Yurumein (Homeland): A Documentary on Caribs in St. Vincent

YURUMEIN: film trailer from Andrea Leland on Vimeo.

Originally published on H-Caribbean, June 2014

(Director) Andrea E. Leland. Yurumein (Homeland). January 2014. 50-minute documentary / DVD format / 4:3 aspect ratio / surround sound.

Resistance, Rupture, and Repair: The Story of the Caribs of St. Vincent in the Caribbean

 

Yurumein by Andrea E. Leland effectively begins twice: first it begins in St. Vincent, and then, as a reflection of the contemporary relocation of the Garifuna, it begins again in Los Angeles, which probably has the largest number of Garifuna people outside of Central America and the Caribbean. The core of the film ostensibly follows the journey of Cadrin Gill, a Los Angeles family doctor, who self-identifies as Carib and who was born in Sandy Bay, St. Vincent, one of the residential areas of the island that contains a sizeable Carib population. Focusing on the reclamation of pride in Carib identity, and the beginnings of a cultural resurgence that happens in part as a transnational process of reconnecting indigenous communities in the Caribbean region (in this case the relinking of Honduran Garifuna and Vincentian Caribs), this film serves as an important document of the contemporary presence of indigeneity in the Caribbean. The film thus helps to fill in the map of indigenous cultural resurgence in the Caribbean, of indigenous communities that did not simply vanish due to European colonization, but that resisted and repaired what they could. In this sense the documentary helps to further challenge centuries of writings, and even modern historiography, whose emphases have been Carib decline and extinction. In addition, as there has been so little produced, whether in film or in writing, about the Caribs/Gairfuna of St. Vincent, apart from the occasional thesis or conference paper offered within regional institutions, this film further serves to fill in the gaps in our knowledge.

Yurumein represents part of a growing series of films on indigenous Caribbean topics, but is unique as one that focuses on St. Vincent. As a contribution to documentaries about the indigenous Caribbean, this film joins Last of the Karaphuna (Philip Thorneycroft Teuscher, 1983, focusing on the Dominica Carib Reserve); Caribbean Eye: Indigenous Survivors (UNESCO/Banyan, 1991, focusing on contemporary indigenous communities in Guyana, Trinidad, Dominica, and St. Vincent); The Garifuna Journey (also by Andrea Leland, 1998, focusing on Belize); The Quest of the Carib Canoe (Eugene Jarecki, 2000, focusing primarily on Dominica’s Caribs, but also bringing special attention to Trinidad and Guyana); Three Kings of Belize (Katia Paradis, 2007, focusing on Belize, including a focus on a Garifuna musician); and The Amerindians (Tracy Assing, 2010, focusing on Trinidad’s Carib Community).

“That paradigm has changed,” Dr. Gills says in the film, a change in paradigm that involves increased recognition of “our history and our heritage.” It is an important point, as he adds that this has happened “only recently.” Indeed, we are now in the third decade of a region-wide indigenous resurgence in the Caribbean, one that arguably began at least on a formal, organizational level in St. Vincent itself in 1987, with a conference on the indigenous peoples of the region that would later result in the formation of the Caribbean Organization of Indigenous Peoples (COIP), whose first president was the Belizean Garifuna anthropologist Dr. Joseph Palacio.[1] (Coincidentally, in my own research context in Arima, Trinidad, 1987 was the first year that Trinidad’s Carib Community received delegates from seven different Guyanese indigenous tribes.[2])

On a local level in St. Vincent, this paradigm change has also occurred. “We were brought up as Englishmen, so we had an English mentality,” Dr. Gill explains, “and consequently there was not much knowledge about my history…. [I]n my days, it was not ‘fashionable’ to be called ‘Carib.’” Echoing what I found in my research in Trinidad, the film presents a series of individuals in Sandy Bay who explain that they did not know of their Carib ancestry until they reached adulthood, while others did know and could not hide it and were thus targeted for discrimination in the wider society as “ignorant,” “backward,” “warlike” and “cannibal” people, leading some to suppress their own identification as Carib. (Unfortunately, this juxtaposition of lack of self-awareness as Carib, while the wider society discriminates against them as Carib, is a paradox left unexplored in the film.) While there is now a positive acknowledgment of their ancestral ties (and explaining why this has happened recently exceeds both the scope of the film and this review), Caribs in this film also reflect on what they say is their own lack of personal knowledge of Carib history and language. While they point to a number of surviving traditions, such as the making of cassava bread (which one woman claims, without much credibility, to have learned to do all on her own), it is clear that the identity is also understood in racial terms, with a not infrequent reference in the film to phenotypical markers, specifically dealing with one’s face and one’s hair. The kind of racialization that historically distinguished the Caribs of northern St. Vincent, especially in the towns of Orange Hill, Oven Land, Sandy Bay, Point, Owia, and Fancy, from the Garifuna or “Black Carib” of the southern town of Greggs (which is never mentioned in this film), is not confronted in this film. Indeed, the seemingly inexplicable adoption of “Garifuna” for all Carib descendants was one of the surprising things I learned from this film, and as a local historian explains, this is “relatively new” (but we are not informed as to why it has happened).

On an international level, the film speaks of examples where Caribs today are still stereotyped as “wild cannibals” in a few yet influential quarters. Here the film showcases Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean (2003- ) as one of the latest examples of this malignant stereotyping. Those presented in this documentary explicitly comment on their task as one of combating the influence of Hollywood.

What “loss” means, what constitutes “knowledge,” and knowledge of loss, are all difficult questions that the film brushes against on occasion. If the Vincentian Caribs do not know what “was” their culture, how do they know what was “lost”? Rather than risk diving into and drowning in an essentialist exercise of trait-listing, I prefer the formulation of the New Zealand anthropologist Steven Webster, who argues that “Maori culture is not something that has been lost, it is the loss; being ‘a Maori’ is struggling to be a Maori.”[3] There is more to this however, as some knowledge of what it means to be “Carib,” that is actually in line with its original political meaning in the first century of European imperial invasions, is knowledge that persists. As Odette Sutherland, a Vincentian Carib, says in the film: “They were rebellious people. They didn’t want to work as slaves. The Caribs always liked to be independent and work to help themselves and their family,” then adding as she continues working in her yard, “I am proud to say that I am a Carib.” Another person declares: “That is our king … the chief of the Caribs … Joseph Chatoyer. He fight for the Carib country.” Cadrin Gill expands on this theme of resistance in remarking that during colonial rule in the Caribbean, “St. Vincent was the mecca of freedom,” where escaped slaves from nearby territories often sought refuge and were welcomed by the Caribs. This historical knowledge, of the Caribs as the original anti-imperialists of the modern world system, is further attested to in a dramatic fashion, on display for tourists and all visitors, at Fort Charlotte. There a sign states, “built by the British as the chief defence against the indigenous people and their allies,” and all of the cannons are pointing not out to sea, but inland. (It is also possible that the message of anti-imperialism is simultaneously lost by being displaced into talk of centuries past, focusing on the British, as Dr. Gill does not seem conflicted about displaying a portrait of Barack Obama behind his desk.)

One of the unresolved tensions in this film is that of claiming lack of knowledge on the one hand, yet currently producing knowledge of contemporary Caribness that in some senses accords with the original political content of the identification. Colin Sam, Gill’s nephew, repeats the complaint of a lack of cultural knowledge of self. Yet he and his fellow Caribs clearly know a great deal, but it is not formatted, packaged, and labeled in the same way that academics produce cultural history in writing. Hence, rather than a detailed report produced by an archaeologist, in this film we have: “the Caribs were here ever since.” It is simple, perhaps, but it is also an understanding that is necessary for any sense of indigeneity. In addition, among those speaking in the film is Nixon Lewis, a Carib researcher who spends his spare time doing archival research during annual trips to London, and when not there, then being “on the Net all the time.”

Further adding weight to the idea of a paradigm shift are the words of the prime minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, who in speaking of the brutality of British rule declares: “let us not mince words: genocide by the British.” What is significant is the occasion on which these words were spoken: National Hero’s Day—an annual public commemoration of Joseph Chatoyer, a long sought-after national holiday first demanded by the Committee for the Development of the Carib Community (CDCC), an organization not mentioned in this film.[4] Demands for such a commemoration were rejected by the government for numerous years. In one scene of the film, we can barely make out a banner in the background on which these words are painted: “Indigenous People’s Day Rally.” Indigenous People’s Day is another of those events that Sherelene Roberts explained the CDCC had long pursued.

