Poland’s Damaging Anti-Immigrant Politics and the Belarus Border Crisis

You may have seen recent news coverage of a crisis on the Poland-Belarus border. Hundreds of, mostly Iraqi, migrants were stranded at the border, attempting to illegally cross into Poland, and the EU respectively, at the behest of the Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. Tensions quickly escalated and thousands of Polish soldiers were deployed to prevent the migrant influx, the Polish government even called a state of emergency and enforced a media blackout. But clips still surfaced from the Belarus side, migrants desperately attempting to break down the border fence, soldiers spraying them down mercilessly with tear gas and water cannons, and Belarusian soldiers firing warning shots to provoke and scare them. Besides the oppressive Polish militia and the Belarusian guards breathing down their necks, the migrants also faced hazardous weather conditions; men, women, and children were left to freeze in haphazardly constructed tents while the two countries were locked in a helpless political stalemate. As Van Leeuwen, a medical emergency manager working at the border says, “People are being treated like weapons” (Henley). Seven people died, people who were trying to escape the dangers of their home countries, people who wished for a fresh start, and yet, at the border to a new life, were met only by more struggle, violence, and peril. It isn’t an understatement to call this conflict a gross violation of human rights. This crisis has brought to the surface the Polish government's long-held anti-immigrant stance, and worse yet, has been receiving domestic and international support for their questionable actions at the border. In this essay I will be examining the human rights issues that arise as a result of the dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric spread by the Church-backed Polish government; furthermore, I will look into potential methods of rectifying this stance, including more transparency in Polish media, and weakening the responsible conservative parties by supporting liberal forces.

To understand the full scope of this issue, we first need to examine how this anti-immigrant rhetoric has been pushed and what caused it to become so prevalent. I am now going to look at the political power the Polish Catholic Church exerts, first, by examining how it got to be so influential in the first place, and then, how its ideologies contribute to anti-immigrant rhetoric. As can be asserted from the following EU demographic analysis, “The Roman Catholic Church is the biggest church in Poland. The overwhelming majority (around 87%) of the population are Roman-Catholic if the number of the baptized is taken as the criterion” (Eurydice). So how did we get here, how is so much of the country Catholic? Well, it actually isn’t very hard to figure out. The reason for this religious homogeneity can be traced to the communist regime implemented in Poland by the Soviets. Most Poles were extremely resistant to Communism and as a result, in the early 1980s, the Solidarnosc (translated to unity) resistance was born. Solidarnosc was a trade union, but really, it was much more. A movement that pushed for social reform and, sticking to union values, pushing for better worker’s rights. The central goal of the movement was to end the communist regime and return Poland to a free state. This goal was a success and the leader of the union, Lech Walesa, was elected president in 1990, even having won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 for his accomplishments. But how does Solidarnosc relate to the enormous Catholic population? One aspect of Solidarnosc which I haven’t mentioned is their strong alliance with the Church. During this time of extreme civil unrest, the Church resisted Communism alongside the public. The Church and the nation both held strong anti-communist sentiments and as such, were unified. “The strong bond between Polishness and the religion originates in the fact that the Church presented itself as a defender of Polish values, nation and its people”, against a common enemy, the Church integrated itself as a just and moral power which Poles could rely on. (Posmykiewicz 10) It was the start of a new era, an era which unified the people with religion, an era where religion was the government’s right hand. This is the root of not only Poland’s religious homogeneity, but also the Church’s collusion with governing bodies. Essentially, “It began to assume the role of mediator between the government and Solidarity”. (Hruby 325) The Church was a mediator between the Solidarnosc union and the communist state, ultimately, when Solidarnosc had proven successful in its goal to end the communist regime, the Church was vital in transitioning the country from communism to democracy. Everything I mentioned shows how the Church essentially became the champion of Polish ideals, and the success of Solidarnosc was in turn, a massive success for the Church as well, resulting in the vast majority of Poles becoming Catholic, often with political views influenced by their religious beliefs.

