“Conservatives in Poland, in the United States, and around the world—we must create international mechanisms and meet regularly. (…) We must establish an international alliance of conservatives to stand against the communists of today’s world,” said Michał Rachoń, Program Director of TV Republika, during the opening of the CPAC conference in Poland.
The first-ever Polish edition of the conservative CPAC conference began at around 9:30 a.m. in Jasionka.
“I’m very pleased to see so many of us here today, attending the first CPAC conference in Poland. We’ve been trying to organize this event for years, and now it’s finally happening,” Rachoń said during his opening remarks.
Freedom and Solidarity
“Why are we here today? Why did we at TV Republika decide to organize such a gathering and invite you to co-host it? Tomasz Sakiewicz spoke about a core value—freedom. But here in Poland, especially in this place so close to the border where things unfold that we know all too well from stories or even from our own experience (…) Poland becoming a free nation again, rejoining the community of free nations, was the result of the great movement of Solidarity—ten million people who wanted freedom, who demanded agency and sovereignty,” Rachoń said.
He emphasized that “in today’s reality, sovereignty itself is under threat in the political arena.”
“Today, there are not only attempts to eliminate national sovereignty, but also blatant efforts to destroy the very spirit that fueled that great push for freedom,” he added. He recalled the symbolic gesture of a candle lit in the White House during Poland’s martial law.
“Many of us remember that—the transatlantic bond between Poles here and those across the ocean. That shared spirit of freedom is still a fundamental value. For 30 years of free Poland, the political goal of virtually every major party—whether they truly believed it or not—was to integrate Poland into the global security community, whose significance can be seen clearly here in Jasionka. For many years, we were second-tier NATO members, lacking the necessary guarantees. We watch media that call themselves ‘free,’ but all they do is distort reality—claiming that freedom and democracy are under threat in Poland because some people choose to enforce the law as they understand it,” Rachoń said.
An Attack on Fundamental Values
He stressed that Poland is now “facing an assault on fundamental values.”
“The reason we wanted to organize CPAC is because threats to freedom, free speech, sovereignty, and the integrity of borders are common challenges faced by many nations around the world. When we at TV Republika traveled to the U.S. to cover the election campaign, we recalled Donald Trump’s speech in Warsaw, where he promised that NATO troops would be stationed in Poland and that Poland would become independent from Russian energy sources. That promise was fulfilled over two conservative government terms in Poland—governments now being portrayed as their own opposites. By whom? By politicians who for years pushed for a ‘reset’ with Russia, tried to negotiate with ‘Russia as it is,’ and ignored the very threats conservatives had been warning them about,” he added.
Standing Up to Today’s Communists
In Rachoń’s view, the conservative movement today is facing global threats.
“The conservative movement worldwide is under attack from international organizations. We’re seeing it during this election cycle—organizations are funding campaigns in Poland using the same tactics they’ve used in many other countries, aiming to hand power to liberal-left governments that seek to destroy the fundamental values we’re defending. Conservatives in Poland, the U.S., and across the globe—we must develop international tools, meet together. Today, we are meeting to discuss not only on stage but also among ourselves, to create channels of direct communication and exchange experiences—so that globalist elites, Soros, and international networks cannot destroy the sovereignty of our nations. We must establish an international alliance of conservatives to stand against the communists of today’s world,” concluded TV Republika’s Program Director.