-- PRIME MINISTER INVITES OPPOSITION TO JOIN ONE TEAM, HOURS FOR SENIORS, RECORD INFECTIONS - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/10/10 -- IDENTIFYING AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE GROUPS - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “Overall, this is a very interesting approach. One can wonder if this is not how the fight against the pandemic will look in the future: identifying and protecting the most vulnerable individuals and groups. If the virus cannot be 'driven out' of our societies – and today this seems unrealistic unless a vaccine is invented – governments and societies will have to seek solutions that allow economies to be saved and that enable the majority to function reasonably normally. Because if we allow for a years-long economic collapse, the social consequences will also be tragic, and we will count victims in the tens of thousands.” https://wpolityce.pl/spoleczenstwo/521293-czemu-prawica-odpuszcza-kulture-kariere-robia-hejterzy-pis -- BUREAUCRATIC LACK OF IMAGINATION REGARDING THEATERS IS A BLOW TO NATIONAL CULTURE - PIOTR ZAREMBA ON POLSAT NEWS: “I believe that undermining the culture of watching films in cinemas is wrong. People are encouraged to go deeper into the internet at the expense of social bonds. But in the case of theaters, it's something more. You simply cannot create a bigger virtual representation. And its potential reception is something completely different from contact with the stage, with live actors. I'll say it openly: I consider imposing excessive restrictions on theaters to be a blow to national culture. Dooming creators to months of uncertainty is already something more than a blow. It's systematically finishing it off. I don't suspect premeditation here. Rather, a bureaucratic lack of imagination. But the consequences could be dire.” -- I HAVEN'T SEEN SUCH DILIGENCE AS IN THEATERS IN OTHER CROWDED PLACES - PIOTR ZAREMBA CONTINUES: “At the same time, cinemas, theaters, and other cultural event venues have been ordered to limit the number of viewers to one-quarter of the capacity. Anyone who has been there during the pandemic – especially to the theater – knows that with half capacity, no one was crowded. Distances were maintained impeccably. Theater staff did their best to ensure all rules were followed, distributing epidemiological statements, reminding about masks and hand sanitization, and measuring temperatures. I haven't seen such diligence in other crowded places. Are similar customs followed in shopping malls?” -- SHOPPING MALLS ARE NOT SUBJECT TO SUCH BARRIERS, YET PEOPLE CONGREGATE THERE: “Nevertheless, I must speak out on certain elements of the new system of restrictions imposed across Poland. Does this make sense? Weddings are limited to 75 people. That's still a lot, it's an opportunity for crowds. Shopping malls or churches are not subject to barriers. And that's where people gather.” https://tygodnik.polsatnews.pl/news/2020-10-09/zaremba-zostawmy-kina-i-teatry-w-spokoju-to-nie-tam-sie-tlocza/ -- I WILL NOT BE TEMPTED BY ANY NARRATIVE ABOUT TYRANNY OR ABSOLUTISM - RAFAŁ MATYJA IN AN INTERVIEW WITH GRZEGORZ WYSOCKI IN GW: “There are things, even significant ones, that don't interest him, and here he allows his people to decide. Let's remember that he is not a superman and has limited possibilities for intervention. But the crucial point is that Kaczyński governs Poland more than his natural limitations allow. He governs not only when he issues an order, but also when other politicians or officials fear his anger. When they make decisions so as not to displease him, or to please him, or to draw his positive attention. So yes, we have a very strong influence of one man in Poland. But I will not be tempted by any narratives about tyranny or absolutism, because I know the meaning of these terms.” -- KACZYŃSKI IS NEITHER AN ABSOLUTE MONARCH NOR ANY FIRST SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE - MATYJA CONTINUES: “I use metaphors more cautiously. The legitimacy for exercising this rule comes from winning elections. Kaczyński can do what he does with his coalition partners because he has twice won an absolute majority in the Sejm. But when Ziobro rebelled, he had to come to an arrangement