Now that we understand how important the Church is to Poles and how heavily it involved itself with politics, let’s examine how exactly they are involved in current politics and how its values contribute to anti-immigrant sentiments. To put it simply, the Church’s current political power is due to their strong ties with the dominant ruling party “Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc” (translated Law and Justice and shortened to PiS). As Fuszara describes in Narkowicz’s essay, “The ruling party established a closer relationship with the Church, in turn enabling the Church to gain political support behind some of its national priorities, such as banning abortion, which has been at the forefront of the Church’s agenda since the fall of Communism (Fuszara 1993)” (Narkowicz 365). PiS and the Church have become virtually inseparable, to the point that the conservative right has become synonymous with Catholicism, commonly referred to as “right-wing Catholicism”. In the same way that Solidarnosc used traditional, national, and moral values championed by the Church to push its anti-communist agenda, PiS uses the same Church values to push its conservative political agenda. As mentioned above, the Church’s national priorities often align with conservative beliefs (like abortion), but these conservative beliefs also extend to immigration policies.

While larger Catholic bodies outside of Poland often urge countries to accept refugees and have an open mind regarding migrants, it’s a different story with the Polish Catholic Church. In one example, “a member of the nationalist group ONR that identifies as Catholic published a photo of the Pope with a beard calling him ‘Imam Bergoglio’ because of his open attitude towards refugees (Stop Nacjonalizmowi 2017)” (Narkowicz 364). Church officials are often quoted, similarly to this, strongly resisting any influx of non-Catholic/Christian immigrants, using the excuse of preserving traditional Polish values. And, as we know, the most important Polish value is Christianity. As described, “…the ongoing project of reChristianization of Poland, initially promoted by the late Polish Pope and now furthered by the current government in a more exclusive fundamentalist narrative that considers Muslims a threat to its vision of a Christian Poland (Szczerbiak 2017)” (Narkowicz 358). The government (PiS) largely validates its anti-immigrant rhetoric by using the Church, exploiting the strength it has within the Polish identity. They know that most Polish people, with their love for the Church, will go along with whatever the Church claims to be moral and just. And often what the Church finds moral in regard to immigrants and refugees is simply them not being allowed in Poland. From a survey, “Only 4% of Poles supported entry of refugees into their country in a scenario where the refugee would settle permanently in Poland, whilst a majority were either against welcoming refugees at all or agreed to accept them on a temporary basis only (CBOS 2016)” (Narkowicz 360) As we can see, people followed what the Church (and inherently the government) preached. This shows just how much the people respect and value the Church’s ideologies, and how much influence the Church exerts in forming people’s political stances. Let’s begin to dig deeper into this anti-immigrant stance.

Now that we have a good understanding of the influence the Church and Catholic values have on the politics in Poland, let’s examine even further the anti-immigration rhetoric the government pushes. I am going to briefly give some background on the current political climate and later describe the current stance Poland’s government has on immigration. Poland is extremely divided politically with the current president, Andrzej Duda, getting a slim 51% reelection. Why is this? Well to start, the two major political parties, by major I mean they hold the most seats in the Sejm (like the House of Reps) and Senate, are both conservative, right-wing, and nationalistic parties. This may be surprising to Americans, with the dominant Democratic and Republican parties representing opposite ideologies, but as I’ve shown, Poland has been historically conservative-leaning due to strong religious beliefs. Not only does Poland’s strong tie to Catholicism weaken right-wing politics, but the right has been notoriously disorganized and split, only recently has some semblance of a unified right begun to emerge. But back to conservative politics, the strongest party is currently the aforementioned PiS, alongside Platforma Obywatelska (translated to Civic Platform or PO for short). I am mostly referring to PiS when talking about the “political forces” that are anti-immigrant. Although people are split, the status quo that PiS has been creating was essentially renewed with the recent election, as Noryskiewicz describes “It was effectively a referendum on Duda and PiS building an ever-deeper alliance with the Catholic Church and the Trump administration in the U.S., reducing Poland’s active role in the EU, putting traditional values into legislative practice, turning the state-run media into an organ of the ruling party (PiS) and eroding confidence in the country’s independent judiciary branch”. (Noryskiewicz) This quote is tackling many different subjects, but the main focus lies in the continued perseverance and reliance of Poles on PiS’s political influence. The political sphere’s ideals are re-solidified as strictly conservative, although this doesn’t entirely align with the people anymore. And here, within this conservative political ideology lies the destructive anti-immigrant stance.

