Saturday 11 February 2012

Tourism in Greece, the Cons and Pros (2)

I am now ready to consider the second "exam question" that Simon (Democracy Street) posed at Rouvas:

"Is the architectural, environmental and spiritual desecration of Corfu offset by the alleviation of the material and mental poverty of its population?"

He was probably thinking of Maria's allegorical novella, The Pimping of Panorea (Panorea represents the island of Corfu, of course), and of some of my comments on the topic in The Ionian Islands and Epirus, A Cultural History.


Spyros Plaskovitis had strong words about the impact of tourism on Corfu in his essay "Kerkyra, Agapi Agerasti" (May 1995, first published in the periodical, I Lexi no. 127):

Here are some of the original passages from which I quoted. They present the other side of the argument better than I could do. It would be interesting to organise public debates on the topic.


From "Old Olive Oil Mills and Presses on the Island of Corfu, Greece" by Dr. Augustus Sordinas, Memphis State University Anthorpological Research Center Occasional Papers, no. 5, 1971.

Billy Rosen, Forword to "Andi's War", London, 1988.

There's sufficient material here for a very long-running debate, isn't there, Simon? Starting on Democracy Street or Corfu Blues? Perhaps now is not the time; we should wait for things in Greece to settle down.

No comments:

Post a Comment