-- SOBOLEWSKI ON THE PIS PARTY'S NON-STOP WORK AND NEW MINISTERIAL APPOINTMENTS: https://300polityka.pl/live/2019/06/04/ -- PIOTR ZAREMBA ON TVP'S NARRATIVE - AN ABSURDITY THAT AFFECTS ME PERSONALLY - writes in DGP: “It was through these students of mine, their parents, and fellow teachers that I saw back then how relative, unclear, and contradictory the views of Poles were on communism, martial law, and the need for freedom – both political and economic. For me, a graduate of history at the University of Warsaw, anti-communist to the core, who in 1984 was hit by a police baton near Huta Warszawa and spent a day in jail, it was obvious. But not necessarily for them. When it turned out that Poles, despite the only partially democratic nature of those elections, had once counted themselves in opposition to the system, that they had broken the curse of the fraudulent 1947 elections, I could only do one thing: shout with joy. And yet, just a year ago, a presenter on public television, dominated by the right, appeared with the chyron 'June 4th – a symbol of treason and elite conspiracy.' An absurdity that affects me personally”. -- ZAREMBA'S OPPOSITION TO TVN'S NARRATIVE - A SUGAR-COATED AND UNTRUE DESCRIPTION - BETWEEN A DARK CARICATURE AND A CANDY-FLOSS LANDSCAPE: “The problem is that behind this narrative lies a sugar-coated and untrue description of everything that happened between 1989 and 2019. One must accept everything along with the full shelves and beautiful buildings: from the solidarity elite's incomplete utilization of the Round Table agreements (which deprived Poles of the joy of victory on June 4th) to the passivity of Donald Tusk and his team regarding the Smoleńsk catastrophe. I don't have to choose between a dark caricature and a candy-floss landscape. I try to think”. -- ZAREMBA REITERATES THE DESTRUCTION OF THE POLISH SCHOOL SYSTEM: “The destruction of the Polish school system, because after the lost strike it will be ruined, immediately after a fundamental reform was implemented to better educate the intelligentsia – that's world-class bungling. To justify this, Morawiecki and his people suddenly started speaking the language of Leszek Balcerowicz – but only in this one area. This shows that the dilemmas of transformation have not disappeared. We are still building the final model”. -- IN A FEW YEARS, WE WILL LOOK MORE CALMLY AT THE RADICAL BREAK FROM EVERYTHING - ZAREMBA'S CONCLUSION: “And although politicians will still spoil many things or fail to fix many, it was worth sticking election posters on the housing estates of Grochów in 1989. The Polish People's Republic was a country of fear, hopelessness, and a lack of any meaning. Today, at least, meaning is being sought. It is possible that in a few years we will look more calmly at the atmosphere of revolutionary fervor, the building of new elites, the wholesale break from everything. That it will, despite everything, be another stage in the journey of the same Polish cart”. https://wiadomosci.dziennik.pl/opinie/artykuly/599387,4-czerwca-1989-wybory-solidarnosc-komunisci-wolnosc.html -- THE FACT THAT MERKEL REJECTED MACRON'S OFFER SHOWS HOW STRONG THE FOUNDATIONS OF POLISH-GERMAN RELATIONS ARE - JĘDRZEJ BIELECKI: “Chancellor Merkel's rejection of Emmanuel Macron's offer to build a smaller, more integrated European Union focused around the Eurozone, which might leave no room for Poland, is a signal of how strong the foundations of Polish-German relations are. In the event of a probable PiS victory in the parliamentary elections in October, Germany will move to the next stage of this partnership, where it will no longer matter whether Donald Tusk's or Jarosław Kaczyński's party governs in Warsaw”. https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/306039918-30-lat-po-4-czerwca-89-r-Polska-wykorzystala-slabosc-Rosji.html -- DOMINIKA WIELOWIEYSKA - POLAND RISKS ORBANIZATION - writes in GW: “The opposition and its voters face a significant dilemma today: unite or maintain ideological identity and risk PiS gaining a constitutional majority? This is a very real scenario. Because – judging by the statements of PSL and Wiosna politicians – such a configuration is possible: PSL goes its own way and falls below the threshold. Wiosna goes its own way and falls below the threshold. The politicians of these formations had ambitious plans, but they would end up like David Cameron in the Brexit referendum. This is because, although voter turnout in the European elections was high for those elections, it may be at least 10 percentage points higher in the parliamentary elections, and a larger number of voters needs to be acquired. Those from the European elections will not be enough to cross the threshold. And this could be a problem”. -- KOSINIAK IS POSITIONING HIMSELF FOR NEGOTIATIONS - CONTINUES