Nothing to Fear, but Fear Itself

Nothing to Fear, but Fear Itself

By: Erreh Svaia

“There´s nothing to fear, but fear itself.”

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Im in love with the Poland of Chopin, Nicolaus Copernicus, Stanislaw Grichowiak, Gzregorz Lato, Lech Walesa, Karol Wojtyla, Roman Polanski, Andrzej Stasiuk and Andrzej Wajda among others (of course their punk rock, experimental bands and extreme metal ones), the brave Poland of the freedom and resistance, the Poland that gave us writer Elena Poniatowska, the "red princess" a celebrated Mexican writer of Polish ascendance.

Polish history is a difficult one, troubled first by Nazi invasion during World War II, and then "liberated" by the USSR, only to remain under Soviet influence after the Warsaw Pact, going from the dictatorship of Hitler to theHommunityitlerommunity dictatorship of Stalin, atheist communism was a heavy burden for the deeply Catholic society in Poland, but it was precisely there where the seeds of freedom started to blossom, the strength of Solidarity Union, led by Social hero Lech Walesa, and the enormous help from the Catholic Church, who named Karol Wojtyla, a Polish bishop, the first non Italian Pope, were definite signsthat somewhat was about to change in Europe starting in Poland.

Solidarity became a powerful social force that turned the tables on communists and ignited what would become the end of communism in Europe, it was a big triumph, and the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the country that was about to become one of the most successful post communist cases, Walesa didn't wanted Solidarity to become a political party, and although he ended as president in Poland, that wasn't his original plan, but some mistakes were made, and the fear of what could be a communist return, started to grow, Law and Justice, a political party created by the brothers Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, former leaders of Solidarity started to pick up the far right flag, positioning themselves as an antidote for a possible new rise of communism.

These days, is not fear of communist, Law and Justice main worry, but an increased paranoia about Poland's neighbors, history obsess the Poles, distrust of Germany's influence all over the European Union and on Russia's growing meddling on its former satellite states political matters have increased the power of the extreme right and it's ally, the Catholic Church on the country, jump starting society's fears of an authoritarian government beginning to restrict civil rights and freedom on citizens and media.

Extremes are always painful, and Poles must not forget that leaning towards the far right or the far left is dangerous, in the end, extremes are pretty much the same, corruption, totalitarianism and less and less freedom, it all could act in detriment of their hard won freedom, their decisions and acts should be evaluated with a cool head and not with the guts, the paranoia goes as far as staring to debunk the fighting legacy of Walesa with recent found documents that may prove Walesa work as a paid informant for the communist secret police under the name Bolek happened in the 70s, but before pointing at Walesa we should ask ourselves. , Who was not forced or blackmailed to cooperate with the secret police in those years? That before downplay the role of Walesa in dismantle one of the biggest evils to happen in Europe, and thinking it twice before handling human rights and freedom to a new devil rising, the architects of fear are working in Poland and they want you to tremble in fear, Islam is not the enemy of Europe, intolerance is.