|
Che Guevara faces axe in Poland |
|
Tuesday, 28 April 2009 |
The classic image of Che Guevara that has graced the T-shirts of millions of spotty teenage Socialists could be banned in Poland if a government proposal on totalitarian symbols gets the nod.
Anyone violating the prohibition could face up to two years in jail, according to the draft now before a committee in the Polish Parliament.
Elzbieta Radziszewska, the Minister for Equality, said she wants to widen the ambit of an existing law banning Nazi and Communist propaganda to encompass clothing and other objects bearing “pro-totalitarian images”.
In justifying the amendment she said the proposed ban would also stop large numbers of neo-Nazis from Germany crossing the border to buy memorabilia which is banned in the fatherland.
The minister also argued that the expanded prohibition on totalitarian symbols would help anti-racism groups in their efforts.
Lawyer Slawomir Steinborn, however, told the media that the definition was too wide and could lead to a ban on images of the unkempt South American revolutionary Che Guevara.
While the prohibition on communist symbols may seem excessively harsh for people who grew up in the West where Nazi symbols are far more taboo than far-left ones, many of those who suffered under Soviet-backed rule do not feel any nostalgia and find putting Communism and Nazism on the same level natural.
“Communism was a terrible, murderous system that claimed millions of lives. It was very similar to National Socialism, and there is no reason to treat those two systems, and their symbols, differently. Their glorification should be prohibited,” professor Wojciech Roszkowski, a Polish MEP and historian, told the daily Rzeczpospolita.
 Add as favourites (50) | Views: 917
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.6
AkoComment © Copyright 2004 by Arthur Konze - www.mamboportal.com
All right reserved |
