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Author Topic: Polish election: looks like a right-wing coalition
Hephaestion
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posted 26 September 2005 06:31 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I wasn't even aware Poland was *having* an election, but I was alerted to the results by 365gay.com-- apparently the biggest vote-getters in the prospective coalition, the "Law and Justice Party", are intensely homophobic. Anyway, I googled "Polish Election" and found this analysis from BBC (pre-election) and also this from Ireland Online:

quote:
The leader of the winning party in Poland's election pledged today to move ahead quickly on forming a coalition government to tackle economic problems that include the European Union's highest unemployment rate.

Two centre-right parties promising tax cuts overwhelmingly won yesterday's parliamentary election as voters punished a left-wing government tarnished by corruption scandals.

With 90% of votes counted, the conservative Law and Justice Party and the free-market Civic Platform had a commanding combined majority, with 26.8% and 24.2% respectively of yesterday's vote. The two parties were formed by one-time activists from the anti-communist Solidarity movement.

Law and Justice leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski told reporters that finding economic compromise with Civic Platform was his top priority.

"We are ready to start talks with Civic Platform on the economic programme, once the official results are announced," Kaczynski told reporters in Warsaw.

Final figures were expected later today.

[ 26 September 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]


From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
Hephaestion
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posted 26 September 2005 06:44 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
from the 365 link:

quote:
[Law and Justice Party leader Jaroslaw] Kaczynski's identical twin brother is expected to win next month's presidential election.

Lech Kaczynski is currently the mayor of Warsaw. In May he banned this year's gay pride parade. Nevertheless, more than 2,500 people ignored the order and marched anyway.

[...]

On Monday, Jaroslaw Kaczynski said that if his brother wins the presidency he would retain the party leadership but not serve as Prime Minister. Nevertheless, he is expected to wield control over the coalition.

While the prime minister wields most executive powers, the president can veto and suggest legislation.

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Hephaestion
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posted 04 October 2005 06:54 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Homosexuality "unnatural" new Polish leader declares

quote:
(Warsaw) Poland's likely new leader called homosexuality unnatural in an interview published Monday, and argued that the state should intervene if homosexuals try to "infect" others with their behavior.

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, nominated by the Law and Justice party to lead the next government as prime minister, told the Polish edition of Newsweek magazine that propagating homosexuality constituted an infringement on the freedom of other people.

"It is unnatural. Family is natural and the state should safeguard the family," Marcinkiewicz said, echoing the views of other leaders of his conservative party.

"If such a person tries to infect others with their homosexuality, then the state has to intervene in such an abuse of freedom," he said. He did not elaborate.

Marcinkiewicz said he judged people by their actions, not sexual orientation, but stressed that "promoting homosexuality" - through parades or campaigns by gay rights groups, for instance- was unacceptable to him.

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Stockholm
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posted 04 October 2005 09:02 AM      Profile for Stockholm     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What is it about the Poles? Once they get over hundreds of years of anti-Jewish pogroms, they turn their attention to hating gays!
From: Toronto | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged
Hephaestion
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posted 04 October 2005 10:00 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I guess they've turned Auschwitz into a museum/memorial now, but not that long ago (last year sometime) "Tape" sent me the URL for a site he'd come across that showed a picture of the front of the camp, and all along the fence that surrounded the buildings, there were these posters hanging there (in Polish, of course). It showed two "stick figure" symbols, with one bent over at the waist and the other standing behind, with a big circle around them and a diagonal slash across the two figures. The translation from the Polish, according to the site, was something to the effect of "no faggots".

To say I was outraged (we *both* were) is an understatement, particularly because Auschwitz was apparently one of the main ones where homosexuals were sent to be killed. To see those posters hanging there, outside *that* place...

And sure, some far-right neo-nazi gang of creeps may have hung them up there, but I seem to recall that the site said something about them hanging there for "weeks", or something to that effect. I found that to be *truly* outrageous.

