sanctus Posted March 25, 2007 Report Share Posted March 25, 2007 I just read a very interesting and quite shocking article (in "Hébdo" a swiss magazine in the french part) over a new law passed in Polonia. It's a law on the "decommunisation": 700'000 people (journalists,teachers,lawyers and directors of institutions) have in the next 2 months to declare in a writing if they ever had to do something with the secret police during comunism. So far so good, but here comes the totalitarian side: if they refuse to do it or say they didn't and it comes out they did they'll have an interdiction to do their job for 10 years. If they admit to have had contacs with the secret agents then they will be publicly accused on the internet and in certain cases, like the polish radio, they'll lose their job right away. A critic from inside polonia is that it is a way to control the critic medias (and this critic comes from opponents of the comunist regime!), since all the cases won't be treated all at the same time, troublemakers first so that the power of the people in power will be solidified. There is no real resistance to this, maybe also because the young generation sees that jobs will get available. The guy writing the article says as well that there are many who collaborated only due to intimidation, not everyone is a hero. Aplly this law after 20 years is not purification but it's opening the door to new injustices. On the other hand it's something very similar to the comunist party, they also asked a declaration of loyalty of the journalists.The government tries to make the editor companies play police inside their own enterprise. And the worst is, this law has to be verified by constitutional Court and if the judges don't allow, the president of polonia has already said that in that case the judges will be replaced with more docile judges... EU won't do nothing as it is against discrimination due to sex, race, etc. but not due politic criterias! It seems to me they are getting better and better in imitating Putin and hiding totalitarianism inside democracy... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted March 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 I'm very surprised no one replied so far, don't you find this very shocking and strange evolution of EU? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric l Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 I think it is a bit harsh to judge Poland before one has all the details. Personally I do not aprove of this measures, from public self-accusation to what is known in German as "Berufsverbot".But Poland does have to live with vivid memories of a totalitarion communist system, that may have been a match for the phantasy of Orwell's 1984. It is probably the intention that new people, not corrupted by the communist system, can have a chance to fill up the ranks.But I am affraid that this new measures will turn into a continuation of the old system, with just a number of new names in the upper slots of the organigrams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted March 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 But there are enough details, they want to pass that law, no matter what the intention is, it is a step to a more totalitarian system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyrotex Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 But there are enough details, they want to pass that law, no matter what the intention is, it is a step to a more totalitarian system.I agree with you, Sanctus. Totalitarianism often wears the disguise of "justice" or "the common good" to worm its way into power. What a better disguise than to punish the totalitarians of the previous generation?!?!?! :lol: :lol: :lol: B) :eek2: :eek: :evil: Absolute power is its own rewardPyro Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted March 28, 2007 Report Share Posted March 28, 2007 I didn't reply because I didn't know what Polonia was. I thought it might be a computer game/simulation. Have you tried asking Amnesty or any Polish civil liberties organisations for their take on what is happening?Sometimes news reports exaggerate or are not reliable. Amnesty Poland linkContacto - POLONIA - Amnesty International Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sanctus Posted March 29, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 Sorry, I didn't remember what the name of the country was in english, I meant poland... I found here some links:on the actions takenRadio Polonia - Poland's new 'lustration' law has some journalists nervous a kind of official announcement:News from Poland - New Polish vetting law operative EuroNews EuroNews : Poland launches controversial vetting lawWarsaw Voice - New Vetting Law And here a small link to the prosition taken by the EU:EU Commission says regrets Polish vetting law - MSNBC Wire Services - MSNBC.com EDIT: Ichanged the title now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric l Posted March 29, 2007 Report Share Posted March 29, 2007 This is a lot more serious than what I heard from a close friend, who studied Polish and still has a lot of contacts over there. I do not know how frequent this contacts are, nor can I be sure that his contacts talk freely over phone or chat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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