with him somehow because he would lack the votes to maintain that majority. And when Gowin said he wouldn't agree to the elections on May 10th? He didn't behead him, he didn't torture him in the basement. I understand that journalism thrives on exaggeration, on metaphors that stimulate the imagination. Only if we try to talk precisely, Kaczyński is neither an absolute monarch nor any First Secretary of the Central Committee.” -- MATYJA, WHEN ASKED BY WYSOCKI WHO RULES THE OPPOSITION: TRZASKOWSKI HAD A CHANCE: “And that's actually a very easy question: no one! Not even Trzaskowski, although he had a chance to capitalize on his good result from the second round.” -- THE OPPOSITION FAILED TO REACT TO THE GOVERNMENT CRISIS, OTHER THAN WITH RITUALISTIC FIRECRACKERS - MATYJA CONTINUES: “The problem with the opposition is that it was unable to react to the crisis in the government camp. We waited a day, two, three, and nothing, no response from the opposition, other than the ritualistic firecrackers that Kaczyński is bad, and Ziobro is even worse. But at no point during these upheavals with the coalition did we see a move that we could say they scored with, they managed it.” -- IF A REAL COMPETITOR APPEARED, PLATFORMA WOULD CEASE TO EXIST - MATYJA CONTINUES: “Platforma's situation is comfortable enough that the anti-PiS electorate will go to the polls out of pure dislike for PiS, and frankly, they don't care what Platforma is like. However, if a real competitor appeared, Platforma would cease to exist. (...) Trzaskowski's result, achieved on this basis, was like a huge shot of oxygen for Platforma, so they should have followed up and in July-August put the opposition in its place. So what? And they voted with PiS for pay raises for politicians. And they came up with the social movement Nowa Solidarność, about which it is unclear whether it is more meant to compete with PiS or with Hołownia.” -- THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL WORLD AND PO DON'T EVEN INTERSECT - MATYJA CONTINUES: “Well, it's not visible. And this is the absolute ABC! The same applies to a professional party establishing a new social movement. It's so poorly conceived that no one takes it seriously. In many places, the world of PO and the world of non-governmental organizations do not even intersect, let alone permeate each other.” -- IT IS THE NATURE OF PLATFORMA, IT WANTED TO BE A POLITICAL TEDDY BEAR, I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW IT COULD BE REFORMED - MATYJA IN GW: “Because it is not a mistake or a sin of Platforma, but its nature. It was losing what was characteristic of it – its conservative liberalism – already when it was powerful and in power. Because it wanted to become a political teddy bear that would appeal to both feminists and the local vicar. They worked on this so intensively that later, without the charismatic Tusk, it barely made it to the elections. So today, I really don't know how Platforma could be reformed.” -- MATYJA ON WHAT THE LEFT SHOULD DO IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS: “It was decided that he would run when it was already known that he had lost his greatest asset, which was his charisma, personal charm, and appeal. Furthermore, no specific goal was written for him – becoming president is out of the question, as it was obvious he had no chance. The goal could have been to build a position for 2023, but then Biedroń should have constantly presented new ministers from his shadow cabinet, showing what a great team he had. As commentators, we would have scoffed: heh heh, he's confused about which election he's running in – but people would have learned what was needed.” -- KWAŚNIEWSKI SAID HE WAS LIKE EVERYONE ELSE AND THE REST WERE WEIRD, AND HE WAS NORMAL - MATYJA CONTINUES: “But the worst was the constant repetition that he was the only progressive candidate, and the rest were conservatives. Never mind that most of the electorate doesn't know what 'progressive' means, and I myself sometimes have doubts. Non-leftist? Forward-thinking? But can you imagine Aleksander Kwaśniewski saying in 1995: 'I am the only progressive candidate. I am completely different from all other candidates because all other candidates are conservative, just like this entire nation!'