-- GOWIN ON PROPORTIONS NOT CHANGING, DWORCZYK ON NO DECISIONS REGARDING CONVENTION, KIERWIŃSKI ON PLATFORMA BEING AND REMAINING – 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/07/28/ -- KAROLINA WIGURA ON VOICES REPRESENTING THE OPPOSITION SIDE OF THE DEBATE IN A WAY THAT EXCEEDS THE BOUNDARIES OF POLEMICAL EMPHASIS – WRITES IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “All these messages sent a shiver down my spine. They represent the opposition side of public debate in a manner that significantly exceeds the boundaries of polemical emphasis. They are full of disdain and, unfortunately, contempt in its worst form. The kind of contempt that does not see the voter of a political opponent as a person whose views they disagree with, but as a collection of dehumanizing traits: impairment, stench, and boorishness. Unfortunately, this aligns with research conducted two years ago by the Centre for Research on Prejudice. According to that study, ‘attitudes of supporters of opposition parties are more negative than the attitudes of PiS supporters towards opposition supporters.’ It was also written that ‘voters of opposition parties harbor more negative feelings, dehumanize to a greater extent, and have less trust in their political opponents than supporters of the ruling party.’ The results of this study were discussed reluctantly in liberal media in 2018. They were also quickly forgotten.” -- WIGURA ON THE BACKLASH FOLLOWING MAZUREK'S WORDS – WE SHOULD HAVE THE COURAGE TO PROTEST WHEN SOMEONE STARTS SENDING OFFENSIVE MEMES: “Many opponents of PiS were outraged when the then-spokesperson for the party, Beata Mazurek, after an attack on a KOD activist in Radom in 2017, said: ‘Every action provokes a specific reaction. As long as we live, we have emotions. And these emotions found their outlet in Radom. It is a situation that should not have happened, but I understand them [the perpetrators – editorial note].’ If so, then they themselves must have the courage to protest when a voter starts sending offensive memes to opponents – and thus prove the value of their beliefs.” -- ONE CAN DESPISE POLITICS BASED ON SETTING PEOPLE AGAINST EACH OTHER, BUT ONE CANNOT DESPISE PEOPLE – WIGURA CONTINUES: “Contempt can too easily get out of control, especially when we are dealing with collective emotions, which often resemble waves or forces of sudden and uncontrollable action. Therefore, secondly, contempt for actions can be accepted, but not for people. One can despise politics based on setting people against each other, on radical polarization, on discrimination against minorities. However, this does not mean despising the individuals who author it. Regardless of how they act, they are still human beings – and as such, they deserve fundamental freedom and dignity. Translating this into specifics: an opponent of PiS can despise the politics of overturning institutions under the banner of their 'democratization' or 'reform,' but should not despise Jarosław Kaczyński and Zbigniew Ziobro as people.” -- IF ONE WISHES TO DEFEND LIBERALISM, ONE MUST USE REASON AND RESTRAIN MORE RISKY EMOTIONS – WIGURA CONTINUES: “Contempt for actions, understood in this way, and not for people, can be an element of liberal thinking. It is not worth assuming either that politics can be based on pure reason, or that it can be based solely on initially positive emotions. This is certainly a risky approach, but it is worth remembering that in great political endeavors, reason and passions play equally important roles. No valuable political endeavor is possible without those emotions that enable people to affiliate and motivate them to sacrifice and fight. If one wishes to defend liberalism, one must do so with passion – and at the same time use reason to restrain more risky emotions. In our polarized Polish conditions, this is not easy. It may even be increasingly difficult. The last presidential campaign must be treated as an alarm signal. However, after all, the Republic is a matter for generations – so it is truly worthwhile.