Certainly the political situation in a country will have a big impact on a travel itinerary. Beyond the "it's not safe" category, there are other reasons to avoid places. Being gay, I'm not going to visit Saudi Arabia, Iran or Pakistan any time soon, thanks to their human rights abuses. But I will be heading to Egypt on my RTW, but I consider it a more "enlightened" country than the others I mentioned.

quote:

Originally posted by Mahlerite: Being gay, I'm not going to visit Saudi Arabia, Iran or Pakistan any time soon, thanks to their human rights abuses. But I will be heading to Egypt on my RTW, but I consider it a more "enlightened" country than the others I mentioned.

I hope you're not disappointed, but besides a strong homosexual underground amongst the upper-middle class and the literati, Egyptian society isn't any more "enlightened" than Saudi Arabia. This is the same country that gave birth to Sayyid Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/03/01/egypt7735.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/1858469.stm

quote:

Originally posted by Continental Op:
I hope you're not disappointed, but besides a strong homosexual underground amongst the upper-middle class and the literati, Egyptian society isn't any more "enlightened" than Saudi Arabia. This is the same country that gave birth to Sayyid Qutb and the Muslim Brotherhood:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/03/01/egypt7735.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/1858469.stm

Yes, I was aware. That's why I put enlightened in quotes. Homosexuality is de jure legal in Egypt, and from what I understand completely tolerated for foreign tourists (the power of the pink dollar, it is said). The same cannot be said for places like SA, where I could be put to death if it is known I'm gay.

It's still a horrendous situation, but I'm resigned to the fact that a large portion of the world where I wish to travel is simply hostile to open homosexuality.

quote:

Originally posted by Mahlerite:
Yes, I was aware...but I'm resigned to the fact that a large portion of the world where I wish to travel is simply hostile to open homosexuality.

Best of luck to you then, and enjoy yourself. Egypt can be a great ride. Just keep in mind, no matter how friendly and inviting certain areas in Cairo may seem, being American and gay is already two strikes against you there. Don't let lack of situational awareness be the third. (Not to sound too preachy, just friendly advice. )

Dear Gerrit,

I understand what you mean by feeling ashamed of the policies of one's country. I am American and I am (and have been) continually aghast at the policies of the Bush Administration. While traveling abroad people sometimes like to confront you about issues such as these. The best thing to do is express your position, such as, "I am part of half the country that didn't vote for Bush, not every American is like that, there is a very large group of dissenters to these policies (now a majority)" etc. However, there are always obstacles to travel, and racism even in the US. There are certainly parts of the country where non-white travelers might encounter bad treatment and disdain from the natives. I try to stay away from places such as these, there are many large highly cultured big cities in the US which are a lot of fun. There are certainly worthwhile places to visit in the US besides the coasts, Chicago, grand canyon, New orleans, Austin, Santa Fe, the beautiful Pacific northwest etc. However, there are vast vast stretches of horrible, boring, franchise laden suburban, middle America, that has bad food, no culture and rampant Xenophobia............. ummmm Yeah, stay away from there, it will be a drag on your soul!

If I applied my political views to where I travel, I'd probably be stuck with Latin American countries, Malta, and perhaps the more tolerant Muslim nations.

This whole Japanese Whaling controversy is kinda getting to me. To see Japan is a childhood dream of mine...now I'm not so sure.

China for one does not appeal to me at all. Its all their politics and above all my sympathy with the Tibetians makes me not want to go to China at all. A culture is being distroyed.

On other hand I seem to have no problem thinking about going to Cuba or Burma.

I thought about this a lot because I spent a couple of weeks in Serbia in the fall of last year. It was for a sort of project I did, and I didn't really go to tourist attractions or buy souvenirs.

I lived in Bosnia and I think anyone who seriously looks at the facts of the recent wars would notice that Serbia's political leadership played a major role. I also saw when I went there T-shirts with war criminals on them (with "Serbian heroes" written in cyrilic) and votive candles or whatever they are called with the faces of people wanted for war crimes. I guess without knowing the language or what these people look like, I wouldn't have even known this was going on. It is definitely disturbing.

I also have friends from Sarajevo who are Bosniak/Muslim and go to Serbia to visit friends, family, etc., and it makes me sad to think how they must feel when they go there and see that. I know that there are Serbian people who must feel upset by that too.

I probably wouldn't go as a tourist but I'm glad I went. I met plenty of good people who don't agree with different things that have been done in their name or with the direction their country seems to be going. And people who are actively working to change things. I can certainly understand it and respect it if people don't want to go for personal reasons, but for me it was valuable to go...so while I could have decided not to go for something like "politics", I went.

There are countries I will not go to because the tourist money goes indirectly or directly to the government through corruption.

One of them is Burma. I would dearly love to go, but I can't bring myself to support so strong a dictatorship, and live under the constant eyes of the police, as I heard happens.

Then there is Serbia. I have SEEN what serbian weapons have done to Bosnian areas. The bosnians, far as I can tell, didn't have to do a lot to earn the hatred of the Serbians except to exist and own land they wanted.

Under milosovic, I certainly would not visit Serbia. Without him, apparently, the man STILL has support, live or dead, even after stealing the treasury of the entire country.

Tibet is another problematical area. To help the population or pay the extortion to visit Tibet? Its an interesting question.

Luckily, hatred of USA politics hasn't scared too many people from actually visiting the country especially with a weak dollar.

If I were a european of conscience, I MIGHT not visit the USA.