
codes, codes of conduct and zero tolerance policies. The existence of such
policies – whilst they are seldom invoked – may make lecturers think twice
before repeating a personal anecdote that illustrates a point, stating a strong
view they hold or cracking a slightly risqué joke. Issues related to trans
rights, religion and #metoo are amongst those where strong opinions or certain
words can be taken as a breach of university policy, even when no law has been
broken and when there is no intent to cause offense. Hence a growth of self censorship
and a certain conservatism in the classroom are likely outcomes when lectures
are captured.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There is much to be said for treating the lecture and
seminar space as a sacred space for the lecturer and his or her students, one
where a lecturer can cultivate an intellectual relationship with students,
defined by mutual trust and openness. Ideally, staff should feel confident to
play devil’s advocate, to change tac and to use humour as they see fit. The
lecture room should be <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">their</i> space,
where they can exercise their autonomy in imparting knowledge and in which they
can hone their craft. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Hence that universities don’t provide guarantees that
captured lectures can’t be invoked in student complaints or disciplinary
proceedings is a problem. The argument that they will more likely provide
evidence in favour of a lecturer subject to an accusation does not reassure.
The issue is the importance of trust in the lecture room, a trust that is
already undermined by the twin assumptions that education is the ‘delivery’ of
‘learning outcomes’ and that staff and student codes of conduct are in fact
needed to mediate the lecture room and the university as a whole.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So the issue is not lecture capture, but the conservatism
that is encouraged through our consumerist and therapeutic model of education.
In order to get the most from lecture capture, we need to refound the lecture itself
as an arena for the cultivation of knowledge rather than simply its delivery,
and as a sacred space where trust rules over fear. <o:p></o:p><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jim Butcher<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This blog also features on the Times Higher blogs: <o:p></o:p><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/lecture-capture-risks-breaking-sacred-trust-lecture-hall</span></div>
<br />Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-84221406849025526802019-04-28T05:18:00.003-07:002020-11-20T04:19:46.186-08:00review of Danny Dorling and Sally Tomlinson’s anti-Brexit book, 'Rule Britannia'I wrote this <a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/2019/03/28/rule-britannia-the-worst-book-written-about-brexit/" target="_blank">review</a> for Spikedonline.Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-65158468997914359972019-01-26T03:06:00.002-08:002020-11-20T04:16:31.507-08:00In defence of the Derby Question Time ‘mob’.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Last week was a notable one for
Derby, my home town. First they dumped premiership Southampton out of the FA
cup on penalties in a thrilling FA cup replay. Then they acquired the
reputation of UK’s most<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brexity place
when the audience on BBC’s Question Time, held in the city, made it plain that
they want the Brexit they voted for – a full one. Sunderland eat your heart
out.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Yet the post programme inquest has
featured allegations of impropriety and institutional racism<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>against the BBC and host Fiona Bruce. Bruce
firmly, and incorrectly, contradicted<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Diane Abbott’s contention that Labour and the Tories are neck and neck
in the opinion polls (the BBC have subsequently issued a correction). A Labour
Party activist present has also </span><a href="https://evolvepolitics.com/bbc-question-time-staff-accused-of-whipping-up-audience-against-diane-abbott-before-filming/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">alleged</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
that during the pre-show warm up, Bruce insulted Abbott and wound up the crowd, inciting
abuse against her.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Diane Abbott was right about the
polls – it was a significant gaffe from the new presenter. Yet many of those
keen to sympathise with Abbott have seemed equally keen to engage in a few
insults and caricatures of their own at the expense of the Brexit cheering
audience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The allegations against the BBC
originate from Derby Momentum activist Jyoti Wilkinson, whose account of events
has echoed around social media. Wilkinson </span><a href="https://evolvepolitics.com/bbc-question-time-staff-accused-of-whipping-up-audience-against-diane-abbott-before-filming/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">writes</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
that the audience were selected for their xenophobic views (which seems
incredibly unlikely and has been firmly denied by the BBC, but nonetheless has
entered into the folklore of online conspiracy theorising). He </span><a href="https://evolvepolitics.com/bbc-question-time-staff-accused-of-whipping-up-audience-against-diane-abbott-before-filming/"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">claims</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
that Fiona Bruce’s warm up<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘had the
desired effect, and the carefully selected audience guffawed in delight as they
