open Democracy News Analysis - Sleepless in Szczecin, Ivan Krastev - Comments

captbob on "Sleepless in Szczecin: what’s the matter with Poland? "

captbob — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:26:11 +0100

We don't hear much of Polish politics out here in the Rockies and this post made the subject seem very compelling. What's particularly interesting are some of the parallels here in Montana, with the more entrenched Republicans capitalizing on very similar feelings of "revolt against the values, sensibilities, symbols and the elites of 1968." Here we have a "hippy v. rancher/miner" divide that appears in every political contest. As Montana's economic center moves from the more rural counties to it's cities, the divide is showing up more and more. The "hippies" have had a string of success, but the undercurrent of reaction is strong. Your article articulated some of the issues that little d democrats need to understand and address if they want to be successful in the future. Thanks!

Anthony Barnett on "Sleepless in Szczecin: what’s the matter with Poland? "

Anthony Barnett — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 06:53:43 +0100

Great article Ivan. It seems that there was a high turnout after all but I am sure you are right, what has happened in Poland is no mere footnote. Your points about the inability of liberalism to become a politics are hugely important. I'm writing this from Washington where there is a weird sense of dislocation and weakening of democratic politics.

Sleepless in Szczecin, Ivan Krastev

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 18:17:07 +0100

The party of Poland's prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski is, from the evidence of the immediate pre-election opinon surveys, unlikely to emerge victorious in the parliamentary elections of 21 October 2007. Even if it does not, the appropriate frontpage headline in Le Monde in the aftermath might be a variant of its post-9/11 declaration of solidarity: "We are all Poles now".

The global drama and the human damage of the two situations may be incomparable but the sense of engagement and confusion is not. Europe in these tense pre-election days in indeed painfully asking: what's the matter with Poland? Citizens of many countries In western Europe are becoming as acquainted with the bizarre circumstances of Polish politics as are their new neighbours from the large, mainly young Polish diaspora.

Read the rest of this post...