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A shining brand!
Cashing in on Mandela’s
image, 20 years after freedom
_By Justine Gerardy_ |
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OSCAR
winner Charlize Theron, Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso and 2010
World Cup fraudsters have learned the knuckling-rapping lesson: the
Nelson Mandela brand is not for sale.
All have been rebuked by
representatives for the 91-year-old who guard against misuse of
Mandela's name and image, which crops up everywhere from T-shirts to
e-mail scams 20 years after his release from apartheid prison.
"The Nelson Mandela Foundation has had the difficulty with having to
protect Madiba's name," said Sello Hatang, of the office Mandela
established in 1999 after retiring as South Africa's first black
president. "Any abuse is abuse. Whenever we pick up on the problem we
deal with it." |
Despite keeping a low-profile, the ageing Mandela remains globally
revered. Feted by world leaders and celebrities, he is adored at home as
a living symbol of forgiveness after decades of white minority rule.
It's an allure that many want to cash in on — from the Mandela Auto Body
Parts shop in Port Elizabeth, South Africa to New York's Madiba
Restaurant in the US.
In the bustle of Soweto outside Johannesburg, hawkers at the township's
anti-apartheid tourist sites sell a sprinkling of crude clay busts, 1994
election campaign badges, T-shirts and flags bearing his face. "The
people from Mandela House say that Mandela's image is copy-righted and
we are not supposed to sell them. We have to get permission first," said
Kgomotoso Mahlasela who trades opposite Mandela's former home turned
museum.
But the 25-year-old, who makes a 200 per cent profit on the badges he
sells for 30 rand (less than four dollars, less than three euros), says
Mandela's image should be freely available. "It should be open for
everyone because it's our icon. It's Mandela. He's our icon. We are
selling these things to people of the world — they are the ones that
want the Mandela image."
While Mandela's lawyer declined to comment on the scope of copyrights in
his name, the foundation has a link for fraudulent activity on its
website and has issued several press releases to fight off name theft.
The scams range from using his office's name to solicit money to winning
claims in World Cup lottery draws for the tournament hosted by South
Africa this year.
"It's not only damaging to his reputation and his good name but also
damaging to the image of these organisations that he has established,"
Hatang said. Even the dazzle of Hollywood and presidential offices are
not spared by Mandela's handlers. Last October, South African-born
starlet Theron was censured for throwing in a bids-boosting meeting with
Mandela at a charity auction without running it past his office.
"Not even the charity foundations Mandela himself established are
allowed to auction off time with him," responded the foundation's chief
Achmat Dangor. In the same month, Congo leader Nguesso was chided for
"brazen abuse of Mandela’s name" in a book which claimed a foreword
penned by the global icon. Mandela's protectors now hope that the United
Nations adoption of Mandela Day, celebrated on his July 18 birthday,
will show how best to use his name by urging people to do good deeds in
their communities. "What we are trying to do is use the name for good,"
said Hatang. — AFP |
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Palestinians aim to lure tourists
Brochures tout the wonders
of the Turkish baths of Nablus, the cosmopolitan
coffee-shops of Ramallah and the archaeological attractions of
ancient Jericho |
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A tourist takes a snap of her friends at the controversial
‘separation barrier’ constructed by Israel at the
entrance of Bethlehem in West Bank |
A Palestinian man with camels in
Bethlehem. Palestinian
tourism ministry records show that some 2.6 million
tourists visited West Bank in 2009 |
FOR
your next getaway, you might consider this: four nights and five days in
sunny "Palestine: land of miracles". It's a tough sell for a place that has
become synonymous with Middle East violence, for a country which does not
even control all of its territory, let alone its major tourist attractions.
And yet the figures are up for the third year running. Palestinian tourism
ministry records show that some 2.6 million tourists visited the
Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2009. Of those, more than 1.7 million were
foreigners, just 1.2 per cent fewer than in 2008 — a veritable miracle in
itself at a time when the global economic slump has sent tourism plunging 10
per cent across the rest of the region.
The fact that the Palestinian territories are part of the Holy Land accounts
for a large part of the success. Bethlehem, home to the Church of the
Nativity built on what tradition holds to be the birthplace of Jesus, is the
prime attraction. More than 80 per cent of all tourists who come to the
Palestinian territories visit Bethlehem.
"We do not have a sea or sport centres, we don't have oil or fashion or
clubs. Visitors must come as pilgrims," said Bethlehem mayor Victor Batarseh.
