Prohibitionism

The Russian smoking ban, which enters a new, stricter stage this summer, has already had 30,000 Muscovites fined over the last year (see Post Script).

The law has banned smoking near metro stations, on children’s playgrounds, and in train stations, with violators facing fines of R500-1,500.

The second stage of the ban, which came into force June 1, further bans smoking in restaurants, hotels, and trains, among other places.

The ban has been lauded by non-smokers, derided by smokers, and ridiculed by both – plenty of people are still seen puffing in places where smoking is no longer allowed, raising the question of just how enforceable the restrictions are. It is not clear, for example, how smokers are expected to endure a train journey of several days (in a country like Russia, a regular occurrence) if they cannot smoke on the train or on the train platforms.

Still, for non-smokers well-acquainted with just how blurry the line between “smoking” and “non-smoking” zones can be in Moscow cafes, the news is widely welcomed.

The health ministry is hoping that the more rigorous law will decrease the number of Russian smokers by 10-15 percent, saving up to 200,000 lives every year.

About 40% of Russian adults smoke.

The average price of a pack of cigarettes is just R40,

or a little more than $1.

Before the recent restrictions were instituted,

increased taxes on cigarettes raised per-pack prices

by 3 to 20 rubles, depending on the brand.

A rather unusual campaign to get people to quit smoking was conducted in Moscow on May 31. Policemen offered to exchange packs of cigarettes for fitness hand grips. In educational institutions, smokers could exchange their cigarettes for candy bars.

A new law banning obscenities in movies has forced filmmakers to employ creative means to ensure that theaters actually show their movies.

A recent film, Kombinat Nadezhda (Hope Factory), about a young woman coming of age in Norilsk who desperately wants to leave that northern city, had to completely reshoot many scenes, excising the expletives. Director Natalia Meshchaninova asked her actors to depart from any scripted (obscene) lines and say something that would be acceptable to censors, later lamenting that the film became bland in the process. However, the expletives did not prevent the (original) film from being shown at the Kinotavr Festival this year.

The law also bans obscenities in literature and music.

Books with curse words now must be sold wrapped in plastic, marked “18+,” and be labeled as containing expletives.

According to the law, even ellipses are considered obscene if they are used by the author as an obvious stand-in for an obscenity, as was done, for example, by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. And what of collected works of classics like Alexander Pushkin, who is known for his rich use of Russian mat? Will his “obscene” tomes need to be wrapped separately?

Publishers are still scratching their heads.

«Для писателя нет плохих слов. Какой звук неприятнее композитору? Да никакой! Каждый звук должен работать в определенном контексте в определенной тональности.»

“For a writer, there are no bad words. What sound is unpleasant to a composer? None! Each sound must work in a certain context and with a certain tonality.”

Writer Dina Rubina, on using obscenities in literature