BRAUN’S HATE - A NEW REPORT ON POLISH MP WHO ATTACKED THE HANUKKIAH

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has prepared a special report that documents several dozen examples of hateful actions and statements of Grzegorz Braun, Member of Polish Parliament from the far-right Konfederacja (Confederation) party. The hatred expressed by Braun did not start with the infamous 12 December 2023 attack on the hannukiah in the Parliament, using a fire extinguisher. In fact, the Konfederacja MP has for years promoted conspiracy theories about Jews taking over Poland, mocked the victims of Nazi camps, called for violence against LGBT people, and boasted about tearing down Ukrainian flags.

- ‘We call on social media platforms to remove the hateful content produced by Grzegorz Braun. He has been propagating hatred against minorities with impunity for many years. His videos on YouTube and entries on Facebook and X (Twitter) promote aggression towards Jews, Muslims, refugees and LGBT people,’ says Lukasz Jakubowski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

The broad reach of Braun’s hateful propaganda is evidenced by the number of views of his materials online (e.g. some videos featuring him have over one million views) and the huge amounts of money collected in his fundraising campaigns (for example, on 18 December he received 200,000 PLN, which is more than 50,400 USD, through one of Polish fundraising websites). His actions have a direct impact, too: on 14 December, five perpetrators (minors) tried to destroy a Hanukkah menorah in Wroclaw. They also set fire to an Israeli flag they had brought with them and filmed the entire incident. They were detained and their case has been brought to family court.

Thanks to the intervention of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, the Allegro and OLX internet marketplace platforms removed several dozen offers of gadgets expressing support for the antisemitic act of violence committed by Braun in the Parliament. The deleted items included mugs and t-shirts with an image of a fire extinguisher facing a Jewish candelabra.

Braun’s statements have been repeatedly reported by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association to YouTube, Facebook, and X (Twitter) for promoting hatred. However, these platforms - contrary to their own terms of use - are reluctant to remove this type of content. As a result, Braun can conduct his aggressive campaign without any obstacles.

Examples of statements and incidents documented in the publication of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association entitled ‘Braun’s Hate’: 

- On 2 April 2019, in an interview published on the YouTube channel of wRealu24, online TV, Grzegorz Braun demanded penalties for homosexuality. He said, ‘Let’s negotiate not the boundaries of tolerance, but of penalisation. […] If someone comes up with a liberal bill introducing whipping of homosexuals, then we can discuss how to implement it – whether through European Parliament or Warsaw’s Parliament.’

- On 9 April 2020, in an interview for the Panta Rhei channel on YouTube, Braun presented xenophobic conspiracy theories about the origins of COVID-19, ‘Might it be simply an act of biological warfare? […] Who might benefit from it? The Chinese, Americans, Muscovites, Jews, or all of them at once?’

- On 14 December 2021, during a demonstration that was held in front of the Sejm (lower chamber of Polish Parliament) MPs from Konfederacja, including Braun, spoke and posed against the background of a banner with an inscription ‘Vaccination makes you free’ which was designed to resemble the sign above the gate of the former Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp: ‘Arbeit macht frei’ (‘Work makes you free’). 

- On 24 February 2022, a few hours after the start of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, Braun posted a comment on Twitter in which he called for Poles not to help those fleeing war-torn Ukraine, ‘The humanitarian imperative: DO NOT leave the territory of the Republic of Poland wide open, do not create demand for the migration of refugees/invaders.’

- On 14 March 2022, referring to xenophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories, Braun condemned the display of Ukrainian flags as a sign of solidarity with the victims of the war. He posted on Twitter, ‘Do we already have Ukro-Polin here? Who is the host here?’ [Polin means Poland in Hebrew, in this case Braun refered to an antisemitic conspiracy theory according to which ‘Ukro-Polin’, a Jewish-Ukrainian state, would be formed after overtaking Poland]

- On 25 June 2022, during a demonstration in Warsaw, Braun expressed publicly his thanks to extreme-right activists and YouTube broadcasters Wojciech Olszanski and Marcin Osadowski for their ‘very strong voice for Poland. And I repeat it – death to the enemies of the fatherland’. At that time legal proceedings were in progress against Olszanski and Osadowski for issuing death threats to Members of Parliament.

- On 21 November 2022, Braun enthusiastically welcomed the news that a South African court decided to release on parole Janusz Walus – the racist killer who shot Chris Hani, a South African anti-apartheid leader, in 1993. Braun posted on Twitter, ‘LIVE: South Africa’s Constitutional Court takes its decision to RELEASE Mr. Janusz Walus from prison. Thank heavens!’

- On 27 January 2023, in the Regional Court building in Krakow, Braun destroyed a Christmas tree which was displayed by an association of judges. The tree was decorated with baubles with Ukrainian flags, European Union flags, and the letters ‘LGBT’ in rainbow colours.

- On 30 May 2023, at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw, Braun disrupted the lecture of Professor Jan Grabowski about Holocaust memory. He moved towards the lecturer, shouting ‘Enough of this!’, ripped out the microphone from the stand, smashed it against the lectern, and knocked over the loudspeaker.

- On 12 December 2023, in the building of the Sejm Braun disrupted a ceremony on the occasion of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. He burst in with a fire extinguisher and used it to put out the candles burning on the nine-branched candelabra (hanukkiah). One of the ceremony participants, Magdalena Gudzinska-Adamczyk, tried to stop Braun, but she was attacked by him and sprayed with the fire extinguisher.