Following conservative and traditional beliefs, right-wing, PiS politics regarding immigration have devolved into blatant racism and fearmongering, directly causing the questionable treatment of the migrants, like at the Belarus border. First, I will examine what treatment and actions the government is taking and later dive into why this treatment is dangerous and may lead to violations of human rights. To cite some of the most egregious examples, these are quotes from prominent PiS politicians from a research paper by Anna Posmykiewicz, one from someone you may recognize: “…migrants who arrive to Europe could spread “various parasites and protozoa, which don’t affect their organisms, but which could be dangerous here” (The Guardian)”, stated by the leader of PiS Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and “…accepting refugees might put Polish citizens in danger, hence the government’s role is to, “protect its citizens from refugees bringing in “possible epidemics” (Al Jazeera 2015)” (Posmykiewicz 3) spoken by none other than Andrzej Duda. In these quotes, extremely powerful and influential political leaders are openly spreading racist and misleading information that implies refugees are public health hazards. If this is what they are saying to the public, I can’t begin to imagine what they are saying behind closed doors. But these words are not empty ones. One notable instance of PiS politicians blatantly flaunting their anti-immigrant agenda was as follows “Prior to the 2015 national elections, Poland’s government pledged to accept 7000 refugees. This was part of the European relocation plan, which Poland initially agreed to but later retracted (Szczerbiak 2017)” (Narkowicz 366). The EU requires that every country in the organization takes in some number of migrants yet after Duda was elected and PiS put in power, Poland skirted this responsibility. But surely Poland cannot ignore EU mandates, surely, they took in some refugees. No, not a single person was accepted. The government’s stance had been made abundantly clear, Poland was not for migrants and not for refugees. But there is a bright side, PiS’s power has been waning for years, with more liberal movements beginning to take hold, including more open immigration policies. But the Belarus crisis had the unfortunate effect of strengthening PiS both domestically and internationally. In a way providing, perhaps unintended, support for their damaging anti-immigrant stance.

Now let’s examine how dangerous such anti-immigrant ideation truly is and how harmful its potential spread is. The harm this rhetoric causes is perfectly exemplified by the ongoing Belarus border crisis. And although Belarus is the definitive instigator, the treatment of the refugees by Poland is also extremely questionable. Rather than understanding that the refugees from Belarus are victims who are being exploited, Poland only responded by sending thousands of soldiers and treating them the same way Belarus was, as weapons. The government had already shown its intolerance and resistance to migrants, so this extreme military-driven response was to be expected. The government is so opposed to aiding refugees, they would rather stoop to the level of the instigator and let men, women, and children suffer. Those refugees were left there to die by both countries involved, and while they were suffering, PiS was gaining international and domestic support for their “brave” defense. The anti-immigrant stance of the government resulted in a humanitarian crisis yet rather than receiving condemnation, PiS received support. The spread of anti-immigration rhetoric is an issue of its own, and unfortunately, the Belarus crisis has had the unfortunate effect of bolstering PiS, as such reaffirming their cause. The way Poland so obviously skirts these issues regarding immigration may also empower countries with similarly strong nationalist values to join in this anti-immigrant sentiment. As Kranz puts it, “Having been considered pariahs within the EU for years, party leaders have now gained the unequivocal solidarity of the international community on the border issue and managed to rally previously waning political support at home” (Kranz). In the midst of the crisis, PiS has been able to regain the support of many countries that once looked down on their values. These countries seem to have forgotten they are supporting the same government that wouldn’t take in a single refugee. Not only this, but it also rallied support from Poles, united by the shared goal of protecting their homeland, the past offensives of PiS seem to be temporarily forgotten. This is a dangerous path, if PiS were to begin regaining their waning political power, the damaging policies they push will continue unhindered for years to come. The only way to prevent Poland from contributing to horrific crises like this is to show the government that people do not accept their stance on immigration, that treating refugees so poorly violates human rights. And currently, Poles and other countries are, intentionally or not, supporting PiS’s damaging anti-immigrant stance. Most likely PiS would need to be taken out of power for this to occur as their stance on the issue is so extreme, it is difficult to imagine them loosening it to the necessary extent. Poland refuses to open their borders to people in need and this lack of openness only further perpetuates the nationalist values that other people are different from themselves. As a result, the refugees continue to live in dangerous conditions, with Poland feigning blatant ignorance at their plight. But how can this issue be tackled to stop this sort of rhetoric?

