Dr David McQueen on the current conflicts in Cairo

Bournemouth University’s lecturer in Politics and Media, and expert in global conflict, Dr David McQueen featured on Steve Harris’ Drivetime show on BBC Radio Solent giving his opinion on the current conflict and civil unrest in Egypt.

“I think that this is a tragic short lived experiment of democracy, I don’t think it had to turn out this way and there were many missed opportunities for resolution within the brotherhood and the government” Dr McQueen explained.

The discussion continued with Barrack Obama condemning on the violence; “I think the US government could’ve played a part by saying if there was any army coo they could help the Egyptian army out”.

“The US Army fund the Egyptian army One Billion Dollars a year”

Dr McQueen relates the public reaction of what is happening now in Egypt to the 1972 Bloody Sunday reactions.

“When we look at thousands of deaths of armed protestors, I just see very dark days ahead for Egypt”.

Dean Eastmond

Dean is a student at Budmouth College in Weymouth, who is working at Bournemouth University in the Press and PR Department. He joined BU on a Sir Samuel Mico Scholarship, which provides 10 students from his college with essential work experience for four weeks over the summer.

The Conversation UK features BU academics on travelling to Egypt

Bournemouth University’s Senior Lecturer in Tourism, Dr Yeganeh Morakabati and Director of the International Centre for Tourism and Hospitality at Bournemouth University, Professor John Fletcher had their article “Egypt still on the holiday map, but is it risky and is it right?” published on The Conversation UK website.

The article discusses the risk and morality on travelling to Egypt for a holiday during the major civil unrest.

“People tend to avoid destinations that offer a greater level of risk than they get back in return for the benefits they get from going there”, the article added.

They collected 394 questionnaires before and during the Arab Spring, when Libya, Egypt and Tunisia were all fighting for political change asking “how much risk do you feel is involved when travelling to a list of Middle East countries?”

The results showed that Egypt was considered a low risk destination and grouped with countries with no civil war (at the time).

However things seem to have changed.

“Egypt is now subject to travel warnings from the UK government, highlighting areas advising where not to travel and where only essential travel should be undertaken. The major tour operators are getting nervous and companies such as TUI have cancelled all holidays to Egypt for its German customers following travel warnings.”

“But equally, if tourism in Egypt were to collapse, the suffering of ordinary people across the country would be greater because the detrimental effect on the economy. After the 2004 tsunami in south-east Asia, many people asked themselves if it would be OK to holiday in a region where there was still so much suffering. The answer from the area was unequivocal: “Yes – because we need the money.””

Dean Eastmond

Dean is a student at Budmouth College in Weymouth, who is working at Bournemouth University in the Press and PR Department. He joined BU on a Sir Samuel Mico Scholarship, which provides 10 students from his college with essential work experience for four weeks over the summer.