Warsaw-Of all countries in Europe, only Poland and Malta are steadfastly holding their own in defending common sense and Christian culture against the immoral onslaught of the European bureaucracy.

Sovereignty in culture and morals

From the outset of its inception into the EU (European Union) in 2004, Poland has been open about her right to defend her sovereignty in culture and morals, even having a caveat inserted to that effect in the treaty of EU membership. The past couple of years have demonstrated Polish resolve in the face of open aggression from her EU masters and from certain UN committees. Resistance ranges from abortion and homosexuality to stem cells. These pressures have been intensified by an international media campaign against Poland.

Poland's stand has been articulated by the Polish Prime Minister, various Polish political parties, and the Polish people. For example, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has asserted, "We won't let ourselves say that black is white."

Not only are such comments atypical of modern European politicians, but they are atypical of most Europeans. Yet recent polls indicate that the typical Pole wants to publicly express his Catholic beliefs, with more than 50 percent supporting a pro-life constitution amendment totally banning abortion. Such fortitude is not restricted to within the borders of Poland. It was the Polish delegation to the European Parliament that set up a pro-life display in the parliamentary headquarters in Strasbourg, France.

EU opposition

For these convictions Poland has endured open hostility. EU spokesman Friso Roscam Abbing (Dutch) suggested that Poland may lose its voting rights should it persist in adhering to its pro-family views of marriage and sexuality. According to the EU, they violate article 7 of the Treaty of Nice.

The EU is also trying to impose on Poland the recognition of homosexual 'marriages.' To supplement article 6 of the Treaty of Nice, which states that countries must protect the rights of minorities, a new law was introduced in Europe in 2006 which further usurped Poland's cultural and moral sovereignty.  Under this new law, all EU countries are now forced to recognize homosexual partners who have 'married' in their home countries and want to live or travel in countries where their union is not legally recognized.

Furthermore, the European parliament has denounced the Polish government for a supposed increase in "racist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic intolerance."

United Nations

The antagonism is not limited to the EU. Certain UN agencies have gone beyond their mandate to criticize Poland on abortion restrictions. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) criticized the Polish government for limiting access to abortion and contraception and questioned why the Polish government promotes Natural Family Planning. Earlier in 2004, the UN's Human Rights Committee criticized Poland's abortion laws and ordered Poland to "liberalize" its legislation on abortion.

Areas of conflict

Poland's vigilance against radical secularism includes not only abortion and contraception, but also homosexual propaganda and embryonic stem-cell research. Polish politicians have denied "Gay Pride Day" parade permits. A federal cabinet minister has stated that the government will not tolerate the homosexual indoctrination of students in schools and fired a teacher responsible for such deviations. Poland's parliament also issued a resolution against research using human embryos, in response to a EU vote in favour of funding embryonic stem-cell research. The Catholic bishops of Poland publicly supported parliament's vote.

North American media

In America, the New York Times has led a vitriolic campaign against this Polish resistance to immorality. In Canada, the NYT 'grievances' were followed, one might say mindlessly, by those of the Globe and Mail as well as the National Post. Rather than discussing Polish laws in a reasoned exchange, the leftist editorializing at the NYT has included a barrage of caricatures and names ("Two potato heads" re the twin brothers, July 19, July 25, 2006).

According to the NYT, the Kaczynski brothers attained power through the collective support of right-wing nationalists, backward Slavic traditionalists, supported, in turn, by ignorant rural voters. President Kaczynski is reported to be "obsessed" by the past, by "conspiracy theories and communist purges," and these are said to alienate Poland from the EU.

Aping the NYT, Toronto's Globe (August 8, 2006) followed suit with an article painting the Kaczynski brothers as ham-fisted conservatives who do not understand democracy and freedom of the press. The National Post took this to a higher degree by claiming on August 9, 2006, that Poland was an unreliable partner in the EU, and on August 31, 2006, by relaying ominous warnings from Brussels that Poland is seen "as a threat to European values."

Polish resistance stiffens

Seeking to defend authentic European and Christian values, Poland has not cowered in the face of such opposition. At the end of March 2007, 10,000-15,000 Poles rallied in Warsaw in support of adding the right to life into the Polish constitution. Opposing them were a crowd estimated at 2000 in number. This is part of a general Polish trend to audaciously resist EU orders to liberalize abortion. The March rally in Warsaw was motivated by the EU court decision that the Polish government should compensate a young visually disabled mother $38,500 for not being given an abortion. This court decision led Ewa Kowalewska, President of the Forum of Polish Women, to point out the absurdity of what passes for justice in the EU, namely, that for refusing to kill a child the Polish government was guilty of violating the "Convention for the Protection of Human Rights."

For their part, the bishops of Poland have emboldened resistance against the death-obsession of secularist Europe by backing efforts to have the country's abortion ban included in the constitution, from conception to natural death.

Comment:

   Poland's example is a breath of fresh air in the stifling atmosphere of the EU. (See Paula Adamick's May column , p. 8 in the print edition.) Canadians should congratulate the Polish ambassador in Ottawa. Address: Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Canada, 443 Daly Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1N 6H3. Catholics should tell off media such as the Globe and the Post when they print drivel about Poland. The Globe will probably ignore it, but the Post is redeemable.

(See also http://catholicinsight.com/online/political/homosexuality/article_732.shtml.)