Polish anti-fascists under attack

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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 09:17:06 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Polish anti-fascists under attack

From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Rafal Pankowski <[email protected]>

Polish anti-fascists under attack


MONSTER BITES
 
'Never Again' magazine has been on the front-line of the struggle
against fascism in Poland for 5 years. Now the extreme right wants to
destroy it.
 
Both the country's Constitution and the penal code forbid fascist and
racist activities. The current right-wing government is clearly not
interested in using this law and even openly nazi groups operate
unhindered. The anti-fascist magazine 'Nigdy Wiecej' ('Never Again')
recently exposed the fact that members of right-wing extremist groups
had been nominated to senior positions within the government. 'Never
Again' is also the only magazine in Poland regularly monitoring
numerous cases of fascist violence. On 9 November 1999 it publicised a
report documenting the deaths of 19 people killed in the recent years
by nazi-skins, members or sympathisers of extremist groups such as
Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski (National Revival of Poland, NOP).

In result 'Never Again' has found itself under constant attack both
from the violent nazis and the far-right publications. Death threats
against the editors have become customary and hit lists with their
home addresses circulate among fascists. Happily the nazis got the
addresses wrong. In several cases collaborators of 'Never Again' have
been beaten up but the 'Never Again' team pledged to continue their
work.

The general social and political climate is largely hostile towards
anti-fascism. In this climate the extreme right hit the magazine with
a legal weapon. A libel suit has been filed by a nationalist-pagan
activist Tomasz Szczepanski. Szczepanski, who claims to be a follower
of the French New Right intellectual Alain De Benoist, objected to
'Never Again' calling his group 'anti-Semitic and chauvinistic'.
Apparently he did not mind calling it 'anti-Christian'. Szczepanski,
who is over 30, has a bizarre political past behind him. He used to
pose as an anarchist, a trotskyist, a democratic socialist, and an
anti-fascist. Most recently he has been a member of the
Christian-conservative party ROP but now seems to be forming a
political group of his own. In this venture he is accompanied by
militant nazis such as Mateusz Piskorski (translator of David Myatt's
nazi-satanic writings) and ex-anarchists such as Remigiusz Okraska
(friend and follower of Jaroslaw Tomasiewicz, a contributor to
countless left- and right-wing publications in Poland and abroad).
This lot gathers around Szczepanski's magazine 'Tryglaw', named after
a proto-Slavonic monster god.

The legal proceedings against 'Never Again' have already started. The
case is expected to last for long. Undoubtedly, it is meant to cause
as much damage to the anti-fascist movement as possible, both in terms
of publicity and financial resources. It remains to be seen whether
this plot by the extreme-right will succeed.
 
If you want to support 'Never Again', write to: 
'Nigdy Wiecej', 
PO Box 6, 
03-700 Warszawa 4, 
Poland, 
e-mail: [email protected]
 
Rafal Pankowski
Stowarzyszenie 'Nigdy Wiecej'/'Never Again' Association
PO Box 6
03-700 Warszawa 4
Poland
http://www.zigzag.pl/rafalpan

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