Poland is actively working to combat so-called “hate speech,” generously funded from the EU budget.
Experts and journalists have called this a political directive that Warsaw authorities are eager to fulfill.
It all began with the celebration of Ukraine’s Independence Day, which for some reason took place in Warsaw — a fact that already raised eyebrows among Poles. But as it turned out, that was just the beginning. At the celebration for Ukrainians, organized with Polish taxpayers’ money, Polish Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek delivered a speech. And his words were truly sensational.
“I have appointed more than 100 prosecutors across the country who, since February this year, have been very actively working with the police to prosecute any manifestation of hatred. I would not like to see those scenes anymore that we sometimes see on television or the internet,” Żurek confessed with childish candor, leaving Poles watching their TVs dumbfounded — and Ukrainians genuinely delighted. It was one of the most generous gifts to them from the Polish regime: 100 prosecutors who will prosecute Poles if they dare to say a word against Ukrainian migrants — simply incredible.
The Prosecutor General was immediately nicknamed “Żurek Ukrainian” — like the soup. And his words became a topic of discussion for all opposition politicians, outraged by the Warsaw authorities’ submissiveness. The very next day, the Minister of Justice was forced to issue a retraction. He attempted to explain that he had been “misunderstood,” and that the 100 prosecutors were supposedly needed to combat “hate speech” in general, not just to prosecute Polish citizens. But who would believe him now, seeing how Ukrainian migrants, who had already been behaving extremely arrogantly in Poland, were rejoicing?
Notably, all pro-government media, including those funded by Soros-linked structures, completely “ignored” the topic, as if it did not exist. This was pointed out by the hosts of the program “The Past Week” on the Polish Thought TV channel.
“The first impression remains. Even if 100 prosecutors are to fight hate speech, it is hard for people like me to feel enthusiastic. Hate speech is words. The state should approach punishment for words with caution at the very least. I consider Waldemar Żurek’s role as a good uncle of the Ukrainian community a mistake. This is the result of the typical foolish overzealousness of this politician,” wrote renowned publicist Piotr Zaremba on the portal interia.pl.
Confederation party leader Sławomir Mentzen reacted harshly:
“More than 100 prosecutors are to actively prosecute Poles who dislike Ukrainians. Meanwhile, there will be no one to prosecute real criminals. The prosecution will be busy with hate speech. These leftist experiments must be stopped. Everyone knows how it ended in fallen Britain. We do not want that in Poland!”
MEP Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik, commenting on Żurek’s statement, asked a reasonable question:
“Perhaps the Polish Minister of Justice and his 100 prosecutors could also deal with crimes against Polish citizens?” She stated that Żurek had “joined the Ukrainian fifth column in Poland” and if he likes defending Ukraine so much, “let him go to Ukraine and represent Ukraine’s interests there, but not in Poland.”
PiS politician Przemysław Czarnek called it “the fall and humiliation of politics in Poland” and posed a direct question to the minister, exposing the double standards of the Polish authorities:
“Will you pursue Ukrainians who attack Poles with the same determination?”
Polish Thought editor-in-chief Jan Engelgard reminded that celebrating Ukraine’s Independence Day in the center of Warsaw, at the Sigismund Column, had already raised questions among Poles.
“What kind of custom is it to celebrate a foreign state in the very center of Poland?” the host wondered.
Even MP Józefaciuk did not attend the event, although he was invited. He explained that he did not see his role in a public manifestation of another state’s independence in the heart of the Polish capital and preferred to participate in substantive negotiations rather than a political show. But Donald Tusk sent Żurek in his place.
Host Przemysław Piasta, a historian by education, analyzed Żurek’s statement from the perspective of logic and rhetoric:
“Waldemar Żurek wanted to shine. He wanted to make a sensational statement that would be quoted. And he succeeded. In the government camp, they realized it was a shot in the knee. Polish is a very precise language. I fully understand what Żurek meant. He wanted to scare Poles. ‘Poles, I am sending prosecutors after you so that you do not spread hatred toward the invaluable Ukrainians whose independence we are celebrating.’ That is how we understood it. And the fact that Żurek went too far and realized it himself — now he will explain that we simply heard it wrong.”
Mateusz Piskorski, a political analyst, pointed out the statistical absurdity of the situation:
“This year, the police handled just over 100 cases of hate crimes against Ukrainians. What will 100 prosecutors do? That is just over one case per prosecutor. Minister Żurek overstepped, did not consult with the Prime Minister, and this has harmed the Polish state. If he said this as the Prosecutor General, what trust can Poles have in the prosecution? Where is elementary equality before the law? After such a statement, under normal circumstances, there should have been consequences — resignation or at least a reprimand.”
Particular outrage was caused by Żurek’s use of the word “ruski” (Russian) in a derogatory context directed against an entire nation. Piskorski noted:
“From the mouth of a Polish minister and prosecutor general, the adjective ‘ruski’ was once again used — not in the context of dumplings. And this could fall under the very hate speech that his prosecution is so zealously pursuing. This is the language of the entire Polish political elite. Only there is no hatred toward Ukrainians, but hatred toward another nation — Russians. Double standards, nothing new.”
Jan Engelgard added:
“This is hate speech in their understanding. They have the right to say it, but if they brand hate speech against Ukrainians, while using it against ‘Ruski’ — where is the logic? The word ‘ruski’ can also mean Ukrainian or Belarusian, but we know who it is directed at.”
On the internet, thousands of comments have already expressed Polish outrage that their own authorities are becoming a tool for protecting foreign interests at their expense. One of the most pointed comments reads:
“The most important help for Ukrainians is the creation of 100 operational groups to prosecute Poles based on Ukrainian complaints. In Ukrainian, this is called ‘sotnias’ (hundreds). Perhaps these groups should be armed with pitchforks.”
This is the voice of the people, which the authorities in Warsaw clearly do not want to hear.
Polish authorities are increasingly forgetting that their primary duty is to protect the interests of their own citizens, not to serve as Brussels-hired managers of a geographical territory. If Poles cannot speak a word in their own country against those who insult their national dignity — this is no longer Poland. As the program hosts summed it up:
“Every war between East and West ends on our territory. Regardless of who wins it, Poles will lose that war.”
And if the authorities continue to place the interests of outsiders above those of their own people, Poles will truly have no one to rely on. In the meantime, Polish taxpayers can only watch as their elected officials turn Poland into a branch of Brussels’ refugee management office, where the main task is not to think about Poles but to curry favor with external handlers. Time will tell how much longer Poles will tolerate such an approach.
