Summary
A nongovernmental organization working on Negev Bedouin rights whose “Negev Unplugged” tours Dinero treats in Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin as the leading example of the Voluntourism “victim” narrative — tours designed to show visitors the “real” situation in the Negev and move them to political action on the community’s behalf (PDF p.194, 201).
Details
- Bustan’s website states the Unplugged Tours offer a “hands-on examination of sustainability and the impact of development on the Negev and its people” and had “reached at least 2,500 people in past three years”; its Access vs. Excess tours engage human rights activists, environmentalists, authorities, policy makers, experts and academics (PDF p.201).
- Founder and former Director Devorah Brous (2 July 2007) describes the format as “citizen diplomacy”: two narratives, access to governmental offices, and real rather than contrived experiences (PDF p.201-202).
- Dinero joined a full-day tour on 12 July 2007 (25 participants, 25 NIS for food and 50 NIS for the bus): a BIMKOM briefing in Segev Shalom, a Jewish organic farm, recently demolished houses at Hiram/Attir — where the Bustan translator first glossed a resident’s speech before translating it fully under pressure — and a debriefing in Hura at which participants were urged, “Tell others! … You must act upon what you have experienced” (PDF p.202-205).
- Dinero credits Bustan as one of very few organizations giving outsiders a more informed perspective and aiming to catalyse action, while problematizing its presentation for unintended consequences shared with “poorism” (PDF p.201, 206).
- A Bustan Report 2005 is also cited in Chapter 1 for Segev Shalom’s area, population and density figures as printed (PDF p.52).
Related pages
Settling for Less — The Planned Resettlement of Israel’s Negev Bedouin, Devorah Brous, BIMKOM, Voluntourism, Segev Shalom