Tag: September 2003

The Burma Campaign UK
is calling for a boycott of all Lonely Planet (LP) publications until
Lonely Planet withdraws its Burma guide from the market.

The Burma Campaign say that the development of
hotels, transport and tourist attractions to encourage visitors to Burma
is directly linked to mass human rights abuses. There are well-documented
mass human rights abuses directly linked to the development of tourist
infrastructure and the tourism industry. The United Nation's International
Labour Organisation reports that “the military treat the civilian
population as an unlimited pool of unpaid forced labourers and servants
at their disposal. The practice of forced labour is to encourage private
investment in infrastructure development, public sector works and tourism
projects.”

Independent tourists are required to exchange $200 when entering the
country, while many hotels, domestic airlines and other 'dollar only'
retail outlets are fully or jointly owned by the regime or its associates
– so local people see none of this money. Tourism currently benefits
only a tiny percentage of Burma's 48 million people. Eighty per cent
live in rural areas and do not in the main benefit from current forms
of tourism.

Millions of men, women and children are forced to labour, under the
harshest conditions, on infrastructure projects across Burma each year.
Many thousands more have been forced from their homes to make way for
tourism developments or as part of so-called 'beautification'
projects.

Added to this, tourist dollars go straight into the hands of the dictatorship.
For these reasons Aung San Suu Kyi, the British Government and the European
Union have asked tourists not to visit Burma. Against the weight of this
advice, Lonely Planet publications continue to promote tourism to Burma
through their Burma guide.

Rough Guides has already adopted an ethical stance with regard to Burma.
They say: “There are occasional instances where any benefits (from
tourism) are overshadowed by the nature of the social and political climate.
Apartheid South Africa was an example. Burma, with its brutal
dictatorship, state control of the economy and forced labour used to build
its tourist infrastructure, is another. As long as the military regime
remains in power and Aung San Suu Kyi – leader of the democratically elected
National League for Democracy – requests that tourists do not visit, Rough
Guides will not publish a guide to the country.”

What do you think? Do you have a view? Write in and let and tell the
Beetle.

Continuing our recent theme on visiting Germany, we had the Beetle’s report on Munich, and now Padmassana has sent us this trip report from his recent visit to Berlin. This is how he found Berlin since he was last there, before the wall came down in 1989.

You have got to visit Berlin – this now has to be the best city in Europe. There is so much to do – Berlin has changed out of all recognition since I was last here. Shops are open on Saturday afternoons, but I think even the Beetles credit card would go sick at the thought of shopping on Kudamm!

I did a walking tour (www.berlinwalks.com) for 5 hours one day, just walked into “Mitte” the heart of the city that used to be in the East. It is a vibrant place now, not the dour way it used to be. The ghost stations are open again but have been left with their 1930’s decoration. Checkpoint Charlie is still there, but on the east side where you went through all the stuff to get in to the east are shops and cafes, it is unrecognisable now. Also the air is not full of the exhaust fumes from the East German Trabants; now the east has BMW’s and Merc’s, as well as McDonalds!

I was the only one on the walk who had been into the East pre 1989, I had to describe to an Aussie couple what it was like, it was hard to remember where the big shed was at Checkpoint Charlie and the chicane in the road. They couldn’t believe the palaver involved back then in getting into the GDR.

I never dreamed the last time I was here that I would be able to walk through the Brandenburg Gate, but I did yesterday. Where the wall was taken down they have replaced it with bricks in the road to show where it was. The biggest change is Potsdam Platz, I remember it as a concrete wasteland, with barbed wire and tank traps and towers with machine guns and massive flood lights, now it is an area of new modern buildings like the Sony centre. I like the public art in Berlin, it’s fun, there are lots of bears, doing various things as adverts for local businesses.

There are lots more places to eat than I remember, and apart from my daily milkshake, I haven’t eaten any burgers, rather I paid a daily visit to the excellent Kamps bakeries, which do hot sandwiches and the Turkish Imbiss stube, which do good kebabs.

I visited the Pergamon museum on Museum Island after the tour, lots of fab stuff from Pergamon, Iran and Babylon. Went to visit the Reichstag next, but the queue was a joke, so I walked up Unter Den Linden to the TV tower (aka The pope’s revenge), so called because when the sun shines a cross appears on this communist, atheist piece of 60’s architecture, only 6 Euros to go up for great views of the city.