But I partially disagree with you, Stock. It's not all Poles who are like that, any more than it was all Poles who were behind the anti-Jewish pogroms. But it's too gawddamn many, that's for sure. And the fact that posters like that could be hung up right in front of Auschwitz, like they haven't learned a bloody thing...

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Crippled_Newsie
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posted 04 October 2005 10:41 AM      Profile for Crippled_Newsie     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Hephaestion:
I guess they've turned Auschwitz into a museum/memorial now, but not that long ago (last year sometime) "Tape" sent me the URL for a site he'd come across that showed a picture of the front of the camp, and all along the fence that surrounded the buildings, there were these posters hanging there (in Polish, of course). It showed two "stick figure" symbols, with one bent over at the waist and the other standing behind, with a big circle around them and a diagonal slash across the two figures. The translation from the Polish, according to the site, was something to the effect of "no faggots".

Here it is.


From: It's all about the thumpa thumpa. | Registered: Oct 2004  |  IP: Logged
America is Behind
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posted 04 October 2005 11:27 AM      Profile for America is Behind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Along with Latvians and various Arab and African societies, Poles have the distinction of being one of the few peoples more homophobic and bigoted than Americans.

Not to say every Pole is a bigot, but collectively, it's pretty bad.


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Reality. Bites.
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posted 04 October 2005 12:10 PM      Profile for Reality. Bites.        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Encouraging note from the "times are changing" department:

In the Toronto print edition of "24 Hours" (the Quebecor/Sun Media free daily) the article on this was headlined "Gay Bashing"

Online it's "Gay Bashing in Poland"

http://toronto.24hrs.ca/News/2005/10/04/1247074-sun.html


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Aristotleded24
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posted 10 October 2005 09:30 PM      Profile for Aristotleded24   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
What was the turnout for this election? If the turnout was low or less than half, the results cannot be said to speak for what the people want.
From: Winnipeg | Registered: May 2005  |  IP: Logged
Hephaestion
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posted 11 October 2005 03:19 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Homophobe twin in runoff for presidency

quote:
Sunday's presidential election produced no clear winner, pitting ultra conservative Warsaw mayor Lech Kaczynski against moderate Donald Tusk in a runoff to be held October 23.

Trusk, a pro-business candidate won 36 percent of the vote Sunday while Kaczynski, who had been widely expected to win a clear majority, took 33 percent of the vote.

While Trusk is seen as pro-Europe and likely to support some rights for gays in the country, Kaczynski is the candidate of the far right Law and Justice party run by his twin brother.

[...]

With support for Kaczynski and Tusk so close it is impossible to determine who has an edge going into the runoff.

While the prime minister and his government wield most executive power in Poland, the president is commander in chief of the armed forces, can veto laws and direct foreign policy.



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America is Behind
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posted 11 October 2005 01:49 PM      Profile for America is Behind     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Ugh...Polish people are basically stuck choosing between Mike Harris and Pat Bucatholic.

[ 12 October 2005: Message edited by: America is Behind ]


From: Canada | Registered: Sep 2005  |  IP: Logged
Hephaestion
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posted 27 October 2005 02:15 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
EU warns Poland on gays

quote:
(Brussels) The European Union has issued a stern warning to Poland's new president not to try to limit the rights of gays and lesbians.

[...]

The European Commission said it is concerned about Kaczynski's history of homophobia and said that if he continues to oppose gay rights Poland risks losing its voting rights in the EU.

The commission in a strongly worded letter reminded Kaczynski that all member states must abide by European Union regulations which protect minorities. If Poland refuses, the letter said, the EU would invoke the Treaty of Nice which deprives member states of their voting rights for refusal to comply with the Union's constitution.

The letter put Kaczynski on notice that his government will be closely monitored.

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Hephaestion
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posted 16 November 2005 09:43 AM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
New Gay Pride battle erupts in Poland

quote:
(Warsaw) Authorities in the city of Poznan have banned a gay pride parade that had been scheduled for Saturday. The move comes as members of Poland's LGBT community come under increasing discrimination.

