NIGDY WIECEJ - NEVER AGAIN, issue 13, spring 2003
SUMMARY:
"NIGDY WIECEJ" – NEVER AGAIN is the main Polish publication devoted to the issues of racism and antisemitism.
* The editorial written by Marcin Kornak explains the financial difficulties which result in delays in the publishing schedule of our magazine. We hope, however, to continue the publication. Since the previous issue, there have been changes in the Polish political landscape including the emergence of a strong extreme-right in Parliament. The global setting has changed, too, in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks, a wave of islamophobia notwithstanding.
* ’Elementarze nienawisci’ (‘Handbooks of Hatred’) by Marcin Kornak (page 1) exposes cynical plans of the extreme nationalist organization All-Polish Youth (Mlodziez Wszechpolska, MW) to recruit schoolchildren.
* The letters section (page 2) includes letters from the Israeli-Polish Friendship Society, an African student who lived in Poland, a support group for an imprisoned anti-fascist, and young people who are concerned by xenophobia in their local communities.
* ’Nienawisc latwo rozbudzic’ (‘It Is Easy to Stir up Hatred’, pages 3-6) by Lukasz Mirecki and Marcin Starnawski is an exclusive interview with Marek Edelman, the last commander of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising who discusses the past and the present of race hatred.
* It is followed by an account of a conference organized in Bucharest by the European anti-racist network UNITED for Intercultural Action, written by Jacek Purski (page 6).
* ’Liga Polskich Rodzin – nowi mistrzowie horroru’ (‘League of Polish Families – the New Horror Masters’, page 6) is a humorous assessment of the politics of the extreme-right parliamentary party LPR, written by the well-known columnist and performer Krzysztof Skiba.
* ’Mezowie stanu’ (‘Statesmen’, page 7) by Marcin Kornak comments on the meeting between Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and the Italian neo-fascist leader Gianfranco Fini.
* ’Antysemita doceniony’ (‘The Appreciation of an Antisemite’, page 8) by Marcin Kornak criticizes a recent meeting between Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller and the notorious antisemitic priest Father Henryk Jankowski.
* ’Eurosceptycy kontra antysemici’ (‘Euroskeptics vs. Extremists’, page 8) tells the story of a failed attempt by the extreme-right party LPR to establish links with the Norwegian ‘No to the EU’ movement. It is an example of successful cooperation between ‘Never Again’ and the Norwegian anti-fascist magazine ‘Monitor’.
* ’Humanitarny Libicki’ (‘Humanitarian Libicki’, pages 8-9) by Arkadiusz Zacheja reveals the role of Marcin Libicki MP in defending, on the grounds of age, the convicted nazi killer Henryk Mania, a former guard at the Chelmno death camp.
* ‘Cien’ (‘Shadow’, pages 9-10) by Marcin Kornak exposes the neo-fascist infiltration of the Samoobrona populist farmers’ movement.
* ‘ATTAC – cytat’ (‘ATTAC quote’, page 10) is a quotation from the newspaper ‘Pracownicza Demokracja’ describing the extreme right infiltration of the Polish branch of the anti-globalisation movement ATTAC.
* ‘Casus Casus Belli’ (page 11) by Marcin Kornak presents the career of a neo-nazi black metal band Casus Belli that tries to break into musical mainstream through a contract with the Metal Mind Production label.
* ‘Giertych filosemita’ (‘Filo-Semite Giertych’) and ‘Narodowcy o narodowcach’ (‘Nationalists about Nationalists’) include quotes illustrating internal struggles within the far-right.
* ‘Katalog Wypadkow – Brunatna Ksiega’ (‘List of Incidents – the Brown Book’, pages 12-25) by Marcin Kornak is a list of violent acts committed by members and sympathizers of racist and fascist groups in Poland in the recent period.
* ‘Mlodziez Wszechpolska – dziennik obserwacji’ (‘All-Polish Youth – An Observer’s Account’, pages 25-26) by Tomasz Wojtys is a first-hand account of recruiting techniques used by the nationalist organization MW and of its crude racism beneath a respectable façade.
* ’Mlodziez Wszechpolska w kraju i powiecie’ (‘All-Polish Youth Nationally and Locally’, pages 27-28) by Wiktor Marszalek analyses the MW’s activities in the town of Leszno.
* ’Antysemityzm bez Zydow i bez antysemitow’ (‘Antisemitism without Jews and without Antisemites’, pages 29-34) by Alina Cala, Dariusz Libionka and Stefan Zgliczynski is a report on the state of antisemitism in contemporary Poland.
* ’Wykopmy rasizm ze stadionow’ (‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’, pages 35-46) is a series of articles about the anti-racist football campaign run by the ‘Never Again’ Association in co-operation with the Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network.
* ’Nie! Rasizmowi na stadionach’ (‘No! to Racism in Stadiums’, pages 35-38) by Jolanta Skubiszewska presents examples of successful anti-racist sports campaigns across Europe.
