MEPs

Libération is holding a day of debate on the issues
facing Europe this Saturday, May 18, in Strasbourgh.
Below, an interesting piece on the current mood in
Poland:

https://www.liberation.fr/evenements-libe/2019/05/15/pologne-du-
communisme-au-nationalisme-une-transition-par-les-mots_1726908

source: Libération

author: Grazyna Plebanek, writer

translation: doxa-louise

The Strasbourg Forum

Poland’s shift from Communism to Nationalism, in words

Grazyna Plebanek is a writer, explaining the hardened political discourse

in Poland, which has accompanied the rise of Nationalism. She will be

a participant in Saturday’s May 18 Libération Forum in Strasbourg.

...The Forum agenda will touch on ideas, values, culture...

The language of political discourse in Poland under communism was pure propaganda. 

The Communist Party held a monopoly on, apart from national symbols, words such as ‘homeland’, ‘people’, ‘honor’ and ‘blood’. At the time, everything published, be it articles or literary works, had to pass the censorship bureau. After the first free elections, June 4 1989, the language of officialdom became free of propaganda. One of he expressions most used by our fitrst free government was ‘turn over a new page’, to symbolize renewal. It is also a description of our relationship with the Communist past, which was done through the organization of the round table of 1989, and not by the execution of the leadership, as was the case in Romania.

The introduction thirty years ago of Capitalism - which has taken a fierce turn - changed how we speak. Words and expressions reminiscent of homo economicus entered the language: ‘to tighten one’s belt’, ‘a project’, ‘an effort’, etc. Since then, we Poles have tired of the pressure to consume ever more, of the admonition to an ostentatious lifestyle. The less fortunate are also frustrated because they could not afford it. A certain distance to capitalism has taken hold, and the Western Way of Life has come to be seen as something forced on us from the outside.

This shift was noticed by the Law and Justice Party, which won the election after eight years of government by Civic Platform Party. L&J played on the frustration of the Polish electorate, on their complexes toward Western Europe and their fear of Russia. All that as a wave of Nationalism was starting to be felt in Europe.

L&J laid down a pompous way of speaking akin to the patriotic values of the XIXth Century, a time when Poland was split among three neighboring Empires: ‘getting our dignity back’, ‘holding up one’s head’, ‘sovereign’. The party championed family values all the while opposing the ‘stranger’. The persona of the immigrant is that of a barbarian arriving ‘with his parasites’ ready to ‘rape our women’. This constitutes going backwards mentally and using to one’s ends the language of patriarchy. ‘Our women’: objectified women, deprived of will, passive and weak, waiting for men to act.

The vocabulary of Communist propaganda has also made a comeback. Lech Walesa has been discredited in public opinion, accused of a past as an ‘agent’ of security services under Communism. Donald Tusk, now an ‘agent for Germany at the behest of Angela Merkel’. Women who opposed L&J were singled out as ‘the worst kinds of citizens’ or ‘traitors’.

Donald Tusk recently made a speech at the University of Warsaw May3, (my Alma Mater)marking the anniversary of the Polish constitution - the fist democratic constitution in Europe. He recommended using an inclusive rather than exclusive way of speaking. ‘It is time to use and instead of or’ he said. But the reaction from certain quarters was stunning. Tusk has been so demonized by L&J that many no longer listen to what he is saying, but only who he might be speaking for: him, the despised ‘agent’. All this only goes to show to what extent the national myth created by L&J - including  conspiracy allegations surrounding the crash of the Presidential pane in 2010 - has come to divide the nation.

Even more troubling, public television -now a propaganda tool of L&J - has been showing the pronouncements of Donald Tusk to pictures of Hitler and Stalin. And all this is happening after the assasination of the mayor of Gdansk, a few months ago, in this hatemongering atmosphere now prevalent in Poland.

Many are currently uniting their voices  to combat this language. In his speech, Donald Tusk used humor to deal with L&J’s approach. What else can be done? One can refuse to enter the spiral of hate discourse and up the level of discussion with arguments on concrete subjects. One can help civil society come together by promoting groups such as the Wielka Orkiesttra Swiatecznej Pomocy, the national charity organization. One can ask people to participate in democracy and not only demand it. And one can point to the role of independent journalism and fact-checking by bringing to light any progress of disinformation.                               

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                                           source: Wikipedia

The European Parliament is often governed from the center-left;

interestingly because of Britain with 24 sitting as Eurosceptics, 

and 18 (+1) as Conservatives out of their 71 MEPs in the last 5-year

session. In fact they held the balance of power, as I read it!!

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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/unitedkingdom/en/european-elections/uk_meps.html

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A first with this election, citizens from any European
country - if they are residents - can join a candidate list.
Thus, Yavis Varoufakis - formerly a Greek minister - is
running in Germany; Nicolas Barnier, son of the EU negotiator,
is running in Belgium... Not that many, but some. France
even has a party that argues that nationality should be at
the European level, giving access to medical cards and social
services anywhere in Europe. Something to watch for in
the future!

http://www.lefigaro.fr/elections/europeennes/elections-europeennes-ces-candidats-
qui-se-presentent-hors-de-leurs-frontieres-20190516