World Freedoms at Stake, President Biden Tells US Troops

Joe Biden with US paratroopers deployed to Poland | AFP
BBC: President Joe Biden hailed American military deployments to Europe as part of a struggle for democracy against autocracy during a visit to US troops in Poland.

His remarks come as the US and others have reinforced Nato's eastern flank amid the war in Ukraine.

The stop at an airbase in Rzeszow, near the Ukrainian border, was part of Mr Biden's trip to Europe to rally allies.

However, back home Mr Biden faces scepticism over his Ukraine response.

In his remarks to the troops on Friday, the president sought to portray their deployments as part of a wider "fight between democracies and oligarchs".

"You are the finest fighting force in the history of the world," he said. "What you're doing is consequential."

"What's at stake is what your kids and grandkids are going to look like in terms of their freedom," he said. "What you're engaging in is much more than whether or not you can alleviate the pain and suffering of the people of Ukraine". » | Friday, March 25, 2022

President Biden Delivers Remarks on the United Efforts to Support the People of Ukraine

March 26, 2022 • President Biden delivers remarks on the united efforts of the free world to support the people of Ukraine, hold Russia accountable for its brutal war, and defend a future that is rooted in democratic principles. Warsaw, Poland

A truly inspiring and moving speech! – Mark

Der Krieg und die Flamme der Freiheit: Im Zeichen des Kriegs in der Ukraine hat Joe Biden seinen ersten Besuch in Polen absolviert. Überraschend kamen auch zwei Minister aus der Ukraine zu dem Treffen. Wladimir Putin nennt der US-Präsident einen „Schlächter“. »

Polish Citizens Join Army in Response to Russian Invasion of Ukraine - BBC News

Mar 23, 2022 • With Russia invading Ukraine some Poles fear that they could be next to be targeted by President Putin.

Poland has announced that it will increased military spending and there has been a sharp increase in people joining Poland’s territorial defence force.

While some are choosing to join up others are making sure that their cars are filled with fuel and that they have a bag packed ready to flee the country.

War in Ukraine Prompts a Political Makeover in Poland

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Poland’s de facto leader and longtime scourge of E.U. unity, is portraying himself as a standard-bearer of European solidarity in defense of Ukraine and democratic values.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the leader of Poland’s governing party, during a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv this week. | Andrzej Lange/EPA, via Shutterstock
WARSAW — After years of cozying up to Kremlin-friendly anti-immigrant firebrands and fulminating against the European Union, the leader of Poland’s populist governing party has taken on an unlikely new role: a standard-bearer of European solidarity in defense of Ukraine and democratic values.

Joining three European prime ministers on a risky train ride to Ukraine’s besieged capital, Kyiv, Jaroslaw Kaczyinski, Poland’s de facto leader and a longtime scourge of European unity, this week became the latest European politician attempting a difficult somersault prompted by mounting public horror at Russia’s invasion.

Mr. Kaczyinski’s trip came as millions of ordinary Poles have surprised their leaders and, in some cases, even themselves, with an extraordinary, nationwide outpouring of support for Ukrainians fleeing war and seeking shelter across the border in Poland.

The war in Ukraine has not only sent more than 1.5 million terrified people pouring into Poland, which just a few months ago was beating back migrants from its border with batons and water canons, but also spread alarm that Russia could widen the conflict beyond Ukraine, dramatically expanding and reshaping the contours of Polish politics. » | Andrew Higgins | Friday, March 18, 2022

‘They Are Frozen’: Poland Praised for Generous Welcome to 1m Ukrainians

THE GUARDIAN: Volunteers leading response to growing number of people fleeing Russian invasion, as country announces £1.3bn fund for refugees

People wait for transportation after fleeing from Ukraine and arriving at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, on Monday. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images
More than 1 million people have crossed from Ukraine into Poland since the Russian invasion began on 24 February, the Polish border guard has said.

Poland, which shares a 310-mile border with Ukraine, has taken in the majority of the 1.7 million people who have left their homes since the war began, with aid efforts largely operated by volunteers, as well as NGOs and municipalities.

