Polish Nationalist Youth March Draws Thousands in Capital

[icymist]

Crowd of mostly young people carries banners that read ‘Europe Will Be White’ and ‘Clean Blood

Polish nationalists light flares during an independence-day march organized by a nationalist youth league, the National Radical Camp, in Warsaw on Saturday. PHOTO: PIETRUS/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

WARSAW—Tens of thousands of Poles marched across downtown Warsaw on Saturday, in an independence-day procession organized by a nationalist youth movement that seeks an ethnically pure Poland with fewer Jews or Muslims.

The largely young crowd shot off roman candles and many chanted “fatherland,” carrying banners that read “White Europe,” “Europe Will Be White” and “Clean Blood.” Some of the marchers flew in from Hungary, Slovakia and Spain and waved flags and symbols that those countries used during their wartime collaboration with Nazi Germany.

A number of people in the crowd said they didn’t belong to any neo-fascist or racist organization but didn’t see a problem with the overall tone of what has become Poland’s biggest independence day event.

“There are of course nationalists and fascists at this march,” said Mateusz, a 27-year-old wrapped in a Polish flag, “I’m fine with it. I’m just happy to be here.”

The march, organized by a group called the National Radical Camp, underscores the rightward politics of a growing section of Polish youth. The Radical Camp presents itself as the heir to a 1930s fascist movement of the same name, which fought to rid Poland of Jews in the years just before the Holocaust. A second group, All Polish Youth, also named after an anti-Jewish interwar movement, co-organized it.

More at the link:
https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/polish-nationalist-youth-march-draws-thousands-in-capital-1510429006

The whole friggin' world is going crazy!

[bigtree]

1. nazis

Link to tweet

[Kirk Lover]

2. I don't think HISTORY is being adequately taught throughout the worlds.

[Caliman73]

8. Very true...and sad.

The whole "clean blood" and purity thing didn't turn out too well for Poles in the 1930's and 1940's. What? now they think they are Aryans? 2.7 million ethnic Poles died at the hands of the Nazis, and that is not counting Polish Jews.

People are truly ignorant.

[Ezior]

3. That's just economic anxiety

And if it's not economic anxiety, then it's entirely Merkel's fault, because she allowed 1% or 2% of the people who are in Germany right now to be refugees, some of whom are Muslims. That's obviously not acceptable and a good reason to side with fascists, clean-blood-idiots, white supremacists and Muslim Holocaust fans.

FUCK THEM.

Within just 1 or 2 years I've lost my faith in humanity, and I now hate this world.

[cwydro]

4. Disturbing.

Very.

[smirkymonkey]

5. Why is Eastern Europe so much more racist and conservative than Western Europe?

Is it a backlash against Communism? I even find it to be true among the Eastern Europeans I meet here in this country.

[DFW]

13. The short version is, yes, you got it.

But it's more than just a backlash against communism. The communists, especially the East Germans, had as their official propaganda that their country was completely "socialist," and that they had completely eradicated Nazism from their territory. All neo-Nazis were in West Germany, according to the official East German government line, and they therefore had no need to pursue something that was no longer there. So, after the wall fell, all the repressed sentiments of the radical right burst out like a shaken soda bottle that finally got its cap removed. West Germany had taught its children about the Nazis in its schools for decades. My two girls learned about the Nazis in history class, and knew why their German grandfather had his leg blown off at age 18, and why that was NOT something to be proud of.

During the communist era, Eastern European countries used to use "contract" labor from "brother" countries like Vietnam and Angola. This was little more than slave labor by another name. The foreigners weren't even under the pretense of being integrated, lived in ghettos, were treated worse than house pets. When the wall fell, their home countries weren't exactly eager to take back tens of thousands of unemployed men, so the communities of the unwanted did what so often happens in such situations--they looked inward, and to many, that meant youth gangs and organized crime. To many, it was their only perceived means of survival. Predictably, as these got the biggest headlines, it fueled anti-foreigner sentiment on the right which now had free rein to express itself. Add this to mass unemployment in areas that used to be "socialist," and now had unskilled members of the workforce competing for scarce jobs with the suddenly stranded foreigners willing to work for less than subsistence wages. The resentment was as pre-programmed as if there had been a blueprint that was being meticulously followed.

But please don't call the reactionaries "conservative." They are control freaks out to do other people harm. There is nothing conservative about them. The Eastern European far right are as radical as any so-called "leftist" group with the same tactics and fanaticism.

[grossproffit]

6. Poland is returning to its roots. History is repeating itself.

In 1933, Poland had the largest Jewish population in Europe, numbering over three million. By 1950, the Jewish population of Poland was reduced to about 45,000.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005687

[icymist]

7. Related article for those who can't view the WSJ:

In less than a decade, Poland's massive far-right march has gone global

NOVEMBER 10, 2017 —Fascists and other far-right extremists are set to assemble Saturday in Warsaw for a march that has become one of the largest gatherings in Europe and perhaps beyond for increasingly emboldened white supremacists.

The march held on Poland's Nov. 11 Independence Day holiday has drawn tens of thousands of participants in recent years. Extremists from Sweden, Hungary, Slovakia, and elsewhere now join Polish nationalists in a public display of xenophobic and white supremacist views since the event began on a much smaller scale in 2009.

The slogan for this year's event is "We Want God," words from an old religious Polish song that President Trump quoted in July while visiting Warsaw. Mr. Trump praised Poland for what he described as the country's defense of Western civilization.

Rafal Pankowski, head of the anti-extremist association Never Again, says that despite the reference to God, the march shouldn't be viewed as inspired by religious beliefs. Far-right "neo-pagans" plan to take part along with Roman Catholic groups.

More:
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2017/1110/In-less-than-a-decade-Poland-s-massive-far-right-march-has-gone-global

[cilla4progress]

9. It's because everyone is retreating to their tribalist corners

as all are aware at a cellular level that the earth is dying (we've killed her), and we, along with her.

My theory.

[icymist]

10. An image that was taken at this rally. Jaw dropping.

Link to tweet

[Marengo]

14. Why is that image jaw dropping?

[NCTraveler]

15. Watching Nazis March in Poland? Nt

[Marengo]

16. Not sure how WWII era Polish Army uniforms automatically translate into Nazi sympathizers.

According to the comments on the Twitter page, this is likely a reconstruction group during the Polish Independence day celebration.

[NCTraveler]

17. Its pretty clear.

I get that you see it differently.I won’t whitewash their agenda.

[Marengo]

18. Im just a bit puzzled as t why an image of Poles wearing WWII era Polish Army uniforms is so...

Ominous.

[NCTraveler]

19. I dont get the confusion.

I guess parents should just be proud their children are taking part in such a period accurate reinactment.

[sunonmars]

11. The EU is tone deaf as to what is happening in Europe, this has 1917 to 1939 written all over it.

People never learn the mistakes of history but doomed to repeat it. The indicators of WW2 were all there from 1917 to 1939, they failed to respond or listen to it.

[Behind the Aegis]

12. I saw this in Krakow when I was there a month ago.

[leftynyc]

20. Not surprising

Poland has a repulsive history of bigotry and it looks like things haven't changed other than who their hatred is aimed at.