Poland: Kaczynski’s confused speeches | tagesschau.de

Brussels is a branch of Berlin, the EU is at war against Poland, the low birth rate is a result of high alcohol consumption by women – PiS boss Kaczynski irritates with confused speeches. This becomes a problem for his party.

The lectern from which Jaroslaw Kaczynski speaks to his supporters almost every week always looks the same. Kaczynski always looks the same, too, in a black suit with a black tie. The performances could seem like one big speech full of steep theses if it weren’t for the changing place names on the podium. Last weekend there was Jastrzebie Zdroj, a small spa town in the south of the country.

As is usual with his appearances, Kaczynski quickly becomes fundamental: “The stakes in the coming elections are high. (…) If the opposition wins, Poland will soon no longer be a democratic state that is working on at least a reasonably fair society. That goes without saying.”

One year until the general election

It is almost a year until the Polish parliamentary elections. But the head of the ruling PiS party has been on the road for weeks, always in small, closed events, exclusively in front of invited party supporters.

During his appearances, he explains that Brussels is a branch of Berlin, the EU is at war with Poland, and the opposition wants Poland under foreign rule. And if the PiS loses, the chairman indicated, things could not have been right. He is also concerned with the rights of trans people, who are said to make 12-year-olds change their gender at will.

Then Kaczynski goes too far

But then Kaczynski makes a mistake: He chooses a goal that is not distant and abstract for most Poles. At an event in Elk, he explained that women themselves are to blame for the low birth rate in Poland: “If women under 25 continue to drink as much as their peers, then there will be no more children. Because you have to consider: a man can Drink alcohol regularly for over 20 years until he becomes an alcoholic. A woman only two years.”

That was too much. Suddenly, social media is full of posts in which women ironically explain that they already have children. Then they should probably finally drink now.

Anna Lewandowska, wife of footballer Robert Lewandowski and otherwise more publicly concerned with fitness issues, explains that as a wife and mother she has had enough. She is angry. Others write that it is amazing that a single man with no children could express himself in this way.

Left-wing politician demands apology

Katarzyna Kotula, a Left Party MP, urges Kaczynski to apologize publicly. After all, Poland’s de facto ban on abortion is responsible, among other things: “Women are afraid that they will have to give birth to fetuses that are incurably damaged, that they will die during childbirth and the doctors won’t help because they are afraid. (…) We also have the highest inflation in 25 years. (…) Maybe they don’t know that, but you have to feed, dress and send a child to daycare. All of that costs money.”

In surveys, almost three-quarters of those surveyed said that Kaczynski insulted women with his speech. Even within the PiS, it is tentatively said that there may be a need to talk to the chairman.

Journalist: Kaczynski wants to mobilize committed voters

Kaczynski apparently doesn’t see it himself. Because the main thing is to mobilize the committed PiS electorate, not the others, explains journalist Zusanna Dabrowska from the newspaper “Rzeczpospolita”: “Kaczynski is implementing a well thought-out strategy of division. He wants to take the lead in the majority and stigmatize the minority. (…) It’s mostly senior citizens, mostly men, who vote for PiS. And so it doesn’t matter whether it’s against refugees, LGBT people and young women who drink. There has to be an enemy, one Giving opponents so you can rally around the chairman and feel safe.”

For the PiS, Kaczynski becomes a problem

The great media attention for Kaczynski’s speeches, which were actually only tailored to PiS supporters, is becoming a problem for the party. Roman Imielski, a journalist for Gazeta Wyborcza, says: “If you talk to some PiS MPs, they say these performances are bad. The party leader is attached to his rhetoric, there must always be an evil Donald Tusk, LGBT, the courts , the bad EU and the German superiority. In order to win the elections, however, it is not enough to mobilize only the core electorate.”

Many more liberal voters who might vote for PiS also hear the speeches and may be put off. Izabela Leszczyna from the PO opposition party put it more sharply: “This elderly gentleman walks around like a drunk uncle at the family celebration and talks this nonsense. (…) He says these things, everyone smiles and doesn’t know what to do with him should. Someone should get him off the stage.”

For the time being, however, Kaczynski has no intention of leaving the stage. The next gig is already planned.