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Beylin, Marek
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4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Politicians not guilty of murder in Poland
A 62-year-old man murdered the assistant of an MEP for Poland's PiS national-conservative opposition party and injured another member of staff with a knife on Tuesday. The liberal daily Gazeta Wyborcza criticises the PiS's reaction of blaming the ruling Civic Platform party (PO) for the crime as absolutely uncalled for: "We don't know yet whether the motivation behind this crime was politically insanity or of a personal pathological nature. [PiS leader] Jarosław Kaczyński and other commentators have rashly blamed the PO and other PiS opponents for the crime. ... No one in Poland ever called for someone to kill PiS politicians, the calls were only to engage in political battle. To blame those who adopt an extremely harsh tone in the debate ... for the murder in Łódź is a grave mistake. For even the most brutal debate condemns killing."
» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Justice, » Poland
A fateful interview
The Polish government has dismissed Under-Secretary Witold Waszczykowski, Poland's chief negotiator on the US missile defence shield. According to rumours his sacking came after a controversial interview with the news magazine Newsweek Polska. The liberal left daily Gazeta Wyborcza welcomes his dismissal: "The negotiations on the defence shield are still underway yet Witold Waszczykowski accuses the Polish government of pursuing only partisan interests in its talks with the US and neglecting Poland's security. This is absolutely scandalous: a high-ranking government official telling the US that Poland cannot be taken seriously as a negotiating partner. ... Waszczykowski gave the US arguments that will make it determined not to make any concessions regarding the defence shield in Poland. He has reignited the [Polish] conflict between the president and the government. He has proven that he is unfit for government office in Poland."
» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Domestic Policy, » Poland, » U.S.
Anti-Semitism debate in Poland
Poles are caught up in serious discussion about the book "Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz" by American historian Jan Tomasz Gross. Says Marek Beylin: "You can lob many charges at 'Fear': That in describing post-war pogroms by Poles against Jews … it effectively generalizes the opposing voices into a fringe phenomenon. That it holds the Church responsible for the anti-Semitic atmosphere in Poland, and does not consider the Church's other face – many priests and nuns rescued Jews during the occupation. That it does not distinguish enough between Nazi anti-Semitism and Polish anti-Semitism – the latter was only murderous under particular circumstances and under Nazi influence. … But the book's weaknesses are of secondary importance. ... These days, without such well-sharpened theses and confrontational language as one finds in this book, there would be no broad debate about Polish anti-Semitism."
» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » Literature, » History, » Poland
Government Crisis
Following the failure of the budget vote in the Polish Sejm, Marek Beylin warns of the dangers of Andrzej Lepper and his radical Samoobrona (Self-Defence) party being allowed to join the ruling coalition. "We should follow the example of France where, for years now, President Chirac has managed to marginalise Jean-Marie Le Pen's radical party by refusing any kind of cooperation. Offering a declared enemy of democracy a share in government would be the act of idiots who, in their blind attempts to stay in power, choose a disastrously wrong path. To have Samoobrona as a governing party would result in even greater chaos and a continual threat to democratic rights."
» full article (external link, Polish)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Poland
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