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Belarus Makes a Stand

17:46 / 20.08.02

Just found this odd little news item... What if fast food chains were against the law?

Belarus president wants cabbage soup to replace McDonald's
Story filed: 11:05 Sunday 18th August 2002(Ananova)

Belarus' president wants McDonald's restaurants to be replaced by a fast food chain serving cabbage soup.

Alexander Lukashenko has ordered the closure of the most popular of the company's six restaurants in the capital, Minsk.

He's also told McDonald's it won't be allowed to open any more restaurants. He says hamburgers are unhealthy.

Senior official Nikolai Yerokhov said: "Doctors consider this foreign fast food to be unhealthy and even risky."

The Sunday Times says the company is threatening to sue over the closure of the Minsk University restaurant.

The proposed new chain would also serve greasy sausage and fried mashed potato pancakes.

American ambassador Michael Kozac is accusing the Belarus government of failing to protect the interests of foreign investors.

So is this a vestige of old-school socialism trying to get in the way of capitalist progress? Or is this guy a cultural hero?

What if, say, France tries to do the same thing? Lord knows they've got the popular support there.

On the other hand, what if the McDonald's suit is successful?

I dunno - something about this story makes me think it's a microcosm of a shift that's going on all around us, a struggle between corporation and state for control over, well, hearts and minds.

Plus it's funny imagining what the mascot of a cabbage-based fast food chain would look like.

17:55 / 20.08.02

look out minsk - they'll be outlawing smoking next.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

19:21 / 20.08.02

Sleaze- a-boom-TSCH!

Yay! for the eviction of the golden fucking arches.

Unsure, however, where I stand on the attractiveness of cabbage soup.

Actually... yeah, fuck it. I'll have the cabbage soup, please.

Seriously, though, this one made me wonder, too. Is it a blow against corporations? Or a blow in favour of a heavy-handed state? Or just a mad guy?

(Secretly though, I hope McDonalds lose. They could do with paying out some cash every once in a while. Bastards.)

05:56 / 21.08.02

Are they doing this to protect the local culture? Cabbage soup = traditional and unpopular. McDonalds = new and popular. Very heavy handed state intervention. They should let them compete and let the people decide. Maybe even shift a lil subsidy the way of local culture if parliament thinks it important.

14:11 / 21.08.02

McDonalds are, IMHO, welcome to compete when they stop fucking up their customers, the planet, and cows.

Until then, yay belarus!

15:51 / 21.08.02

It wonder if a nation state would ever pass a law banning certain mainstream companies from operating unless they meet set ethical standards. I wonder if that is even practical anymore.

I think some of the arguments from the smoking thread can be used here. Most people know that junk food is bad for you, that McDonalds has a poor environmental reputation, etc...but they still choose to eat there. How do you react to that? Ban McDonalds?

18:18 / 21.08.02

Hm, I wonder if the president has any financial interest in this cabbage soup chain?

18:25 / 21.08.02

The only things I've heard about the leader of Belarus:

1. He locked the American ambassador and his family out of the embassy, by changing the locks or something when they were out somewhere a few years ago.

2. He is quite the mad one. Doesn't like democracy, unions, or people who oppose him.

3. He seems to like Stalin though. and cabbage soup.

4. He decided he doesnt want to be elected anymore, and has gotten rid of the parliament and the rest.

...sounds like a fun guy. Reminds me of the leader of..um.. Kyrgyzstan I think? that decided last week to change the calendar and name January after himself.

18:27 / 21.08.02

Belarus went on to pass national bans on Boy Bands ("They're music is trite and their images unwholesome"), Reality TV ("We should not be teaching people to degrade themselves for cash"), and the later films of Woody Allen ("It was all down hill after Annie Hall. Come on, I'll take Zelig over Celebrity any day of the week.").

23:59 / 21.08.02

This has the stench of a heavy-handed government. I have a very hard time believing people would rather have cabbage soup than fries and a shake.

02:43 / 22.08.02

Oh, I would, any day. Then again, I'm no stranger to stench.

(Not the government kind, but the... cabbagey kind.)

We're The Great Old Ones Now

09:39 / 23.08.02

Slim...that's what we like to call cultural bias, y'know?

19:06 / 23.08.02

True, Nick, but clearly it's a cultural bias shared by the citizens of Belarus. McDonalds wouldn't be fighting the ban if they weren't making damn good profits.