Truly International Secrets?(was Re: African Prince)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 115620


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "onnanokata" <averyhaze at h...> wrote:
> 
> Matt wrote:
>  
> Dharma asked:
> Is the permanent split between the Wizarding World and 
> Muggle World relevant on an international scale?  
>  
> Matt wrote:
> 
> Well, the Statute of Secrecy is "International".
> 
> Dharma replies:
> 
> ... My question goes to how global the "International Statute" 
> really is.  An agreement between 10 countries would be 
> international, but not inclusive of all Wizarding communities.  
> 

bboyminn:

I'm sure the Statute originated in Europe, so it probably only covers
what we might consider the /Western/ world. This would include all of
Europe including Russia. 

In addition, we can assume, since there are Africans at the World Cup,
and an African Minster of Magic has been mentioned, that it is
included in either the International Confederation of Wizards or the
International Federation of Warlocks. The wizarding world's equivalent
to the U.N.

Whether the USA and the rest of North America is apart of this or not
is unclear but given the negative history of Muggle/Magic relations in
the USA, if they are not members, they have equivalent organizations
and Statutes of their own. 

I think we can safely assume that Australia and New Zealand followed
the lead of the UK.

That leaves South America and Asia. Personally, I suspect the modern
areas of South America are governed by a similar statue. However,
given that there are vast wild and primitive areas of South America,
there are probably indigenous tribes that practice magic openly. 

I feel the same about Asia, they probably have government and statues
in the modern areas that keep the world of magic from muggles, but
primitive areas operate outside those rules as long as it doesn't
cause problems.



> Dharma replies:
> 
> There are places in the world where magic is part of the 
> cultural/social/political leadership.  Are these cultures/states 
> included?  Is there any evidence that all Wizarding communities 
> adhere to the Statute of Secrecy?  Is there evidence that there are 
> communities wherein Wizards and Muggles live together?

bboyminn:

When you think about it, the modern muggle world (our everyday world)
does know about magic, it's just a question of how serious we take it.
In New Orleans you can walk into one of the many Magic shops (not
/stage/ magic but VooDoo) and buy potions, talismans, charms, and even
unofficially have spells performed. There are places on the internet
where you can buy authentic charms and potions to gain favor for
yourself or jinx your enemies. Native American perform magic rituals.
Caribbean Islanders openly perform magic that most of us would refer
to as Voodoo, but in reality is a blend of native island American,
French, and African magic. 

My point is that even in modern areas of Europe, Asia, and the
Americas, magic is performed openly, but at the same time is contained
to something tame enough that the muggles can pass it off as
superstition. To some extent in our modern muggle world there are
events that occur that defy logic, miracle cures, strange phenomonon,
odd disappearances, crop circles, stang lights in the sky, etc...
There are many TV shows based on this unexplained phenomonon, and
while most of it is passed off by the general citizenry with a shrug
of the shoulders, who's to say it's not magic, and who's to say that
shrug of the shoulders isn't a well placed Apathy Charm?

Equiring minds want to know.

Steve/bboyminn (was bboy_mn)