Some shortcomings of this film should also be noted, aside from some of the gaps and silences noted above. We are told that 2 percent of St. Vincent’s 120,000 people are Caribs, but the source for this not indicated, nor is the deeply problematic issue of counting such a contested and suppressed identity considered. Moreover, Roberts reported a figure of 3.1 percent reporting themselves as Carib during the 1991 Population Census.[5] The film might then lead some to believe that there has been a decline since then. The film also reports that there are a total of 400,000 Garifuna in the United States, Central America, and Caribbean combined, which is a very significant size (again, a source would have been useful). Aside from these points, there is no debate in the film about the problems with attempting to phenotypically define Caribness by the quality of one’s hair, and whether this could mean an implicit rejection of one’s Africanness. The film in fact generally ignores the African dimension of Garifuna identity and history (even when some of the traditions being taught by Honduran Garifunas to their Vincentian hosts are creole Afro-Caribbean ones). The fact that a largely African-descended population is the only population in the region to have kept the Island Carib language alive is surely one of the most spectacular stories of Caribbean history, and a key sign of trouble for any attempts to racialize indigeneity or to distill it out of larger processes of creolization. There is also no discussion in the film about the relations between Garifuna/Caribs and the national government. We hear Prime Minister Gonsalves delivering a stirring speech about British genocide against the Caribs, but then the film ends by pointing out that the Vincentian island of Balliceaux, where the Garifuna were imprisoned in 1795 before their exile to Honduras, rather than being safeguarded as land the Garifuna consider to be sacred has instead been put up for sale to private buyers. Also in the context of Balliceaux, the narrative in the film first claims that a radical cultural eradication occurred, but that then the survivors carried their culture intact to Honduras. Left like that, the statement makes no sense, and we should expect that a project that lists dozens of contributors in its credits would permit the opportunity for some to review and point out such contradictions that sometimes rendered the film’s narrative a bit too shaky.

In summary, several aspects of Andrea Leland’s Yurumein documentary are particularly noteworthy. One is the emphasis of an acute consciousness by Vincentian Caribs of their “cultural loss” and at the same time a renewed pride in their Carib ancestry. Another is the dimension of transnational resurgence, with Garifuna from Central America (originally from St. Vincent) returning to spearhead a renewal of Carib pride and to share traditions. A third observation we can make is about the degree to which this documentary is a nonacademic production, moreover one that is not mediated or narrated by any academic expert. A fourth notable aspect is the extent to which the project involved in making this documentary was locally constituted.

While the film’s gaps and the level of the narrative are bound to receive mixed reviews from academic audiences, this documentary could be useful for first- or second-year students in the North American university/college setting, and for the general public. With twenty years of immersion in indigenous Caribbean research, my own special interest has me enthusiastic to see just about any serious attempt at a documentary on the region’s indigenous peoples, given the paucity of such materials and my continued inability to complete my own long overdue video productions. One has to recognize the considerable effort that went into the making of this documentary, especially given its broad-based network of local contributors, the abundance of available narratives, the political implications of those narratives, the numerous topics deserving special attention, coverage of key local events, and on top of it all an effort to insert the viewer into some aspects of the daily lives of today’s Vincentian Caribs. With so many “moving pieces,” frustration and even failure are more likely than success. This documentary instead succeeds in encompassing a wide range of contemporary issues and historical processes, in a visually engaging manner, and really without trying to tell viewers what to think. In this last respect, it becomes ideal for the classroom setting because it leaves gaps to be filled in by a lecturer, and the work of interpretation open to discussion in the classroom.

I do not think, however, that this documentary should be viewed alone in the context of a course on the Caribbean or on indigenous peoples (or both), that is, in the absence of any other scholarly materials in this topic area. Having said that, it is at present the best current filmic resource on an indigenous community in the Caribbean, one that has long been virtually invisible in the academic literature and documentaries. Others may have done more, but they are becoming increasingly dated. That this documentary has already received some excellent reviews, including by specialists in Garifuna studies, further underscores its virtues.

Notes

[1]. Joseph O. Palacio, “Caribbean Indigenous Peoples’ Journey toward Self-Discovery,” Cultural Survival Quarterly 13, no. 3 (1989): 49-51.

[2]. Maximilian C. Forte, Ruins of Absence, Presence of Caribs: (Post)Colonial Representations of Aboriginality in Trinidad and Tobago (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005).

[3]. Steven Webster, “Postmodernist Theory and the Sublimation of Maori Culture,” Oceania 63, no. 3 (1993): 222-239.

[4]. Shereline L. Roberts, “The Integration of the Caribs into the Vincentian Society” (BA thesis, University of the West Indies, 1996).

Printable Version: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=41305

Citation: MAXIMILIAN FORTE. Review of (Director) Andrea E. Leland, Yurumein (Homeland). H-Caribbean, H-Net Reviews. June, 2014.
URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=41305

"Celebration of Spirit" Conference, Aug. 20-23, 2008

PRESS RELEASE
"CELEBRATION OF SPIRIT"
August 7, 2008

Tinton Falls, NJ - for immediate release

Tansi, osiyo ,hua kola, hau halito, istonko, Yá'át'ééh, kwai, kahe, dagot ee, Haaah, epivah-wuh-ennah, Pave-ésheeva, halito, auka, maruawe haitsi, kwaay, waciye, hau koda, han, dosha, um waynuma, asujutidli, aksunai, uma, aho, kiana, Kwe kwe, wa tkwanowera:ton, hacika no, haawka, onkwaho, aquai, estonko, hesci,aniin,boozhoo,he ha, way, sekoli, mike-tu-cubin,manahoo,tan kahk, saygo, nich-che-coogh, mique-wush-taagoven

Meaning Hello in Several Native American Languages

From the COS Committee

Well Friends, we are now in the countdown phase for the Celebration of Spirit Conference, which is only 13 days away. A lot has happened since the last release, and I am sure that you will be as excited as we are about the following:

The Dates are August 20th thru August 23rd 2008, at the Disney World Resort in Orlando Florida.

This Event has and is continuing to create quite a buzz throughout Indian Country, but since it has been some time, let me just recap on some of the people that will be participating this year and are attending so far:

Award winning Actress and one of our finest Ms. Tonantzin Carmelo, known for her work as Thunder Heart Woman from Into the West, which for this role Tonantzin received various awards as well as a prestigious nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Leading Actress in a TV Movie, Tonantzin is also part of a brand new documentary PBS Mini-series which will air in 2009 called, "We Shall Remain", will bring her knowledge and profoundly visionary voice, to some of the COS keynote events, and panel discussions.

Ms. Irene Bedard Native American Actress and definitely one of our Pioneers, known thru Films such as Smoke Signals, and also as her role as Margaret Light Shines in Stephen Spielbergs "Into the West", her role as Pocahontas, will share her experiences, and her thoughts, about our Native American Women, people and struggles, adding her profound knowledge of the Media Industry, and bringing a true role model to any of the young American Indian Women that will be present throughout the event.

Dr. Joseph Kalt Head of the Indian Studies Department at Harvard University will be a Keynote speaker about American Indian Studies, Education and the furthering of the American Indian etc.

Russell & Pearl Means Co-Founders of AIM, Actor with numerous powerful roles such as Chingachgook,in Last of the Mohicans, also part of the new PBS Mini-series "We Shall Remain, Educator and Visionaries, will add their experiences, visions, hopes and voices in several of the events, Joanne Shenandoah Musician and Visionary, will be performing as will The Aztec Fire Dancers astound you with their unique ancient methods of Indigenous dancing with fire.

Red Feather Woman (Rose Red Elk), our 2006 Native American Music Award Winner and also traditional story teller, Kevin Locke Famous Flutist and Visionary Hoop Dancer, also will add to the wonderful Entertainment line-up, which Kevin will come directly from his Tour in Europe just to participate in the Celebration of Spirit.

John Tow Hawks Award Winning Flutist will be performing, adding a spiritual experience through his music.

