On the phenomenon of Polish marches

This year’s Independence March of Polish nationalists, held in Warsaw on November 11, resulted in 276 persons arrested and dozens injured, including 51 police officers. Among the slogans the demonstrators carried were these: “The Pole and the Hungarian are brothers,” “Sickle one, hammer two, red poverty three,” “God, honor, fatherland.” Mindful of the far-right setting on fire the Russian embassy in 2013, for which the government had to apologize, the organizers decided to change the route this time. However, some clashes still occurred. The most active marchers used pyrotechnics, threw bottles and stones at police. Law-enforcement officers had to use water cannon to disperse the most aggressive protesters. According to local media, the march attracted around 25,000 to 30,000 participants.

The Day asked president of the Polish Institute of Public Affairs Jacek KUCHARCZYK for a comment on the nationalists’ actions and their perceptions in Poland.

“The phenomenon of the so-called Independence March should be analyzed using two perspectives, as it is lends itself to both political and sociological study. The nationalists lack broad public support, since they regularly suffered defeat in local elections. However, it is a very noisy group which easily takes to the streets and stages riots. This is the only way for them to express themselves politically, because the democratic process has shown that they have little support.

“Another explanation, the sociological one, is somewhat simpler. People who come to these marches are usually youngsters who are either unemployed or have very unstable jobs with low earnings. These people very often keep living with their parents even when they reach middle age. They often are soccer hooligans who belong to different fan groups.

“The soccer hooligans’ movement has become much politicized over recent years. This is ironic, because soccer stadiums have been upgraded and thus become less ‘hooligan-friendly.’ They are now taking to the streets rather than going to the stadium. However, the social problems of youth are here to stay, because they do not have the required skills, cannot get a job, and so do not feel part of the system of the country.

“Speaking about the trends of this phenomenon, the results of recent elections show that the organizers of the march were soundly defeated. I am not even sure whether they received a percent of the vote in elections to the European Parliament. This was especially surprising since the low electoral threshold was favorable to them and they had to have a chance to entrench their representation in that body. However, from a democratic political perspective, these people are not effective at all. Still, they can band together. I heard people talking about 40,000 marchers on November 11. Basically, these are people who are looking for trouble and are ready to make it themselves. They held a successful demonstration a few years ago which was a surprise to many, so now they are trying to repeat that success year after year. But the truth is that the police were well prepared and able to contain this force, which caused some damage to some residents of Warsaw.”