Being a one-attraction destination has its drawbacks, however, and those who
come do not spend either much time or money. "Every day they come and visit
our city, but just for 20 minutes," said Adnan Subah, who sells olive wood
carvings and pottery to tourists.
"They go from the bus into the church and then back on the bus," he said,
gesturing forlornly at his empty shop despite its prime location near the
church on Manger Square. Still, despite its "Palestine: land of miracles"
slogan, the Palestinian tourism ministry says it has more to offer than just
holy sites. Brochures tout the wonders of the Turkish baths of Nablus, the
cosmopolitan coffee-shops of Ramallah and the archaeological attractions of
ancient Jericho.
But the glossy pamphlets often also gloss over the complex reality of a
highly volatile region. The ministry's efforts are largely devoted to the
myriad attractions of Jerusalem, which the Palestinians claim as the capital
of their future state. But all of Jerusalem is controlled by Israel, which
captured the eastern part of the Holy City in the 1967 Six Day War and later
annexed it in a move not recognised by the international community.
The Palestinian ministry leaflets also make no mention of Israeli army
roadblocks or the West Bank separation barrier that includes an eight-metre
high concrete wall that cuts off Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Brochures even
advise travellers to take in the sites of the Gaza Strip, renowned for its
"relaxed seaside atmosphere".
Today, tourists are not even allowed in to the isolated, war-ravaged enclave
ruled by the Hamas movement, which in 2007 violently ousted secular forces
loyal to the Palestinian Authority. Since then, Israel and Egypt have
imposed a strict blockade, allowing only basic humanitarian goods into the
coastal territory.
Palestinian tourism minister Khulud Daibes, an urbane German-educated
architect, says that while the brochures try to show everything the region
has to offer, their actual focus is more realistic. "We can't promote all
the Palestinian territory, so we are focusing on the triangle of Jerusalem,
Bethlehem and Jericho," she said. "That's where we feel comfortable about
safety issues and freedom of movement."
Later this year, she plans to launch a "Jericho 10,000" campaign focusing on
the Biblical city, believed to be one of the oldest in the world. With its
proximity to the Dead Sea, Jericho is already the most popular destination
among Palestinian tourists themselves. However, the minister's greatest
challenge is trying to foster and promote tourism to an occupied territory.
The Palestinians no longer have their own airport, and do not even control
their border crossings into neighbouring Jordan and Egypt. "It's a challenge
for us, how to be innovative and promote tourism under occupation," she
said. "We need to get people to realise that behind the wall there is a good
experience waiting, and get them to stay longer on the Palestinian side."
Security is a key aspect in efforts to boost tourism. Palestinian forces
have managed to bring calm to the occupied territories in recent years, and
this has gone a long way towards reassuring potential tourists. "We had a
very worried feeling all the time, but everything is okay," said Juan Cruz,
27, from Mexico who visited Bethlehem for Christmas. "Everything is very
safe and there are lots of police everywhere, so that is good." — AFP |
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Curd cheese or leeches?
A lot can define an athlete’s well-being |
YOU
felt reminded of boxers using a steak to treat their black eyes when a
US Olympic team doctor said that skier Lindsey Vonn really chose curd
cheese for a shin problem.
And according to the doctor, US women's ski team medical chief Bill
Sterett, it's not unusual: athletes can be highly irritated by modern
medicine and methods of treatment.
"Lindsey and other athletes can be very resistant to even using anti-inflammatories.
They also question the radiation of X-rays," said Sterett, an
orthopaedic surgeon in Vail. The use of the curd cheese was actually no
surprise, given that she treated the bruised muscle in Austria for the
first days. There, as in Germany, curd cheese is well-known to help
against swellings. |
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Sterett told the news conference attended mostly by US media that "a lot of
athletes use it." Leeches have played a role in medicine for centuries and
former Bayer Leverkusen football team doctor Dieter Trzolek used them — as
well as cabbage bandages — to treat imflammations. "I tell the players that
it takes up to two weeks longer with ice or cremes," Trzolek said.
The steak on the boxer's eye had the same effect, but has by now more or
less been replaced by ice (or cold metal) which also do the trick. It was
simply the coldness of the meat which eased swellings. Or, as the
mothernature.com website put it: "A vegetarian would have gotten the same
results by using iceberg lettuce." In Poland, meanwhile, the traditional
cold remedy of tea with honey is spiced up with garlic, and former
ski-jumping star Adam Malysz swears by it.
