On the weekend of 23rd March, activists Beata Geppert and Izabela Mozdrzén addressed an Amnesty International conference. Irish broadcaster RTE reported how the two women, who had previously attempted to unveil a ‘Stop Fascism’ banner during the Independence Day celebrations in Warsaw, told their Irish audience that Poland was facing a threat from the far right.
Speaking about the recent Independence Day march, Mozdrzén told RTE News:
“We knew that this protest wouldn’t be nice. We knew that racist and homophobic and hate speech will be there and banners and we knew that fascist symbols would be there…They were spitting, shouting, swearing, cursing, everything you can imagine. Some of us were pulled to the ground. One girl was dropped on the street, so she hit her head and she lost consciousness for some time”.
These two women are part of a wider, international group of activists who are wilfully deceiving people about the nature of the far right in Poland. I’ve seen the Independence Day march with my own eyes, and I’m sure many readers will have attended also. It is true that far right activists are present at the march, but it is wrong to suggest they are in any way the majority. In fact, the far-right element of these marches is shunned by the vast majority of attendees every year. It would be a stretch to suggest that 100 activists in attendance each year are genuinely far right.
The remaining 60,000 or so? They are simply Polish citizens celebrating independence.
The idea that Poland is a nation infested with far-right ideologues and activists who pose a threat to Europe is insane – and it is deeply cruel and dishonest for activists like Mozdrzén and Geppert to perpetuate this lie. Even worse, outlets like RTE give them credibility they do not deserve.
For any European news outlet to report on the Polish Independence Day march, they must surely have first-hand information and footage of their own that supports their claims. None of the outlets that have made assertions like this have any such footage.
Make no mistake – this is part of a campaign to wear down the Polish people and shame them into voting differently. Claim that something as ordinary as celebrating independence is far right, and the far left will hope to embarrass enough people into voting for centre-left and progressive parties like Wiosna in the upcoming European elections. Donald Tusk has already called for a “pro-European” movement to unite in Poland to stop Law and Justice from gaining seats this May. This conspiracy is real.
The people attacking Polish patriots for celebrating their independence are as deceptive as they are disingenuous. Some believe the nonsense they peddle, others know it is inaccurate but don’t care.
There is an attempt across Europe to silence Eastern European conservatives, nationalists and patriots who are taking the fight directly to the globalists in the European Union – but it is transparent, and doomed to fail.