had now been given licence to air their bigoted views in public’. He </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/bjb4/Documents/jimsvariousdocs/He%20alleges%20‘deliberate%20antagonism’%20from%20the%20BBC,%20and%20calls%20for%20them%20to%20be%20‘held%20to%20account’"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">states</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
that ‘audience members barracked and abused her, questioned her legitimacy and
jeered, empowered by the licence they felt they had been given by the BBC to do
so’ . <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Wilkinson depicts the audience as
a braying mob led on by the rabble rousing former host of Antiques Roadshow. He
even </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/bjb4/Documents/jimsvariousdocs/He%20alleges%20‘deliberate%20antagonism’%20from%20the%20BBC,%20and%20calls%20for%20them%20to%20be%20‘held%20to%20account’"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">claims</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
that the ‘… most reactionary members of the audience were identified [during
the warm up] so they could be returned to during the show’.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Who were these reactionaries,
hand picked by Auntie for their bigotry and antipathy to Abbott? In the main,
simply people who were wholly dissatisfied with most of what they heard from
the panel on Brexit. Angry and vociferous? Certainly. Racist? Neither Wilkinson
nor anyone else has produced evidence of racist comments. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That did not prevent leading
Labour backing commentator Paul Mason from </span><a href="https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1086285377881681922"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">asserting</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
in the aftermath that Question Time is ‘staging hatred’<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and that it has becoming a ‘theatre of racist
cruelty’. For Anne Perkins in the Guardian, Question Time </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/shortcuts/2019/jan/21/question-time-diane-abbott"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">features</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
‘whooping mobs looking for confrontation’. Labour MP Chi Onwurah made the
remarkable </span><a href="https://twitter.com/ChiOnwurah/status/1086656195698536450"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">statement</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
on her twitter account: ‘To be clear I'm not accusing Fiona Bruce or the BBC of
racism but thru their ignorance of Labour's actual position in the polls &
biased contradiction of Diane's veracity they created a fertile environment for
racist abuse’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The Derby audience are portrayed
as a bigoted, racist mob, led on by an<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>institutionally racist public service broadcaster. Apparently all it
takes is a mistake over polling figures and a poor taste gag to send the Brexit
backing supposed xenophobes<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>into an
abusive rage. There is not even an<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>attempt to differentiate between the few who may have been out of order
pre-show or too exuberant during it, and the very large majority who simply had
a strong opinion over Brexit and a desire to express it forcefully.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">How does a belligerent and vocal
audience<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>become transformed<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>so readily into a xenophobic rabble in the
mind’s eye of Question Time’s critics? Ever since the referendum some Remain
campaigners who never accepted the result have taken every opportunity to
associated Brexit with xenophobia. So much so that they now interpret vociferous
backing for Brexit as de facto bigotry. So for example, Paul Mason recently </span><a href="file:///C:/Users/bjb4/Documents/jimsvariousdocs/It’s%20become%20very%20focused,%20as%20it%20has%20in%20your%20country,%20on%20xenophobia,%20white%20nationalism"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">described</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
Brexit to a US radio channel as ‘very focused’ on ‘xenophobia [and] white
privilege’. This sort of guilt by association has been common and constant from
figures on the Remain side of the debate since the morning of June 24th, 2016.
A large section of a public audience cheering for Brexit is, for people
immersed in this bubble, inexplicable in any terms other than ignorance and
bigotry. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Inevitably there have been
demands to tame Question Time or regulate who speaks and what is said. Mason
wants it </span><a href="https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1086285377881681922"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">rebid</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
and the Guardian’s Anne Perkins offers </span><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/shortcuts/2019/jan/21/question-time-diane-abbott"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">suggestions</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">
as to how to take the edge off those she characterises as the ‘mob’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 8pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">What is so good about Question
Time is that it is one of very few opportunities people get to directly
question the politicians, pundits and experts . Yes, it’s not always pretty,
and politicians of all stripes get humiliated and booed. But whether you agree
or disagree with those cheering for a full Brexit, or if you sympathise with Diane Abbott's treatment, last week’s Question Time
was a stark reminder of the gulf between elites and very many ordinary people.
