Calling on Indo-Trinidadians to boycott bandleader Brian MacFarlane’s Carnival production next year, the Indo-Trinbago Equality Council (ITEC) said yesterday that the masman had failed to include Indian cultural items in the cultural programme of the Fifth Summit of the Americas.

ITEC chairman Devant Maharaj said that the East Indian population was disgusted by the cultural presentation that gave pre-eminence to French and English cultures over East Indian culture that has become a part of the mainstream culture of Trinidad and Tobago.

’MacFarlane has done a grave disservice to our nation with this warp and distorted mono-chromatic presentation of Trinidad and Tobago to the international community,’ he said.

He said that MacFarlane, as artistic director of the summit’s cultural programmes, showed a lack of appreciation for the Indian component of the country’s cultural mosaic.

Maharaj called on the Indian community to boycott MacFarlane’s Carnival offerings for his ’insult’ to the Indian community.

He said that, in the opening programme, Indian dance artistes were featured for 45 seconds in the 45-minute show.

’Despite reassurances that the Indo-Trinidadian culture would be sufficiently highlighted in the cultural presentations of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, MacFarlane made the omissions,’ he said.

Though MacFarlane was unavailable to comment on the matter, coordinator for MacFarlane Designs Studio, Maurice Chevalier, believes that ITEC was attempting to bring politics and racism into art and culture.

’The show represented all the elements and culture of Trinidad and Tobago. The discussion about the timing of the show is totally incorrect,’ Chevalier said in telephone interview yesterday.

He explained that the show had six distinct elements that identified with East Indian culture, including depictions of Phagwa, East Indian dance and tassa drummers.

’The show presented the indigenous culture, it was not about race,’ he added.

Chevalier said the flow of the story-line was very important and had to leave room for artistic impression.

’It could not be a ’mishmash’ of elements, the show had to mean something and that is what was accomplished,’ he said.

Attempts to contact MacFarlane for comment yesterday proved futile.