Sup comrades, just curious how yous deal with the culture shock and traveling/volunteering third world countries generally as Marxists? How do you deal with the poverty, the inherent wealth and power imbalances that come with traveling as a (white) Westerner? How do you come to terms with the alienation these create between the locals and yourself, how do you reconcile this feeling of both kinda taking advantage of the locals and also the feeling of sometimes being taken advantage of? To the female comrades, how did you handle the problems specific to you that can come up (having to adapt clothing, etc)?

Also to the comrades from the third world, how do you and how would you like Westerners to deal with this?

I’ve done my fair bit of traveling, but my third world experience is quite limited still, so I only had to deal with this so much, but I recently had a chat with some friends - non of which are Marxists btw - about this and they heavily struggled with these issues and in one case got a literal mental breakdown because they didn’t know how to deal with it.

That got me thinking how I’d handle this as an ML specifically past the standard “be humble, etc pp” stuff. So I’m curious about your experiences

  • Neptium@lemmygrad.ml
    1·
    3 years ago

    Well from a perspective from an upper middle class global south national, your question is something that comes up often in my own experience living and visiting other countries. I have visited/lived in about 20 countries, although around half has been in Europe.

    The fact of the matter needs to be addressed: travelling (for tourism) is inherently mainly a bourgeois affair, in that it requires autonomy and wealth not seen by most of the globe, even those in the West. And to add to that is the problem that current tourism is also woefully destructive and exploitative, from environmental destruction (CO2 emissions and bleaching of coral reefs for example), to the tourism industry (the underpayment of workers if you go to resorts and similar).

    Not to mention sex tourism and other shit that personally makes me angry/melancholic to an unimaginable degree.

    Just treat those people you meet in other countries as humans, with respect. That means recognising that there are people that attempt to make profit from you, some who just are working to meet ends meet, and also those that are enthusiastic in meeting and talkative to foreign peoples.

    That also means, do not visit without an attempt on your hand in learning the cultures of the places you are visiting. I guess that may be a given, but seriously put effort if not the language, the history, cultural practices and local laws, and well, the actual peoples living there.

    That means abiding with the aforementioned cultural practices, like clothing. Although not a woman, having lived in the GCC countries, I recommend just dressing ‘modestly’ if you visit the GCC countries. It really is not worth putting attention to yourself in a foreign place. You are not going to conduct a revolution by dressing provocatively (as a foreigner nonetheless lol). From talking to my sister about it, you can show your hair but anything more, like showing knees, is risky, and also is personally discomforting from unwanted staring or similar in GCC countries’ case.

    There are lots of stories about tourists being captured or victims due to all this. So don’t be a clueless foreigner. Also, ideally go with a friend group and maybe find a local that can help you with all this. This could be a friend, or a local tourist guide. Tourist packages/agencies/group guides are good for personal safety, but that contributes to the commodification of culture and personally, I would never do something like that unless its a place I am completely clueless about but still want to go there. (It better be a good reason from genuine respect and not something that can be done back at home or similar).

    In terms of environment, read the signs and environmental guidelines (maybe not local, because honestly they may intentionally relax them due to pressures of attracting tourists. This applies to cultural practices as well). Do not wear sun screen while snorkelling/diving and looking at coral reefs for example. Do not trample over vegetation and stray past pathways is another.

    Also look at eco-tourism options, but I am not knowledgeable, and I can’t help but think it’s just a neoliberal eco-washing of tourism.

    These are all kind of coping strategies in that the conventional tourism industry, unfortunately, as out lined above, incredibly exploitative and nothing will really change until we dismantle the global capitalist system.