The weeklies discuss a war on Poland’s political scene, Poland becoming Europe’s leading marijuana producer, and are Polish teens obsessed with sex?
Reviewed by Krysia Kolosowska.
‘Growling Poland,’ ‘the Smolensk war over memory’ – two headlines in the weeklies sum up the debate in Poland which has turned the 10 April Smolensk tragedy into a political issue. After a subdued presidential campaign, hushed by the air crash that killed Poland’s president and 95 others, the opposition Law and Justice returned to a radical rhetoric, blaming the Civic Platform government for the tragedy. Newsweek says, however, that Civic Platform should be glad: the political threat posed by Kaczynski’s warmer image has decreased now. The weekly believes that Law and Justice is on a good way to wasting its popularity capital gained during the presidential campaign. But it looks like putting the blame for Smolensk on Tusk is more important for Kaczynski than the fate of his party and return to power. The Law and Justice leader is regarding this as his last service to his late brother.
Polityka has drawn similar conclusions. The mask is down, it writes, Law and Justice will lose and will move away from the center – commentators predict. It is hard to say when the party was in the center at all, but it seems that Jaroslaw Kaczynski has, perhaps for the first time, shifted struggle for the position and future of his party to the backburner. Revenge is the most important thing.
“What I regret most is that the Church has become a part of this war” – father Adam Boniecki, chief editor of Tygodnik Powszechny – tells the weekly Wprost. The involvement of some bishops in whipping up emotions over the Smolensk catastrophe is casting a shadow on the image of the whole Church, adds the priest. According to right-wing politician Aleksander Hall, the crucial question is whether the minority, which is trying to create a new Smolensk myth, will be able to mobilize a majority and turn it into an election force. Political analyst, professor Jacek Wodz says Law and Justice assumes that its electorate is more responsive to emotions than rational arguments. That is why it put a stake on the Smolensk tragedy. This is a scenario Law and Justice will present to us in the near future. This is its way of consolidating and expanding the faithful electorate.
Gazeta Polska wants Smolensk to be given an international dimension. Only bringing this issue up on the international forum may – though it is not certain – force Moscow to accelerate the investigation and uncover at least partly the Smolensk mystery, writes a commentator with the paper. Without turning to international institutions, including the EU, and international public opinion we will not get through the Russian wall. Also. because the Polish government has assumed the role of Pontius Pilate and washed its hands.
Poland has become one of the biggest producers of marijuana in Europe – warns the weekly Przekroj. Last year, 860 kilograms of the narcotic drug were seized by the police, twice as much as in 2008 and four times more than in 2005. Several dozen illegal plantations were liquidated last year. The biggest, with 2,300 cannabis plants grown under roof, was found near Pyrzyce in north-western Poland. It would have yielded marijuana worth 1.3 million zlotys (over 300,000 euro).
Illegal plantations are established in deserted warehouses out of town as well as in buildings in city centers. Western Poland is a preferred location because the bulk of the drug produced is smuggled abroad, mainly to Germany, the Netherlands as well as the Czech Republic (which legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use a few months ago).
A porn generation is the cover story in Tygodnik Powszechny this week. Polish social networking portals, dating and photo websites have become full of nude images placed by minors, writes the weekly. Some are truly hard porn. Many are just clumsy experiments with the erotica. Most profiles of teenagers, alongside conventional photos, contain images with strong erotic undertones. This is a sign of our times, sexologist dr Andrzej Depko tells the weekly. Take Big Brother, alone, which showed that we have nothing to hide. The more you reveal, the stronger acceptance you win. Tygodnik Powszechny claims that this is not a marginal phenomenon, even though no data are available on Poland. A “Sex and Tech” study made in the US by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unwanted Pregnancy revealed that 21 percent of teen girls and 18 percent of teen boys have sent or posted nude or semi-nude images of themselves.
Thenews.pl |
