In Bhutan - Politics.
The country has been a kingdom for 100 years since the 'first king' was elected from among the various rulers of bits of the country, and ruled in an absolute though apparently benevolent way since then (it's difficult to decipher exactly) - the 'fourth king' who came to the throne in the 1970's famously made it his objective to increase 'gross national happiness' rather than gross national product - although he is being helped in that aim by getting Indian migrant workers to do lots of the rough jobs.
We caught Bhutan in the middle of what is clearly huge change - domestic TV only arrived in 2000, and until last year all men and women were required to wear national dress ('gho' - a sort of tartan robe and kilt with knee length socks for men, and 'kira' - full length straight dress, same tartan for women) between 6am and 6pm. There are also first elections due on new year's eve, and it's all being taken very seriously, with mock elections being held so people can get the hang of it, and articles in the state-run newspapers headed 'Politicians - Good People' - can't imagine that running in The Sun somehow... The historic central role of religion (Buddhism), its philosophy and rituals, is also coming under pressure - embedded traditionally both in the power structures (the king only rules the secular side - there is a Chief Abbot who has equal sway over the religious) and the fact that there are so many monks (who effectively report up through the religious side). For older people (meaning anyone over 30) it's still obviously part of the fabric of life (see photos) but for the young it's equally obviously not.
There are already more tourists, and will be more still - the Druk Air monopoly surely can't last forever, and you can't help thinking that overall it will end up being more like everywhere else at the end of all this. On the other hand do people really want to live in a sort of medieval rural theme park forever? It's a truism to say there will be pluses and minuses, but from what I saw, I would say (a) it's probably unstoppable, and (b) it will mean one less bit of diversity in our homogenising world.
The country has been a kingdom for 100 years since the 'first king' was elected from among the various rulers of bits of the country, and ruled in an absolute though apparently benevolent way since then (it's difficult to decipher exactly) - the 'fourth king' who came to the throne in the 1970's famously made it his objective to increase 'gross national happiness' rather than gross national product - although he is being helped in that aim by getting Indian migrant workers to do lots of the rough jobs.
We caught Bhutan in the middle of what is clearly huge change - domestic TV only arrived in 2000, and until last year all men and women were required to wear national dress ('gho' - a sort of tartan robe and kilt with knee length socks for men, and 'kira' - full length straight dress, same tartan for women) between 6am and 6pm. There are also first elections due on new year's eve, and it's all being taken very seriously, with mock elections being held so people can get the hang of it, and articles in the state-run newspapers headed 'Politicians - Good People' - can't imagine that running in The Sun somehow... The historic central role of religion (Buddhism), its philosophy and rituals, is also coming under pressure - embedded traditionally both in the power structures (the king only rules the secular side - there is a Chief Abbot who has equal sway over the religious) and the fact that there are so many monks (who effectively report up through the religious side). For older people (meaning anyone over 30) it's still obviously part of the fabric of life (see photos) but for the young it's equally obviously not.
There are already more tourists, and will be more still - the Druk Air monopoly surely can't last forever, and you can't help thinking that overall it will end up being more like everywhere else at the end of all this. On the other hand do people really want to live in a sort of medieval rural theme park forever? It's a truism to say there will be pluses and minuses, but from what I saw, I would say (a) it's probably unstoppable, and (b) it will mean one less bit of diversity in our homogenising world.
1 comment:
National Liberal Club dinner good; Your cex came and had port with us after the meal. I was well behaved, but did have my red shoes on!
I hope you are picking up your messages?
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