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2020/07/28/pogarda-wigura-czy-mozna-gardzic-szlachetnie/ -- ANDRZEJ STANKIEWICZ ON PLANS FOR GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING AND THE MSWiA'S AMBITIONS FOR DIGITALIZATION – WRITES FOR ONEt.pl: “According to our government sources, the Prime Minister has proposed merging the Ministry of National Education with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The climate ministry and the Ministry of Environment would once again form a single ministry, as they did before. The Prime Minister would like to incorporate the Ministry of Funds and Regional Policy into the Ministry of Development. This is also a return to the past, as it was PiS that split these two ministries. 'Morawiecki sees that it was a mistake,' one of the Prime Minister's associates tells us. 'These are complementary elements.' Additionally, Morawiecki wants to liquidate the Ministry of Digitalization, which would be absorbed by another ministry (MSWiA has its eye on it, but no decision has been made). Also on the list for liquidation are the Ministry of Maritime Economy and the Ministry of Sport, which would be absorbed by other ministries. The Ministry of Maritime Economy was established after PiS came to power in 2015 by transferring departments from several ministries, so it could be dismembered again. As for the Ministry of Sport, it was once part of the Ministry of Education under the SLD government, and that idea is returning today.” -- NO ONE IS WILLING TO TAKE THE POSITION OF MINISTER OF FINANCE – STANKIEWICZ CONTINUES: “Morawiecki has a free hand to replace those ministers whom he himself appointed to the government. These include the Minister of Health Łukasz Szumowski, Minister of Finance Tadeusz Kościński, Minister of Labour Marlena Maląg, and Minister of Funds and Regional Policy Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak. 'Changes may occur in this group. The least likely is the replacement of Kościński. The reason is simple: there are no takers for the position of Minister of Finance, as a major budget crisis is looming,' says our source from the leadership of an important economic ministry.” -- SZYNKOWSKI VEL SĘK HAS AMBITIONS TO HEAD THE MFA – STANKIEWICZ AGAIN FOR ONEt.pl: “We will certainly know the new head of the MFA in the autumn, as the politically weak Jacek Czaputowicz has decided to leave on his own. He could be replaced by Krzysztof Szczerski from the Presidential Chancellery, who – we hear in PiS – for the first time in years is interested in this position. He had refused several times before, hoping for a foreign post – but he failed to go anywhere. However, the deputy heads of the MFA also have their ambitions, especially PiS MP Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk.” https://www.onet.pl/informacje/onetwiadomosci/rekonstrukcja-rzadu-premier-zostaje-wielu-ministrow-zagrozonych/5ghj3tt,79cfc278 -- KACZYŃSKI AND MORAWIECKI FEAR THE TURMOIL SURROUNDING THE CONVENTION MAY COST POLAND DEARLY – MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “Indeed, the Istanbul Convention is to be a political tool, but for a different purpose than covering up the coronavirus. The document has become the subject of a serious power struggle within the ruling camp. Voices from Law and Justice are becoming increasingly audible, suggesting that the matter has gone too far, and that both Jarosław Kaczyński and Mateusz Morawiecki fear that this turmoil could cost Poland dearly on the international stage. For while many politicians of the United Right have criticized the convention, chasing the rabbit is one thing, catching it is another. The formal request submitted by the Minister of Justice to the Ministry of Family to begin work on its withdrawal, although it is solely the expression of Zbigniew Ziobro's will, is already an action that requires some response. And that is what Ziobro wants – to exert pressure on PiS to adopt a hard political course from autumn onwards. Therefore, the further fate of Ziobro's request will be the best signal indicating the direction in which the United Right will go after the holidays.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/307279935-Szuldrzynski-Gonienie-kroliczka.html -- SOLIDARNA POLSKA WANTS TO IMPOSE A MORE RADICAL COURSE AND MARK ITS PRESENCE – GRZEGORZ OSIECKI AND TOMASZ ŻÓŁCIAK IN DGP: “In this context, on the one hand, Solidarna Polska may want to mark its presence in the coalition in connection with the prepared government reconstruction, from which PiS's coalition partners – Solidarna Polska and Porozumienie – may lose. On the other hand, it is also an attempt to impose a more radical course on PiS due to fears of the strengthening Konfederacja. 