Poor form and poor taste by My Kitchen Rules and Channel 7 for its use of former USSR symbolism in promoting the new season of MKR. This totalitarian regime killed millions of Ukrainians and many others. MKR and Channel 7 should not only remove this communist symbol, but apologise for its lack of insight.
The National Executive of the Ukrainian Youth Association in Australia (KY CYM) supports the position of the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations (AFUO) who released their media statement in response to the use of the Hammer and Sickle for the My Kitchen Rules TV series promotion.
The Hammer and Sickle and those who stood behind it murdered over 7,000,000 Ukrainians in the Holodomor, the Great, forced Famine in Ukraine in 1932-32. It was a planned genocide by Stalin. Tying it to a cooking show is totally insensitive. The Soviet symbolism is as offensive, comparable to a swastika, and so hate-filled as to be unacceptable if shown in anything other than a historical/documentary film context or in a film depicting the past – Certainly not something that is agreeable for those traumatised by their own experiences or those whose parents/grandparents suffered under Soviet rule, certainly never a symbol to be utilized for “fun” or “humour” any more than a swastika would ever be.
The symbol is recognised as a symbol of inhumanity, genocide and national and human rights violations. It is the symbol of captive nations that were crippled under Soviet rule and still bear the scars. Throughout history and today, it is no laughing matter. The Swastika was responsible for murdering Jews – the Hammer in Sickle is the symbol of murdering Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians and many others. It was the symbol of keeping nations of the former USSR in captivity. The international community has condemned the symbol and all it stood for – Lenin, Stalin and other Soviet Communist Regimes.
Given the involvement of Vladimir Putin’s, Russian aggression in Ukraine and international interference this is not the time for soft Russian propaganda. Australia showed Putin the door at the G20 in Brisbane in 2014. Four years on in 2018, Putin and the Russian aggression in Eastern Ukraine continues. Soldiers and civilians continue to die with tens of thousands wounded. The Russian annexation of Crimea is still on the table and being condemned internationally – most recently in the United Nations in December 2017.
MKR’s naivety has played into the hands of Russian propaganda. A softly, softy approach writing it off as entertainment and bringing it to the front of consumers’ minds.
KY CYM not only demands the immediate removal of the communist symbol but an apology to all viewers for its lack of insight and offensive behaviour.