“Traffic on the Polish-Ukrainian border is growing, today at 7am, 42,000 people arrived in Poland from Ukraine,” the border guard tweeted on Monday. Most people arriving in Poland have found short-term accommodation provided by citizens and private businesses.

Poland has announced plans to set up an 8bn zloty (£1.34bn) fund for people fleeing Ukraine, including the provision of a one-off payment of 300 zloty (£50) for each refugee. » | Karen McVeigh | Monday, March 7, 2022

Ukrainian refugees, meet Britain’s ‘hostile environment’. We should be ashamed: You could hardly imagine a frostier welcome for these desperate people. The comparison with Europe tells you everything »

Winter in the Podkarpackie I ARTE.tv Documentary

Feb 6, 2022 • Not far from the border with Ukraine, the Lower Carpathians are a region of Poland with a secret and bewitching charm. Nestled between mountains and forests, wooden Orthodox churches are braving the test of time. The few inhabitants live by music, icon painting or creating glass objects.

Winter in the Podkarpackie I ARTE.tv Documentary
Available until the 01/03/2022

Lodz Ghetto Documentary

Protests Flare across Poland after Death of Young Mother Denied an Abortion

THE GUARDIAN: Family of Agnieszka T say they want to ‘save other women in Poland from a similar fate’, as case met with anger over restrictive termination laws

Supporters of Abortion Without Borders protest outside Poland’s top constitutional court in Warsaw. Photograph: Czarek Sokołowski/AP
Protests are under way across Poland after the death of a 37-year-old woman this week who was refused an abortion, a year since the country introduced one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe.

On the streets of Warsaw on Tuesday night, protesters laid wreaths and lanterns in memory of Agnieszka T, who died earlier that day. She was pregnant with twins when one of the foetus’ heartbeat stopped and doctors refused to carry out an abortion. In a statement, her family accused the government of having “blood on its hands”. Further protests are planned in Częstochowa, the city in southern Poland where the mother-of-three was from.

“We continue to protest so that no one else will die,” Marta Lempart, organiser of the protests, told Polish media. “The Polish abortion ban kills. Another person has died because the necessary medical procedure was not carried out on time.” All-Poland Women’s Strike has called on people across the country to picket the offices of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and organise road blockades in the coming days. » | Weronika Strzyżyńska | Thursday, January 27, 2022

The Warsaw Ghetto | DW Documentary

Jan 27, 2021 • A Polish businessman risked his life to film everyday life in the Warsaw Ghetto. These harrowing 8 mm movies were stored for decades in archives, and are shown publicly for the first time in this documentary. The original title of the film is "Warsaw: A City Divided", directed by Eric Bednarski.

The Warsaw Ghetto was located in the heart of the Polish capital. In November 1940, one year after Germany invaded Poland, the occupation authorities completed work on a three-meter-high wall that surrounded the ghetto. The Jewish residents were sealed off from the outside world. The ghetto was intended to serve as a concentration camp for Jews from all over Europe. They would later be deported to the extermination camp at Treblinka.

As many as 500,000 people were rounded up and herded into the ghetto. The films shown in this documentary portray the daily lives of those who lived there. Food and clean water were in short supply. The Germans demolished the ghetto in May 1943, and sent the residents to concentration- or extermination camps. Today, a series of memorial plaques marks the district's boundaries. In this documentary, witnesses describe what life was like in Warsaw before the German invasion, and provide graphic accounts of life in the ghetto.

Sex as a Cultural Battleground – Poland and the Fight over Sexual Morality | DW Documentary

Mar 30, 2021 • The topic of sexuality has polarized polish society - conservative sex education in schools, a deeply rooted catholic sexual morality and a government that openly demonizes sexuality in minors.