'It is no secret that Konfederacja is attracting young, ideological people. But this is because the offer of the United Right is no longer sufficient for them. We must admit our mistakes, we are making many errors,' one politician from the ruling camp tells us. In his opinion, a mistake is the belief that one should appeal to centrist voters to maintain power in the coming years. 'To win over the center, we would have to be more 'Trzaskowski-like' than Trzaskowski, and Konfederacja is just waiting for that. If we lose our core identity, not only Konfederacja will threaten us, but also other movements, such as Szymon Hołownia's anti-party movement. We don't need any march to the center, it's enough for us to maintain the base of 10 million voters who recently voted for Andrzej Duda. They didn't do it for no reason,' diagnoses our interlocutor.” -- THE STRUGGLE OF ZIOBRO'S FACTION AMIDST A NEW GOVERNMENT SETUP, GOWIN'S PARTY WITH A BETTER MINISTRY CONFIGURATION – AUTHORS OF DGP CONTINUE: “The struggle of Ziobro's faction to withdraw from the convention may also be related to the new government arrangement. In light of the prepared government reconstruction, Ziobro's faction is in an unfavorable position. If they lose the Ministry of Environment (as a result of its merger with the Ministry of Climate), it will be difficult for them to expand their influence while holding the Ministry of Justice. If changes occur within the government administration departments, it will be difficult to assign new competencies to this ministry. The Ministry of Development, headed by Jadwiga Emilewicz (Porozumienie), has better prospects, as it can be supplemented with, for example, regional policy and the management of EU funds. This is why Ziobro's faction has recently shown a very offensive stance, not only regarding the rule of law and ambiguous agreements from the last EU summit, but also regarding climate neutrality and European emissions trading. In the latter aspect, Solidarna Polska politicians sharply criticize the government and Minister of Climate Michał Kurtyka for inaction. Moreover, this is not only substantive criticism but a strategic action. 'Thanks to this, we are expanding our playing field, we have a chance to establish ourselves as a grouping in areas other than just justice,' explains a politician from Solidarna Polska to us.” https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/polityka/artykuly/7783346,konewncja-stambulska-pis-zjednoczona-prawica-solidarna-polska-zbigniew-ziobro.html -- TODAY I WOULD NOT SAY THAT – ANDRZEJ ZOLL IN CONVERSATION WITH MARCELI SOMMER IN DGP: “I don't remember that statement, but if I phrased it that way then, I said it too strongly. Today I would phrase it differently. Adopting the convention was not a bad thing, and the fears associated with it have not been confirmed. Today, I believe that the fact that the convention uses the term 'socio-cultural gender' should not be understood as denying the biological dimension of being a man or a woman. No, this cultural aspect simply refers to the social roles of men and women. Because one cannot deny that these functions are different (though equal in social value).” -- IN MY OPINION, INTERPRETING THE PROVISIONS OF THE CONVENTION AS AN ATTACK ON CHRISTIANITY IS UNFOUNDED – PROFESSOR ZOLL CONTINUES: “It can be interpreted as an attack on Christianity. In my opinion, unfoundedly. There are religions that unequivocally differentiate the social position of men and women. But in Catholic doctrine, we have completely different signals, emphasizing the role of women: for instance, the cult of the Blessed Virgin Mary and numerous saints canonized. At the same time, this does not mean that Christianity, and the institutions of the Church, are free from certain social behaviors marked by the idea that women are not equal to men. And it is precisely the eradication of such practices and traditions that place women below men that is the focus of the convention, not an attack on religion as such.” -- I CONSIDER MYSELF A CONSERVATIVE, BUT IT WOULD NEVER OCCUR TO ME – PROFESSOR ZOLL CONTINUES IN CONVERSATION WITH SOMMER IN DGP: “The whole fuss around the convention is purely political. I think some politicians with a distinctly conservative outlook use this issue instrumentally, as a cover for other problems faced by the government. I