Posted on 02/10/2006 2:57:48 PM PST by lizol
Polish leaders at vanguard of Europe's `culture war'
By Tom Hundley Tribune foreign correspondent Published February 10, 2006
WARSAW -- When he was mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczynski established his credentials as a Roman Catholic social conservative by banning the city's minuscule gay rights parade.
So it came as no great surprise that as Poland's newly elected president, Kaczynski would make his first foreign visit to the Vatican.
Perhaps more interesting is that his second trip abroad is to the United States.
Kaczynski met with President Bush in the Oval Office on Thursday, and the two discussed NATO, the European Union and Poland's neighbors--Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. He arrives in Chicago on Friday for meetings with Polish-American leaders and a breakfast Saturday with Mayor Richard Daley.
Skeptical of EU
The visit to Washington underscores the importance Poland places on the trans-Atlantic alliance and signals Kaczynski's deep skepticism of the European Union, especially in matters concerning Poland's security and its testy relationship with Russia.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Seems Poland is the only European country that has any sense. And this is not about banning the gay parade, though that does help. Chicago is loaded with Poles.
Majority of Poles are conservative (in the cultural sense even the postcommunists were quite conservative), gay rights and fanatic antichristianism are simply not an issue there. Poland may be called a traditionalist nation and there is certainly no "culture war" at the moment, because to have a war you need to have two sides of comparable strength. In Poland traditionalists are an overwhelming majority. No serious politician would even dare to bring up the problem of gay-marriages. Even the banned gay parades (which took place nevertheless) were very modest in comparison to those in western Europe.
It is funny, that very few people in Poland would say that. Many of us think the opposite :(
Very interesting how the former Communist countries have come out of all of this the most spiritually strong in Europe.
Western Europe is almost a lost cause. Even Italy isn't all that well. Nor Ireland.
Meanwhile, the churches are spilling over in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland. Or at least strongly reviving.
I think the history of standing up to Soviet communism and its Polish puppet regime while clinging to Catholic identity created an immunity in Polish society to any socialist innovations no matter under what mask they arrive (EU, "gay rights", etc.). I know I'm going to get in trouble for saying that, but it looks like the best cure against communism and any form of social utopias is actually experiencing them in an extreme form -:))))
You are not going to get in trouble because what you say is 100% correct. In one sentence there is the whole truth about it. Congrats!
It created immunity not only to socialist innovation, but to any innovation. I don't think it must be necessarily a bad thing, but please note: the EU has brought to Poland more "cultural progress" and more capitalism at the same time. Whatever the critics of EU say, it has more free market than Poland has. If there is one good thing about Poland's entry to EU I would say it is the fact that now Poles can't backtrack on the economic reforms of 1990s (and the polls show that majority of Poles support the anticapitalist parties).
It is funny, that very few people in Poland would say that.
Why not?
Allow me to reply tommorrow as it requires more time as you think ;)
I like your reply.
Chicago ..
St. Louis ..
New York ..
to lesser degrees ..
Philadephia ..
Pittsburgh ..
Answer is very simple: every democratic nation is more critical of itself than seen from the outside (as opposite to totalitarian nations who feel very well about themselves). It's the same with the US. Poles think that USA is some sort of garden of Eden, while Americans (no matter Democrat or Republican) are usually very critical of their nation.
LPR is a party of very little significance thus I don't think it could be anyone's obsession. As for the coalition - the parties are so cooperative that the top of their legislative capabilities is, as it appears, the 'becikowe' law.
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