Required sex education doesn‘t exist in conservative Poland. Only the optional course, "Preparation for family life" is offered, molded by the over conservative watchful eye of the church. Schools in theory still have the option through clubs and NGOs to supplement their sex education outside of classrooms, but in reality, this only happens in a select few of the larger cities. If the government‘s conservative ruling party, PiS, has its way, even this opportunity won‘t be available for much longer. A new law has been proposed that would make providing sex education to minors de facto illegal, and punishible by up to three years of jail time. The initiative was championed by the homo- and transphobic alliance "Stop Pedofilii", which means to "Protect children and adolescents from sexual violence through LGBTQ-activism", as stated on their banner.

Their homophobically motivated crusade against sex education is supported by the government and comes at a time when the social climate for non-heteronormative people in Poland is becoming more and more dangerous. Meanwhile, almost 80 municipalities and districts have declared themsevles "LGBT-free zones". How do those affected live in such a political climate? This documentary accompanies young Polish women in their struggle for progressive sex education and for an open Poland.

‘We Need Free Speech’: Protests Erupt across Poland over Controversial Media Bill

THE GUARDIAN: The bill, yet to be signed into law, would tighten rules around foreign ownership of media

Protesters march in Krakow on Sunday to demand Poland’s head of state veto a law they say would limit media freedoms in the country. Photograph: Alex Bona/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock
Poles have staged nationwide protests including a thousands-strong rally outside the presidential palace to demand the head of state veto a law they say would limit media freedoms in the European Union’s largest eastern member.

Unexpectedly rushed through parliament on Friday, the legislation would tighten rules around foreign ownership of media, specifically affecting the ability of news channel TVN24, owned by US media company Discovery Inc, to operate.

The bill, yet to be signed into law by president Andrzej Duda, has soured ties between Nato-member state Poland and the United States at a time of heightened tension in eastern Europe amid what some countries see as increased Russian assertiveness.

It has also fuelled wider fears about attacks on media freedoms that have been running high since state-run oil company PKN Orlen said last year it was taking over a German-owned publisher of regional newspapers.

“This is not just about one channel,” the Warsaw mayor and a former opposition candidate for president, Rafal Trzaskowski, told the crowd on Sunday. “In a moment [there will be] censorship of the internet, an attempt to extinguish all independent sources of information – but we will not allow that to happen.” » | Guardian staff and agencies | Monday, March 20, 2021

Being Gay in Warsaw, Poland

Apr 28, 2019 • In Poland, roughly 50% of the population does not believe that homosexuality is normal. As an openly gay man living in Warsaw, Tom Shay'an is reminded of this everyday.

”We Defend Europe” - Message by Polish PM Morawiecki

Jewish Life in Poland | Free Full DW Documentary

May 5, 2020 • The Nazis murdered 90 percent of Poland's Jews in the death camps. Seventy-five years after the end of World War Two, life is returning to the Jewish community in Poland.

Jewish cultural festivals, kosher restaurants, klezmer bands and Jewish schools have returned to the Poland of today - the country that was once the location of the Nazi German Auschwitz extermination camp. The growth of the new, vital Jewish community is in part thank to the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich. Visits to Auschwitz and other camp locations in Poland are for him simply part and parcel of the country's history.

Schudrich grew up on New York's Upper West Side. As a student, he traveled to what was then Communist Poland for the first time. His grandparents had emigrated to the US from Eastern Europe. At the end of the 1970s and later in the 1980s, many Jews looked for their families' roots in Poland. There were only a few left - among them were the Polish Jews who were closely linked to the Solidarity movement. They founded the "Flying Jewish University" at this time. A loose network of Jewish intellectuals even back then already believed that Jewish religious life would again find a place in Poland. The idea must have germinated in Schudrich's mind quickly. He decided to dedicate his life to rebuilding Jewish religious life in Poland. The concept was one he shared with billionaire Ronald S. Lauder, a key patron of Jewish religious projects around the globe who today is president of the World Jewish Congress.

