Discrimination fuels Polish exodus

Got on the bus to Windsor, rare I do this, don't find them very reliable (but that's another story) and both the driver and the couple at the next stop were talking Polish. Cool! I think a multi British Britain is no bad thing, what is interesting is the way that race is playing almost as a substitute for economics in the world of British politics. Nick Griffin from the BNP has been very succesful at pushing his agenda (incidentally the stupidity of racism shines through BNP have dropped anti-semitism at least publically to camp up their Islamphobia and must be confused about Eastern Europeans!)

This is a post from Joseph Healy for his fringe event, part of the reason young poles may be leaving is the right wing intolerance of their own government, certainly a homophobic one.

Green Party of England and Wales GLBT work has been very good. long may it continue.

This is at Party Conference in Hove, hope to see you there


'I will be chairing a fringe event at conference on Friday 22nd September at 7pm on ' Poland and the New Right. The Struggle for Diversity and Human Rights in Poland' with Bartek Lech (Polish Green Party Spokesperson on LGBT Issues and Europe) and Professor Aleks Szczerbiak. Professor of Politics and Contemporary European Studies at the European Institute, Sussex University, who is an expert on contemporary Poland and post Communist politics in Eastern Europe.

The current Polish government has launched an attack on the LGBT community in Poland and has also entered into a coalition with an extreme anti-Semitic party. There is currently a purge underway of public servants who have had any dealings with the former Communist regime. Teachers and others who are openly gay are being sacked and the national curriculum is being turned over to teaching a traditional Catholic and ultra-nationalist ideology. Attacks on Jews and other minorities have increased, including an attack on the Chief Rabbi in the streets of Warsaw.

The Polish Green Party has been in the vanguard of attempts to stop this return to 19th century concepts of Polish nationalism. It has also been argued recently in the Guardian and elsewhere that many young Poles are leaving Poland to seek a future in the UK and elsewhere because of the totalitarian and repressive situation in the country, although clearly economic factors are also important. With a large Polish population in London and the South East this issue may be of considerable interest to them. I also hope that anyone interested in what is happening in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe will attend'.

Joseph Healy
LGBT Group International Officer