Back to the Checkpoint Charlie museum (7 Euros), which has been greatly enlarged and is now very interesting. Had a look round Potsdam Platz, and bought a then and now postcard as a reminder, which they stamp the back with a GDR customs stamp. Went via the Topography of Terrors which is an exhibition about the Gestapo in their former dungeons, unearthed when the wall was dismantled. You can borrow a commentary tape in English, which guides you along the exhibit in about an hour. Nearby a bit of the Berlin wall is left, which now ironically has a fence round it to protect it from people stealing bits!

Wandered back to the Reichstag the line had shortened, queued for 30 minutes, then you get the lift up to the glass roof, best views of Berlin possible and it’s completely free, which is why the lines are so long. The idea is that people can look down on the German parliament, and the politicians can look up and be reminded as to who really has the power.

I had planned on going to Potsdam itself to see the palaces. I found out that it’s best to book Potsdam in advance because UNESCO limit the number of visitors who can go around the palaces and it doesn’t take many coach parties of 50 or 60 to fill it up. So abandoned this idea. Potsdam lies at the end of the S2 line. It’s really weird going through the stations now they are open as I remember the dark ghost stations. You can tell the old ones because they have green tiles. Instead I visited the East Side gallery. This is a bit of the wall next to the river in the east. It has the famous mural of a Trabant coming thru the wall with Honecker and Brezhnev kissing on the back seat, and another brilliant mural like a cartoon of the wall and people trying various means of escape.

I tried to go to the Documentation museum, but it was closed: Lonely Planet failed to mention it’s only open Wednesday – Sunday!

The weather was incredibly hot, so I went on a river trip for an hour (7 euros) which is nice as you get a different perspective of the city. The commentary was in German, but luckily could remember enough German to understand most of it including some of the jokes levelled against the German politicians who have moved from Bonn, they are now called “Gastarbeiters”.

So that was Berlin, I hope its not another 15 years till I get here again. I strongly recommend it – give it a go and visit!

If you’d like to contact Padmassana, click here: Padmassana

Number one passenger airport of 2002 is: Atlanta Hartsfield!

Atlanta retained its title as the world's busiest passenger airport
last year as passenger numbers rose to 76.9 million, an increase of 1.3
percent over 2001.

Chicago O'Hare was the second busiest with 66.6 million passengers
and Los Angeles LAX was third busiest with 56.2 million passengers.

London’s Heathrow was the busiest outside North America with traffic
of 63.3 million.

Figures released today by Airports Council International-North America
showed that although more than 1.3 billion people boarded planes last
year, passenger numbers were down by 2.6 percent.

Source: Airports Council International-North America

Save the Earth Network is a Ghana based organization, founded in 1998
and dedicated to promoting sustainable development, agro-forestry, environmental
conservation, international solidarity through voluntary work and cultural
immersion in Ghana.

We aim to positively contribute to help reduce poverty, hunger, malnutrition,
disease, illiteracy, drug abuse, unemployment, and environmental degradation,
which are increasingly becoming the order of the day in most parts of
the developing world. We are a networking tool for environmental, social
and economic development activists from Ghana and worldwide. We offer
volunteer placements in Ghana in areas that includes renovation and construction
of school buildings for poor rural communities. Teaching children English
language, mathematics and Christian religion at schools for under-privileged
communities. Caring for orphans, destitute and abandoned children in foster
homes and orphanages and providing them education; HIV/AIDS education,
reforestation (environmental conservation), agro forestry and rejuvenation
of degraded farmlands through tree planting; organic farming, primary
health care and other community development programs.

Volunteers can participate in most of the volunteer programs all year
round. Volunteers mostly work alongside staff and volunteers from the
local community. Special skills, professional qualifications or previous
experience is not required of volunteers in most of the programs. What
is required is motivation, charisma, initiative, drive and the compassion
to assist the underprivileged overcome their challenges and their struggle
for dignity. Volunteers work four days a week, (Mondays to Thursdays)
and they will work a minimum of four hours a day – it depends on
the volunteer. We arrange for the volunteers to stay with good host families.
Piped water and electricity are mostly available. Meals, a private room
and bed are provided to each volunteer. Volunteers can participate in
most programs from a period of 4 weeks to 52 weeks or more.

If you are interested in participating in any of our programs or would
like to contact past volunteers, please contact: Eben Mensah at Save the
Earth Network, P.O. Box CT 3635, Cantonments, Accra, Ghana. Tel: 233-21-667791,
Fax:233-21-667791 or e-mail: ebensten@yahoo.com