Members of the European Parliament on Friday called on Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to stop distributing products with Soviet symbols via its online sales platform. They would offend, according to them, the victims of the regime.
The call to the richest man in the world comes after US retail giant Walmart pledged in September to stop distributing clothes with hammer and sickle symbols, more to similar complaints.
In an open letter, 27 MEPs from thirteen countries asked Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, "stop the sale of goods bearing the symbol hammer and sickle that represents the Soviet Union, on the platform Amazon Inc. . "
The authors of the call mention items such as disguises, flags and souvenirs including red t-shirts with the symbol of the hammer and sickle captioned in Cyrillic alphabet "CCCP" , which means "USSR" , similar to those proposed by Walmart.
"60 million deaths"
MEPs recall that "the total number of victims of the Soviet regime is estimated at more than 60 million" , not to mention "more than 10 million people" deported to camps in Siberia where they suffered "inhuman living conditions, the forced labor, famine and physical violence " .
Comparison with the swastika
MEPs also said they "supported the decision of the German sportswear manufacturer Adidas to stop selling clothes with Soviet symbols since May," urging Amazon to do the same.
@amazon #WhyNotSwastika pic.twitter.com/MSGpel06eP
- Etia Zavrashvili (@etiazavrashvili) November 7, 2018On social media, netizens launched the #WhyNotSwastika hashtag comparing Soviet and Nazi symbols. The Swastika being the Hindu symbol that inspired the Nazi swastika. They also urge Amazon to remove these products with a sickle and a hammer.