Disconnecting us from each other – introduction

Under neoliberalism, divisiveness operates at every level and while this may be true of all nationalist and tribalistic ideologies, neoliberalism majors in it at every level. There are many ways it alienates us from each other internationally.

Tourism – a case study of division

This is true of at least three of the dominant ways our paths may cross across nations and continents. These are war and conflict, international working, tourism, and often more closely linked with the latter than acknowledged, the ‘gap years’ of more privileged students. The rise of international working is a further expression of globalisation's neocolonialism – not to confuse with another – the plight of ‘economic’ migrants.

Modern international tourism is a perfect storm of all that's wrong with neoliberal ideology, politics and economics (Jeffries, 2022). Ultimately, its emphasis on the exotic may ultimately be as alienating as the other side of the coin; the neoliberal stress on the migrant threat. The Global North further exploits Global South impoverishment, encourages unsustainable tourism-based economies, and is key to expanding destructive trends like jumbo cruise ships and intense air travel.