Fred Synder, Director of the International Native American Co-Operative, which Fred will actually be traveling 2300 miles from Tucson AZ, Fred and his family will have unique hand-made crafts from over 300 Tribal Nations of North America. An information desk with maps, brochures, Indian Events, will be available free for those who want to know more about the 556 Tribal Nations in America; The NATIVE AMERICAN DIRECTORY an 886 page book [The Indian Red Pages ] will be given away each hour in a drawing, the largest collection of antique seed beads from 1860-1910 will be on display and available to repair you treasured grandmothers beadwork, a collection of Indian old pawn turquoise jewelry will be a highlight of the 4 day exposition for the most serious collector. Some items that the Information & Trade Center will bring are baskets, bead-work, fetishes, kachinas, Alaska ivory / bone carvings, Southwest turquoise jewelry, miniatures for doll collectors, Indian music including flute, powwow, peyote, storytelling, and Native American Church, drums, and pottery of the Southwest.

On day two of the Event, Native American business owners are encouraged to join the Indian Talking Stick Supplier Diversity Forum to learn how to become a supplier to participate in the billions of dollars of revenue The Federal Government/Department of Defense and corporations such as IBM, Marathon Oil, Northrup Grumman and others spend annually procuring products and services from Native American owned businesses. During lunch, you'll enjoy a panel discussion with well known Native American women CEOs such as, Dr.Freda Porter - CEO & President, Porter Scientific Valerie Red-Horse - Senior Managing Director, Tribal Finance, Western International Securities, Monica Simeon - CEO, Sister Sky, Andrea Rush - CEO, Rush Trucking

Moderator: Marilyn Johnson, Vice President, Market Development, IBM who will speak about their experiences and success as business leaders/owners.

The new additions to the COS line-up and program are Dr.Will Morreau Goins Renowned Native American Author of Native American Literature, Cultural Speaker, Story Teller and Advocate, Pat Spears Co- Founder & President of the Intertribal Council on Utility Policy also on the Executive Board of Native Energy, and some surprises for later.

We have also at this time at least 200 plus Native American tribal leaders registered to join the COS, which will proof to be powerful and emotional with regards to the different events as they will unfold.

Now next imagine the wind in your hair as you ride. What comes to mind? The next best thing to being on a horse. A Bike Run. Yes friends you have heard correctly. And here is a little on that:

The Native American Chamber of Commerce, The Biker Guide Magazine, Image Makers Advertising Agency, The Main Street Merchants Association and the Full Moon Saloon join together in commemoration of the first annual Celebration of Spirit Native American Charity Motorcycle Ride. This inaugural ride will take place on August 23, 2008 and all riders are welcome.

The event will kick off at 11:00am with registration and an unveiling of the Celebration of Spirit custom motorcycle built by a well known Native American bike builder (Danny Sanchez, Cut Throat Customs Fabrication, from Houston, TX. There will be raffles and other prizes, along with entertainment and food. Attendees can register to win a 3 day /2 night weekend getaway a Full Moon Saloon Jacket and a unique piece of Native American Art. The first 250 riders participating in the Celebration of Spirit Ride will receive Welcome Bags upon their arrival. The riders will leave Historic Main Street at 2:00pm, after shopping and touring Main Street shops. They will ride to Van's Skate Park, located at the Festival Bay Mall on International Drive where the second annual Native Skate Jam will be in full swing. The motorcyclist will have a welcome reception, the opportunity to attend the skateboarding events and tour the many shops at Festival Bay Mall. Funds donated in lieu of registration fees will go directly to the Achievement Centers created by the Native American Chamber of Commerce (www.namcham.org) on reservations.

As an added FYI, has our committee invited all of this year's presidential candidates!

If you would like to participate, attend and be part of this groundbreaking Celebration, then please contact us as soon as possible to register, and secure your rooms.

Also would we like to add, that the proceeds of this event are paying for the event, and all remaining funds will go directly back into the establishing of more Native American Achievement Centers throughout Indian Country.

We will keep the memento going, as we do expect many different surprises to still come our way with regards to Sponsors, Media Coverage, and especially participants. We will keep you informed as these things happen, and rest assured that The Indian Proverb goes; we all will be remembered by the tracks that we leave!

Please reach out to us with any question, to register and / or any sponsoring thoughts.

Cherrie Richardson Collazo Carroll Coccia
Acting Media Chair Chair of the AICC, Houston TX
crichardson66@comcast.net coccia1@sbcglobal.net
Main: 732-747-7518 Mobile: 713-614-1272

Government of St. Vincent Planning Sale of Island Central to Garifuna History

Thanks to a number of colleagues, especially Joseph Palacio, Paul Lewis, and Wellington Ramos, for forwarding this news over the past three weeks (my apologies for the delay in posting these items). This news concerns moves by the Government of St. Vincent & The Grenadines to possibly sell off the island of Balliceaux:

Garifuna may lose the right to visit the island of Balliceaux

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

By: Paul E. Lewis

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: If Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is allowed to have his way, the Garifuna and all Vincentians may soon lose the right to visit Balliceaux . This small island, which is located on the south-east coast of St Vincent was the scene of the internment of the black Caribs after their defeat by British forces in the Second Carib War in 1795-96. Now the government wants to sell/lease a privately owned island to foreign developers for hotel construction. Never mind the government does not own the island, it has assiduously sought foreign financiers to develop this small and historically neglected island in the hope of saving its disastrous economic policies. Chances are, however, these islands might have acquired a new owner in recent times, unknown to the general public.

Balliceaux, long neglected by central governments, has played a pivotal role in the history of the defeated black Caribs, now know as the Garifuna. The Treaty of Paris (1763) gave Britain control over St Vincent and ushered in a period of 33 years of concerted efforts by Westminster to parcel out land to Englishmen. Such efforts to control the best lands on the island for sugar production and general colonization and to destroy the culture of the native Caribs resulted in two so-called Carib Wars of 1772-73 and 1795-96.

The struggle by these indigenous groups led by the more numerous black Caribs, a hybrid group of shipwrecked and escaped Africans on the one hand, and island Caribs on the other, against the rapacious French and British colonials, resulted in the Caribs in St Vincent being the last of the indigenous people in the region to hold out against rampant European imperialism. Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer, first National Hero of St Vincent and the Grenadines, is the most visible symbol of that struggle to maintain the sovereignty of lands that today are being ‘returned’ to its 18th century usurpers.

The British-Carib Wars were culture conflicts -- a clash of values and lifestyles between two widely differing peoples and cultures that hardly understood each other, and made little effort to do so, especially in the case of the British. One side desired to be left alone in its unique cultural milieu, while the other was determined to conquer that group’s land and change the society, if necessary in complete disregard of the others wishes. This culture clash pitted a society with relatively high technological capabilities, notions of economic progress and a commitment to the application of reason, science and military power, against one in communion with nature. Notions of intuition, a communal lifestyle, and a belief in the supernatural and non-christian deities informed and conditioned Carib society. In another sense, it was a conflict between an acquisitive society and a self-abnegating one.

The Carib Wars were wars of liberation. However, the numerically superior British forces and advanced military equipment defeated the locals, and approximately 5,000 Caribs surrendered and were subsequently interned on Balliceaux, a small island off the mainland. Disease, melancholy and starvation reduced the population to 2,500 when the remainder were rounded up in British naval ships and, under the leadership of Captain Barrett of the HMS Experiment, were shipped off to Roatan Island off the coast of Honduras , there to begin a period of wandering and subsequent settlement in many Central American republics, including Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Belize . The survivors of British injustice formed the nucleus of the modern Garifuna community in the Diaspora.

In defeat, the indigenous enemies of the British were treated differently from their French allies. While the French were accorded the usual treatment and sent back to Guadeloupe, the Caribs were required to surrender unconditionally, this included loss of entire homeland, culture and ultimately their lives. By late October 1796, approximately 4,195 black Caribs, 44 slaves and 102 “yellow Caribs,” were sent to Balliceaux -- the last two categories were subsequently returned to the mainland.

The genocidal act of British authorities on Balliceaux resulted in the deaths of thousands from a “malignant fever”, variously diagnosed as either typhus or yellow fever. Nancy Gonzalez in Sojourners of the Caribbean: Ethnogenisis and Ethnohistory of the Garifuna, has noted that while the primary disease for many Englishmen in the Caribbean was yellow fever, the descriptions of the illness matched that of typhus. And while contemporaries claimed that it was not an important disease in the tropics, Barbados had reported an outbreak in 1795. Be that as it may, more than half of those interned fell to typhus or yellow fever. The death rate compared favorably to the mortality rates of New World natives when they were initially exposed to contacts with Europeans in 1492. Many Gaifuna died within a week on contracting the mysterious illness and death was frequently accompanied by pain that included fevers, petchial ulcers, emaciation and weakness (Gonzalez). The Garifuna were also affected by overcrowded conditions and a paucity of clean drinking water.

