Last Friday, November 11, marked the 104th anniversary of the Independence of Poland. As customary for over a decade now, the patriots held the Independence March from Rondo Dmowskiego to the National Stadium in Warsaw.
What made this one special was that it’s one held while war is still going on very close to Polish borders and 4 days later a stray missile was going to hit inside Polish territory.
We expected a tensed situation and so we took a quick trip with some of our younger members, thinking it would be a good opportunity to learn a bit more about the Polish ethos and the lying media, as well as to catch up with some of the older friends of the Sofa. And we hit jackpot on all three.
The lying media
Here’s how Reuters (a source still considered trustworthy by far too many) decided to describe the event:
Thousands of people gathered in Warsaw on Friday for an annual march organised by Poland’s far-right to mark Independence Day, with a handful carrying white supremacist or anti-gay banners and firing off red flares.
Marchers, including families with children as well as representatives of far-right groups, waved white and red Polish flags and chanted “God, Honour, Homeland” as they walked through central Warsaw amid a heavy police presence.
The parts marked in red are, essentially, lies. And, since the authors of the Reuters article are Polish, we will go ahead and say these lies are intentional, premeditated and broadcast in bad faith for a political agenda.
”Thousands”
There were “thousands” of people, alright. After all, 200,000 and 2000 both qualify as “thousands” even though the attendance at the Independence March was much closer to the former, rather than the latter.
This is a consistent pattern with illegitimate media: Normal people’s civic manifestations are downplayed (when they can’t outright be ignored) while the far-Left’s agitation is intentionally overplayed. For example, click this link to see how Reuters covered an equally big protest back in 2020 against a court ruling concerning abortion. Please notice that at the height of the panic porn regarding the Wuhan Flu, suddenly none of that mattered when it was leftists protesting for the right to murder babies abortion. And now please compare how Reuters covered the Independence March that took place less than two weeks after the Leftists’ protest.
”Far right”
It is a constant smear by Western media to paint anyone to the Right of the unelected, unaccountable and illegitimate Brussels bureaucrats as ‘far right’ – but it is particularly egregious when this is applied to both the organizers and the attendants of the Polish Independence March.
Like every year, the march featured the signage of Polska Walcząca (Poland uprising/Poland Fighting) – which is the oldest antifascist organization in the world. When posh Western liberals were still implementing the exact same policies as the failed Austrian painter turned German dictator, the Polish people were already organizing the resistance. Only to now have the same Western liberals come in to smear them. The fact that Polish people aren’t even harsher against West-Europe in particular is a testament of Poland’s goodwill – albeit unearned when it comes to continental west-Europe.
Like every year, the march was very explicit in its opposition to international-socialism, national-socialism, LGBT-ist ideology, Russian imperialism, Putinism, Islamism and generally all forms of totalitarian ideology. Apparently, this is ‘far right’ every year. Likely its because the Polish people oppose the West’s preferred forms of totalitarianism too, not just those that are fancy to oppose.
Poland doesn’t have genderist grooming scandals in its schools or Islamist attacks on its streets precisely because it is successfully opposing these forms of totalitarianism as well.
With that said, it is true that a legit far right contingent was present at the march and, just like in previous years, it constituted less than 5% of the overall huge march. After all, when you gather 200,000 people, it is effectively impossible not to also have some more… let’s say colorful elements showing up too.
It is worth noting, though, that the legit far right elements (or at least those willing to openly display far right symbolism) are also in full support of Ukraine – unlike the so-called far-right in the West which is always busy doing inconspicuous Putinist shilling or outright approving, quite openly so, Russia’s imperialist and expansionist agenda.
Say what you want about the ‘far right’ in Poland, but at the very least they’re not cucking for Russia nor are they in the business of being fooled by Dugin’s ramblings. Everyone would be better off if their ‘far right’ would be like this.
As for the ‘far right’ organizing… this is such a bald-faced lie that’s hardly worth debunking. The public is made to believe that the ‘far right’ in Poland is at the same time extremist but also so lovely that children, old people (who’ve seen two or three forms of totalitarianism in their lifetimes) and upper-middle class young people all come in enthusiastically at a far-right event. Yeah… right.
In reality, the Independence March this year was (just like every year) an expression of unity and strength of the Polish people in face of aggression. Even lefties attended the march (at least not the insane ones, who end up writing for Reuters).
It should be noted that on the issue of Ukraine, there was also some diversity of thought. While the overwhelming majority do support the Ukrainian war effort, a few don’t – and made their voices heard at the march as well.
While it is not our place to say what Poles should or shouldn’t support, it is worth mentioning that supporting Ukraine in this conflict makes impeccable geopolitical sense for Poland’s strategic national interests – especially considering that the price in human lives low (though unfortunately non-zero).