- On 14 December 2023, on Leszek Szymowski’s YouTube channel Braun encouraged people to repeat the aggressive act he had committed during Hanukkah celebrations, ‘At this time next year, I will be on the lookout for all those who believe that it is necessary to professionally extinguish fires started in public spaces [this is how Braun described his attack]. I applaud all forms of protest and attempts to put an end to such activities.’ 

In January 2023, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published a report on hate speech as well as antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories propagated on the Media Narodowe (National Media) online TV channel. Upon the publication the channel was removed by YouTube. In August 2022, thanks to cooperation with the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, the YouTube platform removed the far-right channel wRealu24.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organisation founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in international civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE) and the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH). It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet.

‘Braun’s Hate’ (full version of the report: PDF)

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

 

Hate Speech on YouTube Documented in a New Report

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association publishes a report on hate speech, antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories propagated on the far-right Media Narodowe (National Media) YouTube channel, which receives subsidies from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.

The National Media channel has over 250,000 subscribers. It produces an average of 100-150 broadcasts per month, some of them have tens of thousands of views. 

The publisher of the National Media is Stowarzyszenie Marsz Niepodleglosci (March of Independence Association), whose leader is Robert Bakiewicz, editor-in-chief of the National Media and the main organizer of the so-called Independence March, the big far-right march that takes place in Warsaw on Polish Independence Day every 11 November. Bakiewicz is a former leader of the fascist group Oboz Narodowo-Radykalny (National-Radical Camp, ONR). 

In the years 2021-2022, Bakiewicz’s organizations (Independence March Squads, March of Independence and National Guard) received almost 5 million Polish zloty (1 million US dollars) from public funds, including over 198 thousand Polish zloty directly for the National Media.

- ‘Many minorities are regularly attacked on the National Media channel, including Jews, Muslims, refugees from Ukraine, and LGBT people,’ says Dr. Anna Tatar from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, co-author of the report. - ‘Such offensive contents clearly breach YouTube community standards and we expect YouTube to take action’ - said Jacek Dziegielewski, a researcher for ‘NEVER AGAIN’ who participated in the report’s preparation.

Since the first days of the Russian invasion, the National Media broadcasts have presented refugees from Ukraine as a threat (including ‘biological’ threat) to the Polish society, denied the Ukrainians’ right to preserve their own national identity (demanding that they ‘polonize’ themselves), and questioned the Russian war crimes committed in Ukraine. The head of the National Media, Robert Bakiewicz, already in 2021 warned against ‘Ukrainian immigration’, which in his view would lead to an ‘ethnic replacement’ in Poland.

In the report, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association also recorded numerous examples of antisemitic content disseminated by the National Media. Among them there were medieval accusations of blood libel (accusing Jews of murdering Christian children for ritual purposes) as well as claims that the Jews were behind the current war in Ukraine, falsified the history of the Holocaust for financial purposes, were guilty themselves of creating antisemitism, and finally that they wanted to appropriate Poland in order to build their own state under the name ‘Polin’ (Polin means Poland in Hebrew).

Here are examples of comments made on the National Media channel, which were noted in the report of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association:

- Radoslaw Patlewicz (the author of the book ‘Ritual murder in Rzeszow? A historical investigation’): ‘There is hard evidence that Jews used the blood of humans and animals primarily for medical purposes, as well as for ritual purposes. It is, of course, the paschal matzah and the so-called wine ritual accompanying the Seder dinner’ (18.01.2022),

- Piotr Strzembosz (the Faith and Action Association) on refugees from Ukraine: ‘After all, 500,000 people from a country torn by war, this could be the source of not only the COVID virus, but a number of other very dangerous things. If there is a state of war, people may have difficulty maintaining hygiene, they can transmit various parasites, here let’s not be afraid of that word’ (2.03.2022),

- Brunon Rozycki (a regular host on the National Media channel): ‘The depopulation of eastern Ukraine is favourable for Putin, for the Jews and perhaps the West’ (22.03.2022, within a week, this broadcast gained over 100,000 views on YouTube),

- Radosław Patlewicz: ‘The Jews almost expressly demand a de facto liquidation of Christianity, so what attitude should Christians feel toward the Jews […]? It can be said that the Jews are in some ways looking for trouble coming to them, that somebody could harm them’ (25.04.2022),

- Jan Bodakowski (a regular host on the National Media channel, a participant of extreme right-wing demonstrations for many years, and a candidate of the far right Confederation party in the 2019 parliamentary elections; he was not elected): about the symbol of the Russian invasion, the letter Z: ‘[this letter] does not appear in the Russian alphabet […] but it is very similar to a letter that in Hebrew and in Kabbalah means war. And it would also suit the theory that the Kabbalistic symbol of the war was visible on Russian tanks, the more so knowing Vladimir Putin’s very close relations with Jewish communities’ (10.07.2022),

- Robert Bakiewicz (editor-in-chief of the National Media channel): ‘Lies about Jedwabne [an anti-Jewish pogrom committed by Poles in 1941 - editor’s note] have to be straightened out. I am fully convinced that on the basis of the evidence that we already have today, it can be clearly stated that the murder was not committed by the Poles. […] What the Jewish community or Israel says about this issue confirms our belief that it is simply acting for the benefit of currently building the myth of this criminal behaviour of Poles, but also developing this entire religion of the Holocaust’ (8.07.2022),

- Tadeusz Matuszyk (in the 1980s an activist of the so-called ‘true Poles’ faction in the Solidarity movement): ‘For over a thousand years, the majority of Jews have been, are and will be mortal enemies of the Polish nation and state’ (13.10.2022).

