The United Nations gift shop at its headquarters in New York is a wondrous affair, with magnificent artifacts drawn from the four corners of the globe. Divided into small sections, we see exquisite wood carvings from Ghana, dazzling Turkish ceramics, beautifully crafted dolls from China, and other representative works of member nations. Then in one corner, near some toy Koalas made in China, is a rack containing nine ‘Australian’ didgeridoos. Close inspection shows that they are all manufactured in Indonesia. In a clear breach of the intellectual property rights of Australian Aboriginal artisans, five of the didgeridoos on sale have the characteristic dot-painting and goanna (lizard) motifs, as well as the cross-hatching, used to distinguish ownership of the designs by Australia’s indigenous peoples.
The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, a long awaited dream of the world’s most marginalized peoples, is now in its second session in New York. One of the hotly debated topics in indigenous circles is the unauthorized use and commercial exploitation of Aboriginal material and intellectual property. The Permanent Forum, an advisory body to the UN Economic and Social Council, will spend a whole day discussing ways to protect the intellectual property of threatened peoples. And yet, visible for all to see in the UN gift shop, are didgeridoos from abroad being palmed off as Aboriginal creations. It is absolutely essential that businesses operating out of the UN headquarters, not be seen as aiding and abetting the rip-off of struggling indigenous artisans. A higher standard of quality would be expected with regards to the goods on sale at the UN, but sadly, exploitation of indigenous cultural expressions reaches even here.
At the Welcoming Ceremony for the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, didgeridoo player Astro Brim delighted the large crowd with arrangements from his impressive repertoire, both traditional and modern. An Aborigine from eastern Australia, Astro also noted how ashamed and insulted he was to see the Indonesian didgeridoos on sale within the august halls of the UN headquarters. Other visiting Australian Aborigines to the UN alerted Cultural Survival to this breach of etiquette and we intervened on their behalf. The Gift Shop agreed to remove the didgeridoos from their shelves.
Unfortunately, these same kinds of didgeridoos remain on sale and are sold as ‘authentic’ artifacts at many other localities around the United States. Members of Cultural Survival have alerted us to the fact that Indonesian didgeridoos are being sold throughout the Ten Thousand Villages chain of stores. Contact has been also been made with the Hudson Group, which manages the UN gift shop as well as many other gift outlets, to ascertain their policy on such matters as the intellectual property rights of indigenous peoples. After a week, there is still no reply. We do not know how many of their stores sell the offending didgeridoos.
We ask supporters of the rights of indigenous peoples to make their complaint known to both the Ten Thousand Villages chain and the Hudson Group, demanding the removal from the shelves of those Indonesian didgeridoos with Australian motifs. Concerned readers should also insist that no more of these fake products be purchased in the future. Most importantly, advocates of First Peoples should insist that Ten Thousand Villages and the Hudson Group buy their didgeridoos from authentic Australian Aboriginal sources. Request that they help stamp out such outrageous practices as are currently being perpetrated upon the commercially defenseless indigenous Australians. We should not expect to see these borderline illegal products in stores of such quality. Contrary to claims by some retailers, Indonesians have no tradition of didgeridoo making. The practice of supporting poor artisans in Third World countries by ripping off indigenous Australians is flatly unacceptable, and cannot be condoned under any circumstances.
Please write, email or phone the Hudson Group with your concerns at:
One Meadowlands Plaza Suite 902,
East Rutherford, New Jersey 07073
Phone: 1 800 326-7711
Email: Vice President Joseph DiDimizio at jdidimizio@hudsongroup.com
Ten Thousand Villages can be contacted at:
704 Main Street, PO Box 500
Akron PA 17501-0500
717 859-8100
Fax 717 859-2622
Email: inquiry@villages-mcc.org
To find out more about authentic didgeridoo making in the community of Manyallaluk, Australia, see the Jawoyn Association website and a BBC article about their work.
Editor’s Note: Responding to inquiries by one of our members, Garth Reed, Ten Thousand Villages has indicated that it plans to stop selling inauthentic didgeridoos at its store. In an email sent to Mr. Reed on Thursday, April 17, Juanita Fox, Media Coordinator for Ten Thousand Villages, wrote: .
“Based on your feedback, Ten Thousand Villages has started a discussion regarding the sale of didgeridoos and other indigenous products through our network of stores. Our mission is to provide vital, fair income to artisans, but we also want to be sensitive to traditional crafts, recognizing the importance of authenticity. Because of this, we have decided to discontinue the sale of didgeridoos. We will sell the didgeridoos in inventory and the didgeridoos en route to us for introduction this summer. However, we will not place reorders for this product line.”