? No, Kwaśniewski said he was like everyone else. That other politicians were somehow strange, but he was normal.” -- HOW TO DESCRIBE IT FURTHER IF WE HAVE ALREADY USED ALL AUTHORITARIANISMS? - MATYJA ON THE MEDIA: “The problem with anti-PiS media, generally speaking, is that in the first months of PiS rule, they exhausted all possible epithets to describe how terrible things were. And if we have already used all possible authoritarianisms and totalitarianisms at the outset, how can we describe, after a year, two, or three, that something has worsened? Words ran out. I perfectly understand that part of the public debate is shooting at the enemy, that's how media operate worldwide.” -- MATYJA ON POLITICS STILL BEING BETTER THAN OTHER AREAS OF LIFE: “If other areas of life or professions were broadcast live 24 hours a day, participants would be interviewed, shown behind the scenes, then politics would immediately gain in this competition.” https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,26381804,kto-rzadzi-polska-a-kto-kaczynskim.html -- KACZYŃSKI HAD TO DISCIPLINE HIS CAMP BEFORE ENTERING A NEW REALITY - TOMASZ KAROŃ IN AN INTERVIEW WITH AGATA SZCZĘŚNIAK ON OKO.PRESS: “In my opinion, we are entering a new political cycle, a new situation, and Kaczyński had to discipline his camp. Before entering a very difficult period of crisis and pandemic, he had to put his party in order. He could not enter the new reality in conflict, and this was an attempt at integration.” -- THE PANDEMIC MADE US COSMOPOLITANS, THE SECOND BAVARIA BURNED OUT - KAROŃ CONTINUES WITH SZCZĘŚNIAK: “Then came the PiS concept: 'Polish Bavaria,' meaning: tradition and modernity can be combined within a strong national state. This concept was born in 2013 for the by-elections in Podkarpacie. So it's already seven years old. It will end soon. The answer is in Ivan Krastev's book 'The Great Reset: How the Pandemic Is Changing Europe.' Krastev does not fear the return of nationalism. Although the first thing he did during the pandemic was to return to his native Bulgaria from wealthy Vienna. He writes about a paradox: the lockdown and the pandemic have made us cosmopolitans. Europeans have realized that nothing can be done alone. In crisis situations like these, you can't do anything alone.” -- WHAT'S NEXT FOR PiS AFTER POLISH BAVARIA? - KAROŃ CONTINUES ON OKO.PRESS: “Therefore, we are entering a new political cycle. The PiS concept of Polish Bavaria, which I co-created, is not ending because it ceased to be 'winning' because it was bad, but because new challenges have emerged. Jarosław Kaczyński and the opposition must respond to this new situation. They must develop their concepts for the 2023 elections.” -- PLATFORMA MANAGED ONE THING: TO SURVIVE, BUT PiS MUST KEEP WHAT IT HAS AND ADD CITIES AND YOUTH - KAROŃ CONTINUES: “The opposition says, 'PiS is bad because it is bad.' Platforma managed one thing: to survive. By playing the role of total opposition, they played for survival. Chapeau bas. But now they need to create a tactical concept: how do we want to settle accounts with PiS, and a strategic one: in which direction do we want to lead Poland. They have neither. And the world is changing. PiS knows this. Morawiecki and Kaczyński know that they can no longer be a 20th-century party, and certainly not a 19th-century one, which they sometimes seem to be when they deal with miners. To win elections, PiS must be a 21st-century party. If PiS wants to win the next elections, it must retain what it already holds and expand into large cities and reach the youth, who often shape the social climate.” -- PiS WAS SUPPOSED TO DELIVER - KAROŃ: “There is a nice word, 'deliver,' and another nice word, 'hire.' Poles hired PiS as a company that delivers. For the first time, PiS is not delivering. They should have had a plan on how to deal with the pandemic when it returned. If such a plan does not exist or is not created quickly, PiS will have problems and will cede ground to the opposition.” -- AWARENESS OF SOCIALLY USEFUL WORK HAS INCREASED - KAROŃ CONTINUES: “Awareness of socially useful work has increased. It turned out how much capital owes to the state. For women to go to work, there must be kindergartens and nurseries. There