The Liberal Culture has late published an interesting text by Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz entitled "Citizens for the Galactic. Sienkiewicz is simply a colourful figure, a Polish liberal, known for his public activity, but most likely even more due to the fact that he was Minister of Interior with Tusk.
And here he is, undoubtedly 1 of the most crucial people in the ellipse of Polish liberals, publishing a text in which he feels sorry for the deficiency of civilian virtues of the large number of Polish inhabitants.
He specifically means that, in connection with the announcement by the MON of an increase in the number of reservists appointed for the exercise, "a kind of panic in social media broke out, as if it were a "multipolska" before the January uprising or the restoration of universal collection". As Sienkiewicz continues: “Young men have invoked freedom of choice, contempt for the inept state that ‘does not deliver’ the basic services, so they feel relieved of their duties towards him, or straight against the ‘death for this country’.
Sienkiewicz condemns this attitude and calls those who refuse to fulfil this kind of responsibilities "snifflers", i.e., as he explains, "people who, within the community, benefit from the fruit of Community action, while not contributing what is expected of all".
I am amazed to read Sienkiewicz's statements, due to the fact that it is simply a way of arguing, which is apparent to a man with right-wing or conservative views, but not to a liberal.
However, Mr Bartholomew feels very moved by the fact that “more than a 3rd of citizens see no reason for individual participation in the defence or treat the state as a set of professional services, and they are the ones there who should fulfil this obligation. Most of the votes against the training of reservists most likely came from this group."
The number of 1 3rd of citizens of this kind Sienkiewicz deduced from 1 of the polls, which investigated the declarations of Poles on their engagement in the defence of the country.
In fact, I could say that I share Mr Sienkiewicz's views on this peculiar issue, due to the fact that it is indeed a scandalous substance that so many citizens do not want to fulfil the work to defend the state.
However, the absurdity of this situation is that it is the formation where Mr.Sienkiewicz was a minister, or PO, that was, and most likely inactive is, the political voice of people who have this attitude towards military service. So it turns out that Sienkiewicz, through specified condemnation of the refusing service, strikes the most at the electorate of his own party, because, as he states many poll studies, there are the most that I will effort to show below.
For most people, the message that liberals do not want to service in the army is rather obvious, but let us examine where this came from and who contributed most to the fact that we have specified a situation today, on this issue.
Already in the 2007 election campaign, i.e. before the first winnings by the PO, by elections, this organization made a promise to abolish the draft.
This promise, in my view, was 1 of the main reasons, as not the most important, which caused the PO to win these elections. Besides, she was besides 1 of the very fewer promises of the PO, which was full fulfilled by this party. In an exposé on November 23, 2007, Tusk said: “We will not wait until the next parliamentary word with the service of the army. (...) Therefore, next year we will reduce the intake and 2009 we will quit it in full.”
That promise Tusk kept. In addition, in 2009-2012, the appointment of reservists for the exercise was besides abandoned.
I think that a group of young men who did not want to service in any way in the army, and their caring parents, was the component of the voters who secured the triumph for Tusk in 2007 and besides voted again for his organization in 2011. In the press at the time, it was possible to read about the enthusiastic support for this thought of the PO, which was considered a blessing, as a “announcement of amnesty”.
Today, as a consequence of the war-related situation in Ukraine, the issue of reservists' training has returned, or even the restoration of conscription, it turns out that it is among the supporters of the opposition, but for the Confederacy, that there are the most opponents of specified moves.
And so, the CBOS survey of September this year, describing the attitude of Poles to the work of military service, indicates that the majority of Poles are in favour of restoring the conscription to the essential military service. A full of 54 percent are in favour of this solution.
However, if you look at the supporters of individual parties, it is different. Only among PiS and Confederate voters is the majority of supporters of the collection (PiS – 68%, Confederacy – 61%), while voters of another parties, mostly do not want to reconstruct this kind of military service (KO – 45 percent, Left – 35 percent, Poland 2050 Holownia – 34 percent).
The attitude to reinstatement translates into the attitude to military service in general. announcement that Simon Holowna’s supporters are the most unwillingness to reconstruct the collection. In another survey, published by the Republic of Poland in April of this year, we have data that should even more worry Mr Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz. The survey confirmed that “in the case of aggression of a abroad country, all 4th Pole would effort to go abroad, and only 1 in 5 would appear in the military, paramilitary formation or hospital.”
That means 25% of citizens would effort to escape, not engage in the defence of Poland. And here, too, it turns out that among opposition supporters the participation of specified individuals is much higher than in the full society. According to Rzeczpospolita: “The majority of opposition supporters (42%), women (34%), young people aged between 18 and 29 (57%), (...), who in the last presidential election put Simon Holovnia (56%).
It looks very ugly for the opposition, especially for Holowna supporters.
It is not essential to be peculiarly inquisitive to note that specified a state of awareness of citizens with respect to the fulfilment of the work of defence of the state, namely its rejection, especially by the electorate of liberal and left-wing opposition parties, stems straight from their ideology.
If young people have been told over the years that patriotism has been imposed on collecting dog purchases and sorting waste, and in no case a military service, if late activists and parliamentarians of opposition parties have cast the worst invectors of soldiers and officers defending the border with Belarus, then how can it be expected that supporters of specified parties may want to defend the borders of their homeland and hazard their lives.
Therefore, expressed by Mr Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, disapproval for those who waive the work to defend the country, it seems to me unusual and dubious, or sincere. Something like a lamentation over spilled milk by individual who had previously spilled milk on purpose.
Stanisław Lewicki
