Tag Archives: tobacco control

Frank the Thinker

smokingbandits Posted on by

Frank Davis, the blogger, the fighter, the polemist was, first and foremost, a thinker, a philosopher whose ideas have shaped the world. The infamous Tobacco Control (TC) industry, greedy for money and power, might have hoped to bludgeon that world into total submission, but it so happened that one man suddenly became a moral leader and the global symbol of resistance to TC, and look now – its evil empire is still far from victory. How did he do it, that man? He did it by becoming a thinker, formulating ideas in a way that galvanized us all. Let me … Continue reading →

Frank Davis is dead

smokingbandits Posted on by

The English blogger and virtual host of the Smokydrinkybar Frank Davis has unexpectedly passed away. Frank has been tirelessly filling his blog with new information, assessments and opinions since 2009, most recently a few days before his passing. The reason for Frank’s journalistic activities was the statutory smoking ban in Great Britain, which is of course embedded in tobacco control in general and linked to other elements of the health dictatorship. In his second blog post Frank aptly stated: “The smoking ban is not just about smoking. It’s about freedom and democracy and accountability. It’s about science and risk and … Continue reading →

We got our airports back

smokingbandits Posted on by

There were still no smoking rooms in the Domodedovo airport near Moscow when I was flying away from Russia in early January, but soon they’ll be reopened after seven years’ absence. The amendment to the anti-smoking law has passed both chambers of the Russian parliament and signed by the President on December 28, last year. All that time we, hundreds of people participating in the battle, were keeping our fingers crossed, for fear of some last-minute trouble. That was a very, very small victory over the huge Tobacco Control machine. But, nevertheless, a victory it was, and, as such, it’s … Continue reading →

Wounded Nation: Smoking Bans in Malaysia

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They are murdering the country I love: that was my reaction to the recent, and rather scary, story of the future (starting from June 1) smoking bans in the place where I spend at least a couple of months every year, and where I have a home, many friends and lots of fun. That’s when I really felt the pain described regularly by esteemed Mr. Frank Davis in his tireless blog. I saw communities and friendships immediately shattered, businesses lost (downcast, so far), society showing dangerous cracks, animosity coming to the open. It’s like being in a world war, when … Continue reading →

Slippery Slope

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Christoph has been after me for some time now to write something for smokingbandits and I, true to form, have been procrastinating. I guess I’d rather expend my ever more limited energies on attacking and subduing antismoking rhetoric than preaching to the converted… There are bones I could pick with some in the smokers’ rights fold, but let’s save that for another day. A better start would be my own evolution as an advocate for our delightful “filthy” habit. I started smoking at 13 (unless you count the puffs Dad used to give me off his Marlboros to see the … Continue reading →

Throwback Thursday: Forbidden Conference

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Ten years ago, on January 27 – 28, 2009, the first (of two) big conferences of TICAP (The International Coalition Against Prohibition) took place. This organization, founded the year prior as an umbrella organization especially against Tobacco Control, was in its budding phase.(The then) active groups, such as FORCES international, its Italian and Dutch divisions, Netzwerk Rauchen from Germany, Freedom2Choose from Britain, various Canadian and Danish associations as well as other smaller associations united and prepared to hold the first international conference of independent opponents to tobacco prohibition on European soil. And why not to hold this conference in the … Continue reading →

We & Napoleon: Art of War

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Promises are supposed to be kept; I promised to elaborate on some of the ideas, briefly mentioned in my previous post. To remind, these were my suggestions about what we could and should do about crushing Tobacco Control, beyond just talking to each other. But we are weak and few, you may say. My answer is – no, that we are not. Our only problem is technical, namely, we do not constitute a majority, especially in that group of nations collectively called the West. Or that’s what they are trying to impress on us. So the problem is how to … Continue reading →

Just talking is not enough anymore

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Very few people have heard of an international smoker’s conference in Moscow way back in autumn of 2014. Maybe it’s because its results were weak, even though representation was strong. Represented were 21 international organizations, defending smoker’s rights, mostly from Europe. Absent were the Brits (they could not get their visas in time) and Americans. Present were several South Americans and one very vocal Indonesian. The Russian Movement for Smoker’s Rights was the host; the hotel was Kempinski, the ambiance perfect. There has never been such an event before [there were TICAP conferences in 2009 and 2010, though; ed.], and … Continue reading →