Remote tribe protests at mag's 'cannibal' slur
A British magazine is facing protests from a remote tribe in New Guinea after it said the region was populated by "cannibals" indulging in "random orgies".
Lads' magazine Zoo Weekly offered readers the chance to win a "flesh-eating fortnight" in which it said "the chances... of ending up as dinner for the tribe remain pretty slim."
The competition was branded racist by Benny Wenda, a Papuan tribal leader living in Britain, who is planning to take his protest to Emap's headquarters in London, reports Media Guardian.
Mr Wenda is the leader of Demmak, a coalition of tribal groups in West Papua - the western half of the island of New Guinea - which is campaigning for independence from Indonesia.
"It is stupid and insulting, but that is the way this culture is seen in the UK," said Paul Kingsnorth, a spokesman for the Free West Papua campaign.
The Zoo competition, which offered readers the chance to "win a cannibal sex holiday", quoted "seasoned jungle hand Reg Barker, from Devon".
"They've always been friendly to me," Mr Barker is quoted as saying. "I first heard of these tribes back in the 80s, but nothing could have prepared me for meeting them. They all have amazing piercings, tusks in their noses and often wear nothing but long penis gourds.
"It should be OK. The really bad ones are the Korowai's neighbours, the Asmat, and they haven't eaten a Westerner for 40 years."
To enter the competition, readers had to write to the magazine with a recent photo, explaining in 25 words or less why they should win.
But Mr Kingsnorth said: "There have been no documented cases of cannibalism supported by any decent evidence for the last 50 to 100 years, and probably not at all. There are lots of rumours, most of which came out of missionaries and explorers."
------------------------------------------------------------------
I wonder what the missionaries position is on THIS story....
