Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
tourism have been co-opted by a defensive tourism industry in the face of
widespread criticism and an active anti-capitalist globalisation movement'
(Higgins-Desbiolles, 2008: 345). Justice tourism is presented as a singular
model of difference within the various forms of alternative tourism as its pro-
ducts, services and agenda are radically different. The formation of the Tour-
ism Interventions Group in association with the World Social Forum illustrates
that justice tourism 'aims for a fundamental transformation of the contem-
porary world order' (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2008: 345). The World Social Forum
is an annual meeting comprising grass-roots or civil society organisations set
up in opposition to globalisation or neoliberalism and which typically meets
at the same time as the World Economic Forum which is held in Davos,
Switzerland (note this organisation is the source for Figure 14.1 above). At the
2009 World Social Forum, the 'Declaration of Belem - Global Tourism Inter-
ventions Forum' was developed, which calls for more just and sustainable
practices by the industry and governments (Tourism Concern, 2009). In 2013
the World Social Forum met in Tunisia.
Marxism
Marxism, or historical materialism as it is also referred to, stresses that
it is the dominance of global capitalism and the conflict between classes and
not the power of states that determines the main political patterns in the
world (Baylis et al. , 2011). Marx's basic idea of dialectical materialism was
that politics and historical change depended upon the relationships between
the means of production and their relationship to those producing the goods,
such as peasants and workers (Mansbach & Rafferty, 2008). In today's world
economic system, the dominant class interests are the states, multinational
corporations and international organisations (Baylis et al. , 2011). Marx
believed that the oppressed classes (the proletariat) would rise up against
their oppressors (the capitalists), thereby freeing the world from exploitation
and class conflict (Mansbach & Rafferty, 2008). In looking at the challenges
of realism to Marxism in international relations, Davenport (2011) high-
lights that realism focuses on the actions of the state while Marxism focuses
on classes that stretch beyond borders. In Marxism, states have to play by
the rules of the international capitalist economy, restricting the freedom of
states' manoeuvrability, while the world economy is divided into a core,
semi-periphery and periphery and world politics is where class conflict is
played out (Baylis et al. , 2011). Contemporary or neo-Marxists focus on the
relations of rich and poor countries and therefore focus on the global system
(Mansbach & Rafferty, 2008).
Marxism has been examined from a variety of perspectives in the context
of tourism, especially related to power relations. Chapter 10 of this volume
presents a discussion of the political economy of tourism. Questions have
been raised as to whether the process of globalisation has led to a system of
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