Restless Latin America; India's pilgrim tourism and disasters; When UK mulls power rationing; 'Be somebody' making global footprint

1 Restless Latin America (Khaleej Times) While the protests in Brazil, despite President Dilma Vana Rousseff’s conciliatory tone and actions, appear to show no signs of dissipating, there’s another Latin American nation that’s venting its anger on the streets. Chile has been hit by a powerful student movement. The students of public educational institutions, who started their demonstrations in 2011 to demand free and better education, have recently become more forceful in their demands.

The students have occupied school and university campuses. Their main contention is the lack of equal educational opportunities in Chile; according to them, students from middle-class backgrounds have better access to education than their counterparts in under-funded public institutions. But the Chilean authorities have stepped up action against the renegade youth before the forthcoming presidential elections. 

Judging from these developments in Brazil and Chile, it seems like these Latin American countries are going through the kind of turmoil that led to democratisation in the continent two decades ago. During the 1980s, most Latin American countries under military rule faced widespread protests that ultimately brought in representative governments. Even Augusto Pinochet’s ultra-repressive regime in Chile could not contain the widespread protests in 1989-1990.

So given that the continent has a strong history of popular dissent, leaders will have to pay heed to the people’s demands if peace and order has to be restored.

2 India’s pilgrim tourism and disasters (Tripti Lahiri & Preetika Rana in The Wall Street Journal) Tourism anywhere creates pressure on local services and conflict with residents – but that is particularly true of India’s Himalayan destinations whose shrines were once reached only by hardy devotees on ascetic spiritual journeys. Now palanquins and helicopters aren’t uncommon.

These numbers, and the increased comfort required by contemporary pilgrims, have increased the pressure on both federal and state authorities to ensure safety. In addition to health concerns, the pilgrimage takes place in a state where a separatist insurgency has been underway for two decades, requiring more security than other religious destinations.

A 2012 report on religious tourism by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry looked prescient in light of this month’s floods, warning that the popular Char Dham pilgrimage was at risk of high weather-related casualties. The Char Dham Yatra is organized largely through private arrangements, and this has spurred a boom in hotel, road and other construction to cater to these visitors. The surge in building has left Uttarakhand overwhelmed, federal officials say.

On its website, the Uttarakhand state government acknowledged urban development had “occurred in a unplanned manner” to benefit from rising religious tourism. One reason the historic Kedarnath shrine survived the recent floods, was due to superior construction techniques that authorities need to insist upon, Bangalore-based civil engineering professor TG Sitharam said. It is built solidly upon an elevated platform, he said, which provided it protection from flood waters. The same can’t be said of newer structures.

Ignoring the special requirements of mountain towns that are located near rivers, and prone to heavy monsoon rains, may have helped spur economic growth in some states in recent years. But it will turn out to have a high cost in the long run, experts say. This year’s floods are just one example of that. “Over the last decade, locals have set up private lodges, guest houses and hotels to cash in on tourism along religious sites,” said Mr. Sitharam. “It’s good business, no doubt, but it comes at a heavy price: safety.”

3 When UK mulls power rationing (Marina Hyde in The Guardian) For a post-imperial power still somehow declining to accept its place in the world, electricity rationing would surely provide the most sobering of perspectives. After all, if domestic power consumers are paying vast bills to subsidise whatever remains of our manufacturing industry to lie silent just so they can have a cup of tea and watch The One Show when they get in from work, I don't imagine even the maddest of hawks would be fussing about whether we had aircraft carriers or not.

No one could possibly even mention the idea of our seat on the UN security council without dissolving into gallows cackles about the lunacy of it all. And if there were any people genuinely able to insist on our need for nuclear submarines when business is shutting at 4pm, as Tesco holds candlelit trolley dashes, then I would suggest their skills for the new world lie as fabulists and the most unwitting of comedians.

4 ‘Be somebody’ making global footprint (Sarah Young in Khaleej Times) Inspirational graffiti is now gracing the walls of Dubai, thanks to an American team undertaking a whirlwind, paint-splashing tour through 15 cities in 11 countries. A team of four has brought the slogan from the social media motivation movement “Be Somebody” to walls in Dubai.

The brainchild of Kash Shaikh, who worked for nine years building brands for Proctor and Gamble and camera company GoPro, and Josh Heuser, founder of Agar, a culture-creating marketing and social intelligence agency in the US, the six-week self-funded tour started on May 25 in Austin, Texas, and will finish in San Francisco on July 4.

Besomebody.com was started by Shaikh who began using the hashtag #besomebody in 2009. The blog now claims to be the fastest-growing online motivation movement in the world, with content reaching 3 million people each week in 30 countries. The idea came about after Shaikh saw the phrase tagged on an overpass in his home town Houston, Texas. “Any time someone saw that they’d take a picture and send it to me. I had hundreds in my inbox.”