XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.politics.immigration, alt.politics   
   From: d@ray   
      
   Warsaw, Poland – Under the auspices of cracking down on so-called “hate   
   rhetoric,” Poland’s new liberal-left government is seeking restrictions on   
   free speech. The move has raised concern with the country’s traditional   
   right wing, with members of the Konfederacja (Confederation) party voicing   
   a need to safeguard public discourse.   
      
   According to a new report by Remix, Poland’s Confederation party has   
   denounced a plan by the ruling progressive coalition to penalize what it   
   calls “hate speech.” While the government says their proposed restrictions   
   seek to defend immigrants, religious minorities, and homosexuals,   
   Confederation asserts that limiting dissent in this manner would only serve   
   to “destroy free speech” amongst Poles.   
      
   Poland’s current left-wing coalition took control of parliament in October   
   after it ousted the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) after eight   
   years of power.   
      
   MP Karina Bosak defiantly voiced the party’s concerns, stating that   
   regulations will only curb free expression and debate in Poland and   
   ultimately criminalize conservative and religious viewpoints.   
      
   “The ruling coalition, as part of its coalition agreement, has announced   
   that they want to penalize so-called hate speech,” said Confederation MP   
   Karina Bosak. “The current left-wing Deputy Minister of Justice Krzysztof   
   Śmiszek, from the New Left, has stated that his department is currently   
   working on introducing these regulations, which limit freedom of speech and   
   public debate in Poland.”   
      
   “We, as the Confederation, strongly oppose this. The direct consequence of   
   criminalizing certain words will, in fact, be the criminalization of   
   conservative, religious, Christian views,” she continued.   
      
   Bosak further stressed the need for free and open public debate, rejecting   
   the notion of any topics being off-limits: “(Confederation) does not want   
   there to be any sacred cows in Poland, that there are social groups whose   
   ideas cannot be criticized at all in a healthy, free public debate.”   
      
   "We will defend Poles against such regulations and proposals that threaten   
   freedom of speech and their values," she declared.   
      
   Party member Dobromir Sośnierz echoed Bosak's sentiments. He argued that   
   what is deemed hate speech by the left could simply refer to speech   
   disliked by the ruling coalition and Minister Śmiszek, rather than speech   
   expressing a genuine hatred towards someone.   
      
   “This government is starting not by expanding our freedoms but by limiting   
   them again, which will also lead to clogging up the courts,” Sośnierz said.   
      
   Deputy Minister Śmiszek—an open homosexual—recently drew criticism for   
   legislative changes that would find those who practice "hate speech"   
   against homosexuals to be criminally liable. In a public statement, the   
   far-left lawmaker expressed a desire to ban so-called "homophobic" and   
   "discriminatory" statements in the public sphere.   
      
   “The time has come to ban disgusting, homophobic, discriminatory statements   
   in the public sphere,” he said.   
      
   Minister Śmiszek's apparent willingness to subvert the largely Christian   
   and conservative inclinations of the Polish people has surfaced in recent   
   years. In May of 2023, the gay MP introduced legislation that would remove   
   the need for parental consent to perform sex change operations on minors.   
      
   In October, Śmiszek made headlines for a symbolic "marriage" to Robert   
   Biedroń, leader of the Spring party and his partner of 23 years. The two   
   men reportedly engaged in the political stunt to outrageously call for   
   so-called "marriage equality" in Poland, a country that in 2023, was ranked   
   as "one of the worst" places to live for European homosexuals.   
      
   “There were nerves and emotions, but there was also anger that in 2023, in   
   the middle of Europe, two people who love each other are not recognised by   
   their country," said Śmiszek of his marriage ceremony. "...That instead of   
   respect and dignity, hundreds of thousands of people in Poland receive   
   contempt.”   
      
   The latest assault against free expression in Poland comes amid a series of   
   free-speech-related outrages erupting across the Western world. In the   
   United Kingdom, restrictive, heavy-handed hate speech legislation was used   
   to convict multiple pro-White, nationalist activists, including Sam Melia   
   of Patriotic Alternative. According to prosecutors, Melia is alleged to   
   have "stirred racial hatred" for a series of stickers that merely raised   
   awareness of the consequences of unchecked immigration into the UK.   
      
   In the United States, a wave of anti-Zionist sentiment inside college   
   campuses triggered calls for restricting freedom of speech in America. The   
   demands—stemming from college professors and others seeking to protect   
   American Jews from co-called "antisemitism"—come amid an increasingly   
   bloody, Israel-imposed war on Gaza, which has levied accusations of   
   genocide and resulted in over 22,000 Palestinians dead.   
      
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   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)