‘Save Pirates Week’ group formed

By Cliodhna Doherty, cliodhna@cfp.ky

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A group of people out to save ‘Pirates Week’ have their own Facebook social network page to address and unite people on the issue.

As of Sunday, 19 July there were 1,255 members in the Facebook group, including previous Cabinet Ministers Charles Clifford and Alden McLaughlin (current MLA) along with current MLA Moses Kirkconnell.

The Facebook group said that it has no political affiliation or agenda, having members from all political backgrounds and that it implies no disrespect to the Government and current leadership of the Cayman Islands. They are simply challenging what they believe to be a misguided decision and seek only to document their feelings for all to see.

Leader of Government Business and Minister of Tourism McKeeva Bush made the decision to change the name of the festival recently.

Mr. Bush said the intention is for a completely new, revamped festival, focusing on heritage and cultural celebration. He said the association with pirates has other connotations that the islands need to get away from.

On Friday, Mr. Bush announced that the name change would not take place until the 2010 festival, indicating this year will be the last of the Pirate’s Week brand name.

Mr. Bush said his ministry would come up with a “naming contest” for the festival and invited members of the public to participate.

However, Mr. Bush said he was adamant that Pirates Week should change its name.

“While Hollywood may have made piracy into family entertainment through the recent success of its Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, piracy is not just associated with entertainment or activities of the past,” Mr. Bush said Friday. ”It’s still a very real threat today.”

The facebook page is at www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112178784512&ref=ts" target="_blank" class="txtlink">www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=112178784512&ref=ts#

Some of the comments on the Facebook site include this one from Charles Scott: “I think it is ridiculous that our government has their collective heads so far in the sand they are hurting tourism in a down global economy rather than dealing with the real problem of violent crime.”

“Instead of changing Pirates Week name let’s focus on trying to curb gun violence in Cayman....If it continues like it is then we won’t have to worry about changing Pirates Week, crime amongst our young Caymans will take care of that for us, drive away tourism! Why change the name, when the concept of the event will remain the same,” Marva Bodden Reid said.

Susan Lemieux–Cortez said: “So many people travel from far away places to this very special event. This is so much a part of what makes Grand Cayman a fun place to visit. To take this away from us is like shutting down Disney World in Florida. How could you consider this?? This is not going to help the economy of the Cayman Islands. Please reconsider this sad decision.”

“The pirates who come to Cayman for Pirates’ Week do not arrive to laud the piracy that took place back in the distant past, but to make people smile, visit the children in schools, visit the old folks in the senior centres and homes, go to the hospitals, participate in the Heritage Festivals at the various towns, and bring a smile to peoples’ faces,” Anne DeNitto said.

Another poster said, “I just don’t get why we spend a fortune over the decades creating a brand identity known as Pirates Week for our tourism sector and then suddenly we want to change it. Can any one say ‘New Coke’? Take a lesson from the makers of Coke – they muddled it big time and had to back track to create ‘Classic Coke’ all because they mucked with their branding.....if it isn’t broken stop trying to fix it!”

The group was formed on 5 July because there was no group on Facebook that sought to address or unite people on this issue.

The objectives were, to see how much support actually existed for this cause and to use Facebook to maximize the delivery of information to the public for the next part of the campaign, said members, which will be a properly prepared, documented, and presented petition in support of the cause.  

On the Facebook page there is a link to a petition to save pirates week at www.gopetition.com/online/29368.html

This petition was started by former election candidate Joseph Ebanks on 13 July, but a message on the bulletin board of Facebook disassociates the group with this petition.

“While we are preparing to launch our group petition, please note that at this time there is no petition circulating that is affiliated with this group.

“We apologize for the delay in presenting one, but we needed to ensure that we had a workable document, not just a bunch of signatures without basis to use for our cause.”

The Facebook group’s aim is to develop a workable format for the petition, to ensure that they can properly document, tally, and present the information to the Government, the people and the press.

The unaffiliated petition page reads: “Pirates Week has helped to promote tourism in Cayman for the past thirty–three years. As a result of the global recession we have seen a decline in the number of visitors to the Cayman Islands, a renaming of this event will drastically reduce stay over visitors and hurt small businesses.

“Additionally, we do not believe the Pirates Week festivities contribute to violent crime among our youth.

“By signing this petition you agree that the name Pirates Week in the Cayman Islands should not be changed.”

There were 87 signatures as of 16 July.

Compass reporter Brent Fuller contributed to this story.