To start amending the harmful anti-immigrant rhetoric that has plagued the political sphere of Poland for so long lies inherently in weakening the right-wing, conservative, and Church-supported politics of the country, AKA PiS. But this is an extremely broad and difficult solution so I will propose several smaller solutions that contribute to this overarching issue but can be done now, specifically to help refugees and immigrants suffering because of the government’s stance. One solution that is already happening is the protest of the treatment of the refugees at the Belarus border. While there has been support for PiS’s actions like I’ve mentioned, there is pushback as well. Poles are marching through Warszawa, the Polish capital, holding signs with messages like “”Stop torture at the border,” “Nobody is illegal,” and “How many bodies lie in the forest?”” (Brennan). This clear disapproval of the government’s response to the crisis not only raises awareness to how Poland is contributing to the violence at the border but also supports the idea that mire refugees need to be accepted. Such movements should hopefully become more widespread, and expose people to the truth, that the refugees did nothing wrong and need help, and that the anti-immigrant stance of the government is causing real harm. Another way to aid the immigrants during this current crisis is to also protest the media blackout the government enforced. This blackout essentially prevented Polish media from filming or photographing the conditions freely. Possibly in attempt to hide how the Polish soldiers were contributing to the poor treatment of the refugees. PiS was able to regain so much domestic support partly because people weren’t aware of the extent the Polish side was in the wrong as the media blackout heavily restricted how the media portrayed the crisis. It essentially entirely pinned the blame on Belarus while ignoring Poland’s wrongdoings. By protesting to end the media blackout, Poles would actually be able to see just how much the Polish government contributed to the plight of the refugees and perhaps push them to adopt a more open-minded stance towards the refugees. Again, accomplishing the goal of amending the anti-immigrant rhetoric the government wants everyone to believe in.

On a larger scale, I truly do believe that the best way for Poland to move away from this anti-immigrant stance that the Church and government have been perpetuating is to begin supporting left-wing politics. There has been a recent reworking of leftist parties with the larger ones like Nowa Lewica (New Left) and Lewica Razem (Left Together) combing into Lewica (translates roughly to “Left”). As this poll shows, “…for the first time in 20 years, young left-wing self-identifiers outnumbered those who located themselves on the right (27%) or in the political centre (23%)”, many young Poles getting increasingly more involved with left-wing politics. (Szczerbiak) A move away from conservative political dominance would allow not only a separation from the Church’s influence on politics, but also would result in a much more open stance on immigration. People could more easily get left-wing representatives to pass laws and regulations that could aid refugees and immigrants and prevent any more horrific immigration crises. It is criminal that PiS has spun the Belarus crisis for their benefit, Poles and other countries need to truly see who they should be supporting and realize it definitely isn’t PiS. To truly end the horrible treatment of migrants and refugees people need to realize that PiS is at the center of the anti-immigrant rhetoric and the only way to put an end to it is to rally against them, not with them.