Egypt and Tunisia: personality and ‘Western’ hypocrisy

Two things have struck me in particular about the recent dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt that seem to have been insufficiently addressed in much of the media coverage:

The way in which the protest movements have been so personally focused on opposition to two individuals Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak – they could never have stayed in power for so long unless substantial segments of the populations from both countries had not benefited from and supported them. So the issues I do not fully understand are: why have the protest movements not focused more attention on the old regimes’ supporters in general; why was the protest so personalised; is this a particular feature of politics in the region, or a more widespread feature of mass uprisings (and here I think of the overthrow of the Ceaușescu regime in Romania); what will happen to those who worked for and implemented the wishes of Ben-Ali and Mubarak (those left behind who could not flee the country); and given the power vacuums that have been created, how will new political and governance structures be crafted that really serve the interests of the people (in many revolutions, those who bring down the old regime are not those who then eventually become the new leaders)?
The hypocrisy of Western leaders – some of the rhetoric coming from the US and French governments is to my mind utterly appalling. One of the reasons why both Ben Ali and Mubarak stayed in power for so long is that they were supported by external governments in the capitalist world, and particularly the US and France. If the Obama and Sarkozy regimes had really wanted what has happened now on the streets of Cairo and Tunis to have occurred earlier, they could easily have encouraged much more rapid political change in Egypt and Tunisia – and yet they did not! They supported the old regimes in both countries, and are being entirely opportunistic in their new approaches. Of course this is not unexpected from leaders such as Obama and Sarkozy, self-serving and arrogant as they are, and perhaps this is simply the reality of global politics. I would, though, be much more respectful of such leaders if they actually apologised to the people of countries, whose unpleasant regimes they have propped up, once those regimes fall. There is scarcely a country in which the US has intervened that has not subsequently experienced dramatic political upheaval. The history of Vietnam and Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan should have taught USAns something. I hope that the new leaders of Egypt and Tunisia are strong enough to let the governments of Western countries know exactly what they feel about the past, and that they will tell the US in particular that it should not meddle in the political affairs of other sovereign states. Once Obama has substantially improved the USA and once Sarkozy has done likewise in France, then, and only then, might they have some words of advice that people in other countries could listen to. As most sane people understand this will never happen, because neither leaders have the vision or ability fundamentally to change their own societies and to make their states fairer and better places in which to live.

We live in interesting times. Six months ago, I for one never thought that the start of 2011 would bring such political change – and I remain amazed at how peaceful and successful the protests in Tunisia and Egypt have been. What will the next six months bring? We all have much to learn from the people on the streets of North Africa.

ICTD2010 Papers and Posters online

Much of the material presented at ICTD2010 is now available on the conference web-site:

All of the peer reviewed papers presented on Days 2 and 3
Text of all of the peer-reviewed posters presented on Days 2 and 3
Videos and photographs of conference sessions
Post-conference reports and follow up from participants.

ICTD2012 will be hosted at Georgia Tech.

Becker Vineyards Texas Iconoclast Cabernet Franc 1995

This has to be one of the most surprising wines I have tasted in recent years. Back in 1997 I was attending the Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers held in Texas, and spent some time afterwards in Austin and visiting wineries in the Texas Hill Country – among them was Becker Vineyards, established a few years previously in 1992 by Richard and Bunny Becker. The first harvest was in 1995 and vintages are aged in either new French or American oak, and stored in the largest underground wine cellar in Texas. I remember being very surprised to find French varietals being cultivated in Texas, but also that the wines tasted surprisingly good.

The visit of two USAn friends on Friday, who had been forced to leave Egypt because of the ongoing political unrest there, and were on their way back to Houston, seemed an appropriate occasion to open this Texan Iconoclast. I would not normally choose to drink a 15 year old Cabernet Franc – suspecting that it would be well past its best. However, this wine was quite remarkable – and shows how ripe fruit and careful vinification can indeed produce surprising wines in very unusual circumstances. It retained a mid-red colour, and had much less browning at the edges than I had expected. The wine had the distinctive tobacco nose that I often associate with Cabernet Franc, but also retained a slightly woody aroma. The flavour was delicious, with soft tannins, good depth, and a richness that I had not anticipated – very different from many of the often light, dry Cabernet Franc wines from the Loire that I am more used to. The hot Texan summers had clearly ripened the fruit fully, giving the wine a richness and depth of body that was delicious, retaining a good balance and structure, with flavours of red fruit and tobacco.

So, if you happen to be out visiting the Texan countryside, enjoy the blue bonnets, take a detour up to Stonewall, sample the Becker wines, and put a bottle in your luggage for drinking a decade later! Thanks to Bill Fleming for persuading me to explore Austin’s music scene when I was there! I also look forward to returning to Guero‘s Taco Bar on a future visit – hope it is as good now as it was then!