‘Report on hate speech on the National Media (Media Narodowe) YouTube channel in the years 2021-2023’ (full version of the report - PDF).

UPDATE: After the publication of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association’s report, the YouTube channel Media Narodowe was removed from the platform.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has actively participated in international civil society networks, including the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GAADHE) and the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH). It takes part in international projects to counter hate speech, Get The Trolls Out and SafeNet.

More information:

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association 

 

During the Eradicate Hate Global Summit the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association called upon the social media platforms to stop enabling the largest international far-right hate fest.

Co-founder of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Rafal Pankowski participated in the Eradicate Hate Global Summit held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) on 19-21 September 2022. The Summit is the most comprehensive anti-hate conference in the world. It unites experts and leaders from around the globe, who are dedicated to eradicating all forms of hate-fuelled violence. The mission of the Summit is to identify and implement effective solutions for collective change.

The speakers at the 2022 Global Summit included the United Nations Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu and Deborah Lipstadt, the US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism. 

Rafal Pankowski paid tribute to the victims of the war against Ukraine and said that Putin's war ‘once again shows what the politics of hate and authoritarianism leads to: mass violence and human suffering’.

In his presentation Pankowski described the growth of the annual far-right march on the Polish Independence Day (11 November) in Warsaw as an example of the growing internationalisation of far-right extremism. The march is organized by Polish extreme-right groups with the participation of numerous racist extremist organizations and activists from across Europe and North America. It has regularly gathered more than 100,000 participants and it has often turned violent. Pankowski referred to the march as a ‘super-spreader’ of hate and ‘Charlottesville on steroids’. In November 2021, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism appealed to Facebook and Twitter to stop the promotion and fundraising for the march.

The Eradicate Hate Global Summit grew from the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history. On 27 October 2018, a heavily armed gunman, who earlier had posted online antisemitic and anti-refugee messages, massacred worshippers from three different congregations at the Tree of Life Synagogue. In the aftermath of the attack, the people of Pittsburgh responded in ways that have been described as distinctive in the history of antisemitism. They not only visibly stood in solidarity with the Jewish people, but also offered comfort and aid, and spoke up against hate.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It is a member of the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH). and the Global Alliance Against Digital Hate and Extremism (GADHE). The Association also takes part in international projects to counteract online hate speech such as ‘Get The Trolls Out’.

More information:

https://www.nigdywiecej.org/en/our-news/195-articles-from-2021/4727-polish-independence-day-march-likely-to-lead-to-far-right-violence

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

 

DEBATE ON ANTISEMITISM IN AND AROUND FOOTBALL STADIUMS

The ‘NEVERAGAIN’ Association, which runs the campaign ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Stadiums’, held an online debate on fighting antisemitism and bigotry at stadiums in Poland and Europe.

Antisemitism continues to be a serious issue, both inside and outside football stadiums, in Poland and worldwide. However, more often than not it is also glossed over by football associations and the media. Participants in the debate presented the results of the international educational project ‘Changing the Chants’, conducted in cooperation with Anne Frank House (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and two football clubs: Borussia Dortmund and Feyenoord Rotterdam.

The debate was opened by Dr Rafal Pankowski, professor at Collegium Civitas and co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network.

Hate crimes at Polish stadiums were discussed by Dr Anna Tatar, co-author of the ‘Brown Book’ and a member of ‘NEVER AGAIN’. - ‘Antisemitic flags, symbols and chants have been used by football hooligans for many years with little or no punishment. What is striking is the failure to react from football authorities, club boards and city governments, which provide financial support and facilities to football clubs’ - she said.

Dr Wojciech Wozniak of the University of Lodz presented the results of the ‘Changing the Chants’ project. Its objective is to understand the role of non-formal education provided by sports clubs in combating antisemitism. Good practice developed on the basis of experiences and collaborations with clubs from various countries will allow the creation of friendly and open football fan communities in Europe and beyond. The project received support from the EU programme ‘Rights, Equality and Citizenship’.

Later in the debate, the floor was taken by Dr Maciej Kozlowski, former Polish Ambassador to Israel and author of the book ‘Chosen People – Cracovia Cracow: The Multi-Cultural History of Polish Sport’ (published by ‘NEVER AGAIN’ in 2015). He discussed the role of Jews in Polish football, their contribution to the development of the sport, and involvement in establishing the first Polish clubs and competitions. He also provided examples of Polish players with Jewish origins: Jozef Lustgarten, Ludwik Gintel and Leon Sperling, all of whom were successful members of the Polish national team.

The discussion was summed up with observations on the rise of antisemitism and xenophobia by Dr Sebastian Rejak of the American Jewish Committee - Central Europe Office.

The discussion was organized by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association in partnership with the Fare Network and AJC - Central Europe.

This year, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association celebrates 25 years of activity. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996, which has campaigned against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia, and for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

The campaign ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Stadiums’ was a brainchild of the late Marcin Kornak (1968-2014), who chaired ‘NEVER AGAIN’ for many years. ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Stadiums’ has run since the mid-1990s with the aim to combat racism and discrimination at stadiums. One of its main components is monitoring and reporting of hate crimes and hate speech cases.

