Thursday, January 27, 2005

I heard about it from Mishah first, and then it was on yesterday's NTV evening news: a Russian-language web portal called the Russian National Literary Network has issued a "Directive on Limiting the Themes of Literary Works."

The Directive mainly concerns two of the Network's writing sites, Proza.ru (prose) and Stihi.ru (poetry). At a glance, the sites resemble a cross between Zoetrope.com and LiveJournal.com, inviting aspiring authors to post their work for review by other members. As of 9 pm today, Proza.ru has 22,313 members, 188,457 stories and 277,077 reviews; Stihi.ru lists 67,115 members, 1,609,066 poems and 2,132,558 reviews.

Even though today Dmitriy Kravchuk, the Network's coordinator and the author of the Directive, has postponed the implementation of the Directive "due to the negative reaction of the literary community and the discovery of a number of shortcomings," its text still appears online.

Here's its translation:

The Directive
on limiting the themes of literary works published on the Internet resources of the Russian National Literary Network


1. On the Internet resources of the RNLN it is forbidden to publish literary works and forum messages covering the following themes:

- The special operation of the Russian troops in the Chechen Republic during 1991-2004 [actually, the so-called "special operation" officially began on Dec. 11, 1994, not in 1991...]

- Terrorist acts against citizens of the Russian Federation

- Opposition of certain citizen groups to implementation of the Laws of the RF and the Decrees of the President of the RF (in particular, the Law on Monetization of the Benefits [which has caused the Babushka Revolution]

2. On the Internet resources of of the RNLN it is forbidden to publish literary works and forum messages, which include personal mentions (with the first or last name) of individuals belonging to one of the categories of the Class A public officials (in accordance with Appendix 1). At the same time, it is allowed to mention the individual's title, as long as this mention is connected with the execution of state functions and not with his personal qualities [sic].

3. On the Internet resources of of the RNLN it is forbidden to publish literary works and forum messages, which include mentions in a negative context of the Class B public officials (in accordance with Appendix 2). A negative context is the identification of the mentioned individual as a negative literary hero by literary experts affiliated with the RNLN.

4. On the Internet resources of of the RNLN it is forbidden to publish literary works and forum messages, which include mentions in a positive context of the Class C individuals (in accordance with Appendix 3). A positive context is the identification of the mentioned individual as a positive literary hero by literary experts affiliated with the RNLN.

Literary works with content prohibited by this Directive will have to be deleted by their authors before Feb. 1, 2005. If the works containing the prohibited content are discovered after Feb. 1, 2005, the site's moderators are obliged to block the pages and all works of these authors without the possibilty of renewing [membership] later.

Organizational Committee of the Russian National Literary Network

Appendix 1. Categories of the Class A public officials.

It is forbidden to publish literary works, which include personal mentions (first or last name) of individuals belonging to the following categories:

- President of the RF and members of his family
- Head of the government and ministers of the RF
- Members of the Federation Councils [sic] of the Federal Assembly of the RF
- Deputies of the State Duma of the RF who are members of the United Russia faction [the pro-Putin majority in the Russian Parliament]
- Governors of the federal centers of the RF
- Mayors of the cities of the RF

Appendix 2. Categories of the Class B public officials.

It is forbidden to publish literary works and forum messages, which include mentions in a negative context of individuals belonging to the following categories:

- Heroes of Russia
- Heroes of the Soviet Union, who received this title during the Great Patriotic War
- Serving officers of the Russian Army, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Federal Security Service, Federal Guards Service, Intelligence Service in the rank higher than the Colonel and First-Rank Captain (inclusive)
- Representatives of the RF state on duty
- Members of the United Russia Party and the Walking Together public movement [a pro-Putin youth organization]

Appendix 2. Categories of the Class C individuals.

It is forbidden to publish literary works and forum messages, which include mentions in a positive context of individuals belonging to the following categories:

- Individuals wanted by the federal authorities on charges of plotting terrorist acts against RF citizens
- Individuals killed as the result of special operations of the Russian troops in the Chechen Republic, those who resisted or were accused of plotting terrorist acts against citizens of the RF
- Individuals charged with involvement in international terrorist organizations
- State authorities and soldiers of the Fascist Germany of the Great Patriotic War period, as well as individuals who collaborated with the Fascist Germany


After wasting an hour translating this, I'm more or less speechless. The only thing I can say is that this once again confirms my view that Stalin was ourselves, in a way, and Putin is ourselves, too.

***

And here's a translation of a wonderful poem one of the members of Stihi.ru has recently posted on the site:

PRESIDENT
by Thinkerbell

PutinPutinPutinPoo!
PutinPutinPutinPoo!
Poopoopoo!
Poopoopoo!
PutinPutinPutinPoo!

© Copyright: Thinkerbell, 2005   Code: 1501261784

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