WIELOWIEYSKA: “For opposition voters, good news would be if Kosiniak-Kamysz were not so much breaking the coalition as positioning himself for negotiations with PO and SLD regarding seats on electoral lists. And most importantly, he is flexing his muscles for internal party use, so that activists do not remove him from his leadership position. Perhaps he wants to return to the scenario where he himself – Kosiniak-Kamysz – is the coalition's candidate for Prime Minister, as he evokes more voter sympathy than Grzegorz Schetyna. The bidding has already begun: Deputy Prime Minister Jarosław Gowin is tempting PSL with the vision of a conservative-popular bloc in the Senate elections, to prevent PiS from losing control of this chamber of parliament. There are people in the Peasant Party who would gladly join such a bloc, regardless of how PiS television attacked the PSL during the campaign”. -- SCHETYNA AND CZARZASTY SHOULD STEP BACK TO THE SECOND ROW - CONTINUES WIELOWIEYSKA: “The activity of local government officials is an opportunity for the coalition opposition. From the perspective of their interests, Grzegorz Schetyna (I don't believe in the possibility of changing leaders before the parliamentary elections) and Włodzimierz Czarzasty should be in the second row, as they are symbols of the old times. New faces must appear in the front line”. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24858085,polsce-grozi-orbanizacja-jak-zatrzymac-ofensywe-autorytaryzmu.html -- NUMBERS LIKE PAWLAK'S WERE NOT SEEN EVEN IN SAMOOBRONA - SŁAWOMIR SIERAKOWSKI IN ONET: “Firstly, because the former Prime Minister's speech itself contains not a single sensible argument (there are two nonsensical ones, discussed below), but is a display of advanced egocentrism. It sounded like a monument speaking in barroom language. Wałęsa without Wałęsa's history ('I knew from the beginning... I would have done it better... but they didn't want to listen to me... the PSL pushed me away... my colleagues attacked me... Platforma are cheats'). Secondly, because Pawlak decided that such a speech could be boasted about. And thirdly, because uploading the recording to Facebook is a sign of disrespect for his own party and its most important body, the National Council. What kind of party allows speeches from its most important meetings to be taken out and posted on Facebook? It seemed that Polish politics had long since hit rock bottom, but such stunts weren't even pulled in Samoobrona”. https://wiadomosci.onet.pl/tylko-w-onecie/sierakowski-pawlak-osmiesza-psl-opinia/s08r3mp -- KOSINIAK IS CLOSER TO SLD AND PO - MARCIN FIJOŁEK: “Does Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz think similarly? This is where things get complicated. It seems that the current leader of the PSL is closer to politicians from Platforma, Nowoczesna, or SLD. Those in the PSL who are reluctant towards Kosiniak suggest that he has a scenario in mind, instilled by Donald Tusk – in this logic, the PSL leader would become a candidate for Prime Minister, and perhaps even President. If we assume that Kosiniak-Kamysz is reluctant to play for his own difficult account, the weekend decision to form the Polish Coalition may appear as a bluff aimed at negotiating better spots on the lists and a more autonomous position in a broad coalition than before. Pawlak saw it differently”. https://wpolityce.pl/m/polityka/449352-zjesc-ciastko-i-miec-ciastko-o-napieciach-w-psl -- ELITES DON'T BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY - MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI: “Do our 'elites' even believe in democracy? Do they even think that people have the right, and are capable, of independently assessing political, social, and economic reality? One can doubt. I repeat: they are not democrats at all. In a political sense, they are not even from the year 1789. They are essentially circles that have embraced everything worst in Polish tradition: extreme personal and class egoism, contempt for the common people, an unjustified sense of superiority, a lack of understanding that one must care for the community as a whole, not just one's own residences. That is why they were unable to govern in the interests of ordinary citizens: they simply did not see them at all”. https://wpolityce.pl/m/spoleczenstwo/449399-czy-nasze-elity-to-w-ogole-demokraci-czy-feudalne-paniska -- THE LIBERAL'S DEFEAT IN BUILDING THE JUNE 4TH MYTH IS EVIDENT WHEN COMPARED TO THE PHENOMENON OF THE 'CURSED SOLDIERS' NATIONAL DAY - PIOTR TRUDNOWSKI on the Klub Jagielloński website: “We can see the scale of the liberals' defeat in building the June 4th myth when we compare it to the phenomenon of the National Remembrance Day of the 'Cursed Soldiers.' Initiated by President Lech Kaczyński, the National Remembrance Day of the Cursed