An event on the popular Facebook social networking site which promoted an event entitled “A day without Smolensk” gained over 100,000 supporters in only a few days, only to be suddenly dropped by its organiser.

By John Beauchamp

 

The event on Facebook proposed the initiative to make 3 February 2011 a day when the subject of the Smolensk catastrophe, as well as related matters, such as the ongoing investigation and the recently released findings into the crash published in report by the Russian-led Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) would simply disappear from public debate for one day.

“I have been wondering for quite some time if the media frenzy surrounding the Smolensk catastrophe will ever end,” the event’s organiser, Piotr Stohnij, who is reported to be politically  unaffiliated, told the Rzeczpospolita daily on Monday, adding that “I believe that public debate [about Smolensk] needs to cool off.”

“This is not a reaction to the catastrophe, but because the subject is constantly raised, discussed, and one can also say, omnipresent,” internet sociologist Doctor Dominik Batorski from Warsaw University told the alert24.pl portal.

“Many people simply want to concern themselves with other matters,” Batorski continues, adding that it is not the case that interest in Smolensk is falling, but that “many people are tired with the political discourse surrounding the subject.”

Such ‘Smolensk fatigue’ prompted over 100,000 Facebook users to sign up to the event, which proposed a halt to what the organisers believed was a bitter political dispute surrounding the Smolensk catastrophe, the disintegration of public debate, as well as a media frenzy surrounding the tragedy, notably around the controversial MAK report released earlier in January.

This is not the first time social networking sites and the internet have been used to voice public protest or promote such initiatives as “A day without Smolensk”.

Social networking sites have gained notoriety in Poland for airing the opinions of the country’s internet users. When the announcement was made that Polish President Lech Kaczynski was going to be buried in Wawel Cathedral in Krakow, internet groups, including an online petition, sprung up in protest, gaining thousands of followers.

Initiative deepens political divide?

The event itself stirred media this week, with politicians from all spectrums commenting on the Facebook initiative.

Various politicians from Law and Justice were disgusted by the initiative, with one MP, Zbigniew Kozak going so far as to tell the daily Polska The Times that the Facebook event “resembles an initiative in the style of [maverick politician] Janusz Palikot,” adding that it simply served to distract public attention from the “real problems of the consequences surrounding the Smolensk tragedy.”

Ryszard Czarnecki, a PiS MEP told the Rzeczpospolita daily that “if the investigations, especially on the Russian side, were undertaken correctly then there would be no need for such public alarm as to the doubt [surrounding the investigation].”

Meanwhile, politicians from PO had mixed views about the initiative. Grzegorz Karpinski told the Rzeczpospolita daily that he does not support the initiative, as “every day brings to light new information as to the causes of the catastrophe.”

However, Robert Wegrzyn, another PO politician, told TOK FM radio that the initiative to mark 3 February as a day without any discussion about Smolensk “is a question of [public] declaration and goodwill.”

“If we agree that on a specific day we won’t talk [about Smolensk] then I think that everyone will sign up,” Wegrzyn added.

Wreckage of the presidential Tu-154 in Smolensk. Photo: east news

Burning bridges…

Wegrzyn’s words may have fallen on deaf ears, however, as after merely three days the event was scrapped from Facebook at midnight beginning Wednesday.

“The ‘Day without Smolensk’ is your incredible success,” the event notice read, stating that “over one hundred thousand individuals who joined in the initiative created a unique force, a human appeal for calm dialogue, honest debate, and the restoration of respect to one of Poland’s greatest tragedies.”

However, according to Stohnij, the initiative “became a pawn in a [political and social] game,” and “was manipulated to deepen the abyss which has divided Poland.”

“This is unjust, and the worst fact is, is that it misses the point of this initiative of building bridges,” Stohnij wrote on the Facebook page, announcing the decision to take down the event from the social networking site altogether.

No-Smolensk day to go ahead anyway?

As soon as the announcement was made to pull the event from Facebook, a whole array of similar initiatives sprung up, continuing for the call to drop the Smolensk issue on 3 February.

Other groups called for the banning of all politics for a month, a complete disappearance of the Smolensk catastrophe from public view altogether, as well as motions to ban certain political figures from public debate, including both Jaroslaw Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk, from PiS and PO respectively.

The fate of “A day without Smolensk” may be sealed, but support for the initiative may reveal that ‘Smolensk fatigue’ among members of Polish society, particularly amongst the youth, has become very real. (pg)