Thirty years ago, after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of Communism, Michael Schudrich made his way to Warsaw. Here the son of a New York rabbi with a congregation in the Bronx became a chief rabbi. In the 1990s, he encouraged many more Poles to rediscover their Jewish roots. Several hundred learned the basics of Jewish religious life in the then newly-established Jewish school in Warsaw, leading them to become conscious of their long-suppressed Jewish identity. Now the Jewish communities in Poland have as many as 12,000 members who live according to the rules set out in the Torah.

A New Crusade: Poland's Embrace of Catholicism and Anti-LGBT Ideology | Foreign Correspondent

Apr 28, 2020 • When Poland’s Archbishop of Krakow talks about fighting a plague, he’s not talking about the new coronavirus. He’s talking about gay rights.

“A certain ideology is a threat to our hearts and minds…so we need to defend ourselves just like against any other plague”, says Archbishop Jedraszewski.

In the 1980s Poland played a central part in liberating the world from communism. Now there’s a push to wind back many of those hard-won freedoms.

The Catholic Church and the Polish government are forming a holy alliance, joining forces to denounce Western-style liberalism as the new enemy.

“From the very beginning the history of the Polish state and Polish nation were connected with the history of Christianity”, says Archbishop Jedraszewski. “Christianity, nation and state were so tightly connected, they were almost inseparable.”

In today’s Poland, the Church is supporting government moves to discriminate against gay people, wind back sex education and outlaw abortion.

But feminists, gays and liberals are fighting back.

Foreign Correspondent’s Eric Campbell reports on a deeply divided nation in the throes of a culture war.

He meets the Archbishop of Krakow who likens gay activists to the much-reviled Soviets who occupied Poland after the Second World War

. “This time it is not a red but a rainbow plague”, says Archbishop Jedraszewski. Regional governments across Poland have declared about a third of the country ‘an LGBT free zone’.

Eric interviews critics of the current government, including Lech Walesa, the father of Polish democracy, who warns “our Constitution is being broken, the separation of powers has been violated and we have to do something about it.”

He meets a gay mayor in a small town who says the rhetoric from Church and state is leading to an “increase in hatred spreading against homosexual people.” And he films at a far-right rally in Warsaw where Catholic extremists are co-opting the Church in their bid to push their nationalist agenda and vision of Poland as a new theocracy.

While many Poles believe a religious revival will lead their country to the light, others fear it is opening the gates to something darker.

About Foreign Correspondent:

Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia's national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC's television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval – through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.

A Crisis the West Says Belarus Engineered Turns Dire for Migrants

THE NEW YORK TIMES: With thousands stranded at the border of the European Union’s eastern flank, the Polish prime minister accused Belarus of using people like “ammunition.” The autocratic leader of Belarus raised the prospect of disrupting the flow of natural gas through his country to Europe.


Hundreds of people, largely from the Middle East, camped at the Belarus-Poland border in frigid weather seeking to enter Poland. Western officials say Belarus is trying to orchestrate a refugee crisis at its borders with the European Union. | Polish Defence Ministry, via Reuters
WARSAW — As the standoff over migrants gathering along the European Union’s eastern flank grew more precarious on Thursday, with Polish news media reporting that a 14-year-old boy from Iraq had frozen to death on the Belarus side of the frontier, the language from political leaders on either side of the razor wire ratcheted up.

Western leaders have accused Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, Belarus’s autocratic leader, of engineering the crisis — creating a path into European Union countries for migrants from the Middle East.

Thousands of migrants have been escorted to the borders of Poland, Lithuania and Latvia under the watchful eyes of the Belarusian authorities. And once there, they are stranded in bitter cold, prevented from entering the E.U. or from going back into Belarus. It is, according to Western officials, a hybrid attack with people used as weapons. Tensions escalate at the Poland-Belarus border as migrants face dire conditions. » | Andrew Higgins and Anton Troianovski | Thursday, November 11, 2021

Poland-Belarus Border Tensions Intensify | DW News

Nov 9, 2021 • Polish officials closed the crossing with Belarus at the border town of Kuznica on Tuesday morning, a day after thousands of migrants arrived in the area. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki described the incident as a "hybrid attack" conducted by the regime of Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko. "Sealing the Polish border is our national interest. But today the stability and security of the entire EU is at stake," Morawiecki wrote on Twitter. "We will not be intimidated and will defend peace in Europe with our partners from NATO and EU." Belarus denied the Polish accusations, labeling them as "unfounded and unsubstantiated," and claimed Warsaw was deliberately escalating tensions.

