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October 04, 2007
A Sea Change in Polish Politics
The signs are unmistakeable. All over the land it is evident that Polish politicians have shaken off the complexes and shackles of yesteryear. The East is awake! The last time I saw election posters here almost every single photograph of the candidate had the very top of his or her head cropped by the photographer. And now look around! By a miracle, their head tops have been restored. Presumably the PR agency that advised every single politician last time out in the country has been taken off the case.
In other political news, there was a televised debate between the prime minister, Kaczyński, and the leader of LiD (Lewica i Demokracja), Kwaśniewski. The politicians were unremarkable but some of the questions, put to them by journalists, were of interest. A Joanna Wrześniewska-Zygier started things off by moaning about the red tape involved in setting up a business. "When will we see an end to this socialism?" she asked of Kwaśniak. 18 years after Poles overthrew communism, public figures are still blaming the faults of modern Poland on the old regime. Wrześniewska-Zygier herself, in her interminably long question, compared the current situation unfavourably with that existing in communist Poland. So the red tape - by her own admission - is a feature of modern, capitalist Poland. And yet she gets to call it "socialism" unchallenged. Later on, Krzysztof Skowroński asked the two debaters what the difference was between the third and the fourth Polish Republics. In case there is any confusion here, allow me to explain: there is no such thing as a fourth Polish Republic. Post 1989 Poland is the third Republic and there has been no break in continuity since 1989. This "fourth republic" is a rhetorical device used by the current regime. Why must journalists so unquestioningly accept the terms of discourse set out for them by their rulers?
Posted by hgrodsk at October 4, 2007 03:12 PM
Comments
"Why must journalists so unquestioningly accept the terms of discourse set out for them by their rulers?"
Cause they're mostly stupid? No, really. I mean they're mostly unprepared and unqualified to be practicing journalism.
Monika Olejnik is the exception but most of them think they're much more clever than they really are (Skowronksi more than most).
Posted by: Michael Farris at October 4, 2007 09:40 PM
"Why must journalists so unquestioningly accept the terms of discourse set out for them by their rulers?"
They're by no means dumb, rather they are compliant with the status quo, not willing to shake the bushes in case their careers hit a rocky patch.
And that is an even more sickening and dangerous negative characteristic than stupidity. Mike has a point in that they all too often seem as unprepared as Giertych was when torn to shreds by Olejnik about the school reading lists.
My Polish is unfortunately not up too scratch to follow the debates in depth, but my experience with many journalists are that they can be a lazy cynical pack of hyenas who have little or no interest to serve the public interest.
Finally, it is a myth we, the public, largely tend to hold dear to - that the media is indeed, a public service. There are of course occasions when mighty characters like Seymour Hersh or Kapuscinski keeps us well-informed, but their journalistic integrity and talent is unfortunately the exception rather than the rule.
Thanks to blogs like threemonkeysonline, beatroot, polishpressreview et al., struggling Polish learners/residents like me can keep abreast of developments in Polish society and gain insightful analysis to help further debate and envision viable alternatives, thus enabling us to counterpoise much of the current crapology overload flung towards us from daily newspapers and tv programmes.
Phew, gotta breathe!;)
Posted by: Damien Moran at October 8, 2007 09:34 PM
There has been a call to stop using the term "Fourth Republic" from Zbigniew Gluza of "Ośrodka Karta" which is an institution dealing with modern Polish history. Piotr Śmiłowicz writes about it in the current Newsweek. He manages to avoid mentioning his profession's complicity in propagating the fiction that the near-election of PiS in 2005 marked some kind of a constitutional cahnge.
Posted by: Hgrodsk at October 9, 2007 12:05 PM