The British decision to return light-skinned Caribs to the mainland divided the indigenous community since one obvious consequence was the breakup of family groups. It was a political act too that “rewarded” those who were assumed to have supported the British -- a devious and mischievous decision by the British. Later some planters continued to press for the removal of all Caribs, again for other reasons, to Central America. However, no more deportations took place after 1797 and the remanding Caribs were “pardoned”, given lands, but denied all political rights.

Historically, Battowia was blessed with relatively more water than Balliceaux that in turn had more of an abundance of pasture land. The Linley family capitalised on this good fortune and for many years worked as farmers, producing cotton, sugar, and raising stock animals as cash crops. The family built small boats to facilitate the transport of goods to market on the mainland. But the islands were never settled in the true sense and, and apart from the great ‘Disastrous Migration’ of the Internment years when the owner, a Mr Campbell was paid £1,731.15 by the government for the use of the island (Adams) , neither Balliceaux nor Battowia was ever settled, and the Linley family had always retained control of the islands. But having survived for over 200 years in ‘splendid isolation’, a progressive government of ‘right thinking’ individuals were determined to end this somewhat rustic but idyllic life for those who lived on Balliceaux, by pulling this land of farmers and their itinerant helpers into the maelstrom of 20th century economic development and corporate politics -- another demonstrable manifestation of ‘good governance’ by Ralph Gonsalves.

On or about January 4, 2008, immediately after Dr Ralph Gonsalves was accused of rape and sexual assault by a female police officer, he departed for Europe to seek investment funds to develop the island of Balliceaux. There had been no public discussion/debate on development for Balliceaux or Battowia. Transparency is not his style. But force of circumstances catapulted him into bearing gifts to the nation. In this case it was development for one of our sacred places -- Balliceaux. This tendency of the PM to pull something out of the hat whenever he is in a spot of difficulty has become his modus operandi.

The B & B Project must be placed into a wider political context: (1) the desire of the Gonsalves regime to turn this 150 square mile island into a first world country in quick time, but without the requisite human resources and material infrastructure to do so, (2) to leave his mark in the annals of Vincentian history as the greatest political leader, and (3) to transfer the development agenda of the nation into the hands of white foreigners. The Portuguese Gonsalves considers himself to be the ‘blackest politician” in SVG, yet he seems to favour white entrepreneurs since “Vincentians can’t manage anything.”

Gonsalves, a leader of the radical student movement of the UWI, Mona Campus during the 1970s, a self-professed ‘black power’ advocate, a fierce critic of the Tom Adams government in Barbados, and a solid supporter of Marxist Leninist principles in his younger days and who still considers himself an “old communist,” has jettisoned all political principles and now seeks comfort in the entrepreneurial efficacy of the white expatriate developer class! Balliceaux will be offered to the Gods of Neocolonialism -- the new economic credo of this regime -- complements of the ‘blackest politician’ and ‘second best run black government in the world!’

Last week a foreign-born local businessman with media interests, himself a substantial landholder in SVG, took some potential European investors to Balliceaux and Battowia to view the ‘investment.’ The title to the islands is vested in the hands of the Linley family and not in the government of Ralph Gonsalves. All potential investors must be aware of such legal implications. The likely orchestrated visit of potential buyers might be used by the government to ‘strong arm’ the owners of Balliceaux and Battowia to sell the islands for the economic benefits of foreign operators. The sale would not be in the long term interests of the people of St.Vincent and the Grenadines. But the fact that Gonsalves announced to the nation in January that he was proceeding to Europe to secure development funds for a number of projects, including Balliceaux, strongly indicated that a sale may have taken place or was about to be concluded. If that is the case, and if as reported the recent visit of those Europeans “looked serious,” then Balliceaux and Battowia could soon slip out of the control of Vincentians and into the hands of a European commercial house. And if Joseph Linley, the court appointed controller of Balliceaux, has effected such a sale , then the government must ensure that certain guarantees are put in place that would protect the interests of Vincentians. It is critical that government:

1. Establish a memorial park to the Garifuna People, and institutionalize an annual commemoration ceremony
2. Guarantee Vincentians access to the island, including significant heritage and natural sites
3. Guarantee that Banana Bay and other archaeological sites remain in situ and not be disturbed to construct jetties etc.
4. Conduct extensive archaeological Investigations on Balliceaux and Battowia
5. Impose a ban on the construction of large living structures
6. Monitor that all beaches remain public beaches
7. Monitor and enforce all applicable environmental laws

Many Vincentians believe that both islands hold too important a place in the historical record, and are too valuable as the home of rare birds and wild life to be cavalierly given to foreigners for commercial exploitation. If, on the other hand, no deal has been struck then there is still time for the government to reconsider its position. There is a growing consensus that the 1796-7 site of the severe suffering of the Garifuna people should be a heritage protected zone , set aside permanently for the use of all , especially the Vincentian people. The ideal solution would be for the government of St Vincent and the Grenadines to purchase the island as a National Heritage Park. It should not be sold to foreign developers.

We must be concerned about turning over a site of such huge historical and archaeological significance to foreign developers for purely commercial exploitation. Insufficient archaeological excavation, especially at Banana Bay, has been done to give us a satisfactory picture of the internment period, and to square the historical records as to the number of people who were effectively corralled into that small space. Questions such as: Were there really 5,000 people living simultaneously on the island? What diseases did most of the Garifuna die from? What artifacts did they take with them to the island? What can these artifacts tell us about the black Carib society of the 1790’s? Apart from the investigations of Bullen and Bullen (with the assistance of Early Kirby), and the earlier investigations of Fewkes, no follow up work has been done since.

There is the real fear that any hotel development will effectively shut out all relevant activities of locals and visitors alike: An inability to use the beaches, experience the exquisite landscape, and a denial to visit the site of the fallen Garifuna brethren will be a psychological blow to the Garifuna at home and abroad.

Such fears are real because a hotel development in Balliceaux would most likely go the route of Mustique – a playground for the rich and famous and perhaps not so famous too! Privacy and exclusivity would b be the operative words to describe such a development and locals visiting the island will not be appreciated. And, will known burial sites remain in situ or be bulldozed to put up fancy homes for the new ‘settlers’? Any such development will be tragic and a severe indictment of our government that is making some tentative steps under Minister Baptiste to show greater respect for our heritage.

Baptiste, however, cannot do it alone, and it is difficult to find anyone else in the cabinet with some degree of sensitivity and commitment to cultural issues. The lack of response from some Garifuna groups in SVG in relation to indigenous issues has concerned many Vincentians in recent times. The Garifuna Cultural Foundation headed by Zoila Ellis Browne, Belizean born wife of Mike Brown, Minister of National Mobilization , has said nothing and is not expected to say much about this issue, just as it kept silent during the 2005 Disney-Carib controversy over the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean when Disney producers insisted on writing scenes of Carib ‘cannibalism’ into the movie . So I call on Minister Baptiste, the only Minister with any “cultural worth” to protest against the sale/ lease of Balliceaux to any foreign developer.

The sad part though is that when there is a conflict between heritage preservation and economic development, the preservation and protection of the nation’s heritage s not given equal weight in the discussion. Too often the heritage agenda seems an ‘inconvenient moment ‘for the politician who is too busy ‘wheeling and dealing’ to stay in power; and the cry of economic development is always made to resonate more with the voters. But when we give away all our lands to foreigners and the critical decisions are made elsewhere, what tin pot politician with a hugely inflated ego will have the political and economic clout to influence a board meeting of a multinational firm in London, Paris, New York or Rome?

Today there is the real danger of the region losing ‘effective’ sovereignty to multi-national corporations when it hands over (selling/leasing) significant strips of territory to persons with unknown international connections. Such individuals, if not properly screened and effectively monitored, can bring more harm than good to our small and vulnerable island states in the Caribbean. We do not wish to be drawn into the vortex of the dangerous international drug cartels. The Regional Security System (RSS) and the local Coast Guards are still unable to adequately handle drug trafficking in the region, hence the importance of British and American naval forces in the region; and with so many islands now effectively controlled by foreign interests- Palm Island, Mustique, Canouan and now the prospect of both Balliceaux and Mayreau drifting further away from the control of the mainland, alarms bells must be sounded both at home and abroad.