More information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.changingthechants.eu

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

#changingthechants #wykopmyrasizm

IS ANTISEMITISM ANTISEMITIC?

A distributor of antisemitic publications has brought a court case against the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, Poland’s leading anti-racist organization. The hearings commenced in the Warsaw District Court on 6 May.

3DOM Publishing House, with offices in Czestochowa, brought the case following the removal of its items from the popular e-commerce platform Allegro, which happened when ‘NEVER AGAIN’ brought the antisemitic publications to Allegro’s attention.

The Association noted and reported the hateful content of several items sold by 3DOM to the Allegro platform in 2020. Among them were contemporary editions of pre-war books such as ‘The Jewish Global Politics Programme. Conspiracy and Disclosure’ by the notorious antisemite Fr. Stanislaw Trzeciak, ‘Notes From A Prison’, a compilation of anti-Jewish tirades by Eligiusz Niewiadomski, the murderer of Polish President Gabriel Narutowicz, ‘The Strategy of Zion. The Unknown History of The Chosen People’, a Holocaust-denying book by Douglas Reed, as well as a book repeating medieval accusations against Jews entitled ‘Ritual Murder - Historical Facts’, co-authored by Grzegorz Braun, a Member of Parliament for the far-right Confederation party.

The lawyer for 3DOM Publishing House alleged that calling the above publications antisemitic violated the good name and reputation of 3DOM. The court claim against the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is for financial compensation for the harm caused, an apology and an undertaking that in the future ‘NEVER AGAIN’ will not appeal to Allegro for the withdrawal of any product offered for sale by 3DOM Publishing House.

Dr Wojciech Marchwicki from the Warsaw branch of the international law firm Hogan Lovells stated on behalf of ‘NEVER AGAIN’ that ‘All the activities of the Association which are directed at the elimination of racist or discriminatory content from the public sphere are of great service to society. Reporting to Allegro that antisemitic publications were being distributed by 3DOM Publishing House did not constitute an unlawful infringement of personal rights.’

The publications reported by the Association are extremely and ostentatiously antisemitic and incite hatred based on national, ethnic, racial and religious differences. In the plea submitted to the Court, the representative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association listed numerous examples of extreme antisemitic and discriminatory content in the items distributed by the 3DOM Publishing House, such as:

- ‘Jews living in Christian countries and alongside Christian nations are a highly undesirable element. They are like an alien organism in our body, which will always cause disturbances unless it encounters stronger resistance. The Jewish problem never loses its vitality and Christian nations should make strenuous efforts to resolve it’ (a quote from ‘The Talmud. Its Contents and Teachings’ by Jozef Kruszynski);

 - ‘The nation must separate itself from the moral plague of Jewry with a Chinese wall. (...) The Aryan world will face a terrible, fatal battle in the future with the hundred footed Jewish polyp’ (Eligiusz Niewiadomski ‘Notes From A Prison’);

- ‘Removal of the Jewish parasites from the press, the radio and cinema, and thus from the Polish mentality is as great and sublime a task as their removal from trade, crafts and industry. (...) Let everyone’s eyes be opened, especially those who «have eyes but cannot see», in order to stimulate the whole nation to self defence and to the liberation of Poland from the foreign, harmful and hostile Jewish elements’ (Stanislaw Trzeciak ‘Talmud on Gentiles and the Jewish Question in Poland’);

- ‘Thus it is not Hitler, but the Talmud that persecutes the Jews. Hitler is only an instrument in the hands of God’s Justice’ (Stanislaw Trzeciak ‘Messianism and the Jewish Question’).

The books identified by the Association contain a whole range of antisemitic clichés. They usually form the central elements of these books. They abound in descriptions of Jewish conspiracies, such as striving for power over the world, innate hatred of Christians or ritual murders.

Both Polish criminal law and Allegro rules prohibit trading in items promoting fascism and other totalitarian systems or inciting hatred on the basis of national, ethnic, racial, religious differences.

Furthermore, the publications distributed by the 3DOM Publishing House do not have any scientific or educational value. They are devoid of reliable historical introductions or any critical evaluation. Quite the opposite, the foreword usually contains an enthusiastic introduction by the contemporary publisher. In an expert opinion presented to the court, Dr Maciej Moszynski, a historian and a researcher of antisemitism, pointed out that these editions do not contain any critical commentary, and, on the contrary, provide vindication for extremely antisemitic content: ‘The notes from the publisher are in line with the antisemitic discourse, the central element of which is the figure of the Jew as the enemy.’

3DOM Publishing House is represented by its legal advisor Jaroslaw Litwin. Litwin gained fame as the advocate of former priest Jacek Miedlar, who was accused of promoting antisemitism and xenophobia. The founder of 3DOM, Tomasz Stala, is a close associate of Grzegorz Braun, a Member of Parliament representing the far-right Confederation Party.

After a short hearing, the court adjourned the case in order to consider the documentation - the parties’ pleas and evidence. The next hearing will probably be scheduled for the second half of the year.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia. Since 2005, it has led the ‘Racism-Delete’ campaign, which has the objective of removing racist content from the internet. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is a member of the International Network Against Cyber Hate (INACH). The Association also takes part in projects to counteract online hate speech including ‘Get the Trolls Out’ and ‘Open Code for Hate-Free Communication’.