must be hospitals. Infrastructure. Perhaps the question will soon arise of how much we should all contribute to this. Business too.” -- THE NEXT ELECTION WILL BE ABOUT POLAND IN THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE: “Rafał Matyja says that the presidential elections took place in old settings. PiS could have threatened that the elites were returning. But these were the last such elections. The next elections will be about Poland in the United States of Europe with good institutions and procedures. That will be the battle.” https://oko.press/jaroslaw-kaczynski-nie-istnieje-panstwo-pis-sie-konczy-rozmowa/ -- INSTEAD OF SOLVING THE FAMILY PROBLEM, IDEOLOGICAL PUPPETS ARE CREATED - TOMASZ TERLIKOWSKI IN RZ: “This data shows that the problem that Archbishop Marek Jędraszewski or Prof. Przemysław Czarnek spoke about actually exists. However, instead of solving it, ideological puppets are created that can be heroically fought. In this way, one gains applause in their own bubble, perhaps even has the impression of conducting worldview politics and participating in a great culture war, but it has no impact on changing attitudes. To truly change something, a full diagnosis of the situation is necessary, not just inventing or identifying ideological culprits. Therefore, instead of stigmatizing neo-Marxism or feminism (without denying the influence of the latter on the development of the situation, but also without overestimating it), and inventing the ideology of singlism (without denying the social phenomenon, but only the suggestions that it hides ideology rather than life choices, sometimes difficult situations or abandonment), it is worth asking what are the real causes of the decline in fertility of Polish women over the years, as well as the reluctance to marry and the durability of relationships in general.” -- HOW MANY TV SERIES PROMOTING NORMAL FAMILY LIFE HAS TVP PRODUCED? - TERLIKOWSKI CONTINUES: “Challenges also lie ahead for politicians. Fighting ideologies certainly guarantees many fans on social media, allows for building one's own image, but it does not solve problems. These are solved through greater regulation of the labor market (lack of permanent jobs does not serve – I'll offend my more liberal colleagues – fertility), forcing employers to offer more flexible working conditions for mothers, but also by making marriage financially attractive. It is also important to remind about the dramatic consequences of divorce for children, as well as to adjust the education model towards greater openness to the male perspective and male emotions. Jokingly, one can ask the current rulers how many series promoting a normal family life, the beauty of having many children, or balancing roles have been produced by TVP? How many films showing the strength of family life have been co-financed by PISF? How are women who want to combine professional and family life supported? Politics is made from such small things, which is not just convenient political propaganda.” https://www.rp.pl/Plus-Minus/310099994-Milosc-to-nie-tylko-emocja-ale-i-odpowiedzialnosc.html -- GAZETA WYBORCZA ON THE CHURCH AND DEVELOPERS - AS WRITTEN BY MARCIN WÓJCIK: “In Warsaw, the skyscraper of the Archdiocese of Warsaw, dubbed Nycz Tower, will be erected. It will house a luxury hotel and offices for rent. Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz emphasized during a conference at the Episcopate that there must be full transparency in church financing. So I asked him for a conversation about money. He referred me to Bishop Jan Piotrowski, chairman of the Episcopate's economic council. But he did not find time. A retired priest professor agreed, but not under his name, so as not to endanger the bishop.” -- WÓJCIK IN GW ON THE CONNECTIONS OF ANOTHER DIOCESE WITH THE DEVELOPER OF NYCZ TOWER: “The Warmian-Masurian Diocese is entering business. It has made an agreement with a developer and is building an exclusive hotel together in the village of Rybaki near Olsztyn, right next to a lake. The diocese contributed 16.5 hectares of land, with a market value of PLN 17 million (the Church received the land for property lost during the PRL). The second shareholder, BBI Development, contributed PLN 15 million. The investment