The construction of the alternative universe of PiS, that I described few years back in my first article for Britske Listy (English version here), was an overwhelming success. This system of interlocking conspiracy theories and alternative version of history appeals to many Poles, who believe in it. And “believe” is the right word here, as similarities […]
Britské Listy
Waszczykowski’s method
Internets, in Poland and abroad, are having a good laugh at the expense of the Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, who, in his recent interview with German tabloid Bild, stated, that new Polish government is willing to cure Poland from disease of veganism and cyclism. The Minister defends himself by claims, that he had to […]
PiS is crossing the Rubicon
It cannot be stressed enough how extremely significant PiS’ actions are: we are witnessing the most important events in Polish politics since 1989 that might mean a complete rejection of the democratic mechanisms introduced by governments of Tadeusz Mazowiecki and his successors. One has to remember, that the new statute of the parliament is already […]
Tens of thousands of people protested on the streets in Poland. What is their anger about?
Poles voted Prawo i Sprawiedliwość to power as they believed in their promises of delivering “higher quality of democracy”. But for last month Kaczyński and his party did exactly the opposite. Recent attempts to take over the state institution made Poles really angry. According to different sources, 50 000 to 70 000 people took the […]
Why is Polish youth so right wing?
After presidential and parliamentary elections, Poland found itself in totally new situation. For the first time, there is no left in the parliament and the right wing Prawo i Sprawiedliwość has almost all power in it’s hands. With the weak opposition from crumbling Platforma Obywatelska, newbies from .Nowoczesna and few survivors of Peasant’ party they […]
Prawo i Sprawiedliwosć sticks out middle finger to its voters.
The number of the hard line Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) followers remains constant and it would not be sufficient to ensure its victory. Therefore apart from people’s disaffection to Platforma Obywatelska (Civic Platform), it owes it’s success to the people, who believed in their picture that new people have taken over and Beata Szydło’s […]
Landscape before parliamentary elections in Poland
Oncoming parliamentary election in Poland might be the most significant ones in more than a decade. Andrzej Duda’s victory in presidential elections earlier this year proved that skillfull play on moods of the public, tired with 8 years of Platforma Obywatelska government, fueled with strong smearing campaign might result in such suprising results as a […]
Surprising results of the Polish presidential elections
Not long ago, everyone expected that Bronisław Komorowski will easily secure his position for the second term in first round of the votes. As a result, leaders of the other parties did not even attempted to fight him in order to not become a face of defeat. The only exception was Janusz Palikot, but he […]
Who is responsible for perception of Poland?
Every time I drive trough Helensburgh I see the sign at the city limits saying „Welcome to Helensburgh – Birthplace of John Logie Baird, inventor of television”. I wonder how it is, that the world follows Anglo-American version of events. Yes, the British once ruled half of the world and their version was taught in […]
What can be expected in Poland in the oncoming election year?
Oncoming year will see Poles electing new parliament and president. Somehow yet it is doubtful that anything will change, and frequency will probably be even lower. Why? Right wing voters have plenty of parties to choose from. First there, right on the right edge of the spectrum there are circles related to Obóz Narodowo-Radykalny, an […]