Hundreds of migrants are believed to still be near the border on Tuesday, with videos showing tents and fireplaces on the Belarusian side. The Polish Interior Ministry said the night was quiet, save for a rock being thrown at a police car. Videos from the scene on Monday showed a large group of migrants attempting to breach the border. Polish border guards and military claim Belarus troops were controlling and directing the group. Polish government spokesman Piotr Muller told reporters that another 3,000 to 4,000 migrants were massing in the area. "We expect that there may be an escalation of this type of action on the Polish border in the near future, which will be of an armed nature," he added.



Related.

Weissrussland: Lukaschenko schickt Migranten-Gruppe zur EU-Aussengrenze, Polen reagiert mit einer Schliessung der Grenze: Als Reaktion auf Sanktionen der EU ermuntert Lukaschenko Migranten, über Weissrussland die EU-Aussengrenze zu passieren. EU-Staaten mit einer Grenze zu Weissrussland regieren mit dem Ausnahmezustand und Grenzschliessungen. »

Migrants à la frontière Biélorussie-Pologne : Poutine et Loukachenko se sont téléphoné »

Poland Warns of ‘Armed’ Attempts on Its Border as Germany Urges EU to Act

THE GUARDIAN: Poland says thousands more migrants are waiting near Belarusian border, and German minister says Warsaw and Berlin ‘can’t handle this alone’

Migrants gather on the Belarusian-Polish border Photograph: Leonid Shcheglov/BelTA/TASS
Poland has warned of an “armed” escalation of conflict involving migrants massed near the border with Belarus, as the global community reacted to the latest grim chapter in Europe’s migrant crisis.

Having blocked hundreds of people from entering the country, Polish government spokesperson Piotr Muller said a further 3,000 to 4,000 migrants were gathering near the border. “We expect that there may be an escalation of this type of action on the Polish border in the near future, which will be of an armed nature,” he said.

Poland and other EU countries have accused Belarus of trying to provoke a new refugee crisis in Europe in revenge for their criticism of Alexander Lukashenko’s brutal crackdown on opposition. The situation has been simmering for months and worsened on Monday when Belarus authorities escorted an estimated 1,000 people to the Polish border. With video » | Andrew Roth in Moscow with agencies | Tuesday, November 9, 2021

„Lasst uns unseren Blick nicht von der Tragödie abwenden!“ »

„Das können Polen oder Deutschland nicht allein bewältigen“: Bundesinnenminister Horst Seehofer fordert die EU-Kommission auf, Polen bei der Sicherung der Außengrenze zu unterstützen. Die Regierung in Warschau hatte zuvor die Ankunft tausender Migranten gemeldet. »

Poland's Battle for Abortion Rights

Nov 4, 2021 • When Poland introduced a near-total ban on abortion it divided the nation, sparking mass protests. Dateline explores how church and state are impacting women's rights.

Poland has some of the strictest abortion laws in Europe, and in January those laws became even tougher. Doctors now face three years in prison for ending a pregnancy in the case of foetal abnormalities.

EU Court Fines Poland 1 Million Euros a Day for Judiciary Row | DW News

Oct 27, 2021 • In breaking news from Brussels, the European Union's top court has ordered Poland to pay one million euros a day over a legal dispute with the bloc. The European Court of Justice says Warsaw failed to heed an earlier EU ruling that demanded changes to some of Poland’s judicial reforms. The EU decision in July found that the Polish Supreme Court’s new disciplinary chamber did not guarantee independence, in clear violation of EU law.

Poland fined €1m a day over controversial judicial system changes: Warsaw calls European court of justice move blackmail and says penalties ‘not the right road’ »