An Irishman in Warsaw with an Inflatable Hammer

dublin | anti-war / imperialism | news report

Monday March 20, 2006 01:27

by Damien Moran - Catholic Worker/Pitstop Ploughshares

Approximately 400 people from various leftist groups gathered in Plac Zamkowy central Warsaw today to remember the third anniversary of the US led coalition forces invasion of Iraq on March 20th, 2003. Poland has a very pro-U.S. gvt. political playing field and initially sent 200 elite troops to partipate in the invasion. This was followed up with an additional 2,000 soldier reinforcements in August '03 to relieve beleagured occupying US forces in difficult Shia-dominated provinces in southern Iraq.

'Never War Again' - Slogan from Pope Paul VI and sign in Westerplatte, where Nazi's invaded Poland, 1939

Pro-U.S. Governance

The former SLD (Social Democrat) gvt. under Leszek Miller and President Alexander Kwasnieski promised Polish troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2005, but govt. power changed hands last Autumn to the conservative PiS (Law and Justice) party under Jaroslaw Kaczyinski, with his twin brother Lech installed on the president's seat. They have proven to be an even more sycophantic regime to the U.S. administration's foreign policies and so they have decided to maintain a 900 strong Polish force, who are primarily engaged with the mission of training the Iraqi army. 17 Polish soldiers have died since the initial invasion (http://icasualties.org/oif/Country.aspx?hndRef=POL) and though an overwhelming majority of the population disagree with the war, occupation and Polish participation therein, there has been very little resistance nor success in building a mass movement to take to the streets.

Other priorities

Two weeks before the outbreak of the '03 war, opinion polls indicated that 62% of the Polish public were against participation in U.S./U.K. et al. armed action whereas only 29% were in support. The latest survey earlier this year reported that 72% of Polish people were against Polish troops in Iraq. Despite these statistics the issue of the war is generally on the backburner in the media and in people's list of daily priorities (a domestic unemployment rate of 18% may help paint the picture) and even when Iraq does make the news there is rarely mention of ongoing Polish participation. Polish national icon John Paul II called the war immoral, international lawyers condemned it as illegal, and international military experts testified it was unwinnable - but domestic issues related to the establishment of committees to purge people connected with the former communist regime; the instability and crazy rants of the new right-wing gvt. and their populist partner Samobroona (Self Defence) and far-right ally LPR (League of Polish Families); the potential for early elections in May or Autumn; the sycophancy of the main parliamentary parties to US policies; Polish topics of interest in Brussels; energy supply battles with Russia; political battles with Lukashenko's oppressive Belarussian regime; and the never-ending harsh winter weather amongst other issues all predominate the news headlines and shove the war off the agenda. The possibility/probability of there being CIA bases established on Polish soil connected with the U.S. 'extraordinary rendition' torture program and Dick Marty's EU investigation made the news for a couple of days a few months ago but has disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

The majority of my English students (I'm currently teaching in Northern Warsaw) didn't know and were not interested in the fact that it was the third anniversary of the Iraq war. Not even one of the 50 I asked had ever been to a demonstration of any shade or colour. Most causes have difficulty in getting people to take to the streets here despite their very recent history of successful non-violent resistance to overthrow a Communist puppet state subservient to Moscow. Nevertheless, about 3,000 turned out in Warsaw on March 8th last for a Women's Day protest which seemed to have quite a wide representation of political and NGO groups.

Polish Anti-War Movement

In Warsaw all the major anti-war demonstrations have been organized by Inicjatywa Stop Wojnie (Stop the War Initiative http://www.irak.pl ), where many people from Pracownicza Demokracja are involved (Worker's Democracy http://www.isw.republika.pl/). Pracownicza Demokracja is, according to wikipedia, a group of non-orthodox Trotskyists who are a part of the International Socialist Tendency (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Socialist_Te...dency). In general the Anti-War movement is quite weak in Poland, taking into consideration that Warsaw was only able to muster between 3,000 (mainstream media estimates) and 10,000 (ISW figures) to march on Feb. 15th '03 when Dublin had c. 100,000 on the streets. In other cities such as Poznan, Lodz, Wroclaw and Bydgoscz small anti-war demonstrations have been organized by various groups including micro-siblings of the ISW and anarchist groups. There has been little or no significant direct action nor active mass opposition to put the gvt. under sufficient threat to withdraw troops, unlike Italy and Spain.

Today's events:

Assembling in Old Town

With a stroke of luck, which is always welcome when you are not a very punctual person (like me), we came across a stall for flowers on our way to the assembly point in Wasaw's Stary Miasto (Old Town district - a poignant gathering place for and anti-war protest as it was almost completely destroyed by the Nazi's during the Second World War) and purchased 20 roses, which we planned to leave at the US embassy with the names of Iraqi civilians; Polish, US, and other coalition casualties; journalists and other victims of the ongoing war. My friend Dorota had assembled a CND/Peace sign from the names of the war victims surrounded by the caption, 'Ile jeszcze musi zginac?' (How many more have to die?). Once I started blowing up my giant inflatable green, white and gold "Hammered by the Irish" hammer (a clone of the one used in the Pitstop Ploughshares disarmament action at Shannon Airport - www.peaceontrial.com), folks in the general environs seemed to take interest that they had a paddy in their midst. For others it appeared that colours different from the predominant red and white were a welcome addition to the props. There were lots of speakers from small left parties and trade unions but by 1.30pm people generally appeared anxious to get on the move.

