Arts/Review

Honduras: The Making of a Banana
Republic. By Alison Acker. Between the
Lines Publications, 1988. Available at
People’s Co-op Bookstore.

Cultural imperialism is a many-faceted
thing that sinks so deep into the conscious-
ness of people that it becomes not only hard
to counter but even to categorize. Ignorance
feeds upon stereotypes, and even people in
the progressive movement often find them-
selves adopting simplistic views of the
underdeveloped world with the best of
intentions.

Like the capitalist powers-that-be, pro-
gressives find themselves often imposing
their own ideas of what the nature and the
policies of the people’s movements in the
underdeveloped and super-exploited coun-
tries should be — whether it’s in Nicara-
gua, southern Africa or Asia.

. The key thing for progressives who wish
to offer support to movements for social
justice in the underdeveloped world is to
build a basis of knowledge, since compara-
tively few of us ever have the chance to
travel to these countries. Also, we should try
to shrug off a lifetime of misinformation
that has been programmed into us.

Honduras is one such country that has
been victimized by ignorance and stereo-
typing — an atypical “banana republic.”
For people wishing to expand their knowl-

Exposing the ‘Hondorica’ myth

edge of the social and political history of this
troubled nation, solidarity activist Alison
Acker has written the perfect primer.

In his famous book How To Read
Donald Duck, Chilean journalist and
author Ariel Dorfman explored the essence
of cultural imperialism and its connection
with the Walt Disney cartoon characters
that we were brought up with. It is from this
perspective that Acker begins her examina-
tion of Honduras’ history and our attitudes
towards it.

“In Walt Disney comic books there is
featured an exotic land called Hondorica, a
favourite adventureland of Donald Duck.
Hondorica lies east of San Banmador,
north of Inca Blinca and not far from Bru-
toland. It is a comic paradise, where sham-
bling peasants welcome Donald and his
three cute nephews and gladly hand over all
the treasures they have never learned to
appreciate ...

“In his adventures Donald Duck has
handed out bars of soap to unwashed Hon- _
doricans. He has saved them from the “‘mis-
take” of revolution, accepting bananas and
gold bullion in return. He has taught kings
how to govern and their subjects how to
obey. A child of the North American city,
Donald is wiser than the most experienced
Hondorican. He also has recourse to adult
authority, in the person of Scrooge
McDuck, his canny, capitalist uncle. In all

Judy Small performs Feb. 19

Judy Small, feminist and topical singer-
songwriter, performs Sunday, Feb. 19, 8
.m., at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre.
The ” Australian who won renown at the

Vancouver Folk Music Festival (sponsor of _

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Tickets are $10, phone '254-9578.

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The TV station KCTS (Cable 9 in most
areas of B.C.) bas something of interest for
those who wonder what besides salmon
swim in the dark waters off our coast. In
fact, local marine fauna includes such exotic
creatures as giant wolfeel and 16-foot long
octopi, the one-hour feature, “Under the
Emerald Sea”, tells us. The Seattle-based
PBS station will run this installment of the
program Nature on Sunday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m.,
and again on Saturday, Feb. 25, 7 p.m. It’s
closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.

* * *

Those who have never ‘seen this B.C.-
made classic — or who want to tape a ver-
sion without commercial interruptions —
should know that My American Cousin,
director and producer Sandy Wilson’s trib-
ute to her Okanagan childhood in the
1950s, plays on KCTS on Wednesday, Feb.

. 9 p.m.

a SRK

Former Tribune correspondent from
Moscow, Jack Phillips, speaks on ’Recent
Developments in the Soviet Union” as part of

a series of Pacific Rim lectures presented by”
School District No. 46 (Sunshine Coast). It

will take place Monday, Feb. 20, 7 p.m. in
the performing arts room at Chatelech
School in Sechelt, and include a video on
youth in the USSR. There is a $6 admission

. charge.

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of this he has, presumably, delighted mil-
lions of readers in the Third World, as well
as in North America.”

Acker goes on in considerable detail to
expose the forms in which comedy and
commercialism have distorted our percep-
tions of Honduras and have become an
integral part of the control exercised by
transnational corporations in that country
and in the rest of Latin America.

Acker provides an historical overview of
Honduras — from the Spanish conquest
and the independence movement against
Spanish control, through brief periods of
liberal reform to North American and
European intervention and the setting up of
the “banana republics.”

Most important, Acker documents the
history and extent of opposition in
Honduras — the fight for agrarian reform,
and the peasant and worker movements
against outside monoliths like the United
Fruit Company.

The image of a placated country in which
the U.S. is able to conduct war games and
set up contra bases at will is assaulted. But
Acker does not romanticize the possible
successes of the progressive movement, and
reveals the tremendous obstacles they face.
What she makes apparent is that subser-
vience to U.S. interests has not brought
prosperity or an increased voice for the sup-
posedly independent Honduran govern-

U.S. cakiuastarae cinidurinechaaeae

ment. Instead, it has brought the country
further economic disparity and the unenvi-
able role of “silent partner” for Reagan-
Bush policies in Central America.

In 139 pages Acker has used her extensive
knowledge of Central American politics to
create a concise and very readable
book — one that belongs on the shelf of
any progressive Canadian wishing to
further his/her knowledge of a country, its
people, and the obstacles that lie ahead in
achieving peace and social justice in the

region.
— Paul Ogresko

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Pacific Tribune, February 13, 1989 « 7