The sale of Balliceaux is symptomatic of Caribbean peoples’ plight to retain control of their living spaces. Moreover, it is a slap in the face of organizations and experts who have counselled governments to be more cognizant of indigenous citizens’ rights to land ownership. The recent remarks of Dr Len Ishmael, Director-General of the OECS Secretariat, who in her address to the 46th Meeting of the OECS Authority in Dominica 16-18, January 2008, expressed alarm at the tremendous land sales to foreigners that was slowly disenfranchising locals from owning property. Ishmael noted that locals are not only being alienated from the ‘quiet use and enjoyment’ of their lands, but further criticized developers who were “acting in ways to intimidate locals from using beaches on which their resorts have frontage.” More importantly, she asked a number of fundamental questions:” What are we doing in the name of development? At what price is development? Is no price too high? Is the alienation of the rights of islanders a realistic price for what we define as progress? After the land is gone, what’s left?” After Balliceaux is gone, what’s left, Mr Prime Minister? These are some of the questions that the government of SVG must answer before it goes ahead with any more development projects.

Balliceaux can better serve the interests of the people of SVG if it is purchased by the government and converted into a heritage park for the enjoyment of all. We need not develop every square inch of land. And the sustainable development of both islands as national parks can bring enjoyment to the people and revenues to the public coffers. The government must find another way to reduce its deficit of over $1.2 billion EC Dollars. Selling Balliceaux and Battowia is not the solution to its financial woes, or the personal difficulties that the Prime Minister faces over multiple allegations of rape and sexual assault charges leveled against him by women at home and abroad.


THE GOVERNMENT OF ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES SELLING BALLICEAUX IS AN INSULT TO THE GARIFUNA PEOPLE WORLWIDE

May 5, 2008

By: Wellington C. Ramos

The island of Saint Vincent and all the other territories in the Caribbean, the Americas and the rest of the world existed long before the Europeans decided to venture into these regions and colonized them. The Europeans have always defended their colonization of these territories by saying these people were cannibals, pagans, backward and needed to be converted to Christianity. During the colonization, slavery and genocide that was committed by the Europeans against many of the native cultures of these regions causing their lives to be disrupted indefinitely. The Garifuna people who were labeled as “Black Caribs” by the British were living in that area since the early 1600’s and were first sighted by the French colonizers. Before the French came into that region, the Spanish attempted to conquer that region but they were defeated by their ancestors the native Kalinagu Indians.

The French were aware of the Spanish attempts to engage these people and were defeated so they came with a different strategy which was to try and convert them into becoming Christians and then colonize their territory. The Kalinagu Indians became suspicious of the French waged a war against them and forced them off the island. Yet, despite this defeat, the French claimed that this island and it’s people belong to them and ceded this island along with other territories in the Treaty of Paris signed with the British in 1763. Saint Vincent at the time was the largest agricultural producing nation in that region and the food that it produced was needed to feed the French invading forces. After the treaty was signed with the French, the British aggressively sought the colonization of this island. The native Kalinagus and the Garifunas decided to resist all attempts by the British to take over their native lands.

After many years of war the British defeated the Garifunas and the Kalinagus and interned them as Prisoners of War on the island of Balliceaux. The were subsequently deported to Roatan Honduras on April the 12th, 1797. Only a few thousand Garifuna people survived and they were handed over to the Spanish Crown. Most of the Garifuna people names were changed from French names and original Garifuna and Kalinagu names to Spanish. Today, a majority of the Garifuna people have Spanish names and they reside in the countries of; Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Belize and the United States. The Garifuna people have maintained their culture despite their ordeal with the Spanish, French and British colonial experience.

Today the Garifuna people’s music which is called “Punta Rock”, an upgraded version of one of their cultural dances called “Punta” have played a major role in internationalizing the Garifuna Culture. Famous Garifuna musicians and artists such as; Pen Cayetano the inventor, Andy Palacio, Chico Ramos, Muhubub Flores, Arielo Martinez, James Lovell, Poots Ti,Ti Man Flores, Paul Nabor Centino, Wrekless, Paula Castillo, Maimie Martinez, Rhodel Castillo, Aziatic, Guwie Augustine, Alvin Payne, Junior Aranda, Gabaga, Koro Velasquez, Brother Nate Francisco, Machete, Isawel Flores and many other Garifunas have all contributed to the continuing development of Punta Rock music. Even though Punta Rock and Jankunooh dances are highlighted the most, the Garifuna culture have more different type of dances and music that play a vital role in their culture. Garifuna music and dances that are utilized by Garifunas depending on the type of cultural activity they are engaged in at a given time and moment.

Since the Garifuna people were deported from their homeland, the government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have failed to do something significant to have an on-going cultural exchange program with the countries in Central America where the majority of Garifunas currently reside and practice their culture. Saint Vincentians could be sent to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize to conduct cultrural researches and engage with their people in order to learn the language, religion, arts, crafts and all aspects of the Garifuna Culture. Embassies and Consulates should also be established in these countries now if there isn’t any.

Instead of trying to sell the island of Balliceaux, the Saint Vincent Government should establish a Garifuna Village and Museum on the island where the Garifuna people from Saint Vincent and the rest of the world can visit and witness all cultural activities taking place daily and the exhibits of the sites could be seen before they were deported. The revenue this will bring through tourism to the Government and people of Saint Vincent will far surpass the sale of the island. This would also accomplish the dual goals of preserving the culture and providing jobs and economic stimulus to the Saint Vincent economy. If the government was to make the mistake and sell this island, it will outrage the Garifuna community at large and a movement will emerge to stop that drastic move. I am now appealing to the people and government of Saint Vincent to think twice before they make this huge mistake.

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Global Conference of American Indian Nations: Native American Chamber of Commerce in Houston

[The editors of the Caribbean Amerindian Centrelink do not endorse this event nor vouch for the legitimacy of the source or the information presented below. It is presented to readers for their information, should they wish to follow up on this news. In particular, the editor posting this note wishes to criticize the poor judgment shown by the organizers in situating the event in a Disney theme park, and of aligning indigenous organizations with transnational corporations that have done little to earn the glowing characterizations presented below. This event appears to be an attempt to coopt and purchase indigenous leadership in a likely effort to gain access to indigenous resources. That an entire day should be set aside for "native skateboarding" while calling this a global conference--of the Americas--is another of the remarkable features of the message below.]

PRESS RELEASE

CELEBRATION OF SPIRIT

Houston, TX – for immediate release

A first-ever gathering of American Indian Nations featuring a trans-global conference of tribal leaders to be held at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, on August 20-24 has been announced by the Native American Chamber of Commerce in Houston. Some 3,000 Indians from the U.S and Canada are expected to celebrate this event in dance, song, sports, food and golf.

The four-day event will feature prominent leaders and native celebrities from many of the 565 Indian Nations recognized by the federal government, as well as many from Canada and the Americas.

Major U.S. firms practicing social responsibility and supporting diversity, such as Lockheed Martin, Wal-Mart, IBM, Marathon Oil, UPS and BNSF are among the dozens of U.S. Corporations signed up to sponsor the event. All proceeds less expenses will go to education and native achievement centers.

In what may also be a first for the Native American, the inaugural day of the event will feature presidential candidates invited to speak about their positions regarding native sovereignty and rights at a formal dinner for tribal leaders and prime sponsors.

“Given the many challenges facing the American Indian and Alaskan Native today – unemployment, poverty, education, housing, contaminated lands – it will be important for our next president to clearly speak to an agenda which will address these needs,” said Carroll Cocchia, Chamber President.

In the following days, the Indian pageant will feature a special day for native business people and entrepreneurs to do what Indians have done from time immemorial – trade. A third day will feature native skateboarding. A final day showcases a huge selection of Native dancers, drummers, story tellers, artists, craftsmen and native foods to celebrate the depth and breadth of the Indian culture.

Inquiries can be addressed by email to Carroll Cocchia: cocchia1@sbcglobal.net.

Forwarded to the CAC on 15 February 2008 by:
Jerry Ashton
Media Chair
Celebration of Spirit
Disneyworld FL
August 20-23 2008
jerry@americanindiantv.com

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Disney Rears Its Cannibal Head Once Again: Cannibal Trinidad, 1900s

Hopefully, but doubtfully, a report such as this will finally dispel those optimists (opportunists?) who posted comments on this blog against some of our suggestions that Disney's renditions of cannibalism among indigenous peoples of the Caribbean would be learned and perpetuated as if it were fact (see our debates on Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean). The argument raised by some of these commentators, schooled in the arts of dull acquiescence, was that children--yes, children--would have the intellectual acuity necessary to discern fact from fiction, myth from reality, propaganda from honesty, and pure "entertainment" from truth.

