Relations between Poland and the European Union’s leaders hit a new low Wednesday, as the bloc’s executives met to investigate Poland’s recent limitations on democracy.
The move followed protests last weekend in Warsaw, where tens of thousands of Polish supporters of democracy braved the bitter cold to decry a new law empowering the government to muzzle state radio and television.
The law, rushed through the Sejm (Parliament) by the governing Law and Justice Party (known by its Polish acronym as PiS), gives the government complete control of state radio and television. Key managers have been sacked and replaced with PiS political appointees. The European Union has condemned this action.
Government officials claim this takeover of public media is necessary to promote national traditions and patriotic values. Pride in Polish identity is a hallmark of the new government, which abhors western European values.
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Many moderate Poles who thought PiS would be an alternative to its corrupt predecessor, the Civic Platform, were soon disappointed. Just one month after the PiS landslide victory, 56 percent of Poles said that democracy was threatened, according to a national poll conducted last November.
Lech Walesa, who led the Solidarity movement against Communist oppression, has joined in the denunciation of the government. “This government acts against freedom and democracy,” he said. “Not to mention that it makes us look ridiculous to the rest of the world.” Walesa was president of Poland from 1990 to 1995.
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PiS introduced another bill that gives law enforcement access to the Internet activity of citizens without requiring court consent. Opposition lawmaker Krzysztof Brejza warned such legislation turns Poland into an Orwellian state where surveillance is everywhere.
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These lightening-swift changes since the October 25 election have crippled the nation’s top court, fundamentally changed the professional civil service, and now threaten to make the public media an arm of government policy.
“It reminds me of the Communist takeover of the country in the 1940’s,” said Andrzej Zoll, a former ombudsman for the constitutional court.
Poland Lurches Toward Dictatorship
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Originally Posted by NightTrain
