The final stretch of the closely fought and vicious Polish campaign has brought the issues at play to the forefront, just two weeks before a crucial election that will have serious implications for Poland and its role in Europe.
On Sunday (1), hundreds of thousands of people crowded central Warsaw at a rally organized by opposition leader Donald Tusk, former prime minister between 2007 and 2014 who later became president of the European Council.
Tusk had called on supporters to put on a show of strength in Warsaw and galvanize the opposition. Victory, he claimed, was in sight, in what he has claimed is ‘the last chance to save Polish democracy’.
What does he mean by that? EU policies like abortion and LGBT rights, as we will see.
The Guardian reported:
“’A breakthrough moment is coming in the history of our homeland’, [Tusk] said to the huge crowd at the beginning of the rally, his words echoing through surrounding streets from banks of speakers set up in several locations. ‘Let no one among the ruling team have any illusions. Change for the better is inevitable’, he added.”
Tusk’s campaign claims more than a million people had attended the march, dubbed the ‘March of a million hearts’.
Warsaw police estimates the number was about 100,000, while news channel Onet.pl put the figure at between 600,000 and 800,000.
“’No one believed that such crowds and such emotions could happen again in our history. This is a sign of the great Polish revival’, said Tusk.”
The conservative ruling PiS party came to power in 2015, with a populist agenda and increased social spending.
On their own event in the city of Katowice on Sunday, PiS leaders continued to portray the opposition leaders as ‘foreign stooges’, pointing to Tusk’s years in Brussels to suggest he answers to German interests.
“’This vote is not only about what Poland will look like. It is about whether Poland will exist at all’, claimed the prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, brandishing a file he said contained damaging information about Tusk, who had a ‘German vision’ for Poland’s future.”
Tusk’s campaign reclaimed patriotism for the opposition, with thousands in attendance at the rally waving red-and-white Polish flags.
“’I see a sea of red and white banners … we all share the view that our red-and-white homeland can be home to free people again’, said Tusk.”
The years of PiS rule have led to increasing friction with Brussels, and the introduction of some of Europe’s harshest anti-abortion laws.
Associated Press reported:
“’No one can stop this force; this giant has awoken’, Tusk told huge crowds gathered in the center of Warsaw two weeks before the Oct. 15 election.”
Turk’s Civic Coalition vow to mend ties with the European Union. How? Let’s listen to his supporters:
“Marchers interviewed by Polish private news channel TVN24 said they were taking part in the interest of their children, grandchildren, women and LGBTQ+ people whom they want to live in a modern, tolerant and European Poland.
[…] Tusk’s electoral alliance is a few percentage points behind Law and Justice in recent surveys. He says the wider opposition that includes the Left party and Third Way could defeat the ruling party and form a government. He greeted Third Way’s leaders at the start of his march.”
A ‘modern, tolerant’ Poland will of course suffer the same chaotic fate of the western countries. Immigration, abortion, LGBT, climate alarmism – the list goes on.
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