Do any of us have sufficient information to decide whether either side are "good guys"?
Is this any worse than lining the coffers of the Chinese communist party by visiting Shanghai, going to a restaurant in Bilbao that happens to be owned by a Basque separatist, buying some duty free in Gibraltar, or even buying a Lion King plushie?
The whole area of boycotts is ethically very murky for me: I guess I personally draw the line at directly funding activities I believe to be wrong. This situation feels like it's a fair way back from that line.
After all, the morning before they met the Maoists, those tourists were presumably spending much more than 1000 rupees in the government-controlled areas.
The rebels are a splinter group of Nepal's mainstream communists (who themselves have had sufficient electoral success to run governments). Combined with threats to kill anyone who votes in elections it's hard to resist the conclusion that they're using violence because nobody wants to vote for them rather than because they are under-represented.
Hmm. OK. So the Maoists are a nasty group, collectively.
Even then, there is a chance the money is simply making life a little better for a bunch of disillusioned foot soldiers who've allowed themselves to get caught up in a civil war they scarcely understand at the ideological level. I accept it's not likely, but it's a possibility.
In functional terms, I would expect Maoism to include a willingness to let millions starve in the name of ideology. After all, that's precisely what Mao did. (And Stalin, except it's not clear that it was "letting millions starve" so much as "deliberately causing millions to starve".)
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-13 03:57 am (UTC)Next they'll be coming over to NI and slipping the DUP backhanders...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-13 04:42 am (UTC)Do any of us have sufficient information to decide whether either side are "good guys"?
Is this any worse than lining the coffers of the Chinese communist party by visiting Shanghai, going to a restaurant in Bilbao that happens to be owned by a Basque separatist, buying some duty free in Gibraltar, or even buying a Lion King plushie?
The whole area of boycotts is ethically very murky for me: I guess I personally draw the line at directly funding activities I believe to be wrong. This situation feels like it's a fair way back from that line.
After all, the morning before they met the Maoists, those tourists were presumably spending much more than 1000 rupees in the government-controlled areas.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-13 06:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-13 12:52 pm (UTC)Even then, there is a chance the money is simply making life a little better for a bunch of disillusioned foot soldiers who've allowed themselves to get caught up in a civil war they scarcely understand at the ideological level. I accept it's not likely, but it's a possibility.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-01-13 06:15 am (UTC)