Closer to Confrontation
The ongoing crisis in Poland is reaching a dangerous moment, and a forceful confrontation has become a real possibility. The details of the current parliamentary dispute (which you can read about here, here, or here) are less important than the rhetoric, because the latter has been characterized by a frightening escalation. Jarosław Kaczyński, who will ultimately determine how this crisis is ended, is framing the controversy in a very disturbing way. Yesterday he said at a press conference that the opposition’s attempt to block the parliamentary podium in order to enforce a filibuster was “entirely illegal and counter to Polish democracy; it is deliberately aimed against Polish democracy, and the entire struggle that is now underway is a struggle against democracy, against the idea that a parliamentary majority can decide what’s in the interest of ordinary people, can decide what is in the interests of the Poles.” Later Kaczyński gave a speech to supporters in front of the Presidential Palace, but had to contend with a loud counter-protest. Pointing to his opponents, he said “the day will come when Poland will once and for all free itself of all that, of the sickness that we see here. And no shouts, no screams, no sirens will change that. Poland will be victorious against its enemies, against the traitors.” For their part, the opposition is moving rapidly towards a consensus that Jarosław Kaczyński, President Andrzej Duda, and Prime Minister Beata Szydło must be held to account for their violations of the Polish constitution, and that when this is all over it will be necessary to form a State Tribunal to judge them. Some prominent voices are going even further. Yesterday Krzysztof Łoziński (one of the co-founders of the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, though not currently serving on its board) said in an interview, “in a few months we will either have a complete dictatorship and a terror state [państwo terroru], or Jarosław Kaczyński will be sitting in prison. There is no third alternative.” I certainly hope he is wrong, because right now Poland desperately needs a peaceful way out of this stalemate.