The Other Poland
When Poland's Solidarity brought down the communist regime in 1989, it embraced the idea of a Poland for everyone rather than a state divided between omnipotent winners and oppressed losers. But today, a Poland of suspicion, fear, and revenge is fighting a Poland of hope, courage, and dialogue.
Recently, the European Parliament condemned the Polish government’s attempt to strip Bronislaw Geremek of his parliamentary mandate. A leader of Solidarity, a former political prisoner, and the foreign minister responsible for Poland’s accession to NATO, Geremek had refused to sign yet another declaration that he had not been a communist secret police agent.
The EU parliamentarians called the Polish government’s actions a witch-hunt, and Geremek declared Poland’s “lustration” law a threat to civil liberties. In response, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused Geremek of “damaging his fatherland” and “provoking an anti-Polish affair.” The same phrases were used by Communists when Geremek criticized their misrule.
A ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Court issued on May 11 gutted much of the lustration law, and made Germek’s position in the EU parliament safe – at least for now. But the lustration law was but one act among many in a systematic effort by Poland’s current government to undermine the country’s democratic institutions and fabric.
Recently, the European Parliament condemned the Polish government’s attempt to strip Bronislaw Geremek of his parliamentary mandate. A leader of Solidarity, a former political prisoner, and the foreign minister responsible for Poland’s accession to NATO, Geremek had refused to sign yet another declaration that he had not been a communist secret police agent.
The EU parliamentarians called the Polish government’s actions a witch-hunt, and Geremek declared Poland’s “lustration” law a threat to civil liberties. In response, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski accused Geremek of “damaging his fatherland” and “provoking an anti-Polish affair.” The same phrases were used by Communists when Geremek criticized their misrule.
A ruling by Poland’s Constitutional Court issued on May 11 gutted much of the lustration law, and made Germek’s position in the EU parliament safe – at least for now. But the lustration law was but one act among many in a systematic effort by Poland’s current government to undermine the country’s democratic institutions and fabric.