consider myself a conservative, but it would never occur to me, after the experiences of the last 5 years, to bring up this issue and make it the axis of political conflict in Poland.” -- NOT ACCEDING IS ONE THING, WITHDRAWING IS ANOTHER – ZOLL CONTINUES: “Not acceding to the convention is one thing, and withdrawing from it is another. It would be a very serious and disturbing political signal that would give grounds to suspect Poland of wanting to weaken the protection of women against violence. Of course, it is not true, as some critics of the government's stance claim, that withdrawing from the anti-violence convention means 'legalizing domestic violence.' It is a fact that in recent years the protection of women's position in criminal law has been strengthened – penalties have been tightened, and procedures for protecting victims of violence have been adopted. I would also not be able to point to a court ruling that does not unequivocally assess violent behavior…” https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/polityka/artykuly/7783924,zoll-krytyka-konwencja-stambulska-przemoc-domowa-kobiety-pis-rozmowa-polityka.html -- THE RIGHT INVENTS THREATS TO LATER HEROICALLY DEFEND POLES FROM – SZYMON HOŁOWNIA IN CONVERSATION WITH JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “The convention declares nothing declaratively and deals with the topic very cautiously, as that is not the purpose of this document. The convention aims to protect the rights of people with a different psychosexual identity, who have the right to feel safe and function normally in the world. This is a substitute topic, brought up in order to don the guise of hussars who will now defend the Polish family from an imaginary dragon. The United Right invents threats from which it later heroically wants to defend Poles. They are not very good at governing, so they have to justify their existence to the electorate.” -- IN A WEEK I AM GOING TO TOUR POLAND AGAIN – HOŁOWNIA CONTINUES IN RZ: “We are in the process of organizing a think tank, one of the three pillars of our activity. The civic movement is in the registration phase. This week we will present our plans. More people are joining us, and it's a phenomenon that people are coming after the campaign. We are growing stronger. Next week I will be touring Poland again for meetings in Olsztyn, Mrągowo, Bolesławiec, and Podlasie.” -- IT WILL BE DIFFICULT FOR TRZASKOWSKI TO CREATE MORE THAN A FACELIFT FOR PLATFORMA – HOŁOWNIA CONTINUES: “Trzaskowski experienced what many of us did during the campaign. He toured Poland, talked to people, saw their emotions and desires. I was talking about the civic movement and the fact that political parties are not enough four months before him. I don't think this will be competition for us. It will be very difficult for Trzaskowski to create a civic movement, and not just a facelift for PO. If he decides to do a facelift for Platforma and add some tools to it, they will go their own way and we will go ours. We are not joining PO in any formula. It would be different if Trzaskowski said: 'Listen, I've travelled across Poland, I've talked to people, I've seen things I hadn't seen before, and now we really need to start from scratch. I'm leaving PO, we're forming a civic coalition above divisions, I care about people, not the political environment I come from.' Then perhaps a field for discussion would open up, but for now, there isn't one.” -- WE ARE CLOSER TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEES THAN TO PLATFORMA – HOŁOWNIA CONTINUES: “This would not serve Polska 2050, nor PO, nor anyone who would want to build these lists, nor Poland itself. Such conglomerates rarely succeed. Each side then loses its identity. These should be clear programmatic agreements, concerning specific solutions. We are much closer to coalitions of local governments. It depends on what kind of elections they are, because if they are the autumn elections to regional assemblies, the entry threshold will be very high, around 10 percent. If we were to build something with someone, and not on our own, we would probably first build with good, wise local government committees rather than with activists appointed by party headquarters, who will again transfer central political disputes to the local level.” https://www.rp.pl/Polityka/307279927-Holownia-Moglem-wygrac--z-Duda-w-II-turze.html -- KRRiT NOTICES TVP'S AGITATION – AGNIESZKA KUBLIK IN GW: “This is the first statement by KRRiT regarding TVP's election campaign. Although it was obvious to the naked eye that the public broadcaster was flagrantly violating media law by agitating for Duda, KRRiT did not publicly comment on the matter even once. The current Council was elected in the summer of 2016. It has five members. The Sejm appointed Kołodziejski and Elżbieta Więcławska-Sauk, the Senate – Teresa Bochwic, and President Andrzej Duda – Janusz Kawecki and Andrzej Sabatowski. Thus, it was entirely staffed by the ruling camp.