Making a spectacle of tragedy and violence, or promoting understanding of conflict? What are we to make of Belfast and Northern Ireland’s ‘conflict tourism’. I spoke to Chris Jenkins, a community engagement worker from east Belfast who in a recent article condemned this budding industry as immoral.
Chris thinks showcasing murals and peace walls to tourists is a fundamentally different thing from visiting monuments to conflict in other countries, and makes a spectacle of communities for whom segregation is part of daily life.
But who is to blame: voyeuristic tourists or opportunistic politicians? Are such vehement objections justified when the industry is bringing wealth to our capital?
To read Chris Jenkins’s original article in the Guardian click link below:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/may/07/belfast-immoral-conflict-tourism
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Money versus morality - there’s only one winner every time!