* ’Poczta do kampanii WRS’ (‘Letters to the Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums campaign’, page 38) includes letters received from FIFA and the Polish Football Association.
* On page 39 there is a petition to the chairman of the Polish FA demanding action against racism and antisemitism in stadiums.
* On page 40 the goals of the ‘Never Again’ sports campaign are presented.
* ’NIGDY WIECEJ na Przystanku Woodstock 2002’ (‘Never Again at Przystanek Woodstock 2002, pages 40-41) by Jacek Zinkiewicz is an account of Never Again activities at Przystanek Woodstock, the biggest rock festival in the world which gathered 250,000 participants. The activities were centred around an anti-racist football tournament.
*’Chelm wykopuje rasizm ze stadionow’ (‘Chelm wykopuje rasizm ze stadionow’, page 44) by Mariusz Nieroda is a report on anti-racist football activities in the city of Chelm.
* ‘Cytaty’ (‘Quotes’, page 45) documents media coverage of the anti-racist sports campaign by the ‘Never Again’ Association.
* Page 46 documents the FARE Action Week, an anti-racist statement of the board of Polonia Warszawa football club as well as the MTV Free Your Mind award for the FARE network of which the ‘Never Again’ Association is a core partner. Free posters with football stars supporting ‘Never Again’ are presented, too.
* ‘Jezeli jest tak dobrze, to dlaczego jest tak zle?’ (‘If it’s so good, why it’s so bad?’, pages 47-48) by the well-known journalist Dawid Warszawski reviews a report on discrimination against the Roma in Poland published by the European Roma Rights Centre.
* ‘Skradzione komiksy’ (‘Stolen Comic Books’, pages 49-51) by Marcin Kornak describes the manipulation of the popular art form by fascists.
* ‘www.nazizm’ (pages 52-53) by Jakub Rzekanowski reports on the growing number of Polish neo-nazi websites. The article is followed by a presentation of the internet website of the ‘Never Again’ Association, http://nigdywiecej.org.
* ‘10 lat GAN’ (’10 Years of GAN’) by Mariusz Slubowski is an article based on interviews with activists of the Anti-Nazi Group (GAN), the informal movement which gave birth to the ‘Never Again’ Association in the 1990s.
* ‘Ostatnia rozmowa z Eugeniuszem Szyrem’ (‘The Last Conversation with Eugeniusz Szyr’, pages 56-58) by Grzegorz Bogusz is a recollection of an encounter with the late Eugeniusz Szyr, a Polish volunteer in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. It is followed by examples of Polish anti-fascist traditions in music and film.
* ‘To naprawde jest jedna ludzka rasa’ (‘It Is Really One Human Race’, pages 59-60) by Jacek Purski is an interview with the popular musician Krzysztof KASA Kasowski.
* ‘Muzyka w Muzeum’ (‘Music in Museum’, pages 60-62) by Darek Anaszko and Marcin Kornak is a report on a series of anti-racist folk concerts organized in the Ethnographic Museum in Warsaw.
* ‘Powiedziec nie, gdy mowia tak’ (‘Say No When They Say Yes’, pages 62-63) by Arkadiusz Zacheja reviews recent rock music releases with an anti-racist and pro-human rights message.
* ‘Muzyka Przeciwko Rasizmowi not dead’ (‘Music Against Racism Not Dead’, page 63) by Marcin Kornak presents the spontaneous activities of music fans and bands in continuation of the Music Against Racism campaign initiated by the ‘Never Again’ Association.
* ‘Ekologia i prawa czlowieka’ (‘Ecology and Human Rights’, page 64) by the singer and philosopher Janusz Reichel discusses the importance of human rights in the ecological discourse, as opposed to eco-fascist tendencies.
* ‘Klub Gaja – propozycje wspolpracy’ (‘Gaia Club – Proposals for Co-operation’, page 65) presents anti-racist activities of the ecological-cultural association Klub Gaja.
* ‘Niebezpieczne slowka’ (‘The Danger of Words’, pages 65-67) is a list of concepts most used in anti-racist work, based on a leaflet of UNITED for Intercultural Action. It is supplemented by quotes on the meaning of ‘race’ and racism (page 68).
* ‘Rewolucyjny konserwatyzm w Niemczech (1918-1933)’ (‘Revolutionary Conservatism in Germany, 1918-1933’, page 68-72) by Grzegorz Nowaczewski provides a detailed description of a proto-fascist political and cultural current during the Weimar Republic.
* ‘Gotycki faszyzm’ (‘Gothic Fascism’, pages 72-75) by Zbigniew Michalczyk warn against extreme-right tendencies in the gothic music scene.
* ‘Wojna z terroryzmem?’ (‘War on Terrorism?’, pages 75-76) by Tim Wise decries double standards applied towards Islamic and white supremacist extremists.
* ‘Na poczatku byla... przygoda’ (‘First There Was... Adventure’, pages 76-80) by Wojciech Zieba presents activities of MAITRI, a Third World solidarity movement.
* On pages 81-84 there are reviews of books related to the history and the present of racism, antisemitism, and discrimination.