Additional information:

www.NeverAgainAssociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

HOLOCAUST COMMEMORATION AND COUNTERING GENOCIDE DENIAL IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

To mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, emphasise its universal significance and oppose its distortion, the NEVER AGAIN Association, together with its civil society partners and members in Southeast Asia, has co-organised a special online session on 27th January 2021. It brought together Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and Christians, intellectuals, faith leaders, human rights activists, educators and students from different countries and continents, with a special focus on the Southeast Asian region.

The online round table featured Jeremy Jones, the Director of Community and of International Affairs of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (Australia); Venerable Lablu Barua, Wat Phrmarangsi Buddhist Monastery in Bangkok (Thailand); Sayana Ser, the translator of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ in Khmer language, Peace Institute (Cambodia); Nickey Diamond, a scholar and human rights specialist at Fortify Rights (Myanmar); and Prof. Rafal Pankowski of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association (Poland). It was moderated by a member of ‘NEVER AGAIN’, Natalia Sineaeva, a Holocaust scholar and Rotary Peace Fellow alumna (Chulalongkorn University Bangkok 2018) and Dr Sanjoy Barua Chowdhury of the International Buddhist College (IBC) in Thailand.

The participants came from Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Germany, India, Israel, Malaysia, Myanmar, Norway, Poland, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, UK, USA, and Vietnam. They discussed the legacy of the Holocaust, challenges for its commemoration and the possible meaning of its commemoration in the region of Southeast Asia in relation to the region’s history and experiences of genocide and mass atrocities.

The United Nations General Assembly designated the International Holocaust Remembrance Day or International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust in 2005. The 27th of January marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland in 1945.

Natalia Sineaeva noted in her introductory remarks: - ‘Jews and Roma were mainly targeted for genocide by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, but its significance is universal. Today, when very few Holocaust survivors are left, we need to preserve this memory, and not let it be trivialised, banalised, or even worse, distorted and denied. How can we use and apply the universal lessons of the Holocaust which happened in Europe in a non-European context, where the experiences of the Second World War were different, for example in Southeast Asia? There is often a lack of knowledge of Holocaust history, but there are local histories of conflicts and instances of genocide, and various forms of genocide distortion exist, too.’

The online round table was the first in the series of further events to be organised for the project ‘Identifying and Countering Holocaust Distortion. Lessons for Southeast Asia’ implemented by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association together with its partners in the countries of Southeast Asia. The project deals with various forms of Holocaust distortion and denial spread in the region of Southeast Asia, e.g., the usage of Nazi imagery, normalisation of the image of Hitler and Nazi Germany in popular culture; conspiracy theories scapegoating minorities and blaming the victims (including the Jews) for past crimes and historical conflicts; the dangerous globalisation of genocide denial, including the rise of ‘multi-deniers’ who distort both the Nazi crimes and other cases of genocide, such as the crimes of the Khmer Rouge or anti-Rohingya violence. Importantly, the project draws on the regional experiences of the Second World War and further instances of genocide in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand to inspire critical memory discourses and develop capacities to counter Holocaust and genocide distortion in the region. It has been supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

Additional information:

www.neveragainassociation.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

WATCH OUT – A NEW ANTI-FASCIST EDUCATIONAL INITIATIVE ONLINE

On the occasion of the International Day against Fascism and Antisemitism (9 November, the anniversary of the Kristallnacht pogrom), the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association announces the launch of an online educational initiative under the title ‘Watch Out’. It is a joint venture by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and the Forward Foundation supported by the European network for alternative thinking and political dialogue Transform! Europe.

As part of the project a set of materials directed at high school students was prepared. They include videos, presentations, worksheets and lesson outlines for teachers, NGO educators, scout leaders, organisers of youth camps and for students who want to broaden their knowledge. All the materials are also available in English and can be used all over the world.

The specially dedicated website http://kuprzestrodze.edu.pl/ publishes lectures by experts in the fields of history, sociology and social psychology, covering topics such as the psychology of Nazism, the fascist vision of family, the pedagogy of remembrance, genocide, and forced labour. Dr Jack Bloom (Indiana University Northwest, USA), Dr Michal Bilewicz (University of Warsaw, Centre for Research on Prejudice), Luiza Kulenkampff (Anne Frank Centre, Berlin) and Dr Rafal Pankowski (co-founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, Professor at Collegium Civitas, Warsaw) are among the lecturers involved in preparing the materials.

- ‘Today there are few eyewitnesses or victims of fascism among us, such as former concentration camp prisoners, and less time and space is dedicated to discussing these tragic events in schools. It’s becoming just another remote incident. The history should teach us, be a warning’ - say the project authors.

- ‘Recently the educational system comes under increasing ideological pressure from the far right. Our initiative is meant to be a response to the nationalist propaganda and indoctrination’ - said Rafal Pankowski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

- ‘Our project is not over and the content will be constantly supplemented. We would like to invite institutions, organisations and individuals to join’ - added Dr Gavin Rae (Leon Kozminski Academy, Forward Foundation).

The Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass, also known as Reichskristallnacht or Reichspogromnacht in German) was a pogrom against the Jews in Nazi Germany on the night of 9 November 1938. It symbolised another wave of Nazi repressions against the Jews, which culminated in the Holocaust. For years the Kristallnacht anniversary has been commemorated as the International Day against Fascism and Antisemitism.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization founded in 1996. It has campaigned against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

Additional information:

www.neveragainassociation.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

THE VIRUS OF HATE AND STEVE BANNON’S DECLARATION OF WAR

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has echoed the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ warning against ‘the tsunami of hate and xenophobia’ sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. The Warsaw-based organization has published its latest REPORT ‘The Virus of Hate: Brown Book of the Epidemic’. The report documents acts of racism, xenophobia and discrimination which have occurred in the context of the coronavirus in Poland in recent weeks and months.

The authors of the report recorded cases of assaults on members of minorities who are unjustly blamed for spreading the virus, as well as numerous examples of hate speech and conspiracy theories about the pandemic spread by the far right.

The descriptions collected on over 30 pages include the following events:

- On 1 March, during mass in the St. Michael Archangel church in Wroclaw Fr. Leonard Wilczynski, belonging to the Salesian order, stated in his homily that the COVID-19 pandemic is ‘God’s punishment for living in the sin of homosexuality’. He also added that the Chinese ‘are dirty, eat bats and dead fetuses’.

- On 25 March in Sosnowiec three men attacked a female of Chinese descent – a scientific worker of the Silesian University. The victim said: ‘They surrounded me, I was so afraid - even now I am trembling. They kept shouting «virus» and «China»’. She also added: ‘I do not feel safe here as a woman of Chinese descent’.

- On 8 April in Szprotawa local media reported that a security guard of the local supermarket refused a Ukrainian man entrance to the store on the grounds of his nationality. One witness to the event reported: ‘When the young man wanted to enter the store, the security guard asked him if he was Polish or Ukrainian. When he replied that he was Ukrainian, he was told that he could not go inside’. The employee’s xenophobic behaviour stemmed from the false belief that all persons of Ukrainian origin in the town were carriers of COVID-19.

- On 8 April, Radio Wnet in Warsaw presented its listeners with a special programme introducing a conspiracy theory pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocated by well-known British extremist, David Icke. According to Icke, the responsibility for the pandemic rests with a secret global group, described as a ‘cult’, with which ‘madmen from Silicon Valley’, the World Health Organization, the British heir to the throne Prince Charles, and entrepreneur Bill Gates are connected.

- In the second half of April in Poznan, in the middle of the night, unknown perpetrators smashed the windows of a flat occupied by a Filipino man, who has been living in Poland for ten years. A report about it was broadcast on 23 April on the television channel, TVN24, and that night, there was a second attack on the flat, with stones once again being thrown. According to the victim, both attacks were associated with the COVID-19 epidemic and hostility towards people of Asian origin. ‘Some Filipinos experience incidents of people shouting «corona!» after them on the streets. One of the Filipinos was spat in the face and called «Chinese». We are very afraid’ – he said.

- On April 25 Grzegorz Braun, a Member of Parliament representing the Confederation party, shared his views on the pandemic in an interview on YouTube: ‘Jew-communists are trying to use the coronavirus to get rid of Trump […]. Bill Gates is heading for a situation in which each person on this globe will need to legitimise  his or her existence with a certificate of kosher standard’. On 6 May, during a speech in the Polish Parliament, Braun made threats of death by hanging to the Minister of Health, Lukasz Szumowski, in reaction to sanitary measures introduced in the preceding weeks in connection with COVID-19. On 8 May in Warsaw Braun together with Piotr Rybak (who had been convicted for publicly burning an effigy of a Jew in Wroclaw in 2015) participated in skirmishes with the police during a protest against sanitary restrictions imposed to combat the epidemic.

- On 9th May, TVP Info, a Polish state-run television channel, broadcast a thirty-minute conversation with Steve Bannon, an idol of the international alt-right movement and former advisor to Donald Trump. Bannon presented an ideological conspiracy theory on the COVID-19 pandemic, using military rhetoric. He stated: ‘This is really a serious matter, and I think that every leader in every country in the world should listen when the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces [the President] says that we have been attacked just like at Pearl Harbour and this time the Chinese are responsible. […] The real dark days are ahead, […] now they are turning to a kinetic type of war. […] This was like an order of assassination. The death of each person, each nurse, each doctor can be blamed on the Chinese Communist Party’.  He also added a confrontation with China was inevitable and said: ‘This is our goal, our destiny’.

According to the research carried out in April 2020 by the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, as many as 45 percent of Poles believe in conspiracy theories alleging that ‘some foreign forces or countries intentionally spread the coronavirus’ and only 42 percent recognize its natural origin confirmed by scientific knowledge.

Rafal Pankowski, a co-author of the report of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and a sociology professor at the Collegium Civitas university, commented: - ‘The global pandemic is also a global crisis of social trust and values amid confusion and anxiety. It is fertile ground for the dangerous growth of xenophobia and conspiracy theories. For the first time in Polish history we are dealing with such a wave of hatred against people of Asian origin, but the antisemitic stereotypes are also present, together with hostility and contempt for various other groups - for example Roma, Africans, Ukrainians, Americans, Russians, as well as Muslims, refugees, LGBT people, environmentalists, vegans, and others’.

- ‘Unfortunately, the media are also involved in promoting conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, often inviting people with extreme views as experts. These «experts» are also gaining popularity on the web, where antisemitic and xenophobic content is distributed on a massive scale. Companies such as YouTube and Facebook, contrary to their formal announcements, often tolerate such content on their platforms’ - said Dr. Anna Tatar, co-author of the ‘Brown Book’.

