NO HOLO-HOODOO?

 

 

Jews have float
banned from Rio carnival

 

Holocaust float banned from Rio carnival
The Guardian, London Thursday January 31, 2008

By ANGELA BALAKRISHNAN

RIO DE JANEIRO — A judge today banned a float depicting naked
Holocaust® victims from taking part in the Rio de Janeiro carnival.

There will be no Hollywood props at this year's
carnival celebration in Rio.

Following strong objections from Jewish groups and a lawsuit by
the Jewish Federation of Rio, judge Juliana Kalichsztein issued
the injunction, which asked for the float to be removed from the
city's famed carnival parade.

Sergio Niskier, president of the Jewish federation, said references
to the slaughter of Six Million Jews had no place in a carnival.

"There are still survivors of that horror who have the marks of that
tragedy on their skin," he said.

Viradouro, a samba group, had planned to feature the controversial
float at the Sambadrome parade this Sunday.

The judge said the float could still be used, provided that the
organizers remove the Holocaust® bodies.

Too shocking

The carnival is famed for the parades of glitzy floats by samba
schools, with street parties where dressed-up revellers and
scantily-clad carnival queens drink and dance the night away.

Viradouro insisted its float was not meant to offend anyone and was
in keeping with the parade theme this year of "Shockers". Floats
depicting the shock of birth, shock of horror, and shock of the cold
have also been created by other groups.

"The float is extremely respectful, it's a warning. It's something
shocking that we don't want to happen ever again" said Paulo Barros, Viradouro's artistic director. He added that their float would be the only one without dancers on top.

"If we had people dancing on top of dead bodies that would indeed
be disrespectful," he told Reuters.

Second 'Nazi' controversy for this year's carnival

The banning of the Holocaust® float marks the second Nazi-linked
controversy to hit the five-day carnival this year.

The Estacio de Sa group were yesterday forced to remove the
Swastika symbol from uniforms that its dancers planned to wear after Jewish groups complained.

The samba group also said it would drop a section of the parade
named after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

The latest uproar over the carnival comes after dozens of senior
police officers in Rio resigned yesterday in protest at the dismissal
of a commander, threatening the city's security measures ahead of
the raucous celebrations.

Earlier in the week clashes between police and suspected drug
traffickers earlier in the week left six dead and many wounded,
exposing the violence in the city behind the festivities.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,,2250239,00.html