Poland: A glimmer of hope

Polish nationalists and far-right individuals have clashed with police as thousands defied a coronavirus pandemic-related ban to join a self-styled “independence march” through the capital, Warsaw…

But participants, many of whom did not wear masks, waved Polish flags and chanted, “God, honour and homeland!”

This year’s demonstration was organised under the motto “Our Civilisation, Our Rules” and its advertising poster showed a knight breaking a red-and-rainbow-coloured star, an apparent reference to communism and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBTQ) community.

The march came on the heels of massive protests in the past few weeks about abortion rights, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the street to protest against the pro-government Constitutional Tribunal’s efforts to ban abortions, even in cases of fetal defects.

Poland: Far-right ‘hooligans’ clash with police at Warsaw march

 

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The Polish are making me reconsider every joke I have ever told about them. Today is their Independence Day, and they celebrated in a way that made me smile in a world that is increasingly bleak for my people. What I wouldn’t give to see men here shouting ‘Our Civilization, Our Rules!’ and ‘God, Honor, and Homeland!’ instead of washing feet and screaming like a mascara-festooned girl on live TV (paging Ms. Sheperd Smith). The tribal nature of media will undoubtedly require sufficient condemnation of the activities and a lot of pearl-clutching among the Europeans, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. The Polish understand more than most the connection between the various forms of cultural degeneracy and communism. Increasingly there is becoming a larger and larger contrast to how the average person is living in Europe and America as opposed to Poland. Our entire society in the US and most of Europe now revolves around apologizing for past wrongs, perceived wrongs, imagined wrongs and ultimately a lot of patently false accusations. I for one see people at work every day who are lost, praying that in their own country a wrong word or look or factual observation doesn’t send their world spinning out of control. How many of us are now used to the stress of being two people, unable to express ourselves or relate to anyone in a meaningful way professionally or personally to avoid being unable to feed your family…because you love your people, your country and your God? Madness. It was not always so, and will not always be so. There are small examples of people who have said no, and today was one of them. This is a war and I refuse to be defined and limited by the failures of other people and previous generations. Our very existence is an act of defiance, so smile and drive on.