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,26162495,krrit-do-tvp-prosze-przestrzegac-zasady-rzetelnosci.html -- I HEAR THAT TRZASKOWSKI'S 10 MILLION IN THE SECOND ROUND IS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT ON THE SCALE OF SOLIDARITY, THAT'S A JOKE – WŁODZIMIERZ CZARZASTY IN CONVERSATION WITH MICHAŁ SUTOWSKI IN KRYTYKA POLITYCZNA: “And then the PSL got twice as many votes, and the left wasn't in the Sejm at first, and today it has 49 deputies. The presidential elections are a time of specific euphoria for Polish women and men over three months of campaigning. Really, let's keep things in perspective. I hear recently that something incredible has happened, that 10 million for Trzaskowski is a movement on the scale of Solidarity, well, that's a joke!” -- THAT DOESN'T MEAN HALF OF POLAND WILL VOTE FOR PLATFORMA, LET THEM POUR A BUCKET OF COLD WATER OVER THEIR HEADS – CZARZASTY CONTINUES: “PO politicians and commentators from mainstream media should pour a bucket of cold water over their heads. 10 million votes for Trzaskowski does not mean that half of Poland will vote for Platforma, nor that the movement he wants to build is a second Solidarity. Journalists are asking me on television recently: 'Have you signed up yet?' To which I reply: 'Why should I sign up for a movement led by a deputy head of PO, and with Borys Budka likely to be deputy leader? Should I just join Platforma?'” -- WE ARE FOR EVERYTHING FOR DEMOCRACY, AND PLATFORMA IS FOR ITSELF FIRST – CZARZASTY CONTINUES: “Yes, we are for everything for democracy, and Platforma is for itself first. It irritates me not that Trzaskowski ran and got a lot of votes, but the hypocrisy that accompanies it.” -- TWO BLOCKS DO NOT SERVE THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE AT ALL – CZARZASTY CONTINUES: “PiS weakens precisely when more various political forces enter the Sejm or the Senate. When last year the Left, PSL, and independents entered the Senate – PiS lost. When Konfederacja and the Left entered the Sejm, and PSL strengthened its position there, PiS's advantage decreased. In short: it is not true that if there were two political blocks, the democratic side would have a greater chance of winning. There was a bloc in last year's European Parliament campaign.” -- THE DEMOCRATIC SIDE WILL NOT WIN IN ONE BLOCK 0 – CZARZASTY CONTINUES: “We were there, and PiS won. The democratic side will not win if it is one block. PO is returning to this idea because they care more about leading the opposition than about winning against PiS. Have you heard the appeal not to buy products from Polish farmers because 80% of them supported Duda?” -- CZARZASTY ON CONTEMPTUOUS STATEMENTS – WOMEN WHO WALK 4 KM WITH BAGS BECAUSE POTATOES ARE CHEAPER AT ANOTHER MARKET LISTEN TO THIS – CONTINUES IN CONVERSATION WITH SUTOWSKI IN KRYTYKA: “But such statements are amplified in the media, and then listened to by women who walk 4 km with bags because at one market potatoes are 3.20, and at another, they are 1.80. So where do they have all these democrats then?” -- IT JUST SO HAPPENED THAT ONE TELEVISION WON AGAINST ANOTHER – CZARZASTY AGAIN IN CONVERSATION WITH SUTOWSKI: “There are two media apparatuses, two civilizations, and it just so happened that one television won against the other…” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/kraj/czarzasty-sutowski-dlugi-marsz-lewicy/ -- THE PRESIDENT WON AGAINST A CONGLOMERATE OF CELEBRITIES AND SELF-PROCLAIMED ELITES – MICHAŁ RACHOŃ IN GAZETA POLSKA: “The President waged this campaign against a conglomerate of celebrities, influential circles, and self-proclaimed urban elites. In the election race, especially in its decisive moments, the most brutal political weapons were deployed against Andrzej Duda, including