Unseen Tours
I am busy planning a 21-day walk with the poor in Geneva, Rome, Marseille, Paris and London.
Of course, in addition to streaming Globethics-CITVN LIVE environment and sustainability academic lectures from Globethics.net in Geneva, the Vatican, Catholic University Paris and London School of Economics, I will be filming an "unseen tour" travel documentary.
I will be touring Europe on an inexpensive donated electric mobility scooter, which may present both interesting logistics challenges and unique ground perspectives. The documentary might be of interest to our nation's 14,000,000 mobility impaired citizens; 59% of whom live below the poverty line. And, I hope it might be of interest to fellow vagabonds from all walks of life who enjoy marveling at the beauty of God's creation and contemplating the history of mankind.
"When you are down and out something always turns up - and it is usually the noses of your friends."
~ Orson Welles
My inspiration for the documentary is, "Down and Out in Paris and London," the first full-length work by the English author Eric Blair (the tome in which his pen name Orson Wells originated), published in 1933 following editorial removal of irreverent and foul language. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities. The first part is an account of living in near-destitution in Paris and the experience of casual labor in restaurant kitchens. The second part is a travelogue of life on the road in and around London from the tramp's perspective, with descriptions of the types of hostel accommodation available and some of the characters to be found living on the margins.
Our tour guides include the London Catholic Worker, Sant’Egidio Community in Rome (operates homeless shelters in 70 countries) and l'Alternative Urbaine in Paris.
Traveling with the poor means free museums (1st Sunday of the month in Rome), communal showers for the homeless Pope Francis opened just off St. Peter’s Square, a sleepless night in the Termini train station, laughing in sidewalk soup kitchen lines and benches in historical parks to sleep on a cool September night, which might make an interesting contrast with video images from the Palace of Versailles, the Borghese estates, Madame Tussauds in London and standing-outside peering-in the windows of Europe's most extravagant restaurants. The artistic vision is somewhere between a Rick Steves - Michelin guide for the destitute.
Let’s be clear: Unseen Tours will NOT be part of the poverty tourism agenda – i.e. voyeuristically and superficially pointing out economically and ‘socially’ deprived areas and the people within them. Instead, the tour aims to show Rome, Paris and London’s historical and cultural quirks in an unusual and entertaining way and, where issues of homelessness are covered, to make a point about the state of the world we live in and highlight issues of social injustice. Crucially, the documentary is not tours of the homeless but, rather, with them – an important distinction that reverses the power balance between our homeless guides and ‘mainstream’ society, as the guides are the joyful voices of authority who will lead us on the tours.
Dayton Catholic Worker Movement will provide access to this entertaining feature-length documentary and credit you with a linked underwriter banner for a donation of at least a dollar to help fund indigent beds in our Catholic Worker Movement homeless dual-diagnosed in recovery community.
I will be streaming live every few days, from August 26th to September 13th, on European trains to give you -- our 855,000+ InTheRooms, Globethics.net, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube friends -- a sneak peek of what's to come. Warning: there is nobody on CITVN staff with the competence to edit out irreverent and foul language. Tune in to share in this travel adventure.
If you would like to join our Friends of the Assembly in underwriting this documentary production -- if you feel it might be of value to others ... if it would be good for your soul -- click below and scroll to the bottom of the homepage or click our Paypal Charitable Giving link. We pray every day for the special intentions of our benefactors. Thank you!
https://www.globethics-live.net/
