I found this story about how a cocoa processing plant near Amsterdam was banned from having their Sinterklaas party by their US head office. They chose to ban the party because because they didn't want to be accused of racism. All because Sinterklaas is accompanied by Zwarte Piet, Black Pete. Which is people with black painted faces.
From the way I understood the tradition, Zwarte Piet is black because of the soot, not necessarily because of his race. I think that this is a bit unnecessary, it is a tradition, just like our Santa Claus and I don't see why the head office, from another country, felt the need to change it. I think that this is a negative aspect of globalization. Executives from other countries are making decisions about places that they don't really understand. They make decisions for "the good of the company" but not for the good of the people living there. even though their are real people with real lives living there that they may not understand.
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