is to cost PLN 300 million. The hotel for several hundred people, with four stars, will attract residents from Warsaw and Gdańsk. It's not just a hotel, but also a spa. Next to it, a complex of 38 residential cottages for sale will be built. The Church has a 51% stake, the developer 49%.” -- NYCZ'S LUXURY HOTEL: “BBI Development is the same developer building the skyscraper for the Archdiocese of Warsaw, jokingly called Nycz Tower after Cardinal Kazimierz Nycz's surname. The actual name is Roma Tower. On a church plot in the city center, a 170-meter skyscraper will be built in 2023. It will house a luxury hotel and offices for rent. Rental income is intended for the maintenance of the seminary, metropolitan court, and curia.” https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,26383791,kosciol-spolka-z-o-o-za-objecie-probostwa-na-dobrej-parafii.html -- THE RIGHT HAS ABANDONED CULTURE, HATERS OF PIS ARE MAKING CAREERS - MARZENA NYKIEL ON WPOLITYCE.PL: “There are spaces that require exceptional care, attention, responsibility, and long-term reflection. Everything has probably been said about the necessity of reclaiming high culture and pop culture from the hands of the left. Every year, on the occasion of papal anniversaries and holiday concerts, the exact same outrage arises. Those who sing and play for the Pope then run with rainbow flags at black marches. Left-wing circles promote their own, they manage to ensure their presence in the media, fill artistic events with them, and create them as idols who will draw crowds of young people into the left-wing current. Conservatives among artists are a minority. Unfortunately, a large part of them receive no support from the ruling right. As if it did not understand its responsibility for this historical moment, in which it should build a strong, conservative, healthy current. There will be no second chance to regain culture. Why aren't we learning from mistakes?” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/521293-czemu-prawica-odpuszcza-kulture-kariere-robia-hejterzy-pis -- WEIMAR CAN HAPPEN TO US TOO - AGATA BIELIK-ROBSON IN GW: “The analogy with Weimar is not a banal reductio ad Hitlerum, which the Polish right dismisses as a sign of liberal rhetorical helplessness. It is rather a terrifying lesson in the reversibility of rights that the progressive camp too easily considers to be permanently rooted in Western civilization. Polish democracy was and remains shallow, superficial, poorly internalized: it was difficult to strengthen it, it will be easy to get rid of it. Let us remember Weimar, whose weak democratic system slid into total violence. This can also happen to us.” https://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/7,124059,26383584,hegel-sie-mylil-obiektywne-prawo-historii-ze-co-jest.html -- IS POPE FRANCIS ACTUALLY A LEFTIST? - PIOTR WÓJCIK in Krytyka: “Francis's second encyclical is social-democratic and progressive in spirit. It argues against the 'sacred right to property' and calls for a radical opening of borders.” -- THE CONSERVATIVE CHURCH HAS A TOUGH NUT TO CRACK - WÓJCIK CONTINUES: “The conservative part of the Polish Church – I mean both clergy and faithful, including politicians – therefore has an extremely tough nut to crack. It must be remembered that encyclicals do not only express the opinions of the Pope himself, but also of some hierarchs who cooperate most closely with him. While the Vatican is becoming increasingly progressive and open to multiculturalism, traditionalist and conservative currents are becoming louder in the Church on the Vistula – but also in Italy, Croatia, and many other Catholic countries. They are reluctant towards foreigners, nationalistic, and deny the existence of many global problems. They use Catholicism more as a flag and an element of identity than as a genuinely adopted system of values.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/swiat/encyklika-franciszka-fratelli-tutti-prawo-wlasnosci-migranci/ -- 16 YEARS AGO, the premiere episode of the main news service Wydarzenia aired on Polsat. -- BIRTHDAYS: Marzena Gorgoń, Michał Kanownik, SUNDAY: Barbara Fedyszak-Radziejowska, Sławomir Siwek, Stanisław Bisztyga, Krzysztof Lipiec, Agnieszka Walczak, Jerzy Halbersztadt.