    
Roxie
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Roxie
Post Number: 836
Registered: 06-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 09, 2006 - 09:42 am: | 
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I've known for some time Eisner sold his soul, but EVERY DISNEY EMPLOYEE?
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Subject: Letter from Michael Polonio to Walt Disney Company-Must Read! Date: Wed, 16 Mar 2005 16:23:35 +0000
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FW: Letter from Michael Polonio to Walt Disney Company-Must
Read!From: Michael Polonio - President, National Garifuna Council of
Belize
To: Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company
500 S. Buena Vista Street Burbank,
CA 91521
Subject: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3
The National Garifuna Council (NGC) is the legally constituted and
recognized representative organization of the Garifuna people of
Belize, who, along with other Garinagu in Honduras, Guatemala and
Nicaragua, are direct descendants of the "Black Caribs" of St Vincent
and the lesser Antilles as we are referred to in the English
language. We are also, therefore, descendants of the Calinago, the
people you call Caribs. It has been brought to our attention that the
Walt Disney Company intends to film a movie called "The Pirates of
the Caribbean" in which the Caribs or Calinago, the ancestors of the
Garinagu (as we refer to ourselves in our language) are portrayed as
cannibals. We understand that preparations are underway to commence
filming in Dominica in April of this year.
We note on your website that Walt Disney has portrayed itself as a
company which upholds the highest Business Standards and Ethics in
the conduct of its affairs and, therefore, are at odds to understand
why you are involved in the perpetuation of this brutal and unjust
myth and wrongdoing against the Calinago (the Caribs) and their
descendants. There is no credible scientific evidence or reliable
report that the people in question were cannibals.
Our Calinago ancestors were a warrior race who migrated to the lesser
islands of the Caribbean from the Amazon region of South America and,
as with any warrior race, they engaged in ritualistic practices to
encourage fearlessness among warriors. They fought to the death to
defend their islands against invaders in the colonial era which
followed the arrival of Columbus to our shores, an unfortunate event
that changed for the worst the natural evolution and development of
indigenous societies of the world in the period that followed.
The myth about cannibalism was started because the Calinago were not
intimidated by the European invaders and waged war in the defense of
their territory and way of life. For 30 years they held back the
British Army, the most modern fighting forces of the world at the
time. After the eventual defeat the British suppressed and attempted
to wipe the Calinago/Garifuna and their culture off the face of the
earth following the conquest of the island of St. Vincent in 1796.
Fortunately for mankind, our people and our culture have survived,
against all odds, among the descendants of the Garinagu (the Black
Caribs) who were forcibly exiled and abandoned on the mainland of
Central America in 1797.
If the Walt Disney Corporation is indeed about integrity and truth,
then we ask that you desist from filming this movie as currently
scripted and that you hold honest, truthful, respectful and
constructive consultations with the living descendants of the
Calinago (Caribs) in Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, St Vincent (known
as Yurumien in our language) and Dominica. Ours is a story of epic
proportions that needs to be told and we would not mind collaborating
with your company in honestly and truthfully relating the
Calinago/Garifuna/Carib story.
In May, 2001, the importance of the Garifuna culture (the culture of
the Garinagu) to mankind was recognized in the United Nations
Proclamation of the Garifuna Language, Dance and Music as Masterpiece
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity. Walt Disney would be
making a mockery of that United Nations recognition with the filming
and release of your movie portraying our ancestors as cannibals, the
worst categorization and dehumanizing assertion that can be made
against a proud people whose culture is a testament to good
citizenship and independence of spirit.
The National Garifuna Council associates itself with the sentiments
of Carib Chief Charles Williams of the Garifuna Territory of
Dominica, who asserted that "our ancestors stood up against early
European conquerors and because they stood up . we were labeled
savages and cannibals up to today. This cannot be perpetuated in
movies." We urge you, in the strongest possible terms, to reconsider
your position.
The National Garifuna Council of Belize
Tel: 501-502-0639
Email: ngcbelize@btl.net
www.ngcbelize.org
cc: Honourable Said Musa, Prime Minister of Belize
Honourable Francis Fonseca, Minister of Attorney General and Minister
Education and Culture - Government of Belize
Honourable Assad Shoman, Minister of Foreign Affairs - Government of Belize
His Excellency Russel Freeman, Ambassador, Embassy of the United
States of America, Belize
Honourable Roosevelt Skerrit, Prime Minister, Commonwealth of Dominica
Honourable Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Chief Charles Williams, Carib Territory, Commonwealth of Dominica
Lic. Celeo Alvarez Casildo, Presidente ODECO, Honduras
Hon. René M. Baptiste -Minister of Tourism and Culture , St. Vincent
& the Grenadines
Hon. Sylvia Flores - Minister of Human Development, Belize
Her Excellency Ms. Lisa Shoman, Belize Ambassador to U.S., Washington
His Excellency , Mr. Andy V. Palacio, Ambassador for Culture, Belize
_________________________________________________________________
Subject: Disney and the Caribs
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 01:38:02 -0500
Disney is setting up to shoot Parts 2 & 3 of Pirates of the Caribbean
in Dominica and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
According to Paul Lewis of the SVG Historical Society Disney
executives insist that Caribs in Dominica be portrayed as cannibals.
Adrian Fraser in his column in The Searchlight (St.Vincent) (quoting
Carib Chief Charles Williams) says that the scene will show Caribs
roasting another Carib in the style of a barbecue. Furthurmore Disney
people say the script cannot be changed.
That, of course, is nonsense. Scripts have been changed even with
films in the can, if the change is necessary to market the film. And
the easiest time to change a script is while it is just words on
paper. What Disney doesn't understand is that a community that
survived the attempted genocide by the British Empire is not likely
to be fazed by a corporation that is dependent on popular approval.
Whether or not the Caribs roasted people, or even ate bits of them
for ritual reasons, is, on the one hand, something for academics to
argue about. Displaying it in a movie that is likely to be popular
based on its predecessor is unnecessary promulgation of a racist myth
for political purposes. A minor change in the script in which the
europeans BELIEVE the Caribs are cannibals and in which the roastee
is a european colonist, while the central characters discover, at the
climax that the Yellow and Black Caribs are fierce freedom fighters
defending their homes and independence would not only be much more
acceptable to Caribbean academics, but would be considerably more
acceptable to audiences in the Caribbean diaspora and the
non-melanin-deficient international audience. And it would be a lot
cheaper to change the script now, before any shooting, than to change
the final cut after a lot of demonstrations.
There are lots of interesting questions about the Caribs that will be
discussed in future blogs at
http://blogger.karleklund.net
But it would be a useful thing if a lot of people showed that they
care how the Garifuna and other peoples are portrayed in big
production movies. It is too late in the twentyfirst century to
slander an ethnic group simply out of ignorance and greed.
http://www.seinebight.com/Disney-Garinagu.htm
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