Mardi Gras: Krewe du Vieux Raises Awareness of Environmental Threats to New Orleans

Julie-Dermansky-022
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โ€œWhere the Vile Things Are,โ€ the Krewe du Vieux’s 2014 Mardi Gras parade electrified the streets of New Orleans on Saturday night, February 16, bursting with raucous irreverent satire. Floatsย addressing environmental and social issues rolled, as participants dressed in mutant fish and insect costumes danced in betweenย them.

DeSmogBlog spoke with noted author and king of the parade John Barry before the first float rolled.

โ€œThis is a parade with the true spirit of Mardi Grasโ€“satire,โ€ he said. โ€ I don’t know anything that’s an easier target than the idea that the most anti-tax governor in the country wants us to pay for stuff that the law says the most profitable industry in the history of the world should pay for. How easy is that?โ€ ย 

Barry is a hero to those fighting to restore the Gulf Coast, co-author of a lawsuit that insists oil and gas companies pay their fair share for the damage they have done. The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East, is pressing forward with the suit, despite Jindal’s failure to reappoint Barry to theย board.


John Barry, King of the Krewe du Vieuxย parade ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

The Krewe du Vieux’s websiteย states:

โ€œWhile Jindal fiddles, our wetlands burn. The cancer brought by nutrient starvation and oil business draglines is consuming Louisiana’s coastline at a rate of acres per day. Krewe du Vieux has seen the malignancy, and we have elevated it through our satire; yet all the satire and derision we can muster, and all the political pressure we can bring to bear, has failed to awaken our Governor from his Beltway Dreams. There is no more important issue to Louisianan’s alive today than stopping this cancer of wetlands loss. The US Army Corps itself has acknowledged that there will be no โ€œCat 5โ€ protection for New Orleans without wetlands. Still, acres per day areย lost.โ€


Governor Jindal riding his ego on a satirical floatย ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

Jindal was the butt of much of the Krewe’s satire. An effigy of the governor was mounted in a shark’s mouth at the helm of a float called โ€œComatoseโ€ and his face was superimposed on a cartoon of Miley Cyrus on a float with a twerking puppet.


Effigy of Caricature Bobby Jindal on the ‘Comatoseโ€ float ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

And in keeping with the Krewe du Vieux’s traditions, the parade was full of sexual references including a Dick Dynasty float, parodying Duck Dynasty, followed by a giant breast float, parodying the film Beasts of the Southern Wild.


Dick Dynasty float with aย caricatureย ofย Maryย Landrieuย at the helmย at the helmย ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

The disappearing coast however is no joking matter, Barry asserts.

โ€œIf they [the oil industry] don’t pay to restore the coast, there is very little to keep the coast as it is. If you break it, you fix it. The law says you are so supposed to fix what you break. Obey the law. That is all we’reย asking.โ€


Krewe members dressed as mutant fish ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky


Model of a book mounted on the โ€œOrigin of Spaciesโ€ floatย ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky


Float satirizing the winter Olympics ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky


Float with steam coming out of a pot of ‘Vile Gumboโ€ ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky


Krewe members dress as mutant bugsย  ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky


Cartoon mounted to the ‘Comatoseโ€ float ยฉ2014 Julieย Dermansky

ย 

Julie-Dermansky-022
Julie Dermansky is a multimedia reporter and artist based in New Orleans. She is an affiliate scholar at Rutgers Universityโ€™s Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. Visit her website at www.jsdart.com.

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