- ‘Examples of hatred are unfortunately coming from the top. In a pandemic, conspiracy theories promoted by public figures: celebrities, artists, politicians, journalists and clergy are particularly alarming’ - adds Jacek Dziegielewski, also a co-author of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association report.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent organization established in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia, both in Poland and internationally. Among others, it is a member of the International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH), which brings together organizations from twenty countries fighting hatred and discrimination on the Internet. Together with partners from Estonia, Slovakia, Romania and Spain, it conducts research on hate speech as part of the Opcode: Open Code for Hate-Free Communication project.

‘The Virus of Hate: Brown Book of the Epidemic’ (full text report in PDF)

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD FOR ‘NEVER AGAIN’ CO-FOUNDER

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association's co-founder Rafal Pankowski received this year’s Paul Ehrlich-Gunther K. Schwerin Human Rights Award.

The Award was established in 1998 by the US-based Anti-Defamation League to honour those who have fought antisemitism throughout Europe. The award was presented by the ADL’s Director of European Affairs Andrew Srulevitch during his visit to Poland on 6 February 2019.

In the preceding months, Rafal Pankowski had been subjected to numerous public attacks for his work in documenting and countering antisemitism and xenophobia. Several days before the handing of the award, government-controlled TV labelled the Warsaw-born researcher as ‘a horrible person’, ‘belonging to the worst sort of Poles’ who ‘lives from a hatred of his own fatherland’. In response, the Polish Human Rights Commissioner Adam Bodnar initiated a formal complaint to the National Council of Radio and Television in protest against the hateful language used on air.

In 2018, Rafal Pankowski (who is also a Sociology Professor at Warsaw's Collegium Civitas) authored the widely discussed article detailing the resurgence of antisemitic discourse in Polish media and politics, published by the Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. Over the years he has cooperated with numerous think tanks and academic institutions including, among others, Chatham House (London), the Institute of Human Sciences (Vienna), and the Centre for European Studies at Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok).

He was recently included in the annual ‘J100’ list announced by editors of The Algemeiner, a New York-based Jewish weekly. The list recognizes one hundred people who made positive contribution to the life of the Jewish communities in the last year and, besides political figures, it has included actress Sharon Stone, the UK's Prince William and Indian conductor Zubin Mehta, among others. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ co-founder was commended for his role in opposing antisemitism and racism.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent organization established in Warsaw in 1996. ‘NEVER AGAIN’ has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

More information:

Rafal Pankowski, ‘The Resurgence of Antisemitic Discourse in Poland’, ‘Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs’, July 2018: http://bit.do/eSdus

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

A VICTORY AGAINST ONLINE PEDDLERS OF HATRED

In the space of three months the ‘NEVER AGAIN’Association, in cooperation with Allegro (the biggest online e-commerce platform in East-Central Europe), has effected the removal of over 1,000 auctions of newly manufactured items with racist, fascist and antisemitic content. The platform has now turned to the representatives of the association with a suggestion that they develop systems for recognising and eliminating all such future offers.   

The items offered for sale included, among others, necklaces, signet rings and badges with Nazi swastikas, contemporary imitations of Nazi military decorations, a brass bust of Hitler, watches, lighters and flasks with emblems of the Third Reich, Hitler Youth pocket knives, mugs with images of Hitler, T-shirts with the inscription ‘No apologies for Jedwabne’ (Jedwabne is a town in North-East Poland where in 1941 a group of Poles burned to death hundreds of their Jewish neighbours), CDs with music by the leading neo-fascist bands, and even a contemporary coffee grinder with an SS symbol.

- ‘The Internet has become a space in which hatred is propagated on a large scale and in various ways. Allegro, the largest e-commerce company in Poland, has decided to strive to eradicate this type of offers and we are more than pleased with the results of our cooperation ‘ - said Dr Anna Tatar from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association. - ‘A lot of effort is still needed to make objects or publications with racist and antisemitic content disappear from this site for good.’

- ‘It seems particularly important to remove numerous auctions offering neo-fascist music. Music is a strong carrier of ideologies, including racist extremism. When we searched Allegro we saw how easy it was to find albums of bands whose songs had references to Mein Kampf, the Aryan race, the tearing out of >the Hebrew root<, the white revolution, or national socialism. Today, the availability of such releases has been significantly reduced’ - said Jacek Dziegielewski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

Thanks to the cooperation with ‘NEVER AGAIN’, hundreds of sale offers have been removed by Allegro. Over 640 of them related to items such as replicas / imitations of Nazi decorations and 230 were auctions of CDs with fascist music. There were over 70 jewellery auctions (signet rings, pendants), over 30 auctions of T-shirts with antisemitic and racist slogans, as well as more than 50 auctions of other Nazi-style gadgets, such as watches or lighters with SS symbols.

The deletion of sales offers or auctions which are contrary to law is permitted by articles 256 and 257 of the Polish Criminal Code together with the provisions in Appendix No. 1 to the Allegro Code of Conduct. Allegro has also developed a programme named ‘The Rights Protection Cooperation’ under which the service aims to eliminate illicit offers. On 21 March 2018, the International Day for Combatting Racial Discrimination, ‘NEVER AGAIN’ became an official partner in this program for a three-month pilot period. Currently both organisations are working together to develop further methods of cooperation.