Thanks to Dr. Roi Kwabena for forwarding the following comment from another Trinidadian resident in the UK:

I am a Trinidadian living in the UK. Last night (Sunday 4th November 2007 ) I was horrified when my children drew to my attention a segment of a popular children's Disney TV-Series "Lizzie McGuire" where a young actor presents information from his script stating "do you know that less than a century ago there were cannibals in the country of Trinidad and Tobago" he goes further to insinuate that "back then there was lots of pirate activity in that region".

There you have it: cannibals and pirates in Trinidad, in the 1900s. With entertainment and education of this quality, who needs the brazen imperial propaganda of cable news?

___________

Garifuna Protest at Disney: Photographs

Photographs for the Garifuna protest of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean can be viewed online at:

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/
view?p=999&uid=5555295&gid=11089644

The protest was against the release of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean sequel. This took place on Disneyland's Main Street on Saturday June 25, 2006 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in Anaheim, California.

Garifunas Speaking Out Against Disney

Last week, Cherly Noralez of the Garifuna Heritage Foundation was interviewed on KPFK 90.7 FM Radio in Los Angeles. Luckily, the audio from that show has been archived (see the link below) and listeners/visitors may also post their feedback on that same page.

Please see: http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=587

Pirates of the Caribbean: Commentary by Claire Yashar

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
Claire Meurens-Yashar, BA/BS Anthropology
Research in Taino/Arawak Iconography, Myths and Legends
July 17, 2006

Pirates of the Caribbean, a 2006 Walt Disney Picture is, as are all movies, pure entertainment and not reality shows nor documentaries. As an entertainment medium, it has earned a two star rating[out of four] by the Tribune Movie Critic, Michael Phillips, and three star rating by Matt Pais, the Metromix Movies Producer.

Directed by Gore Verbinski, screenplay by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, this “fun” film has, however, a hideous side. It implies that the Caribbean Natives, the Arawaks, are and were cannibals; a slander they had to endure from generations to generations. The implication is as demeaning to today’s Caribbean populations as it was to the gentle people who greeted Christopher Columbus.

Five hundred years ago, this contemptuous portrayal of the inhabitants of the New World, was a convenient way to justifying enslaving them and treating them like cattle. It implied them to be sub-humans savages in the most derogatory sense of the word.

Today, perpetuating this myth is unjustifiable and in poor taste. It is a throwback to the racial antagonism of the indefensible ideology of the twentieth century when the blacks were the target of racial slurs, segregation, demeaning treatment, brutality, and considered racially inferior to their white counterparts.

If we allow these kinds of racial slurs to go without remark or rebuke, then I am sorry to say, we haven’t learned anything yet about humanity. If we have any capacity to be touched by the cries of pain and anguish from centuries past, we must leave the theater perturbed. Once again, the film industry has exploited the native people by slanderous implications of cannibalism. The original inhabitants of these islands are victims of cinematic self-sabotage since, as extras, they represented themselves and by extension, their ancestors. Mr. Walt Disney, who was one of the most honored film makers of his time, would not be proud to have one of his production be an embarrassment to the film industry.

Garifuna Protest Disney, Anaheim, CA, June 24

Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United
GAHFU
Cheryl L. Noralez
Phone (562)366-9396
cnoralez@garifunaheritagefoundation.org
P.O. Box 10054
Long Beach, CA 90810

Press Release

June 20, 2006

Garifuna American Heritage Foundation United organizes a protest against the World Premiere of Walt Disney Pictures’ Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest.

Long Beach, California – Tuesday, June 20 2006: GAHFU’s President and Founder Ms. Cheryl Noralez announced that on Saturday, June 24 2006 between the hours of 2:00 to 4:00 pm, her organization along with a group of concerned Garifuna leaders in the Los Angeles area will be protesting the premiere of Disney Pictures’ Pirates of the Caribbean – Dead Man’s Chest at Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

GAHFU, Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Long Beach, California. Our purpose is to preserve the uniqueness of the Garifuna culture, history, language, music, arts & crafts and values by working closely with the Garifuna community not only in Los Angeles County, but throughout the world. We seek to enhance and showcase the image and vision of the Garifuna people through education, music and the arts.

“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.” These are the words of Michael Polonio, of the National Garifuna Council of Belize.

We believe that not only the Garifuna people have been wrongfully portrayed in the movie as cannibals but also other indigenous people of the Caribbean who are closely related to us as in the case of the Taino people; therefore, we have invited the Taino community in Los Angeles to participate and they have promptly accepted the invitation to stand united with the Garinagu.

We are inviting all of the indigenous people of the Caribbean to join us in this protest. The meeting place to protest will be at Harbor Blvd.’s front entrance of Disneyland in Anaheim, California starting at 1:30 pm. We strongly urge participants not to bring sticks, drums, shakers or anything that could be used as a weapon to the event. Also, teenagers are encouraged to come with their parents to join us for this peaceful protest.

“Eibugaba lidan ligemeri Inaruni - Walk in the light of truth “- James Lovell

Cheryl L. Noralez, President & Founder
GARIFUNA AMERICAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION UNITED
www.garifunaheritagefoundation.org
events@garifunaheritagefoundation.org

Boycott Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean

Starting in February of 2005, we began to post a number of items regarding Walt Disney's proposed plans for showing Island Caribs as blood thirsty man eaters. In Dominica, where parts of the film were shot, then Carib Chief Charles Williams loudly protested the movie and condemned select members of the Carib Territory for collaborating with Disney. The Government of Dominica warmly welcomed Disney, guided by the incredible notion that a media giant showing local natives as cannibals would promote tourism to the island. The movie was also shot in St. Vincent. Since then, Chief Williams was deposed by the Government of Dominica (although to what extent Williams embarrassing the government over this issue played any role in the government's decision is unclear for now). Other indigenous communities, including Tainos, Garifuna, and the Caribs of Trinidad, also vigorously protested the movie in the news media. Indian Country Today in the United States ran an editorial that was very critical of Disney's plans.

Now, the movie is about to hit theaters and, if anything, it appears to be worse than was first imagined. A trailer for the film clearly shows the Caribs roasting live people on spits and holding captives to be eaten...in a stark reminder of some of the most vile imperialistic imagery produced in the early colonial era. Such images are getting a new lease on life thanks to Disney, which with the resources that rival those of a colonial power, has now dedicated itself to popularizing and internationalizing images of the Caribs as "cannibals". You can see the movie trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAx02SQ5Mjs&mode=related&search=pirates%20of%20the%20caribbean%20dead%20mans%20chest. Images that follow are stills from the trailer, accompanied by one colonial illustration that seems to have been part of the corpus of visual imperial denigrations that the movie so cheerfully enhances.

Let us keep in mind that such depictions were used to enslave and murder the ancestors of today's Caribs, there was never anything innocent or "fun" about these portrayals. In addition, generations of Carib descended school children in the Caribbean have been taught that their ancestors were savage cannibals. Shame over ancestry was inculcated as a matter of routine. In my own field research experience, I have encountered individuals in their forties and fifties who told me very directly that the main reason they did not wish to self-identify as Caribs is that people in the wider world see Caribs as cannibals, as inhuman man eaters, and they found the stigma unbearable. Disney is playing its part in centuries of ethnocide.

This action on the part of Disney, flying in the face of countless protests, is not accidental, nor just uninformed carelessness. Let's place these images in their current context as well. This is a time of renewed generalizing about the "non-West" as the "uncivilized" world of inhumane acts of savage atrocities. Anti-immigrant attitudes are on the rise in many Western countries. Anyone "brown-skinned" is deemed a potential terrorist. This is not inflammatory exaggeration on my part: for a glimpse at the tip of the iceberg, look at reports produced within the Canadian media itself:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/20060616.html, and,

http://www.cbc.ca/news/about/burman/20060614.html.

Many white citizens adjoining Native reserves seem to feel empowered now to express openly derogatory views about Natives, even joining in the occasional riot where they can bash some in the face. A peaceful gathering of Natives in Canada is widely depicted as "terrorism". You don't believe me? Please have a look at pages from the Caledonia Citizens Alliance where members of the public submit their feedback on the issue of the Native reoccupation of their territory.

