Polish nationalists burn flares to mark Independence Day in Warsaw, Nov., 2015. Far-right organisations march under anti-migrant slogan,'Poland for Poles,Poles for Poland.'Alik Keplicz /Press Association. All rights reserved.For some time now Polish public space has been systematically filled with numerous xenophobic incidents. They are staged, with increasing frequency, by radical nationalist, racist or outright neo-Nazi groupings who jointly call themselves patriots. The membership in these groupings is rapidly growing. Gradually, they are turning into a sizeable volunteer army resembling the Hungarian Jobbik. As a result of the general elections in 2015, they have parliamentary representation as well.
Revenge of the oppressed?
In various formulations, the disturbing frequency of racist incidents in Poland is usually explained away. Most generally, the growing popularity of xenophobic and neo-Nazi ideologies amongst Polish youth is rationalized by pointing to the economic conditions responsible for their many forms of social exclusion: the adoption of xenophobic attitudes by a considerable part of the Polish youth is allegedly a consequence of their exclusion from the labour and consumer market, while membership in these extremist groups is supposed to work for them as psychological compensation for this economic denigration. Racist ideology is supposed to provide them with a vicarious repayment, achieved by means of denigration of others whom they perceive as aliens or outright enemies. In other words, xenophobia in Poland is to be understood as yet another example of the revenge of the oppressed.
This explanation seems plausible, but it suffers from two errors. One has to do with its economism, the other with its literalism. The error of economist reductionism in explaining recent xenophobic events in Poland is that it perceives their authors and actors only as disappointed consumers. Although it may be adequate in individual cases, overall it is misguided and misleading.