Other issues have been a little more dubious than all these granny-style
recipes and remedies mentioned so far. Calves blood injections were popular
until listed as doping while Chinese coach Ma Junren (in)famously attributed
the world records of his female distance runners in the early 1990s to a
diet of turtle blood and caterpillar fungus.
If that wasn't enough, German cross-country skier Johann Muehlegg accused
the former national team coach of damaging him spiritually and preferred to
rely on a flask of holy water and his Portuguese healer Justina Agostino,
also known as "the grace." Muehlegg was kicked out of the German team
and his career finally ended in rather unholy fashion in 2002 when he was
stripped of three Olympic golds he won for Spain — for blood doping.
Biathlon king Ole Einar Bjoerndalen once said that cross-country skiers and
biathletes "may be a little mentally ill" when talking about his obsession
with vacuum cleaners. Fearing nothing more than that an infection could ruin
his winning chances, Bjoerndalen always hoovers his hotel room to make sure
it is really clean. It fits the picture that his mental trainer is a vacuum
cleaner salesman. "He has this gift of kind of hypnotising me to programme
the course of the race into my head," Bjoerndalen told Germany's Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung daily in 2007.
—DPA |
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Baby visit
sparked Mandela’s
friendship with guard |
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AN
act of kindness was the seed that blossomed into a friendship between a
young prison guard and the man who would leave his jail cell to eventually
become South Africa's first black president. Former guard Christo Brand
narrated how a visit to Robben Island prison by Nelson Mandela's second wife
Winnie put him in the awkward position that would spark a friendship with
his former prisoner that has lasted a lifetime.
Mandela spent 27 years in jail at the behest of South Africa's apartheid
government. Most of his time behind bars was in the Alcatraz-like Robben
Island prison off Cape Town's coast. Brand, who arrived at Robben Island as
an 18-year-old in 1978, said that during Winnie's 1980 visit, she told
Mandela that she had brought his infant child with her.
Prisoners were only allowed to see visitors through a tiny window, measuring
30 cm by 15 cm, that was accessed by entering a small cubicle. They
communicated with visitors on the other side of the window using a
telephone. Winnie Mandela had arrived on the boat to Robben Island and was
not immediately ushered into the prison.
"It was winter, it was cold and because she was black and not coloured
(mixed race) or white, she (had to) sit outside on the boat wrapped with
blankets," Brand said. "We never observed that she had a baby on her back."
But the baby was discovered and Winnie Mandela was not allowed to take it
into the box for visitors on her side of the window. The infant was kept in
the visitors' main waiting area.
Children were strictly not allowed at the prison, but when Mandela found out
that his child was near he asked to see it. "He immediately looked and said:
Mr Brand is it possible to see the child?" said Brand, who explained to
Mandela this was impossible because it was against prison regulations.
Mandela asked Brand to take the matter to his superiors, who gave him a
tacit go-ahead. At the end of Winnie's visit, Mandela, who was sitting in
the prisoner's cubicle, told Brand he needed to speak to his wife once more
to give her a final message he had forgotten about earlier. That's when
Brand brought the child to Mandela.
"I (went) to the other side and she'd just picked up the baby and I said:
'Ma'am, please can I hold the baby?' I had never touched a black child and
she put it in my arms," Brand said. Brand ushered Winnie into the visitors'
box, locked the door and then called to Mandela. "He looked up and said:
Darling I must go. He never jumped up during the visits, and that day he
jumped up because he saw I've got an infant in my hands. He came to me and
had some tears in his eyes," said Brand.
Brand said he never told Winnie, who pleaded with the guard to let Mandela
see the child, about his transgression. It was also something Mandela kept
secret from his fellow prisoners and was the catalyst for a special bond
between prisoner and warder. "That is where our relationship really started
in Robben Island," recalled Brand, who was transferred with Mandela to the
mainland Pollsmoor Prison in 1982.
"And that's where we started becoming more closer friends, started sharing
views with each other," Brand said. Mandela, who became South Africa's first
democratically elected president in 1994, mentions fondly the friendship he
struck with Brand in his memoirs. Yesterday marked the 20th anniversary of
Mandela's walk into the history books as a statesman revered globally for
his efforts to forge reconciliation in a racially divided South Africa. —
Reuters |
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Asian affluence
endangers
world tiger population |
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Demand for tiger bone tonic, skin,
meat and teeth is putting
pressure on the endangered creature worldwide |
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A tiger swims at the Bangkok Zoo |
DEMAND
by a newly rich Asian population for such goods as tiger bone tonic and
tigers' skin, meat and teeth is putting pressure on these endangered
creatures worldwide, wildlife advocates reported. Because of this increased
Asian demand for tiger products, tiger farms in Asia are breeding the
animals for their body parts, even though there is a ban on this trade in
Asia, said Crawford Allan, Director of TRAFFIC-North America, which monitors
such illicit commerce in animal products.
