Carne-val Updated
An update on the story we covered this morning:
A judge issued an order Thursday prohibiting a Rio samba group from parading during carnival with a float depicting naked bodies of Holocaust victims.
Judge Juliana Kalichszteim issued the injunction in response to a lawsuit by the Jewish Federation of Rio de Janeiro, which asked for the float be removed from this city’s famed carnival parade next week, said Lara Voges, a spokeswoman for the judge.
The judge said the float could be used in the parade, but that organizers of the Viradouro samba group must remove mannequins meant to represent dead bodies from the Holocaust.
We were okay with this, with some reservations. But there are a few details that are less than appetizing:
Reports in the media have said that Viradouro had planned to feature at least one dancer dressed as Adolf Hitler in the parade, using the theme: “It Gives you Goose Bumps.”
…
In her decision, Kalichszteim said carnival “should not be used as a tool for the cult of hate, any form of racism, beside the clear banalization of barbaric events.”
I don’t know about the choice of the word “banalization”, but I take the point.