The ongoing presidential election campaign in Poland will be the most brutal one in the last 30 years. Violence is spreading and one only needs to look at the recent political conventions and speeches to discover ideas which have nothing in common with reality.
All of this bombastic propaganda and bellicose rhetoric is all being done to stir emotions, according to Professor Jerzy Targalski, who believes that the side which stirs up the strongest emotions, both positive and negative, will win.
A perfect example is the coronavirus panic.
Although there has now been only one confirmed case of the virus in Poland, there has been no lack of stupid claims concerning the disease.
The Left Party MP Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus claimed that the coronavirus “dropped from Heaven for PiS, like a Christmas gift in the middle of February”.
Civic Platform (PO) politicians, meanwhile, have been convincing the public that the government is hiding coronavirus cases and is unprepared for an epidemic.
PO’s presidential candidate, Małgorzata Kidawa–Błońska, urged on Twitter for Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to release “the truth” about the virus in Poland. Social media users and politicians, which unbelievably included a number of opposition politicians, criticized her harshly for such unfounded claims.
Violence plagues Polish presidential election campaign
A week ago, two Confederation activists were attacked while gathering signatures for their candidate. Two days later, an elderly Law and Justice party (PiS) activist was beaten up and robbed while gathering signatures for Polish President Andrzej Duda. Last week, unknown culprits fired on PiS MEP Ryszard Czarnecki’s office using pneumatic weapons.
A brutal attack of a PiS supporter in Warsaw was posted to Twitter by the Warsaw Police along with a statement about the attack as well.
Zatrzymany do sprawy sobotniego ataku na wolontariusza mężczyzna, dzisiejszą noc spędzi w areszcie policyjnym. Jutro dalsze czynności będą realizowane z udzialem prokuratora. W ustaleniu tożsamości mężczyzny pomogły pozyskane przez policjantów nagrania. pic.twitter.com/VdowJLrOs4
— Policja Warszawa (@Policja_KSP) March 3, 2020
Another example was PO MP Sławomir Nitras who had kicked and insulted PiS MP Iwona Arent while other PO MPs merely looked on.
These current attacks are the aftermath of some opposition politicians’ participation and praise of violence, which provides these assailants with tacit permission for such aggression.
One can only hope that this rising wave of aggression will finally be stopped. Yet, given what is currently happening, it is doubtful whether any opposition politicians have any interest in actually preventing violence.
Eco-activists turn on PO opposition party
The presidential campaign has also been filled with infantile and strange behavior.
PO activists conducted a very peculiar campaign convention in West Poland. Their candidate, Kidawa-Błońska, was not present, but her portraits and posters were. What was so odd was that the organizers of the event referred and spoke to those posters during the convention as if their leader was actually there, which you can watch in this video:
Kidawa obiecała ze odwiedzi wszystkie powiaty
Chyba słowa dotrzyma ?
— Franek TIMM (@franek_timm) February 28, 2020
The candidate herself was in Warsaw in the meantime, where the environmentalist platitudes she delivered at her convention were ruined by the speeches of activists from the youth striking against climate change.
Kidawa-Błońska was ignored by them when she wanted to shake their hands, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed on social media. There, users pointed out the fury of the head of staff of Kidawa-Błońska’s campaign, who looked like a “tiger ready to pounce” during the activists’ speeches.
