Someone posted this link in a German language forum today:
http://www.powwow-freunde.de/home_deu_/Liebe_Mitglieder.pdfThe following is a letter by Ms Jackie Fischer, chairwoman of Powwow-Freunde e.V. [powwow friends], the non-profit organisation working closely with Giovanni de Carlo, published at the site of Powwow-Freunde. Despite their site being bilingual, this letter has only been published in German language:
„Dear members and powwow friends,
recently, two members of our organisation – who were expelled from the organisation due to having effected harm to it by slander – sent a letter to an organisation in the USA (a flute organisation whose aim is not to be discussed here – you may decide for yourself what kind of an organisation this is). In this letter, they mention our organisation cooperates with „The Flute Keeper“. Apparently, the conflict between both parties (The Flute Keeper and this organisation) has been going for some time already. We will not mingle into this conflict, this is something between these two parties.
The reason we are publishing this is to reply to those persons who perhaps received the link to this organisation or read about it in one of the forums. The Flute Organisation has published the letter written by these former members, in which the character of our organisation is being called into question.
I received an E-Mail from the president of that organisation in which I get asked to stop cooperating with „The Flute Keeper“. I answered and told them that, in this country and this organisation, we come to a decision on the basis of what we see and which experience we gather and not according to what others say, especially not persons whom we had never dealt with before and don't know who they are.
In reply, I received the following E-Mail from this lady (who presumably is a doctor):
„We will alert the authorities in Germany and our membership about your dealings with Gio ... You need to rserach thoroughly your artists. It's not difficult! And, we will alert the GRAMMY Awards to his continued fraud, as I am a member of that organization and that specific category. We will not print your home address, as we did not realize it. But, we will advertise that your event supports the likes of Gio. This invalidates your event completely...
Cheers!
Kathleen ;-)“
As you can see clearly, the lady of this Flute Organisation shows she's got no education and she thinks she can tell us what we, at the other end of Earth, should do and what we shouldn't do. The powerlust of this lady goes far beyond the position in her organisation, as she perhaps as a „God“ can devalue events. In our organisation, we do not like threats, especially not from a foreign country. To respect the rights of other persons means peace, and this letter is an insult to my person and those people who I represent as a chairwoman.
Additionally, the lady mixes things as convenient for her, and our powwow is one thing and my business with doing events and concerts, Indian, Aztec, and soon also other cultures [sic! - sentence incomplete]. But what has this got to do with our powwow?
Please read her letter and ask yourself, is this the way a president of an international flute organisation should act like? If this is not aggressiveness, no attack, then I would call this person insane.
Thanks and let us do what we're here for.
With kind regards.....
Jackie Fischer“
............
First of all, this is no conflict between two parties, as Ms Fischer prefers to present the issue to the members of her association. INAFA is a honorable, renowned organisation who put up alerts against Giovanni de Carlo because of his business ethics (not paying persons delivering flutes and materials to him, not dispatching flutes customers paid for, posing fraudulently as Native American, fraudulently claiming to have won Grammies and Nammies).
This attempt at a very outdated gunboat diplomacy, Ms Fischer, is quite futile. All you manage to make completely clear is: You prefer to ignore native points of view on de Carlo's machinations and on top of that tell ndns to go … themselves if they criticize frauds and fakes contributing to the further existence of stereotypes about ndns and making a profit from posing as ndns. Your arrogance is completely inappropriate and only presents you as person holding quite racist views (e.g. the one that you, as a white person, of course have the right to define who is Indian, which Indians to believe or not, and to publically denigrate honorable Indian persons while supporting a poser). How you manage to combine such racist attitudes with a purported interest in ndn cultures escapes me.
When you say "to respect other persons means peace" you obviously mean: it's peace when others (= ndns) look up to you. Sorry, but no. In this case, it's not called peace - it's called colonialism. Respect is not only due to yourself while you may denigrate as you please.
German translation:
Zunächst einmal handelt es sich nicht - wie Frau Fischer es gegenüber ihren Vereinsmitgliedern darzustellen beliebt - um einen Konflikt zwischen zwei Parteien. INAFA ist eine seriöse Organisation mit gutem Ruf, die Warnungen vor Giovanni de Carlo aufgrund seines Geschäftsgebarens veröffentlicht haben (er bezahlte von Lieferanten erhaltene Flöten und Materialien nicht, er lieferte bereits bezahlte Ware nicht an Kunden, er gibt sich fälschlicherweise als Native American aus, er behauptet zu Unrecht, mit Grammies und Nammies ausgezeichnet worden zu sein).
Dieser Versuch einer sehr überholten Kanonenbootdiplomatie bring es nicht, Frau Fischer. Was Sie dagegen vollkommen klarstellen ist folgendes: Sie ziehen es vor, indianische Einstellungen zu de Carlos Machenschaften zu ignorieren und zusätzlich sagen sie Indianern, die Kritik an Frauds und Fakes üben, die zur weiteren Verfestigung von Stereotypen beitragen und nur Profit daraus schlagen, sich als Indianer auszugeben, daß sie sich gehackt legen können! Ihre Arroganz ist völlig unangebracht, zeigt Sie jedoch als Person mit rassistischen Einstellungen (z.B. daß Sie als Weiße natürlich das Recht haben zu definieren, wer Indianer ist, welchen Indianern Sie glauben mögen und welchen nicht, und welche ehrenhaften indianischen Personen Sie öffentlich herabsetzen dürfen, während Sie einen Poser unterstützen). Wie Sie es hinbekommen, solche rassistischen Einstellungen mit einem vorgeblichen Interesse an indianischen Kulturen zu verbinden, entzieht sich meinem Verständnis.
Wenn Sie schreiben, andere zu respektieren sei Frieden, meinen Sie offenbar: wenn andere (=Indianer) zu Ihnen aufsehen ist Frieden. Sorry, aber das ist nicht zutreffend. Im vorliegenden Fall nennt man das nicht "Frieden" - sondern Kolonialismus. Respekt ist nicht nur Ihnen zu gewähren, während Sie nach Belieben erniedrigen dürfen.
