Poland: Your Ch茅 Guevara T-shirt can land you in jail
鈥� A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.
Evocative symbols of Europe鈥檚 troubled past, such as the swastika, have long been illegal in countries across the continent. But now Poland has gone one step further, revising its criminal code to include a ban on symbols of communism. Poles can now be fined or even put in prison if they are caught with a red star, a hammer and sickle, or even a Ch茅 Guevara T-shirt.
To some, it may seem like a natural reaction for a country that suffered so much under the Soviet Union. There are exemptions for artists, educators, and collectors. But the ban doesn鈥檛 sit well with the younger generation of Poles, many of whom see communism not as a threat but as a source of satirical fun and creativity.
鈥淚n high schools it鈥檚 cool to wear Ch茅 Guevara or the hammer and sickle. Some fashion brands even promote these symbols as part of their clothes,鈥� says Justyna Kopczynska, a sociologist from Warsaw University. 鈥淩ight-wing politicians are so radically against [these symbols] that they don鈥檛 see the difference between being ideologically conscious of being a communist, and just being young.鈥�
A number of trendy communist-themed bars have appeared around Poland, poking fun at life under the old regime. One restaurant in Warsaw fills its menu with dishes such as 鈥渢rout from the fish shop with the three-hour queue鈥� and 鈥淏ulgarian peach pie: bartered for irons and Soviet cameras during the 鈥業nternational Tourist Exchange.鈥� 鈥� You can even order communist-era 鈥渃offee鈥� made of corn and chicory.
鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting because it鈥檚 gone; it belongs to the past,鈥� says Grazyna Saniuk, an artist who creates T-shirts using designs from communist-era matchboxes. 鈥淐ertain images of that epoch look funny and exotic to 20- or 30-year-olds, but they are no longer meaningful. They cannot reappear as serious symbols, or as a threat.鈥�
