Polish politics, tweedledum, tweedledee

dvince1

I was wondering if there are any Poles on this forum (or folks familiar
with the Polish political landscape as it has emerged in the last
year or so)

I struck up a conversation with a Pole recently and I've heard that
there is a widespread unease about the political forces in power
in that country. From a bit of googling, wikipedia'ing etc from what
I gather the Kaczynsky twins hold both President and Prime Ministerial
office as of the last few days. The Prime Minister (Lech K?) apparently
was almost prime minister a while back but stayed deliberately in
the sidelines while his brother was elected. He apparently said
something to the effect of "I report Mission accomplished" when
his brother was elected as president. He let the dust settle and
now he has edged into Prime Ministerial office fulfilling the prophecy
and making the independence of President from Prime Minister's
office quite questionable.

Apparently their party "Law and Justice Party" are in cahoots with
a pretty motley crew (in my opinion) of "national socialists" who
(apart from other things)
actively wish to discriminate against homosexuals and who have
been seen clearly in public making anti semitic comments,etc.
They are Euro sceptical and in pre election talks invited only the
loony fringe Radio Mariyah (ultra right wing Catholic radio
station headed by a Redemptorist who frequently mouths
anti semitic inuendo) as their counsel representiing the Polish
media at large.

It sounds like populist , nationalist politics and trying to stir
up xenophobia and riding on the back of social unease due to
high unemployment. From what I gather the smart Poles who
have any slightly liberal leanings are just disgusted and have
huge apathy with their elected officials.. which begs the
question how did they get elected in the first place ...etc

Just wondering if anyone else has a perspective. Maybe mine
is a bit coloured by the opinions I heard from the disenchanted
Pole in my bar room conversation....

Owen

My girlfriend is Polish, we were in Warsaw last May when the President was elected, and there was a huge protest through the Old City Centre. General feeling there is that he has a lot of communistic values.

New_Departure06

Perhaps his view reflects the demographic of the Poles in Ireland, who are overwhelmingly from the younger generation traditionally in Europe the least into religion and therefore less likely to like the current crowd in govt in Warsaw.

ScottishDanny

There does seem to be a swing to right-wing Catholic conservatism in Poland (No doubt a natural backlash to years of Communism). Have a look at this story of a Polish MEP eulogising the Spanish Dictator Franco. I had to send in my 2 cents http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5151504.stm

lostexpectation

ned78 wrote:

My girlfriend is Polish, we were in Warsaw last May when the President was elected, and there was a huge protest through the Old City Centre. General feeling there is that he has a lot of communistic values.

this have more to do with ultra nationalism then communism, these guys were involved in Solidarity but that was just to get rid of communists rule...

dvince1

lostexpectation wrote:

this have more to do with ultra nationalism then communism, these guys were involved in Solidarity but that was just to get rid of communists rule...

Exactly. I believe they were involved in Solidarity in the earlier days but
split from Lech Walesa after a while. I'm not sure what the background
to that split was but I guess they were extreme ultra nationalists who
want to bring the local (and more oppressive) church into more control
of state affairs also.

Sgt. Sensible

dvince1 wrote:

It sounds like populist , nationalist politics and trying to stir
up xenophobia and riding on the back of social unease due to
high unemployment. From what I gather the smart Poles who
have any slightly liberal leanings are just disgusted and have
huge apathy with their elected officials.. which begs the
question how did they get elected in the first place ...etc

I was in Poland recently and was told that voter turnout is always below 50%. There's widespread antipathy toward politicians in general, especially amongst younger people who are disgusted with how the transition to democracy has gone and the disparity between rich and poor. I was shocked at the number of elderly homeless people begging in the streets. When the building in Katowice collapsed under the weight of snow on its roof, there was a campaign to sweep snow off all roofs in case something similar occurred. There was a large demonstration in Warsaw under the banner of 'Don't clear the snow off the parliament roof.'

history_buff

ned78 wrote:

My girlfriend is Polish, we were in Warsaw last May when the President was elected, and there was a huge protest through the Old City Centre. General feeling there is that he has a lot of communistic values.

What the hell are you talking about? Since when are pro-family, nationalist politics "Communistic values"? Get a grip. Everybody.

lostexpectation

history_buff wrote:

What the hell are you talking about? Since when are pro-family, nationalist politics "Communistic values"? Get a grip. Everybody.

yeah I was waiting for Ned to clarify that, he was paraphrasing his Polish girlfriend though, maybe she meant authoritarian.