Poznan's city administrator said that the parade would ³be a serious danger to social order and property.² 

He said that the Gay and Lesbian Equality Parade could only be held in a remote area of the city, marked by warehouses. The offer was rejected. 

Organizers of the parade said that the city administration had bowed to pressure from the ruling Law and Justice Party and from the League of Polish Families and Poznan's Roman Catholic Archbishop.

Last year's parade was disrupted by skinheads and members of the All-Polish Youth, an extreme right organization connected to the League of Polish Families.

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Ghost of the Navigator
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posted 17 November 2005 11:33 AM      Profile for Ghost of the Navigator        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Almost makes me wish the Stalinists were more repressive of Catholics.

[ 17 November 2005: Message edited by: Ghost of the Navigator ]


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Hephaestion
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posted 12 February 2006 11:35 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Gay protest greets Polish president in Chicago

quote:
A noisy protest greeted Polish President Lech Kaczynski in Chicago on the weekend to draw attention to human rights abuses in the former Communist country.

Members of the Gay Liberation Network dogged the Polish leader over two days in the Windy City and denounced Mayor Richard M. Daley and Gov. Rod Blagojevich for meeting with Kaczynski.

[...]

Gay Liberation Network coordinator Bob Schwartz said Daley and Blagojevich should have turned down a meeting with  Kaczynski.

"Kaczynski denied gays the right to assemble and march in Warsaw," Schwartz said.

He also condemned the president's continued opposition to LGBT rights in Poland.

Another protestor, Andy Thayer called  Kaczynski a "vile and disgusting man."

Kaczynski was honored at a dinner hosted by the Polish American Congress.  Before coming to Chicago, he met in Washington with President Bush.



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Hephaestion
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posted 09 March 2006 03:22 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Queers disrupt speech by Poland's chief elected bigot

quote:
Gay rights advocates marched into the auditorium of Berlin's Humboldt University Thursday as Polish President  Lech Kaczynski was preparing to speak.

LGBT groups have been dogging Kaczynski in several countries over his opposition to gay civil rights in Poland.

"Get this man out of the university," the protestors chanted as they attempted to make their way to the stage where Kaczynski was to speak on European affairs.

The Polish leader was protected by his own security detail and university officials blocked the demonstrators from reaching the stage, but allowed one of the protestors to speak.

Kaczynski sat impassively as the protester denounced Kaczynski's views on homosexuality.

When he finally got to the podium Kaczynski lashed out at the protestors, and the university for allowing the demonstrator to speak.

"I taught for 30 years at university but never in circumstances like this," Kaczynski said.


And just because it should never be forgotten, these are the kind of people who support this slimeball.

From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged
greenie
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posted 09 March 2006 03:49 PM      Profile for greenie     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Ghost of the Navigator:
Almost makes me wish the Stalinists were more repressive of Catholics.

Strongly agree. In fact, I'd extend the wish to all religious people. After all, the last thing I want to do is discriminate.


From: GTA | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged
Hephaestion
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posted 09 March 2006 04:00 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by greenie:

Strongly agree. In fact, I'd extend the wish to all religious people. After all, the last thing I want to do is discriminate.



Just a word to the wise. You are supporting the statement of a former babbler who has been banned. Repeatedly. Under numerous different screen names.

Can't say you didn't know...

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greenie
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posted 09 March 2006 04:09 PM      Profile for greenie     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Hephaestion:

Just a word to the wise. You are supporting the statement of a former babbler who has been banned. Repeatedly. Under numerous different screen names.

Can't say you didn't know...


Duly noted.

Would one of the aliases of that former babbler be "Ghost of the Navigator"?


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Hephaestion
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posted 09 March 2006 04:13 PM      Profile for Hephaestion   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yup.
From: goodbye... :-( | Registered: Dec 2003  |  IP: Logged

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