Poland quietly slid to authoritarianism, article by @papi.mati

Poland is an atypical country. Since regaining freedom in 1989, it was always conservative, attached to tradition, and Catholic religion. It was with an inferiority complex ("what is foreign is always better", following opinions about one's country in foreign media, etc.) as well as excessive, martyrdom praising oneself ("Poland is the savior of nations", "Poland is the most wonderful place in the world").

This explosive mixture was already dangerous in itself, but it could be managed for a while. In 2010, the Polish president, prime minister, and several dozen prominent politicians died in a plane crash in Smolensk. The accident was used by some politicians to spread conspiracy theories that the plane was shot down by the Russians or that the crash occurred after a bomb exploded on board. Although all expert opinions and in-depth research indicated that none of these theories could be true, a significant proportion of Poles did not believe them.

At that moment, Poland became strongly polarized and, in fact, for eleven years it has not been able to unite back into one nation. This is also the moment when very dangerous populists began to build their capital on misfortune and, after five years, in 2015, they came to power which they would never give up. They called themselves "Law and Justice" and their leader was the brother of the president who died in the catastrophe.

The power exercised by the populists of the Law and Justice party is perpetuated in three ways:

First, it tries to unite voters against some enemy. Initially, the enemy was Muslims in general, including refugees escaping from the war in Syria. At that time, disgusting words were said by the leader of the political party, that "immigrants were spreading diseases and germs", posing a threat to the freedom and security of the country. Of course, such lies did not convince the educated part of society, but many people from smaller towns and with basic education believed them. As a result, social polarization intensified even more - educated people respected the government even less, but 35% of the iron electorate saw it as the only protector of the nation. Violence intensified - several Arab restaurants and kebab booths were attacked, a Chilean tourist was beaten on the beach because he looked like a Muslim, and in the public transport in Krakow, an attempt was made to beat my husband's colleague, a professor from India, who came to Poland to participate in a scientific experiment.

After immigrants, who are not so many in Poland, the main enemy in the country was the European Union, which allegedly was to impose on Poland a decadent "civilization of death" including the right to abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, and departure from God - German influence was seen everywhere and the fear of them was used to make some very dangerous decisions, such as the nationalization of the media and a few companies. That way the government could centralize and consolidate power.

Ultimately, the greatest enemy was the LGBT community, which was intimidated, arrested for activism and protesting, beaten and kept away from lawyers after arrests, attacked on the streets of Białystok, and dehumanized. During the presidential campaign, words were said that "human rights are nonsense" and that "homosexuals are not people" - all of that in the middle of Europe in the 21st century. It was also the main reason why we left the country and we live in Argentina - much poorer, but happier.

Meanwhile, anyone who dared to protest was the enemy: people with disabilities, teachers, entrepreneurs, and, above all, women who dared to oppose the changing of abortion law, which now de facto prohibits abortion and is one of the strictest in the world.

With so many enemies, it would be difficult to maintain power if it were not for the alliance of the advancing dictatorship with the Catholic Church, which, ignoring all barriers of decency, contrary to Polish law, openly began to agitate politically at masses and scare that every Catholic who will not vote for the party " Of Law and Justice", sins.

In addition to looking for enemies, in the meantime the government made significant changes to the law - it removed the Constitutional Tribunal, the highest form of courts in Poland, and appointed its judges, who now meet the party president for coffee before the sentence is issued, and then adjudicate in line with the government's line, regardless on legal regulations, monopolized almost all media - the state media put his bets on his people and according to statistics, currently 80% of airtime is devoted to praising the actions of Law and Justice and took over more than one hundred newspapers. They have not yet managed to take over the largest private television station but have already tried twice. It belongs to the American Discovery station, so it is associated with a conflict with the United States that they cannot afford so easily. Eventually, they instituted the shameful practices of calling last-minute Senate sessions in the middle of the night and passing a new law in one day, often preventing even bringing the opposition to the floor. All these omissions have made Poland, in the last five years, a hybrid democracy, moving towards a dictatorship.

The European Union is debating the situation in Poland and Hungary, where the government has been behaving similarly for months but is unable to change anything effectively.

In addition to changes in the law and pointing to national enemies, the Law and Justice government use bribery - the scale of nepotism is enormous, being a supporter of the government one can easily expect a high position and significant financial benefits. Social groups that are the allies of the government can also expect benefits. Huge financial subsidies and even more tax cuts for the clergy have been introduced. $ 125 a month for each child in the family bribes the least educated rural electorate. They have many children, so they often receive $ 500-750 a month from the government, when the intelligentsia from the city usually have no children or have one, at most two.

Poland does not have a great future ahead. The opposition is cut off from the media and with difficulty, if ever, manages to get its message across to those who vote for the government. The European Union is considering financial penalties, which, however, can be used in the long term to discourage society from joining the community and start polexit. Finally, even if the elections will be lost by "Law and Justice", it will be difficult to regain control in a country where all the most important positions have been filled by party activists - from police commanders to generals, media, courts, presidents of the largest state-owned companies. A divided society will not allow such a change to take place peacefully, and supporters of the current government will surely start protests and, perhaps, riots.

I have prepared two articles relating to the situation in Poland. One speaks of a significant change in public sentiment in 2015, which I noticed while working with children. As you know, children often repeat what their parents say and they don't have as many barriers to hide their beliefs, so it was easiest to see the upcoming changes on their example. The post will be published tomorrow.

I am going to devote the second post to the Polish version of the Stonewall and to the Civic Disobedience of LGBT people who took to the streets exactly a year ago after one of the activists was arrested with no reason. The post will be published on Monday.

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Thank you for reading,
@papi.mati

Sources for those of you who would like to read more about Polish political situation:

<sub>1. How big is the islamophobia in Poland Al Jazeera
2. Chilean pianist beaten up for looking like an Arab Guardian
3. Polish government ignores islamophobia and xenophobia DW
4. Demolishing arabic restaurants and attacking Muslims Krytyka Polityczna
5. Poland's Islamophobia Strategic Europe
6. EU sues Poland and Hungary over LGBT discrimination DW
7. Anti-gay brutality and government poisonous propaganda The New York Times
8. Poland to consider outright ban on LGBT+ gay marches The Independent
9. In Poland an LGBTQ migration as homophobia deepens The New York Times
10. Poland punishes LGBT activists Human Rights Watch
11. Thousands protests demanding release of LGBT activist Reuters
12. Poland quietly slid into authoritarianism USA Today
13. Democracy in Poland is in mortar danger The Atlantic
14. How Kaczynski ruined Poland EUobserver
15. Poland's judicial reform 'not compatible' with EU law, Court of Justice rules France24
16. Polish state becoming authoritarian BBC
17. Investors are ignoring a dangerous crackdown on press freedom The Sydney Morning Herald
18. Last stand for the rule of law? Die Zelt
19. EU identity crisis: Poland, Hungary and the fight over Brussels’ values Financial Times
20. Poland: Escalating Threats to Women Activists Human Rights Watch</sub>