by MarekNYC
Wed Jan 25th, 2006 at 03:12:12 PM EST
Of all Polish political parties the most difficult one to explain to foreigners is Andrzej Lepper's peasant party `Samoobrona' (Selfdefense). It is a left wing populist party but not one of a sort that has any analogue in the West. Its left wing policy proposals are utterly incoherent, its hardline nationalism combined with an affection for Putin and Lukashenko, its leaders ranging from small time crooks, pure opportunists, to peasants angry at the ruin brought on by capitalism, from left wing demagogues to extreme right wingers. This diary is about one of the latter.
From the diaries ~ whataboutbob
In recent months a new MP has emerged as one of Andrzej Lepper's chief advisors. Mateusz Piskorski has spent most of the past fifteen years as student and Ph.D candidate in political science in Szczecin. He has also been a leader in tiny extreme right wing movements that would be amusingly nuts if they weren't so ugly. He first caused a major stir when he was nominated to Samoobrona's European Parliament slate in 2004. Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland's most important newspaper (left-liberal) published an article noting his recent past as a skinhead leader and his name was withdrawn, only to come back for last fall's parliamentary elections. Now they've published a lengthy expose. Here are some of Piskorski's greatest hits.
In a 1999 article about the conviction of a skinhead for beating up an African American working as a basketball player in Poland. The article is entitled `Judeo-justice'
"Many of you [...] must have heard of the punishing of one of the most accomplished members of our movement, Pawel from Stargard. When it occurred, the attack on the nigger Eggelston was widely reported even in the national media [...] The court which handed down this verdict was clearly not guided by the interests of Poland, nor that of the white race. Pawel is in jail, and the provocateur Eggelston still besmirches Polish earth rather than hopping around someplace in Mozambique from one palm tree to another in search of coconuts, is constantly wandering the streets of Stargard[...]'
In his main publication `Odala' he sang the praises of the `Aryan Race' and of Hitler, and supported the struggle against ideologies `foreign to our race, like Christianity, Liberalism, and Marxism' describing Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany as the most successful nations of all time, and publishing interviews with Holocaust deniers.
As mentioned above, his group was a big fan of Putin and pan-Slavism `Considering the decay and multiracialness of the West, only a united Slavdom - the northern empire of the rising sun - is the hope for the White Race and anyone in the West who does not support the Slavs betrays the White Race and himself' and "Please don't confuse Russia with the Soviets, for there is a fundamental difference. I remind you that the judeo-soviets (yes, it was not Russian, but dominated by that little people [ludek] from the Dead Sea'
Piskorski and his friends first tried to enter the political mainstream in 2000, allying themselves with the local PSL (Peasant Party) The leader of the Szczecin branch defended himself, saying `The signing of the agreement is no big deal, just a symbol of the return to the national [narodowy, i.e. protofascist/fascist] tradition in which the peasant movement has its roots. The inclusion of Slavic elements into the electoral campaign is intended to strengthen national identity' (My great grandfather, a senior leader of the party in the thirties and forties must have been rolling in his grave) After a press scandal caused that to fall through he allied himself with Samoobrona for the 2002 local elections and declared `We are Aryans, and we carry the Aryan mission on our banners'. Now as an MP Piskorski seems to be also partial to the loony fringe left, offering his support to and working with the French conspiracy nuts in the Reseau Voltaire, while at the same time declaring his love for Lukashenko and the leaders of the mafia mini-state of Transdniestria.
Samoobrona is not a right wing extremist party in any normal sense of the word. There is simply not enough of a coherent ideology to easily categorize. However, the fact that this disgusting nutcase can be an MP and senior figure in a party which is in a de facto parliamentary coalition with the government is just depressing.
The diary is based on the article Posel ze swastyka w podpisie (The MP with a swastika in his signature)