Established in 1999, Allegro is one of the biggest Internet sales companies in Europe. In 2017, it had over 16 million users and more than 20 million accounts. Between 2008 and 2016 it was owned by the South African corporation Naspers (formerly Nationale Pers, a company linked with the apartheid system). For years, the platform was used for sales of racist and fascist propaganda products.

The campaign of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association against the sales of items with racist material on Allegro commenced as far back as 2009. That year a petition appealing for the removal of such auctions was signed by several thousand people, including well-known figures from the fields of culture and civil society. A court case related to the campaign led to a Supreme Court ruling in 2015, in which the Supreme Court of Poland stated the criticism of the company by activists and artists for allowing the sales of racist materials was legitimate. The continued campaign led Allegro to its later decision to establish cooperation with ‘NEVER AGAIN’.

For over a decade now the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has been taking various actions to stop the promotion of racist and antisemitic hatred on the Internet. Its programme called ‘Racism-Delete’ has had a number of successes. One of them was the decision by the Polish authorities in 2014 to ratify the Council of Europe’s Convention on Cybercrime together with the Additional Protocol on combatting racism.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association was founded in Warsaw in 1996 by Marcin Kornak (1968-2014). Throughout the years it has campaigned against racism, antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. It has conducted anti-racist educational campaigns in the field of music and sports and it has been personally supported by numerous figures including Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is also a member of the International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH), which brings together organizations from twenty countries fighting hatred and discrimination on the Internet.

Further information may be found on:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

PROTESTS AGAINST A NAZI CELEBRITY IN THE NATIONAL STADIUM

The National Boxing Gala, announced as the biggest boxing event in Polish history, is to take place at Warsaw’s National Stadium on May 25th. Minister Anna Maria Anders – daughter of the legendary World War II general – who is now the Prime Minister’s plenipotentiary for international dialogue has extended her patronage over the event. Curiously, the gala features Artur Binkowski, a Polish-Canadian neo-Nazi.

The bouts are to be accompanied by music performances by pop stars including the famous Polish rapper Liroy who is also a Member of Parliament. The host and ring announcer is to be Michael Buffer, known for his collaboration with Donald Trump. The organizer, Marcin Najman, an ex European champion in kickboxing, says that the gala constitutes a form of celebration of the 100th anniversary of Poland’s regaining of independence.

The now 43-year old Binkowski reached quarter-finals at the Olympic Games in Sydney, representing Canada, where he lives. His biggest claim to fame was a minor role as a boxer in the 2005 movie ‘Cinderella Man’ with Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger. Since 2012 he boxes mainly in Poland and is known to have had  problems with the law. In a recent incident in Canada, he was arrested and held for a month in February this year.

During a press conference at the National Stadium, Binkowski  made a speech in which he called for a ‘pure white Poland’ and condemned politicians whom he does not recognize as ‘true Poles’. He also paid homage to a group of supporters whom he called ‘my skinheads’.

In his social media posts Binkowski frequently promotes songs from the repertoire of the neo-Nazi band Honor, he also posts his own comments with racist and antisemitic contents, e.g. ‘We are still under partition of foreign powers!! And this has gone on for almost 300 years. The first time, they raped us physically!! After World War II we were occupied by Russia. In 1989 our mothers and fathers rejected Moscow, Russia and Communism. Since 1989 to this time and it’s almost 2020, we are ruled by Jews and Israel!!’ In another post he comments: ‘Lefties, Judases, poisoned brains (…) Jews are making them into idiots and traitors. They should be  stood up against a wall and shot.’

The organizers of the Gala have not backed out of featuring Binkowski who is to fight with Najman. His name is seen on the official internet site of the National Stadium. The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has been asked to intervene in this matter by a correspondent who wrote: ‘This is simply shocking! This man wipes his face with the Polish flag, shouts abuse and promotes a  neo-Nazi group, while himself sporting a cap with the >Poland resists<  anchor symbol or a T-shirt depicting the Warsaw Uprising. I myself practice martial arts and see that this imbecile is becoming a role-model for young boys.’

- ‘The National Stadium is not a private playground but a public edifice built before the 2012 European Football Championships’ - says Rafal Pankowski, who coordinated the anti-racist campaign ‘RESPECT Diversity’, carried out by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association as part of the UEFA Euro 2012 Social Responsibility Programme. – ‘If the organizers do not change their mind, we call upon Madam Anders to immediately withdraw her support for the event.’

- ‘There is no place for discrimination in sports. It should unite people, not divide them on the basis of origin or skin colour. There must be no place for hatred. The organizers of the National Boxing Gala and the hosts of the National Stadium should think this over’ - adds Piotr Ciolkowski, a sports educator who co-leads the ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’ initiative of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

Witold Liliental, a Canadian-based friend and cooperator of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, says: - ‘I have some doubts as to a boxing gala being the best way of celebration of an important national anniversary. As to the idea of a known racist and white supremacist being the star of the show, I have not the slightest doubts. It is a profanation of all that I have been taught:  tolerance, respect and decency. Binkowski’s behaviour brings shame to both Poland and Canada. I wonder why some known artists agree to perform at such an event. This gala with this man must not be allowed to happen.’

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization,  founded in 1996. It conducts campaigns such as ‘Music Against Racism’, and ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’. Together with the Fare network, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association coordinated anti-racist educational activities around UEFA Euro 2012 in Poland and  Ukraine.

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