Steve Gumerungi Hodder- special guest this episode
Trip Start
Oct 08, 2007
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63
110
Trip End
Dec 16, 2008
Alice Springs,
Australia
Saturday, April 5, 2008
You can read my story on Steve in The People I Met section of my blog (Entry 14).
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After I interviewed Steve, Steve interviewed me! The topic was RASISM & IGNORANCE.
I arrived in Alice Springs at the end of a week long trip through the Outback. When I visited with CAAMA Radio station (and interviewed Steve), I shared my concerns about some of the racist remarks my Outback tour guide was making
Developing song lyrics with Wik Abr/nal students.
. The whole crew was outraged and asked me if I would give CAAMA radio and interview. I gladly did, because I strongly believe that if you disagree with racists, you should SAY IT! If you shrug and say nothing, you are silently encouraging those people. That's my opinion. Below is the written summary of my radio interview as it appeared on CAAMA Radio website. If you go to http://www.caamaradio.org/ you can see the video from the interview...
... and also the reply of the Northern Territory Tourism and Business Minister, who is outraged by the racist remarks of my tour guide.
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Foreign tourist slams tour guide ignorance
Written by itchyfoot (CAAMA Radio)
Sunday, 30 March 2008
A visiting Bulgarian journalist travelling with a tourism company which operates between South Australia,Victoria, and Central Australia, was astounded by the tour guides distasteful inherited racist attitude to indigenous peoples differences.
The journalist who writes weekly articles for European newspapers and magazines was astonished as the guide an ex carpenter made references of aboriginal people as the missing link between Homo Sapiens and Homo Erectus, a sub species of the human race
Recording vocals while documentary crew films
. Speaking on CAAMA radio news the Journalist said that a company which advertises on its web site the desire to raise standards in the backpacking industry, and with their mission to provide culturally aware tours, could employ such ignorant and racist tour guides.
She was also concerned that backpackers looking for culturally accurate and appropriate information that they would see this source of information as valid. She sees this as a blight on an industry which makes its profits out of aboriginal culture but refuses to acknowledge cultural diversity.
She was also concerned that tourist were paying good money for so called culturally aware adventures and were therefore expectant of accurate information.
