Forcing refugees on Poland will do more harm than good

By Daniel Tilles

The dispute within the EU over the relocation of refugees from Greece and Italy to other countries is now reaching a head, pitting eastern member states, who refuse to take in their allocated share, against their western partners. Following recent calls from the likes of Sweden and Finland to punish those who fail to play their part in easing the burden of the migration crisis, the European Commission today began legal proceedings against Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

This is a terrible idea. Continue reading →

A Brief History of Modern Polish Literature

monument-1142774_1280By Stanley Bill

The British Council recently set Notes from Poland editor Stanley Bill the fiendishly difficult task of summarizing the history of modern Polish literature in a mere 800 words for the Poland Market Focus at the London Book Fair 2017.

Bill argues that writers have wielded unusual power in Poland’s dramatic and often painful history: “To see this importance, we need look no further than the Polish city of Krakow. On the main square of the former royal capital, in the space of greatest symbolic significance, we find not a monument to a king or statesman or warrior, but a statue of the Romantic poet Adam Mickiewicz. In Poland, the writer has often been sovereign.”

To read the rest of the article on the British Council website, click here.

The Strong and the Weak: Poland and the New International Order

Trump addresses the Polish National Alliance in Chicago, U.S.

President Donald Trump speaks to the Polish National Alliance in Chicago. [Source: Reuters]

By Stanley Bill

Donald Trump and Steve Bannon are in the White House. The British parliament has given Theresa May the signal to start Brexit negotiations. Populist forces are surging in France, the Netherlands, and other parts of Europe. Russia is emboldened. The liberal consensus of globalism and international cooperation seems to be faltering, as national movements gain traction. The end of an era could mean a return to a less ceremonious contest between the strong and the weak. This would be bad news for Poland. So why has Warsaw been part of the trend? 

Continue reading →

“It’s hard not to think of Russia”: Concern over Polish government’s move to “bring order” to NGOs

z20979041vbeata-szydloBy Daniel Tilles

Poland’s media and civil society have reacted with concern to Prime Minister Beata Szydło’s announcement that the government wants to bring NGOs under more centralised control, because, in her view, too many of them are still ‘subordinate to the policies of the previous ruling system’.

To this end, her office is in the process of establishing a Department of Civil Society which will be responsible for ‘bringing order to the whole sphere’ of NGOs. It will collect and disburse all money intended for such organisations, and set goals for their work.

Leaving little doubt as to the purpose of this move, Szydło says that, although NGOs should ideally not be under government control, ‘it turns out we have not yet got to the moment at which politicians do not want to control social organisations’. Continue reading →

New film on Wołyń massacres unites Poles in praise – but reconciliation with Ukraine will be harder

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By Daniel Tilles

In Poland’s deeply polarised society, it is rare these days for anything to bridge the country’s social, cultural and political divides. However, a new film about the WW2 Wołyń massacres by director Wojciech Smarzowski appears set to achieve this, winning rave reviews across Polish media after its screening at the Gdynia film festival, writes Daniel Tilles. Continue reading →

‘The Turkish Lesson’: How valid are comparisons of Poland and Turkey’s ruling parties?

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By Daniel Tilles

The recent upheaval in Turkey has been seized upon by opponents of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to accuse it of leading the country in a similar direction. On a political chat show on Sunday, an opposition politician claimed that Poland is currently under a ‘dictatorship’ of the same type as Turkey’s. When pressed further on what was clearly an exaggerated claim, he admitted that ‘there are dictatorships and there are dictatorships’ – the point being that ‘Poland is on the wrong track’. Continue reading →

Anti-Polish hate crimes in Britain offer Poland itself a warning of where populist xenophobia leads

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By Daniel Tilles

Just like the Brexit campaigners, Poland’s own ruling party has been guilty of stoking resentment of outsiders, with the result that xenophobes have been emboldened and hate crimes have increased. The danger of leading the country in such a direction should be even clearer now that Poles themselves are falling victim to precisely such rhetoric in Britain, writes Daniel Tilles.

Since Friday’s announcement that the UK had voted to leave the EU, there has been a wave of hate crimes against immigrants in Britain. At this early stage, most of the evidence is anecdotal. But what appears absolutely clear is that the Brexit vote – which was motivated in large part by a desire to reduce immigration – has given xenophobes greater confidence to express their views publicly. Continue reading →