Images specifically of charred bodies, hung like roasted offerings, have also been popularized in the international press, especially when showing the "horrid" acts of Iraqi insurgents in Fallujah who captured and killed four American mercenaries in March of 2004.

All of the raw material, daily news, centuries of inherited stereotypes, revived bigotry, fear, hatred and paranoia are all out there ready to be fused in people's minds who are thus predisposed to making a series of associations. One line of association is that linking Al Qaida with all Muslims, then immigrants, "brown skin," Natives, and finally Caribs. The other line of associations to complement the first: terrorism, insurgence, resistance and cannibalism.

This is the world we are inheriting, folks! Either we deal with these issues head on, or sit back and let the tide of a new nazism wash over us with the help of our own quiescence.

Disney's concept of family "fun" is about as light hearted as showing groups of Jews as rats. Disney won't do exactly that, since that is anti-semitism, and numerous holocaust memorials tell us "never again." But really, never again? That seems to be either unduly hopeful or just terribly naive.

You are encouraged to actively protest and boycott Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and any and all Disney products. Such cultural imperialism cannot be allowed to pass without consequence.

"Developing" the Carib People of Dominica?

As readers will have seen in the previous post at http://cacreview.blogspot.com/2006/04/carib-cultural-village-opens-in.html, the Government of Dominica seems to have developed an instrumentalist and top-down view of the "role" to be performed by the indigenous population of Dominica. Added to the Government's recent overthrow of the elected Carib Chief, this seems to be more than just distant conjecture.

It seems clearer now that the Government desires to not only politically control the Carib population--a Government embarrassed internationally by Chief Williams' campaign to denounce the entry of Disney onto Carib soil in a venture that would feature Caribs, once again, in a colonial light as mindless cannibals--but the Government also clearly wishes to use the Caribs as an economic tool. The Caribs seem to be slotted as mere window dressing in a professed strategy of developmentalist diversification, thus reduced to playthings for foreign tourists, and reduced to "resources" in the calculations of economists.

This is not an unusual strategy for any government that has inherited and upheld the colonial heritage at the basis of the putatively independent state. "Recognition" and "celebration" of the Carib presence, by a variety of contemporary Caribbean states, are tactics revealed in the light of day as instruments of control and containment. While on the one hand they are useful for countering outmoded assertions of extinction, on the other hand they are equally useful for ensuring the centrality of the state as a legitimate arbiter of authorized identifications.

Unfortunately, if established and recognizable historical patterns are anything to go by, one will find a few indigenous collaborators who are willing to suck up to those in power and who hunger after the tourist dollar. What is lost in the process is consciousness of how the "development" process often is a mere gloss for older campaigns once referred to by terms such as "civilization" and "assimilation." Obedience to both capital and the state may appear to be a tactic of survival, at least in the short-term; in the long-term, it is nothing but negotiated surrender. One is reminded here of Peter Tosh's famous line, "peace is the diploma you get in the cemetery."

Disney and Carib "Cannibals" Continued

The following is from an article in The Los Angeles Times reproduced on http://www.williams.edu/go/native/caribs.htm.

'Pirates' sequel raises ire of indigenous leader

Movie to portray Caribs as cannibals
By CAROL J. WILLIAMS
Los Angeles Times
April 29. 2005

BATAKA, Dominica - Sabers rattled and epithets rang across this lush tropical island long before the first crew arrived this month to film the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel.

Somewhere in the middle of the movie, natives are supposed to capture Johnny Depp's character, Captain Jack Sparrow, and spit-roast the swashbuckling pirate with fruits and vegetables "like a shish kebab," said Bruce Hendricks, the Walt Disney Pictures executive in charge of production.

"It's a funny, almost campy sequence," he said of a film also populated by ghost pirates and zombies.

But some of Dominica's Carib inhabitants are offended by what they consider an insinuation that their forebears were cannibals. They have called on the 3,500-strong population that is the last surviving indigenous group in the Caribbean to choose between fleeting fame and tribal honor. Chief Charles Williams asked his community to boycott the project, but most have welcomed the financial infusion.

The group is a minority on Dominica, whose 70,000 people are mostly of African descent. Disney argues that the film is fiction, but Williams says it draws on history. "Pirates did come to the Caribbean in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries," he said. "Our ancestors were labeled cannibals. This is being filmed in the Caribbean."

History books still cast the Caribs as cannibals during the time of the European settlement of the Caribbean that began in the 15th century but didn't reach Dominica, a tiny island in the eastern Caribbean, until 200 years later. But the indigenous people, the chief argues, were defending themselves. "Today, that myth, that stigma is still alive," Williams said, denying that the Caribs ever ate those they vanquished.

As newly elected chief of the Carib Territorial Council, Williams was approached by a delegation of Disney executives in October to discuss Carib collaboration on the film, for which about 400 locals have been hired as grips, caterers, drivers and extras. When the chief learned of the scene depicting Depp's character on the barbecue spit, he said the Caribs would boycott the production.

Other Caribs say the chief is taking offense where none was intended. "He didn't have the right to make that decision for the entire community," said Christabelle Auguiste, the only woman on the seven-member tribal council. She regards the filming of a potential blockbuster in her homeland as an opportunity to show off the island's stunning natural attractions and to raise international consciousness about the Caribs and their traditions.

"Throughout the years, there's been this picture painted of us as cannibals. The fact that some people might have had an arm or a leg in their homes didn't mean they ate people. They were kept as tokens of war," Auguiste said of her ancestors and their clashes with European invaders.

Cannibal Stories

The following statement was originally produced by CAC editor Pedro Ferbel-Azcarate:

The misidentification of cannibalism for ancestor worship, reported in Columbus' 1493 log, can be seen today as a classic case of cultural misunderstanding.

Using multidisciplinary lines of evidence we can see that Columbus misunderstood the cultural practice of Native people in storing the bones of their ancestors in calabash gourdes in their homes. He mistakenly believed this was a practice of cannibalism. There is scant archaeological evidence of cannibalism in the Caribbean. We would expect to find butchering marks on long bones of human remains if there was a significant practice of cannibalism. The lack of such evidence makes archaeologists reject cannabalism as a common practice in the Caribbean.

It appears that the mythology of cannibalism was promoted by such early European explorers as Columbus as a means to portray the Indigenous people of the Caribbean as savages. This denigration of Native peoples led to the European justification to enslave them, take their lands, and create a racist system whereby people who were not of European origin were given alower social status.

The portrayal of Native Caribbean Americans as cannibals and savages in a new Disney movie aimed at children perpetuates negative stereotypes and a false understanding of colonial history. Disney Corp. should be ashamed by their intentions to put profit above the dignity of human communities. Disney should retract their portrayal of Indigenous Caribbeans as cannibals and savages and should offer a formal apology to Chief Charles Williams and the Carib people of Dominica, as well as to all Indigenous people of the Caribbean.

The real adventure story is about the survival of Indigenous Caribbean people to the present day, a story rarely told. After 500 years years of resistance, the Native Carib (Kalinago) and Taino have survived to the present day.

Indigenous Protest Against Disney

This editorial appeared in Indian Country Today on April 14, 2005, and is reproduced here with the written permission of the editorial department of the newspaper. The original version can be found at http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096410746. The CAC Review's Creative Commons license does not apply to this article.

Disney's Carib Indian cannibals deserve boycott

Posted: April 14, 2005
by: Editors Report / Indian Country Today

Walt Disney Pictures is premising its sequel to its film ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' on the supposed cannibalism of Carib Indians. This is disgusting. It is a bit beyond the time when the present-day children of the Carib people of the Antilles need to be hit in the face, one more time, with the wanton and highly-disputed idea that they descend from cannibals.

Leaders from at least three communities of Caribs - Salybia in Dominica, Santa Rosa in Trinidad and a community in St. Vincent - have registered their strong objections to Disney executives, who have not responded in any positive way to the critique. Scholars and others are adding their voices to the challenge.

While the controversy over the Caribs' alleged cannibalism is as old as the conquest of the Americas, most observers agree that the Disney movie, slated for worldwide audiences, is beyond the pale as a vehicle to inculcate the historical stereotype upon even more generations of Carib and Caribbean children.