"Some of the spending of (new Asian) wealth is on symbols of status and
traditional products that were previously out of reach, and some of those
include endangered species like the tiger." Allan said in an online
briefing. "Tiger bone tonic has become a fashionable cocktail to serve among
these nouveau riches, particularly in countries like China," he said. |
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The US is also part of the problem, Allan and other conservation leaders
said in the briefing, because the US captive tiger population of 5,000
animals is larger than the estimated 3,200 wild tigers in the world. Many US
tigers are bred for entertainment purposes or for private collections,
rather than zoos.
However, while a small tiger cub may be appealing, even a six-month-old
tiger is too much for most private owners to handle and hundreds are turned
over to sanctuaries. What happens to them then is hard to discern because of
an irregular patchwork of laws and regulations, the environmentalists said,
and some may end up as part of the illegal trade in tiger parts.
Year of the tiger
To combat this trade and the poaching and deforestation that are cutting
into the number of wild tigers around the globe, the World Wildlife Fund and
other environmental organizations launched a campaign to double the number
of tigers in the wild by 2022. The campaign begins formally on Sunday, the
start of the traditional Chinese lunar year of the tiger. The goal is to
have twice as many wild tigers by the next tiger year in twelve years.
The environmental advocates plan to press their case at a series of
international meetings this year, starting with a meeting of the Convention
on International Trade in Endangered Species in March in Doha, Qatar,
and continuing through a September gathering specifically on tigers in
Vladivostok.
For the last 12 years, experts in traditional Chinese medicine have been
campaigning against the use of tiger parts, said Lixin Huang, president of
the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. "Traditional Chinese
medicine does not need tiger bones to treat patients or to save lives,"
Huang said. "Tigers originally came from China, but China does not have many
wild tigers left, only about 50."
Saving tigers means saving their disparate environments around Asia, which
can also mean saving the human communities that depend on the same
environments, said Sybille Klenzendorf, Director of WWF-US Species
Conservation Programme. In the case of the Sumatran tiger, its peat swamp
habitat acts to sequester climate-warming carbon dioxide.
However this is being threatened by logging and the rise of palm oil
plantations where there used to be swamps and forests. Demand in Europe for
products made from palm oil, such as lipstick, ice cream, biofuels and
detergents, helps drive the destruction of tiger habitat in this region, the
conservationists said. — Reuters
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Eco clothes to
make Mother Nature happy |
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NEWSPAPER
ballgowns, recycled plastic sandals and coats made of wool from "happy and
free" sheep — designers are showing clothes to make Mother Nature smile at
GreenShows Eco Fashion Week. After a first run last September, the event's
second fashion week kicks off on Sunday, with 10 designers sending models
down runways at an East Village building in New York City.
Even the location is environmentally friendly, complete with LEED-Gold
certification — a high standard of environmentally sustainable construction.
Models will strut their stuff for four days for GreenShows, timed to
coincide with stylistas and tastemakers from around the fashion world
flocking to New York City to view Autumn-Winter 2010 collections on display
at Bryant Park.
While designer superstars, including Diane von Furstenberg, Isaac Mizrahi,
Ralph Lauren, Marc Jacobs and Catherine Malandrino, prepare to unveil their
latest collections at New York Fashion Week, Samatha Pleet is putting the
final touches on her line.
The 28-year-old designer is planning to show 35 pieces on Tuesday at Eco
Fashion Week, which is co-sponsored by natural cosmetics manufacturer Weleda
and features hair and make-up demonstrations on the sidelines of the shows. |
A model walks the runway |
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"You see this parka, it has a cracked paper look," she said, pointing to a
light brown matte jacket. "It's silk created in China, buried in mud for two
months, and then they use yams to dye the silk. It's a traditional Chinese
method," the Pratt Institute graduate added. Alongside the coat hangs a
bustier dress made from a recycled polyester micro-fibre that looks like
suede and a silk blouse dyed with pigments derived from pumpkins and red
fruit.
