Oleg Smirnov
2016-03-25 07:48:29 UTC
"Russia has banned Polandâ?Ts popular, but controversial,
Soviet-inspired board game Kolejka, Polandâ?Ts state
Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) reports."
http://europe.newsweek.com/russia-bans-polands-communist-monopoly-being-anti-russian-438972
Over the weekend, IPN reported that Russiaâ?Ts consumer
watchdog Rospotrebnadzor _warned_ that the game is
perceived as â?oanti-Russianâ? and excessively critical
of the Soviet system. Russian authorities asked
Trefl, the company who bought the gameâ?Ts license from
IPN, to either remove the direct historical references
from it or _risk_ getting the product banned.
This game is being sold on the Russian market since 2011. It'sSoviet-inspired board game Kolejka, Polandâ?Ts state
Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) reports."
http://europe.newsweek.com/russia-bans-polands-communist-monopoly-being-anti-russian-438972
Over the weekend, IPN reported that Russiaâ?Ts consumer
watchdog Rospotrebnadzor _warned_ that the game is
perceived as â?oanti-Russianâ? and excessively critical
of the Soviet system. Russian authorities asked
Trefl, the company who bought the gameâ?Ts license from
IPN, to either remove the direct historical references
from it or _risk_ getting the product banned.
not banned. Internet search <http://tinyurl.com/hm6rty7> gives
a number of shops in Russia that currently offer it. It seems
to be quite a mediocre item in the Russian market, far from to
be 'popular'. I never heard about this game before.
Newsweek article refers to manufacturer's post in the Facebook
<http://archive.is/xbwqm>, written in Polish. I can understand
that the manufacturer recently somehow changed the version
of the game intended to the Russian market. Then their Russian
distributor company allegedly warned them that the new version
might meet negative response from the Russian public and from
Rospotrebnadzor ('Office for Protection of Consumer Rights').
They speculate, Rospotrebnadzor allegedly suggested that the
seller should change text in the booklet that is a supplement
to the game supposed 'to introduce into historical context' etc.
There's absolutely no information about this Polish (one more)
tragic drama in Russian - neither in official sources nor in
non-official blogs / opposition media etc - the hysteria grows
solely from Polish and Ukrainian sources. So I can suppose two
possible options. First is, the Polish manufacturer of the game
has made up this story in order to achieve more publicity and
promote their products in non-Russian markets. Second is, they
really might write in [the new version of] their booklet some
nonsense that is inappropriate for settling in Russia. It's a
well known fact that the mainstream Polish propaganda used to
combine criticism against the Soviets and racist hatred against
the ethnic Russians two in one. In such a case Rospotrebnadzor's
intervention would be explainable.
Currently, Poland is a 'provincial' east-European country that
doesn't produce anything in economical and cultural sense that
might be interesting to Russian market and public. Meanwhile,
the Poles (mainly, the Polish intelligentsia and politicians)
tend to believe that Poland is destined to have some 'special'
links with Russia. It really was so in the 19 century, it's not
the case today, and it hurts the Poles to depth of their soul.
In the Polish media, one can find bitter lamentations, sort of
'I traveled in Russia and found that nobody gives a shit about
us the Poles here' eg. <http://archive.is/VXvs8>, even to the
anti-Putin opposition 'Poland is the last thing that interests
them.'
This Russian disinterest to Poland provokes the Poles to try to
remind about their existence through destructive invectives. It
includes the promotion of the anti-Russian racism in combination
with the Polish victimhood in regard to the USSR and Russian
empire. Dramatic play of the role of Russian victims is a kind
of professional occupation of the mainstream Polish politicians.
Eg., the Polish defense minister recently issued a statement
<http://gcssi.org/wp2/?p=6043> that the terrorism as phenomenon
is a product of the Soviet ideas while it 'did not exist in the
history of Western Christendom' (Polish defense ministers seem
to be traditionally a sort of clowns <http://on.rt.com/7fyj6q>).
The 'banned game' case should be understood in such a context.