Brexit voting audience members are unlikely to get an apology from their
detractors, and don’t demand one. But anyone wanting to bridge that gulf needs
to resist the dehumanising caricatures aimed only at delegitimising the Brexit
vote and avoiding the question of democracy it starkly poses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-8539714602764518402019-01-07T07:36:00.001-08:002019-01-07T07:36:59.755-08:00Questioning the Epistemology of Decolonise: The Case of GeographyI wrote this piece: <a href="https://social-epistemology.com/2018/11/06/questioning-the-epistemology-of-decolonise-the-case-of-geography-jim-butcher/" target="_blank">Questioning the Epistemology of Decolonise: The Case of Geography</a> for the Social Epistemology Research and Reply Collective. It was a response to the uncritical adoption of "decolonise" as a moral imperative (as opposed to a political position) at the 2017 Royal Geographical Conference in London.<br />
<br />
<br />
It is not on the usual topics I write about, but for me making the humanist case for knowledge, and defending this as a gain from the Enlightenment, are very important for people on the Left. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-90814471038096094212018-12-21T06:27:00.006-08:002020-11-20T04:17:10.077-08:00On Monbiot versus Spiked<br>
<div class="MsoNormal">
George Monbiot, in a recent <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/07/us-billionaires-hard-right-britain-spiked-magazine-charles-david-koch-foundation">piece</a></span>
in the Guardian newspaper, suggests that American oil industry millionaires the
Koch brothers are seeking to influence British politics through the UK based <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/">Spiked</a></span>
magazine – a magazine I write for occasionally. Monbiot reports that Spiked
informed him on request that they received some money from the Koch Foundation
to organise a series of high profile free speech events. <o:p></o:p><br>
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I understand it, the events have been, or are being,
organised. I <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ijFQFiCgoE">watched</a></span> one of
these on-line. It was a good debate, and endeavoured to engage even attendees
who were very critical of the panellists' take on free speech as a universal principle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Kochs are incredibly rich, very influential in the US
Republican Party principally and hold very economically liberal views. Monbiot cites
a quote from 40 years ago: ‘Our movement must destroy the prevalent statist
paradigm.’ That’s fair enough – they said it, he reported it. But for some
context, and perhaps to put some balance on his piece, Monbiot could have
mentioned that they also fund work on prison reform (for which President Obama
commended them) and other causes considered progressive by some. They have not
aligned themselves with Trump, and in terms of immigration are often seen as
relatively liberal compared to some strands of the Republican Party. They are
incredibly oil rich Americans who support and promote causes they agree with,
many of which I would disagree with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monbiot’s line is not so much an objection to the debates,
but to imply much more. He says that: ‘Until now, there has been no evidence
that Charles and David Koch have directly funded organisations based in the UK’,
and proceeds to suggest throughout his article that the money is not simply for
the events, but is linked to a malign, unstated purpose in the UK. This is
where he adopts smear, caricature and innuendo against his adversaries.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monbiot gives us his view on the evolution of the Revolutionary
Communist Party (RCP), a Marxist group that folded over two decades ago. He
claims that there is a sort of continuity organisation behind Spiked and some
other organisations with a common origin in the RCP. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In evidence he claims, correctly, that initially Spiked’s
output relied heavily on people who had previously written for LM (formerly
Living Marxism, the RCP’s publication). He could have mentioned that quite a
few of the prominent young journalists who have written for / been involved in
editing Spiked for very many years now would have been in junior school, or
younger, when the magazine started out. He could have pointed out that Spiked
has featured a diverse range of writers, including Labour and Conservative
party members, Trade Unionists, a range of academics and many more. He could
have mentioned that many regular and occasional writers for the magazine have
written for a range of publications and appear in the media - no different to himself. Guardian journalists, too, have written in Spiked on topics where they
find common cause.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spiked doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a political
publication. It’s positions are very often contrary to the Guardian’s line, and
certainly controversial in some circles. Yet Spiked’s arguments for a full
Brexit, for freedom of speech as a universal principle and opposition to the
encroachment of the state in private life, all resonate with many people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monbiot makes highly questionable claims throughout his
piece, such as regarding a supposed ‘enthusiasm for former communists in the Balkans’
of the long defunct magazine LM as somehow relevant. In fact LM steadfastly
opposed support for any side in that conflict, and others. Monbiot took a
different view there, as he has sometimes in relation to western intervention
in other conflicts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Spiked he caricatures isn’t the one I occasionally write
for and support. Many of the issues Monbiot says Spiked ‘inveighs against’ are
real issues for many people. It is not only Spiked, or ‘the hard right’, who
have criticised #metoo, Corbyn and ‘anti-capitalism’. Monbiot seems to believe
that no one could possibly think differently to him without some malign,
unstated intent ... some ‘agenda’. Perhaps that is indicative of a more general
problem in left wing politics. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monbiot claims that Spiked articles ‘repeatedly defend
figures on the hard right or far right: Katie Hopkins, Nigel Farage, Alex
Jones, the Democratic Football Lads’ Alliance, Tommy Robinson, Toby Young,
Arron Banks, Viktor Orbán.’ It would be fair to say that spiked has defended
odious characters such as Hopkins and Jones <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">from
attempts to censor them on line or elsewhere</i>. There is a long tradition of
free speech advocacy that views it as a principle that must also apply to those
you disagree with. This includes those who say offensive things. But as Monbiot
doesn’t mention what they are being defended from, the article plays to the
misapprehension that to back free speech is to agree with that speech. Spiked
has <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.spiked-online.com/topic/free-speech/">argued</a></span> for
free speech for all shades of opinion and in many circumstances in which it is
threatened.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monbiot makes a point of questioning Spiked’s stance on free
speech. He states that Spiked has ‘called for schools, universities and
governments to be “cleansed” of “the malign influence” of green NGOs, which it
denounces as “the environmentalist enemy within”’. ‘Some friends of free
speech, these’, he adds. I looked at the Spiked article he linked to the former sentence.
Neither ‘cleansed’ nor ‘malign influence’ feature anywhere in that article. The
piece warns of the dangers of sustainability becoming an orthodoxy, beyond
questioning. There is no suggestion anywhere that anyone’s free speech should
be inhibited<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- the opposite in fact.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The words ‘cleansed’ and ‘of the malign influence’ -
referring to the influence of some environmental NGOs in policy making - does
occur in a different Spiked article (not on the subject of free speech at all).
I found it through googling - it was written by the blogger Pete North in 2014.
If the Spiked archive is accurate, he is the writer of one single article in
the magazine’s entire 18 year history. North has called Spiked much worse that
the rhetoric he dishes out against the environmentalists in that article.
Monbiot himself has indulged rather overblown rhetoric himself, for example, <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.monbiot.com/1999/07/29/meltdown/">arguing</a></span>
flying across the Atlantic is worse than child abuse, or <span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2015/mar/12/isis-are-not-the-only-ones-committing-great-acts-of-vandalism">comparing</a></span>
the building of a hydro-electric dam in Cambodia to the destruction wrought by
ISIS. Are we to take those statements as the official Guardian message to its highly
mobile readers who benefit from cheap electricity?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Spiked have certainly challenged the labelling of Robinson,
Farage and Orbán as fascists. To assert they are being ‘defended’, without
stating <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">what they are being defended from</i>
is, once again, disingenuous, designed to create a false moral counter-position
in place of a political argument. My reading of Spiked’s articles on the
subject is that Orbán was ‘defended from’ the authority of the EU to bring
sanctions against Hungary in response to the latter’s policies. That is not a
defence of his policies, but principally of Hungarian democracy <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">vis a vis</i> EU authority. Why not engage
with the substance instead of pushing a caricature? If you think it’s a bad
argument, then it shouldn’t be too difficult to do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Monbiot’s article asserts that one piece in Spiked ‘blamed
the Grenfell Tower disaster on “the moral fervour of the climate change
campaign”’. I read the article. The quote hardly captures the argument put
forward. The full quote from the Spiked piece is: ‘The government push for
action on insulation encouraged shoddy workmanship and cowboy operators, who
took advantage of the moral fervour of the climate-change campaign to make
money.’ Whether you agree or disagree with the article, that is quite different
to Monbiot’s assertion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Beyond the smear and caricature characteristic of the whole
piece, there is a method of sorts in the article. Monbiot<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and his partners, Desmog, seem to operate on
the basis of writing the name of the person or organisation they seek to
discredit in the middle of a piece of paper, and selectively drawing lines to
other individuals and organisations with which that person / organisation has
any formal, or indeed informal and even family links, past or present.
Personal connections, sharing panels, writing in others’ publications or
working together are all assumed to be evidence of a nefarious ‘agenda’.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Desmog do this sort of line drawing literally on their blog.
It’s a form of research that a child could do. You could target any individual
or publication: the Guardian, or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Desmog
themselves. In Desmog’s case it wouldn’t<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>take you 120 hours of googling and writing (the length of time Monbiot claims he spent
on his article) to create a web of intrigue: links to rich funders, wealthy PR
gurus, conflicts of interest and even the odd link to criminal activity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To pursue that would be stooping to a level
of conspiracy theorising that demeans politics. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ultimately Monbiot disagrees strongly with key themes in Spiked:
Brexit, free speech, environmentalism versus development. But for him, the
political is intensely personal. He has let that get in the way of any
semblance of objectivity. Neither does his article work in its own terms, as a
counter to the ideas he dislikes. Associating views contrary to your own with conspiracies,
‘dark money’ or to others’ ‘agendas’ only serves to degrade political
discourse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<br>Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6219590166102045464.post-59423329502403886592018-12-06T07:59:00.000-08:002020-11-20T04:17:57.666-08:00Overtourism: is it over for the growth of tourism? Event held at the University of Malta, October, 23rd October 2018On October 23rd I chaired a public event in Malta on the much hyped phenomenon of 'overtourism'. The event was organised by the Academy of Ideas, in conjunction with the Institute for Travel Tourism and Culture, as a satellite event as part of the annual <a href="https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/" target="_blank">Battle of Ideas Festival</a>. <br />
<br />
The recording is available <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jOqVsQfzEmnuiD1Bp6Fu8JEnVsK5kKUq/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">here</a> .<br />
<br />
The panellists and details are available <a href="https://www.battleofideas.org.uk/session/overtourism-is-it-over-for-the-growth-of-tourism/" target="_blank">here.</a><br />
<br />
It was a great event - very interesting to hear a range of views from such a diverse audience. Many thanks to Dr Marie Avellino and Dr John Ebejer at the University for hosting the event. Jim Butcherhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17147225929061571428noreply@blogger.com