Ofsted report on declining Geography in England’s schools

In a press release, Ofsted comment on their report on school geography in the UK published today that ‘A polarised picture of school geography teaching has emerged … While geography was flourishing in a minority of the schools visited by inspectors, it was found to be under pressure in the rest.’ As the press release continues ‘The primary schools visited presented a sharp contrast between inadequate and outstanding practice. Half were characterised by a lack of expertise and awareness of what constituted good geography. In approximately one in 10 of the primary schools visited, geography was more or less disappearing. Just over half the primary and secondary schools visited did not use fieldwork adequately. In some of the secondary schools visited, there was a drop in the numbers studying geography GCSE. Uninspiring teaching and the lack of challenge discouraged many students from choosing geography at GCSE. The quality of provision was declining and the time allocated to the subject in the first critical years of secondary schools was being reduced’.

The study is based on observations of geography classes in 91 primary schools and 90 secondary schools between 2007 and 2010, and represents a depressing picture of the present state of teaching in the discipline. Official figures show that the number of people taking GCSE in geography fell from 173,800 in 2008-9 to 169,800 in 2009-10, with the number of state schools not entering pupils for the subject increasing from 97 (out of more than 3000) in 2007 to 137 in 2009.

As a BBC report on the findings commented, ‘”Core knowledge for the majority of the students surveyed, but especially for those in the weaker schools, was poor,” it said. It found all but the best students were “spatially naive” and that they were unable to locate countries, key mountain ranges or other features with any degree of confidence.”For example, they understood about development issues in Kenya but had little or no idea of where Kenya was in Africa.”Many of them had studied Amazonia and could talk with some conviction about the exploitation of resources and environmental degradation but they knew nothing about the rest of South America.”‘

This is hugely damning, not only for those who care about geography as a discipline, but also for the futures of our young people. Geography is one of the most important and exciting subjects of all:

it explores the place of people in the world – in both a conceptual and a physical sense;
it is explicitly concerned with the interactions between people and the physical environment – which lie at the heart of so many contemporary global issues such as climate change, the impact of migration, resource allocation and distribution, and international development;
it provides young people with an understanding of the importance of diversity and tolerance based on a detailed understanding of other cultures and people; and
it is one of the most enjoyable and exciting subjects to study at school and university – reflected in the importance of field work and a practical understanding of places.

In a response to the Oftsed report, the Geographical Association (GA) notes, amongst other things, that:

‘This Report therefore sends a strong message to senior leaders in primary and secondary
schools: it is unacceptable to tolerate geography that is weak, because this impoverishes the
curriculum. If geography is weak it “is a key issue to be addressed by the leadership teams in
these schools” (p5)’;
‘The Report shows many examples of schools in which geography has been encouraged and is
flourishing. These are schools where the geography is driven by challenging questions about the
contemporary world, where pupils’ knowledge of people, places and environments is extensive
and where the teaching is lively, topical and well informed. One reason for good geography was
found to be where “subject specific professional support had been sought out and utilized” (p6)’; and that
‘A strong theme is the polarized pattern of provision in terms of the quality of teaching and
learning and the curriculum between schools. This is linked to the lack of subject specialist
teachers and/or lack of subject specialist training. It is therefore a worry that training numbers
are being cut in geography.’

As David Lambert, the GA’s Chief Executive notes, ‘It is a pity that Ofsted’s own press release designed to draw attention to this report is headlined ‘geography declining in schools’. Why? Because the report makes clear that the story is much more complicated than that. In some schools, if you suggested that geography were declining you’d be faced with puzzlement, for the subject is thriving. And yet, the national picture which has been taking shape for many years now, is unsatisfactory. The GA takes this very seriously. The decline in school geography means that there is less geography being taught in school and more children leaving school with an inadequate knowledge and understanding of their existence on planet earth’.

The report nevertheless represents systematic failings across the discipline, and far too much complacency amongst professional academic geographers. Whilst the GA has been valiantly trying to support secondary and primary geography over many years, the number of university academics involved in and willing to give their time to school geography (other than as part of their own selfish recruitment drives) has dwindled dramatically. We need to provide a vision of the excitement of the discipline that inspires young people to engage in the discipline. We also need to act much more strategically at a political level with Ministers, senior Civil Servants and leaders of the private sector to advocate for the value of geography. If we do not, we will not only have failed a generation of school pupils, but will ultimately have helped to create a society with little understanding of the complex relationships that shape interactions between people and the physical environment.