Fifty-six people—including Lech Wałęsa, the secret collaborator with the code name ‘Bolek’; Władysław Frasyniuk, who was recently convicted for calling Polish soldiers a ‘pack of dogs’ and ‘trash’; and Adam Michnik, editor-in-chief of Gazeta Wyborcza, which once printed articles by Vladimir Putin—have signed an appeal to vote for Rafał Trzaskowski in the second round of the presidential election. ‘Let us vote for a candidate who guarantees a law-abiding, honest and reliable state,’ they urged.
In this curious appeal by this peculiar company, ‘all those who two years ago stood for ending Kaczyński’s destructive, dishonest and authoritarian rule of democracy’ were called upon ‘to confirm that determination and to vote on 1 June in the second round of the presidential election.’
We, the founders of “Solidarity” and activists of the anti-communist underground, address Poles who cherish the ideals of freedom and democracy with anxiety and concern. Our homeland has found itself once again at a turning point. Then, unwaveringly and faithful to our values, we were not afraid to oppose the power based on eastern totalitarianism. Now, when Free Poland has become part of the West, a state that respects human and civil rights and is resistant to Russia’s imperial ambitions, the threat is again real, the appeal reads.
The mention of Russia’s imperial ambitions is all the more interesting because it was Gazeta Wyborcza—whose editor signed the appeal—that once published articles by Vladimir Putin and Sergei Lavrov.
What else is in the appeal? The signatories expressed the conviction that ‘the election of Rafał Trzaskowski as President of the Republic of Poland offers hope for the realisation of a civilisational programme for Poland’s development in the 21st century, and that the observance of patriotic values, the maintenance of personal integrity in politics, and the necessary prudence in decision-making are its guarantee.’ ‘We believe in the wisdom and courage of Polish women and men,’ they concluded.
Who is appealing for personal integrity? Among others Andrzej Seweryn, who in an online video urged people to ‘beat the crap out of’ Kaczyński, Trump ‘and other fascists’. And Władysław Frasyniuk, recently convicted for the following words spoken on TVN24:
The word “soldier” is humiliating for all those who served on Polish missions abroad. I feel this is a pack of dogs surrounding poor, weak people […] Trash. This is not human behaviour.
The appeal was also signed by former president Lech Wałęsa (secret collaborator ‘Bolek’); Jan Krzysztof Bielecki; Juliusz Braun; Jacek Taylor; Zbigniew Bujak; Bogdan Lis; Ireneusz Krzemiński; Barbara Labuda; Seweryn Blumsztajn; Eugeniusz Smolar; Helena Łuczywo; Janusz Bazydło; Stanisław Handzlik; Danuta Stołecka; Irena Wójcicka; Grzegorz Gauden; Ewa Kulik Bielińska; Janusz Onyszkiewicz; Waldemar Kuczyński; and Grażyna Staniszewska.”