Soldiers, eventually established by Bronisław Komorowski, became a powerful weapon for the right. First, it was the precursor to increasingly massive observances each year – both social and official. A surge of events organized by grassroots initiatives and state authorities (also under previous governments!) or local governments, all united by one day and a common banner. It became permanently embedded in the political and cultural calendar and reshaped the historical imagination not only of the declared right but also of many politically unaligned 'normals.' Meanwhile, the defenders of the transformation cannot even maintain the banner they established a few years ago among their own ranks. https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2019/06/03/4-czerwca-w-ramie-patologii-transformacji/ -- MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI ON PERSONAL CULTURE: “Therefore, the current discussion about whether newly elected Members of the European Parliament should shake hands at Friday's ceremony in the Sejm, or whether it is good that even Janina Ochojska declares she will not shake hands with Mateusz Morawiecki, and finally, whether the head of government should stop when the Mayor of Gdańsk, Aleksandra Dulkiewicz, greeted him at the Shipyard, or allow security officers to push her out of his way, looks like a return to those good old principles. Once again, we are discussing what distinguishes the life of a civilized person from that of primitive beings – about forms of behavior”. https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/306039923-Szuldrzynski-Kali-lubic-rocznice-4-czerwca-1989-r.html -- ADAM MICHNIK ON THE FEARS OF THE ROUND TABLE OPPONENTS: “Part of the democratic camp rejected both the Round Table and participation in the elections. Contrary to the appeal of our leader Lech Wałęsa, our critics saw a trap set by the communist authorities in both. Their fears, shared by people of the caliber of Andrzej Gwiazda and Anna Walentynowicz, Jan Olszewski and Bronisław Komorowski, were not absurd, although fortunately they turned out to be untrue”. http://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,24859975,adam-michnik-to-byl-rok-okraglego-stolu-i-pierwszych-wyborow.html -- WITHOUT THAT SUCCESS, JAROSŁAW KACZYŃSKI WOULD NOT BE IN POLITICS - BOGUSŁAW CHRABOTA in Rz: “Without that success, there would not only be Tadeusz Mazowiecki or Jerzy Buzek, but also Jarosław Kaczyński and his achievements in modern Polish politics. Did he not know this? That is why it is painful that no representative of the ruling party will take part in the Gdańsk celebrations of Freedom Day, that no one from the people who have national community and responsibility for Poland on their lips will stand under the Gdańsk crosses on the 30th anniversary of that breakthrough”. https://www.rp.pl/Historia/190609798-4-czerwca-1989-w-Polsce-AD-2019.html -- FOR YOUNGER GENERATIONS, THE CONFLICT LOOKS LIKE A RUTHLESS STRUGGLE FOR INHERITANCE - KAROLINA WIGURA in KL: “For the generation that built the Third Polish Republic, the fight between Law and Justice and the opposition is a conflict of the highest importance, concerning the shape, and perhaps even the existence, of Polish democracy. However, for younger generations of Poles, today's dispute largely appears as a rather ruthless struggle for inheritance. In this interpretation, this struggle is orchestrated by the generation that entered the stage of democratic Polish politics with the breakthrough of 1989, and has therefore been on this stage for 30 years. Both symbolically and in reality, it still plays the main role in Polish politics. Topics unrelated to this conflict do not enter the political mainstream in our country because there is no one to introduce them. If people younger than the Founding Fathers and Mothers enter Polish politics, it happens through co-option, where conformity and obedience remain the main criteria”. -- WIGURA ON THE CONFORMISM OF THE YOUNG: “There is a chance for the 'generations of independence' to firmly establish themselves in our country. However, for this to happen, both the younger and older generations will have to make an effort. Slogans about 'entitled' and 'inactive' young people are no longer enough. It's not enough to say 'those older ones don't need us in their quarrel.' Ultimately, operative representatives of younger generations will have to put their names on electoral lists. It is up to each of them whether they will do it themselves or wait for someone more conformist in their view of reality to take their place”. https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2019/06/04/wigura-4-czerwca-wybory-konsekwencje-polityka/ -- BIRTHDAYS: Bronisław Komorowski, Iwona Arent, Franciszek Jerzy Stefaniuk, Radosław Witkowski, Filip Styczyński.