The Carnival in Rio de Janeiro began this weekend.
eFluxMedia reports that a carnival float showing the victims of the Holocaust and a Hitler figure was banned from participating at the Rio Carnival after the Jewish community opposed to it. Yesterday a judge issued an injunction that will not allow the samba group to participate at the parade with the Holocaust-theme float after the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro, the Fierj, filled a lawsuit against it, the Associated Press reports. José Roitberg, a federation spokesman, said: "It's inadmissible that they could have a parade float depicting dead Jews and a live Hitler on top of them. “The samba school Unidos do Viradouro, which came with the idea of the Holocaust, said that the theme was made in order to remind the people about the horrors in the past and to try to prevent them from happening again. Paulo Barros, the creative director of Viradouro said it was a respectful reminder of the Holocaust. He said: "This an extremely serious work, and people think we're mocking," Telegraph.co.uk informs. Judge Juliana Kalichszteim from the Rio de Janeiro state said: “Carnival should not be used as an instrument of hatred, any kind of racism and clear trivialization of barbaric and unjustified acts against minorities. “The Holocaust theme float of the Viradouro group was one of the several planned by the samba school to use as part of its theme “It Gives You Goose Bumps.” Another float by them represents cold, fear and birth. Viradouro is scheduled to parade on Monday and it didn’t say if it will have a live Hitler. According to the judge, the group can participate, but it will have to remove the mannequins that stand in for the dead bodies. If they will ignore the order they will be fined with $113,000 and $28,000 for every dancer that is dressed like Hitler. The Carnival is an annual festival held in Rio de Janeiro 40 days before Easter. It marks the beginning of the fast and is a major tourist attraction. Rio Carnival is an official competition made up of 12 separate parades of the samba schools from the city’s favelas and lasts four nights.
The Carnival started on Sunday. The 12 schools of samba presented a parade of 80 minutes with hundreds of dancers and musicians dressed in different costumes, each school depicting a theme on the float. At the end of it one of the samba schools is declared a winner.
My favorite is still Beija-Flor. They won last year, and this one they are between the favourites. I'll update later with the results for 2008.
Article from www.efluxmedia.com ; Foto: Desfile da Beija-Flor by José Patrício/Agência Estado for carnaval2008.terra.com.br