Filming of the sequel is scheduled to begin this month in Dominica. Its predecessor, the first production in the ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' series, was a 2003 blockbuster that grossed $653 million worldwide. Some 3,000 Caribs live in the Carib territory on the island of Dominica, which has a population of 70,000. Tens of thousands of Carib descendants, now known as Garifuna, live on the coasts of Belize, Honduras and Guatemala, as well as in the North American diaspora.

Chief Charles Williams of the Carib community in Dominica has denounced the concept of his people being depicted as cannibals. This stereotype has ''stigmatized'' Caribs for 500 years and is still used both as a form of personal insult and as justification for mistreating his people, Williams said; the movie will further ''popularize'' the historical insult against his people.

Among other Native leaders, the chief of the Carib community at Arima in Trinidad, Ricardo Bharath, also strongly condemned the planned movie. He was joined by Adonis Christo, the community's shaman or medicine man. The oral tradition among their people doesn't support cannibalism as a historical fact, they asserted.

''Do you want to know who the real cannibals are?'' Bharath asked the Inter Press Service. ''They are the ones in modern-day society who are eating down our mountains, raping the environment, polluting the waters,'' he said. Stated Christo: ''Our people defended their families and friends. They defended their homes. They defended their lands.''

There are early references by Europeans to ritual cannibalism among the first encounters with the Caribs. But Brinsley Samaroo, head of the History department of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies, is among those who believe the claim is largely a European invention of ''manufactured history.''

In the historical record, one finds a letter from a Dr. Chanca, who accompanied Christopher Columbus during his second voyage to the Caribbean. Chanca speculated that some young men held prisoners by a Carib group were being fattened to the slaughter for feasting.

Neither the wanton killing and rape by Spanish colonists of the first group of Caribs encountered - recorded during the same trip by others on the ship - nor the Caribs' fierce, valiant defense of their territories and people are apparently proper subjects for a Disney movie.

The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Historical and Archaeological Society has called for a boycott of the sequel by moviegoers if Disney does not modify the script. Paul Lewis, the society secretary, charged that perpetuating the image of Caribs as cannibals sets back a serious effort in the region to provide a more ''honest share of [Caribbean] history'' to the indigenous people.

The governments of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, who will benefit somewhat from the production activities in their countries, have not objected. In fact, the tourism minister of Dominica has defended the proposed film, which would bring some economic benefits to people on the island and which is, as he put it, only a ''work of fiction.''

Some Caribs, as can be expected, have applied for work as extras in the movie, a fact that has made some crow that this somehow exonerates Disney for its production. But that is all just public relations. Reality is that a huge company like Disney should know better in 2005 than to besmirch a living people with its most negative historical stereotype.

Clearly, Disney moviemakers need to consider the negative impacts of the dramatic storylines they choose to project to such a huge audience. It is not acceptable to create and recreate villains out of Native people while exulting and romanticizing the lives of pirates who in real life were murderers and thieves without regard for anyone. Call it what you may, ''fiction'' or dramatic or poetic license, it smacks of racism to us.

Disney's Carib Indian cannibals deserve boycott

ICT [2005/04/14]--Disney's Carib Indian cannibals deserve boycott



An editorial in Indian Country Today (see the link above) rightly encourages a boycott of Disney over its slander against the Caribs. While claiming that the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, is simply "fiction, not history" and "entertainment", Disney has obviously chosen to reinforce a particular kind of fiction, that is, a historical fiction of the kind perpetrated by European invaders and slave traders of the colonial Caribbean. This is tantamount to saying that because the Nazis constructed a fictional view of Jews as a plague of rats in 1930s Germany, as shown in Nazi propaganda films, we are free to reproduce this fiction today arguing, "it's just fiction". To the extent that some would inevitably enjoy seeing a people portrayed as rats, one would then be able to argue that it is also "entertainment". Disney's fiction is not pure, original, fiction--it is a mirror of the past. Given the sense of shame that many modern day Carib descendants have been made to feel as a result of centuries of well worn allegations of the "savagery" of their ancestors, Disney is playing its little part in continuing ethnocide.

Trinidad Express: Caribs Speak about Disney

"We Do Not Eat People"

Click on the link to read a report in the Trinidad Express on local Carib reactions to Disney's plans to cast their ancestors as cannibals.

Carib Community of Trinidad Joins Indigenous Condemnations of Disney

americas.org - Arrr, Matey! The Curse of the Racist Sequel?



Arrr, Matey! The Curse of the Racist Sequel?



Published by Inter Press Service, 2/28/05



PORT OF SPAIN - The 2003 blockbuster movie grossed 653 million dollars in theatres around the world, and the producers of the "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" are eagerly gearing up to film the sequels.



Filming of the scenes for the first of two installments is scheduled for April, and like the original, they will be shot in the Caribbean.



However, unlike the original movie, which was filmed in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, the first sequel will also involve the Caribs of Dominica, whose ancestors were among the early inhabitants of the Caribbean.



But the project, due to be released on Jul. 7, 2006, is already proving to be a problem, as the descendants of the Caribs, historians and others are objecting to scenes depicting these indigenous people as involved in cannibalism.



Brinsley Samaroo, head of the history department of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), dismisses the claim of cannibalism as a "European myth".



He told IPS that it was nothing but "manufactured history" by the Europeans who came across the Caniba, a tribe found in North and South America.



"The Caniba tribe was very hostile, as would be any group whose territory was being invaded. They were resisting the Europeans very stoutly and in order to warn other Europeans about this, the early explorers spread the myth that the Caniba tribe eat people," he said.



"They called them cannibals, derived from the name of the tribe," he explained.



Samaroo is lending his support to those who have publicly called on Walt Disney Productions to remove that aspect from the "Pirates of the Caribbean 2".



Disney has so far made no public statement on the issue, and did not respond to an IPS request for an interview.



The governments of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Dominica, whose impoverished economies would receive a boost from the activities associated with the filming of the sequel, have also been silent on the controversy.



Several of the estimated population of 3,000 Carib descendants in Dominica have applied to be extras in the film, which again stars Johnny Depp, but that has not stopped the Carib chief, Charles Williams, from taking a stand against the project.



Williams contends that Disney executives were insistent on including scenes where Caribs would be portrayed as cannibals, and to appear naked or semi-naked in the movie.



The Carib chief said that Caribs have been "stigmatised up to this day" as cannibals and Disney wants to popularise that stigma through the movie.



He said that this portrayal "cannot be perpetuated in movies," and his condemnation is gaining support from other Carib descendants and organisations across the Caribbean.



The St. Vincent and the Grenadines Historical and Archaeological Society has called on movie-goers to boycott the sequel unless the "grossly offensive" scenes depicting the Caribs as cannibals are removed from the script.



According to the society's secretary, Paul Lewis, perpetuating the image of Caribs as cannibals is totally unacceptable to all Caribbean peoples.



"Caribbean scholars and schoolteachers have been waging a ferocious battle for a long time to give the indigenous peoples of the region a fairer and more honest share of its history," he said in a letter to the local media.



Ricardo Bharath, who heads the Carib community in Arima, the Amerindian word for water and the third largest town in Trinidad, has also condemned the sequel.



"I think it is not right. I want to support the chief (in Dominica)," he told IPS. "In all my involvement in the community I have had no experience of our people being described as cannibals. I have listened to stories from the elders, a lot of anthropologists and archeologists and they all stated they found no evidence of cannibalism of our people in the Caribbean region."



"Do you want to know who the real cannibals are? They are the ones in modern-day society who are eating down our mountains, raping the environment, polluting the water courses," he said.



Adonis Christo, the shamaan or medicine man of the Arima Carib community, insists that "the Caribs were hunters, fishermen and farmers. They were nomadic."



"They defended their people, families, and friends. They defended their homes. They defended their lands," he added.



The Caribs here have been researching their history, preserving and practising traditions of their ancestors, including the annual "Smoke Ceremony" each Aug. 1, where they pay tribute to their forefathers with various offerings including tobacco and farine, which is made from cassava and water.



On Oct. 14, the Caribs observe "Recognition Day", joined by their counterparts in Dominica, Suriname and the Arawaks from Guyana.



"We don't eat people. We only eat wild meat," says Valentina Medina, the titular Queen of the Carib Group in Trinidad. (END)

National Garifuna Council of Belize Protests Disney's Cannibalism

Walt Disney Company "Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3" portrayal of Garinagu as cannibals angers the GARIFUNA NATION worldwide

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