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Lady Gaga attends the amfAR
New York Gala co-sponsored by
M A C Cosmetics to Kick Off
Fall 2010 Fashion Week at
Cipriani in New York |
Pleet showed visitors flannel capes
lined with organic wool. "This organic wool comes from Vermont, no chemicals
are used and the sheep live a happy and free life. They only use pigments,
no (chemical) dye," she added. Gary Harvey, a British designer who will be
showing his recycled material line, has big plans in mind.
"I believe we can contribute to an ethical fashion revolution," he said.
Harvey created a sensation in London in 2007, when he showed a
couture-inspired tutu dress with a skirt made entirely from 30 copies of the
Financial Times newspaper.
At the Kaight boutique in Chinatown, Kate McGregor proudly displayed items
by many of the eco-friendly designers who will present their work at
GreenShows. She also sells Vivienne Westwood shoes from a collaboration
between the eccentric British designer and Brazilian brand Melissa.
Fresh from collaborations with France's couturier Jean-Paul Gaultier,
Melissa's factories are world specialists in the use of "Mel-flex" a
flexible and sustainable plastic material used in shoes that range from
ankle boots to high-heeled, peep-toe slingbacks. "Melissa has a closed loop
system, no waste is generated (and) Mel-flex is a non-toxic plastic,"
McGregor explained. |
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According to the Brazilian company's website, Melissa shoes use no animal
products and the manufacturer vows to treat its workers well and pay them
fairly. GreenShows organiser Eric Dorfman said he was surprised by the
event's success. "I did not expect such a result. I had the idea to get eco
fashion brands together and to do fashion shows," he said. "Eco is more than
a way of producing clothes, more than fair trade or fair pay. It's about
consciousness of life." — AFP
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World-famous porcelain celebrates 300 years |
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_By Joerg Schurig_ |
THE
symptoms of porcelain sickness are not precisely known although Saxon count
and Polish king August II the Strong (1670-1733) did admit to suffering from
what he coined "Maladie de Porcelaine." Today, the condition would be
better described as an addiction or a passion for collection but in the case
of August II, it led to a collection of 35,000 porcelain pieces, including
his very own castle of porcelain.
The king's passion took on a public face on January 23, 1710 when Saxony's
royal court issued its highest decree following the discovery of Europe's
first hard-paste porcelain and the formation of a manufacturing base for
what was considered "white gold." The decree was issued not only in German,
but also Latin, French and Dutch, clear evidence that August's passion was,
from the start, also based on sound economic considerations. |
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"Until this time, porcelain had to be imported from Asia — with the
accompanying horribly high prices," explains Christian Kurtzke, CEO of the
Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen GmbH, which is still producing
porcelain in Meissen today. Saxony's wish to be no longer dependant on
porcelain imports as well as a desire to be held in the same esteem as other
royal courts were the main reasons behind the development of the industry.
In 1711, Meissen porcelain was presented for the first time as a gift to
Denmark's King Frederick IV with the objective of drumming up business for
the fledgling endeavour. Now 300 years later, the crossed swords emblem of
this top-quality porcelain is world-renowned and considered an heirloom to
be passed down through the generations.
In the former German Democratic Republic (GDR), it was even used at times as
a second currency with artists from the West often reimbursed in the form of
Meissen products. The modern German federal state of Saxony continues to
honour visiting luminaries with a piece of Meissen. In 2009, for example, US
President Barack Obama received a set of porcelain cufflinks.
In the same year, the famous Meissen Zwiebelmuster (Meissen Onion Pattern)
celebrated its 270th year of existence although onion is a bit of a misnomer
as pomegranates and peaches are actually represented in the pattern as
symbols of long life. The Zwiebelmuster pattern has also been given a modern
upgrade in the form of "Zwiebelmuster-Style," a sign that the company is not
resting on its laurels.
Kurtzke came to Meissen at the end of 2008 with the task of restructuring
the company, which had just experienced an annual loss of 6 million euros
($8.3 million) due to a shrinking order book. The stagnation in sales was
not only due to a change in customer lifestyles but also to an explosion in
the number of single-person households.
Architecture and interior design are to be the new pillars of the company
instead of crockery. Kurtzke calls it "Fine Living and Home Art," and it
includes wall hangings, tiles and figures. After that comes "Fine Dining" as
well as "Fine Jewellery and Accessories." "We decorate rooms, tables
and, in particular, people," says Kurtzke, who also promises "fireworks of
innovation." In this way, Kurtzke believes Meissen is keeping true to its
illustrious past. — DPA
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