With that said, one should also expect some backlash, particularly in Poland – a country that not only isn’t a big fan of mass migration, but a country which also spent the most resources in all of Europe to helping Ukrainians fleeing war. At least 3.2 million Ukrainians remain in the country right now (2 million refugees and 1.2 million migrant workers, most of the latter predating the onset of the war). By the end of 2022, Poland will have spent $8.3 billion on housing, health and other services for Ukrainians, the highest in Europe. So in this context (and an inflation rate at about 20%), some grumbling is to be expected.
Americans are furious at an inflation rate of 8% and immigration levels far lower per capita than Poland. So a bit of perspective is in order before classifying anyone fatigued as a Putinist.
“Amid heavy police presence”
The independence march is, by far, the most peaceful yearly manifestation in its category (150,000 people or more every year) so the adding of the phrase “amid heavy police presence” by the Western media’s reporting is not only a factual lie (see video at the beginning of the video) but also a sneaky trick to paint a different image in the minds of the readers than what reality looked like.
Yes, of course there was some law enforcement – just like at any protest/manifestation anywhere on Earth. But most of it was concentrated in the Old Town, around government buildings (given that both the President and the Prime Minister held public speeches before the march) – while the march itself was, just like in previous years except 2020, free of any interference by law enforcement.
One caveat though: there was heavy police presence on the street that goes to the Russian Embassy that is orthogonal to the main street that the march ran on. Such action by the police is quite understandable, given that the Russian Embassy and Russian diplomats have been constantly under various non-lethal attacks by civilians. If as little as 2% of the crowd decided to take a detour to the Russian Embassy, the situation could’ve ended up quite badly, given the understandable “love” of the Polish people for the Russian State.
The whining about the red flares (which is barely mentioned in local media) is part of the wider safetyist anti-fun nanny-statist mentality of the contemporary Left. Anything that’s fun and involves fire is reflexively opposed by the so-called liberals.
To a contemporary leftist, flares should be outright banned or at the very least so heavily regulated that only big corporations that are friends of the Party can afford the monstrous cost of compliance to do anything fun (cost which would, of course, then be passed down to regular people to then be taxed by the State).
To us, it’s a breath of fresh air and, yes, an expression of freedom. We gladly helped the teenagers along the way who asked us to take pictures or video with them doing fun stuff with the flares.
It was also great to witness the disorganized spontaneously-ordered spectacle of fireworks, firecrackers and flares – all fired by regular people (from 10 year olds to 80 year olds) as another facet of the joy to be living in a country that takes its sovereignty seriously.
A word on politics
The media only covered the Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (the ruling party in Poland) versus the EU-backed Left angle. But this is not the only angle. And, when it comes to this march and national(ist) politics, it’s not even a relevant angle to begin with.
Tensions between the mainstream Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (PiS) and the non-leftist groups that are not part of the ruling coalition have been growing over the last 3 years. And growing faster since the escalation of the war in Ukraine.
The nationalist and other non-leftist groups that traditionally supported PiS or at the very least didn’t oppose PiS have shifted gears a little bit. And some of them quite a lot.
Whether it’s intentional or not, or whether it’s just a cynical power play or they’re Kremlin stooges – the fact remains that a loud minority of self-identified conservatives are no longer busy opposing the sources of Evil in the country (the EU, Russia and the far-Left) but busy opposing PiS while remaining silent on other issues – a phenomenon known as punching right or punching to your immediate left.
Perhaps the biggest exponent of this is the KKP (Confederation of the Polish Crown), a far-right party that advocates the abolition of the Republic and a return to Monarchy, in addition to ”shaping the social life based on the principles of Latin civilization.”
The KKP is in an alliance with the more known Konfederacija, namely the libertarian-conservative Konfederacja Odnowy Rzeczypospolitej Wolność i Nadzieja (Confederation for the Renewal of the Republic Liberty and Hope) – routinely abbreviated as KORWiN and founded by… well… Janusz Korwin Mikke.
While Korwin-Mikke himself and the party stayed away from such messaging, the suspicions of him being a Kremlin stooge have only increased in the last 3 years – especially given that both himself and the alliance largely has become more noticeably anti-PiS rather than pro-conservative and anti-Left.
While these tensions were not necessarily visible during the march – as the KKP activists marched side by side with people and groups sporting pro-Ukraine signs, Ukrainian flags or anti-Putin messages – the political tensions in society are on the rise.
Since Poland doesn’t have a two-party system, these tensions don’t necessarily help the Left. There are 14 stand-alone political parties in the Parliament, plus two coalitions (a centrist one of two parties and a right-wing one of 4 parties). But these tensions could lead to a more fragmented Parliament (Bulgaria or Israel-style) come 2023, thus making coalition building much more complicated.
So,… yeah. Poland’s not yet lost. And it is forging its own path to go through this current crisis. Unlike others who talk about resilience, the Polish history is wholly about a resilient people so, if there’s anyone we’d bet to pull this off, it is Poland.
Honor i Ojczyzna!