Networking

Due to the pro-activity of Dorota's dad Piotr Gadzinowski ('as rare as a dodo' anti-war member of parliament and member of SLD - Social Democrats - also journalist with the leftist papers NIE, Trybuna, and Przeglad) I was almost immediately interviewed by a journalist from 'Trybuna' regarding anti-war activity in Ireland, the Pitstop Ploughshares action, and my impression of the Polish Peace Movement. Hammer in hand Dorota and I, alongside her dad (anti-war Social Democrat politican and journalist) started to hand out anti-war resisters/prisoners leaflets related to the St. Patrick's Four (www.stpatricksfour.org) and Seargent Kevin Benderman (www.bendermandefense.org). There was a good reception to these flyers and people seemed interested in something which was (i) free (ii) not from a far left party they hate, don't care about or are already a member of (iii) a way for them to show practical support to those engaged in resisting the war.

The Route & Chants

The march proceeded up Krakowskie Przedmiescie towards the Presidential palace of Lech Kaczyinski at about 1.45pm with about 400 people, led by a lorry blaring out hip-hop tunes and the Iniciatywa Stop Wojnie (Stop The War Initiative) banner 'Stop Okupacji Iraku'. The ultimate destination being the US Embassy near the Sejm (parliament) which is adjacent to the Swiss embassy and close by to UN offices. The best music of the day came from a group of Northern Poland cheerleader drummers who helped keep participants toes from becoming frostbitten with their good rythmn. There was a long stoppage outside the Presidential palace where members of Stop The War Initiative attempted to hand in a petition. Fakty 7pm news had a piece showing it been delivered and accepted by security at the entrance to the palace. Some of the crowd started to chant 'Kaczka (derogatory name for the Polish president meaning 'duck') do wora, wor do jeziora' (Duck to the bag, bag to the lake). Go figure!
We marched up Nowy Swiat (a really long Grafton st.) and my lenten promise to abstain from chocolate was seriously tempted by the whiff blowing out from Blikle's famous candy store. Thankfully I had my hands full taking pictures of banners like 'Jedzenie zamiast Bomb' (Food Not Bombs), the Critical Mass 'Rowery zamiast Bomb' (Bikes Not Bombs), 'Nie Chcemy liczyc cial' (We don't {want to} do body counts).
Other mantras blasted out from loudspeakers were 'Wszystkie kaczki do wojaczki' (All ducks {another reference to the twin brothers holding the reins of power in Polish politics} go to war').

Final Destination

The US embassy was well protected by heavily clad cops and barricades so our plan to attach the names of war victims and roses to the railings was derailed. I was invited to speak on the platform about how we disarmed a US Navy plane in '03. Dorota translated and the rap seemd to go down well. It was a good opportunity to speak about the ploughshares tradition and invite those present to consider beating 'swords into ploughshares' in their own country, whether it be the 48 U.S. F-16's due for delivery here from November '06 or the proposed U.S. anti-ballistic missile 'Son of Star Wars' system the Pentagon want constructed in the Carpathian mountains in Southern Poland, which is soon up for debate in parliament. There was a lot of interest in the anti-war prisoner solidarity leaflets after we asked folks to send messages to those behind bars. We decided it would be best to give the four Iraqi men present the 20 roses and names of the victims to leave at the embassy. The cops wouldn't allow them through to construct a shrne so they flung the names and roses towards the embassy. The landed a short distance from the frowns of the behind-screen embassy staff. One of the Iraqi men is a journalist with Al-Iraqi news. All have been living in Poland for some time.

Next step?

A good question difficult to answer in a concluding paragraph. What is not the next step may be easier to answer. In my opinion that is obviously resigning to an annual anniversary march. Such events are fine but need to be reinforced with small affinity groups engaging in ongoing non-violent actions - occupations, vigils, public speaking, prisoner and army resisters solidarity, anti-militarism protests, food not bombs activities, non-violence education and workshops to share skills and empower folks to show more initiative. We can start now by remembering the war dead over the next 24 hours and the tragedy unleashed by the invasion 3 years ago. Let's all make a renewed commitment that 2006 will not fade without a rejuvenated personal and communal responsibility to wage peace non-violently.

More Info. on Polish Anti-War Activity

More info./photos on this weekends anti-war demo's this weekend -
Globalny Protest Antywojenny 17-19 marca.W-wa

http://poland.indymedia.org/pl/

My Photos of the demo.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/74913#comment142890

Other articles, videos, photos:

March 2003:
Biggest ever anti-war demo in Poland!
http://pl.indymedia.org/pl/2003/02/466.shtml

Voices from the world's biggest anti-war protest
http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/article.php?article_id...=3326

Warsaw demonstrates in its thousands
http://www.socialistworld.net/eng/2003/02/16poland.html

Sept. 2003:
Thousands join renewed antiwar protests around the world
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/awar-s29.shtml

19 March 2005 Warsaw.
Anti-War Fest Video
http://www.iconscious.co.uk/film/warsaw0305/
Photos
http://www.irak.pl/Stop/AlterGlobal/19marca4.html

May 2005: Police arrest Indymedia contributor and accuse him of assault on police
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13842
http://www.nearinternational.org/alerts/poland120050520...n.php

Sept. 2005:
Polish police attack peace demonstration in Wroclaw
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/71979

11/8/05
Day of Action in Poland & Recent Repression
http://www.ainfos.ca/05/nov/ainfos00090.html