T-Shirts Whip Up A Storm
A university in Poland has banned an exhibition of T-shirts bearing slogans such as "I didn't cry when the Pope died" and "I've got Aids", saying the show was too provocative, reports said on Tuesday.
"The texts printed on the T-shirts could have offended the feelings and beliefs of many people," said UMCS University president Wieslaw Kaminsk.
The exhibition featured Polish personalities wearing T-shirts with slogans that referred to subjects which normally were taboo in Roman Catholic Poland, such as "I am gay", "I'm Jewish", "I'm Arab", "I masturbate" and "I have my period".
"To write 'I've got Aids' or 'I've had an abortion' on a T-shirt, you would have to be devoid of all human feelings," said Lublin's Bishop Jozef Zycinski.
The T-shirt exhibit was supposed to run alongside a film festival organised by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, but that was cancelled in protest after the T-shirt show was banned.
"The aim of the exhibition was to try to provoke a debate on freedom of speech in Poland.
"The decision of the president of the university to cancel the show must be seen as unacceptable meddling," said federation head Marek Antoni Nowicki.