false suggestions of alleged responsibility for covering up acts of pedophilia, which was clearly suggested by the cover of one of the German newspapers published in Poland. Victory was achieved despite a whole series of cold and calculated fake news, half-truths, and outright lies disseminated by troll farms hired for this purpose. Trolls both anonymous and appearing under their real names, and very often also under the protection of parliamentary immunity.” -- THE HORIZON OF THE RIGHT'S POWER IS SHIFTING TO A DECADE, NO GROUP HAS HAD SUCH A CHANCE SINCE KWAŚNIEWSKI'S TIME – RACHOŃ CONTINUES: “From the perspective of the ruling camp, the horizon of governance is extending to a decade. This is enough time to try to achieve a fundamental reform of the post-communist state. No political group emerging from free Poland has had such a chance. Because until now, the only group whose representative spent 10 years in the Presidential Palace was Aleksander Kwaśniewski, who came from the core of communism.” https://niezalezna.pl/343011-dekada-przebudowy-panstwa -- US-CHINA RIVALRY IS A CHANCE FOR THE EU TO TECHNOLOGICALLY ALIGN WITH AMERICA – MACIEJ SOBIERAJ IN KLUB JAGIELLOŃSKI: “Any escalation of relations on the US-China line puts pressure on the EU to clearly take one side of the barricade. Although relations between Washington and its European partners have become increasingly strained during Donald Trump's presidency, US-China technological rivalry presents an opportunity to renew cooperation between Europeans and Americans.” https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2020/07/27/wojna-o-5g-nowa-nadzieja-dla-wspolpracy-transatlantyckiej/ -- STATISM WILL STRANGLE US – WITOLD GADOMSKI IN GW: “Statist tendencies, if they persist for a long time, will stifle the dynamism of the Polish economy and its people. Instead of taking risks and embarking on adventures in private business, they will choose comfortable positions arranged through connections. Statism will weigh down the education system, which already places the state at the center of students' interest. If not stopped, it will spread like mold. Poorly functioning enterprises, managed by political commissars, will require government support, which will multiply regulations hindering market entry and competition from private companies.” -- FEW FRIENDS OF THE FREE MARKET – GADOMSKI CONTINUES: “Statism is strongly adhered to by the left, which, incidentally, is against PiS. Young leftists speak with increasing sympathy about the Polish People's Republic and increasingly critically about private corporations. Statism benefits the Church, which derives advantages from its symbiosis with the state. Private capital, to which we owe the successes of recent decades, has few defenders among political groupings. Some private entrepreneurs voted for Konfederacja, but rather owners of small businesses. Konfederacja, with its nationalism, is reluctant towards foreign investors. The market economy with a dominant role of private entities should be supported by the Civic Coalition, which includes many former liberals. But in Rafał Trzaskowski's election campaign, little was said about the economy, especially the private one.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,26158024,modernizacje-polski-zawdzieczamy-prywatnemu-kapitalowi-etatyzm.html -- The Judgement of Paris – a painting and drawing by Auguste Renoir from circa 1908-1910, Hiroshima Museum of Art. Both depict the scene of the Judgement of Paris, taken from Greek mythology. The painting, with its sensual forms and warm colors, is an example of Renoir's late style. Classical elements: Temple in the background – a small Greek temple in the background is the only allusion to the ancient world amidst generalized scenery. Aphrodite – reaching for the apple of discord. At the wedding feast of Peleus and Thetis, this apple was thrown by Eris, the goddess of discord, the only immortal not invited to the ceremony. Páris – he wears a Phrygian cap, associated with the inhabitants of Western Asia (modern Turkey), where Troy was located. The winged figure on the left is Hermes, the divine messenger. Zeus refused to resolve the dispute of the goddesses, knowing the trouble it could cause him. He ordered Hermes to take the goddesses to Páris. -- BIRTHDAYS: Janusz Niemcewicz, Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski.