Wrocław is first Polish city to join European Coalition Against Racism

Wrocław has become the first city in Poland to join the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism (ECCAR), an initiative launched by UNESCO, a UN agency.

The decision to join was supported by the mayor and majority on the city council, who are aligned with the national opposition. It was, however, criticised by councillors from the Law and Justice (PiS) party, which leads Poland’s government. They argued that racism is not a serious problem in Wrocław.

ECCAR’s unanimous decision to admit Wrocław was announced by Bartłomiej Ciążyński, the deputy head of the city council and the mayor’s plenipotentiary for tolerance and combatting xenophobia.

“We want to be an open, diverse, inclusive city,” wrote Ciążyński. “We want everyone in Wrocław to feel comfortable and safe.”

“By joining the coalition, we want to learn from others…[and] take on obligations in countering hate speech, xenophobia and discrimination,” he added.

ECCAR was established in 2004 and now compromises almost 150 cities, including London, Paris and Berlin. Each commits to a ten-point action plan to improve or introduce policies on combatting racism, discrimination and xenophobia, as well as supporting victims and promoting cultural diversity.

ECCAR’s member cities before Wrocław joined

Last year, Wrocław’s mayor, Jacek Sutryk, declared that “openness and diversity are the strength of our city”. Like many places in Poland, Wrocław has become more culturally diverse amid an unprecedented wave of immigration. It is estimated that Ukrainians now make up 10% of the city’s population.

However, Wrocław’s decision to join ECCAR has drawn criticism from members of PiS, Poland’s ruling party. “We do not have a serious problem with racism in this city,” said councillor Michał Kurczewski at a meeting in September, quoted by Gazeta Wyborcza.

“We’re talking about an issue that doesn’t exist,” agreed fellow PiS councillor Piotr Maryński, who argued that “joining ECCAR is a provocation”.

“Has anyone heard of attacks on the yellow race in Wrocław?” asked Maryński. “Can someone say how many negroes [Murzynów] we have here?” (For more on the Polish term Murzyn, see here.)

As another councillor pointed out, there have in fact been a number of reports of racially motivated attacks in Wrocław in recent years, including against a Korean woman, two Indians, two Syrian men, a restaurant run by a Kurd, a Cameroonian man, and a Cuban woman.

Both Maryński and Kurczewski acknowledged the fact that a far-right leader was convicted for burning a Jewish effigy on Wrocław’s market square in 2015. But they argued that it “was not a racist attack; it was religious discrimination”.

At September’s meeting, 24 out of Wrocław’s 37 city councillors voted in favour of joining ECCAR, reports Gazeta Wyborcza. Among PiS’s 13 council members, all either abstained or did not take part in the vote, apart from one who voted in favour.

Main image credit: Krzysztof Cwik / Agencja Gazeta

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.