Last Sunday, Warsaw once again hosted on its streets the March of Independence, an annual march of nationalists and neofascists. There were neo-nazi symbols and slogans like: ‘Death to the enemies of the Nation’, ‘Man and woman: the only normal family’, ‘White Europe’, ‘All different, all white’, as well as: ‘White Power’, ‘Ku Klux Klan’, and even ‘Sieg heil’. According  topolice, around 60,000 people took part in the event.
How is it possible that in the middle of Europe, on the streets of a capital city whose every stone evokes the memory of the Holocaust, such slogans are tolerated? It is the consequence of years of disregarding racists and neo-nazi ideas.
The right-wing politicians in Poland who hold power today seem to be ignoring the problem: they say they saw none of those slogans I quoted, and no representatives of the Polish government condemned the demonstration. Before, the problem was ignored by liberals as well: both those in power and those in the mainstream media. The people who took part in such marches were described as ‘hooligans’; that they were representing dangerous ideas, that were growing in popularity, was rarely expressed.
The results we see today in Poland and across Europe. We saw it on Sunday, as Polish nationalists marched alongside their international allies they had invited for the occasion: “Ľudová strana Naše Slovensko” (People’s Party, Our Slovakia) as well as the leader Forza Nuova, a well-known Italian fascist party.
In Diem25’s manifesto we wrote: “Proud peoples are being turned against each other. Nationalism, extremism and racism are being re-awakened.” Sunday’s March of Independence in Warsaw offers yet more proof that international nationalism is serious problem in Europe. As a transnational progressive movement, we strongly condemn all forms of racism, fascism and xenophobia. If you feel the same, join us.
 
Translated to English by Seweryn Siewert.
Photo credit: Tomas Rafa.
 

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