Poland: escalating xenophobia towards Ukrainians
A Ukrainian couple were beaten up by three men in the Polish city of Wrocław on Sunday. The police have arrested two suspects so far. Just a few years ago, the world was impressed by the Poles' solidarity with refugees from Ukraine, Prime Minister Donald Tusk admonished, adding that, "All of that is now being destroyed." Media outlets in both countries examine the shift in public sentiment in Poland.
Why are our leaders not stepping up?
Rzeczpospolita demands that politicians intervene:
“The right is fond of boasting that Poland is a safe country in which women can walk the streets alone at night without being harassed by immigrants. Unless they are migrants themselves, that is, like the Ukrainian woman who was attacked. Politicians of all stripes need to step up and stop the normalisation of violence. It's high time to say 'Enough!”
Fight prejudice
Tygodnik Powszechny calls for a public outcry in Poland:
“The word being used to describe the public mood is 'unsettled' – as if it were a force of nature rather than the result of nauseating prejudices fuelled by Russian propaganda and our own culpability. Prejudices that are also fomented by our own political parties for political ends. One would hope that the response to these sentiments would be a resolute 'non possumus'. [Latin for 'we cannot', a phrase associated in Poland with the resistance of the Catholic Church's to Communism].”
The EU must intervene
European Pravda calls for Brussels' attention:
“The attitude towards Ukrainians among a third of Poles has worsened in recent months. The Polish state appears to be unable to resolve the problem of growing hostility towards the Ukrainians living there and has even exacerbated the problem itself. Even when attacks are punished, it is only the immediate perpetrators who are held to account – not the politicians and public officials who foment hatred. That is why international attention is needed. And the European Union can be the most influential voice here.”