LETTER: Disney’s disaster a dire warning

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Thank you for the space and attention Business Day gave to the controversy surrounding the release of Walt Disney’s Mulan (“How do you solve a problem like Mulan (../../world/2020-09-09-how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-mulan/)?” September 9).

I have been watching the prominent advertising campaign China has been using in SA’s media, including Business Day, to signal its intentions here. The Dalai Lama would warn us to beware the “promises” of a neighbouring state that divided his beloved country into four pieces, the smallest of which is the only one still called Tibet.

Bloomberg’s feature was a refreshing and well-written report on what happens when the good intentions of a renowned film company collide with the other intentions of a country such as China.

The actual film may never see the big screen if the virus that was born in China continues to rampage around the world, imprisoning people in their own homes. It could have made an excellent documentary highlighting the unfortunate reality of life in the place it was filmed, where “the state has detained as many as 1-million ethnic Uighurs in camps called ‘voluntary education centres’.” I shiver when I think of what would happen to our various ethnic groups here were we to become part of such an empire.

Business Day’s coverage of Disney’s disaster could not be a better warning.

Jane Raphaely

Via e-mail

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13 Sep 2020 1PM English South Africa Business News · News

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