Polish “Anti-Fascists” Call on Facebook to Help Suppress Polish Patriots

In recent years we’ve posted several reports on Poland’s Independence March, which takes place every year in Warsaw on November 11. This year Polish leftists have had some success in suppressing the plans for the march, with the help of social media.

Our Polish correspondent Green Infidel sends this report:

Next month, on November 11, Poland celebrates its Independence Day, remembering the occasion when in 1918 it regained its independence in the aftermath of the First World War. In honour of this occasion, in recent years a march has taken place — the “Independence March”, organised by the National-Radical Camp and the All-Polish Youth, two organisations generally considered “far-right”. As a result, many such marches have in the past resulted in clashes with far-leftists, and with police. In 2011, the far-left organised a blockade of the march and invited members of “Antifa” in Germany to join them. As a result of the publicity ahead of the march, it was much bigger than in previous years, gathering around 30,000 people. Since then, its size has grown and last year was estimated to have been attended by 70,000-100,000 people.

I attended the march in 2011-2013, and always found it to be peaceful, and also free from any obviously hateful slogans. However the mainstream media usually focused on a small number of incidents, mostly involving a few violent protesters chucking rocks while wearing balaclavas. (on some occasions, they were observed to have been in distinct organised groups, leading to accusations that they were provocateurs hired by an outside organisation to deliberately create trouble)

In the run-up to the annual Independence March, the organisers endeavour to send the message out to their followers, especially on Facebook. This year however, in the aftermath of the EU’s efforts to make Facebook clamp down on “hate speech”, the clampdown has especially affected pages associated with the Independence March. The page of the Independence March itself was removed a few months ago — meaning that around 260,000 people who “liked” the page could no longer receive information about the march, which this year is to take place under the slogan “Poland the bastion of Europe”, and is focused on Poland’s resistance to mass immigration.

I previously had “liked” the page, and found it to be mostly a source of information about where/when the march would take place, and it does not seem obvious how the page might have broken Facebook’s community standards. Other pages belonging to the all-Polish Youth, the National-Radical camp have also been removed, most likely as the result of such pages being reported to Facebook.

Yesterday, the “Centre for monitoring racist and xenophobic behaviour” (translation from Polish) — an organisation which describes itself as an NGO in Warsaw — posted an update which sheds some light on their efforts to censor information on this year’s Independence March:

The‎ Facebook pages of the Independence March, All-Polish Youth, National-Radical Camp and the National Movement have all disappeared. The profiles of their activists have also been blocked. This loss hurts, because nationalists used the service to collect money for the Independence March, which will take place in Warsaw on 11 November.

We will let you in on a secret. In the coming days, we will hit 50 more right-wing pages.

Good night white pride 🙂

The highest-rated comment, summing up the efforts of the page was: “Stalin would be proud of the continuation of his communist traditions of censorship” — and indeed, it seems that this tradition continues not just in Western European countries, where political correctness has become endemic, but also in Eastern Europe where, up until now, there has been a far greater freedom of speech regarding the issue of immigration and multiculturalism.

Some organisations, however, seem determined to clamp down on such freedoms and disrupt the debate, also in Eastern Europe.

A separate demonstration against Facebook’s censorship is also planned for 5 November, outside Facebook’s offices in Warsaw.

13 thoughts on “Polish “Anti-Fascists” Call on Facebook to Help Suppress Polish Patriots

  1. Poland needs to delegitimize politically meddlesome quangos that work to subvert the legitimate system. Russia had to do this, and I believe Hungary has done some of it too. They’ll scream, but it will make a difference. Is Poland willing to tackle the money from abroad these groups get?

    It’s far bigger than just interfering with one march.

    Moving to a different social media would make sense, too, no?

    • When Hungary tried to curb the so called “civilian organizations” all receiving funding (Soros) from abroad the EU stepped in to protect them. Unfortunately the government had back down…

    • Poland’s tackling a lot of things at the moment – but as CrossWare says, dealing with the EU can be tricky… besides, is there a foolproof way to stop the money reaching these organisations, and is this the most important anyway? Banning stuff these days can have the effect of causing outrage among people, and sometimes making it attractive to them so, unless the ban can be effective, is there any point to doing so?

      Polish people are very sensitive to things being banned – hopefully, this outrage will also cause a presence on the demo outside Facebook’s offices, and will reverberate more widely around Polish society. I’ll certainly do my bit to spread the word – and maybe also cause some discussion amongst the politically-correct (like one of my FB friends, who’s a big activist in the Soros-funded anti-government group KOD)

      • It’s a valid point, about banning. But fighting Facebook is pointless. Moving elsewhere is the only thing that might be felt by FB and will fix the problem.

        More and more money and power is moved into poorly visible quangos. Sooner or later, this will have to be tackled, if the gov’t is to stand… I am not sure where the right boundary is. But “staging riots” must be on the books somewhere…

        • “Moving elsewhere is the only thing that might be felt by FB and will fix the problem.”

          While most people (at least of a very important age group) are on Facebook, and getting their news from Facebook, how can it be ignored?

          Another platform will have nowhere near the reach.

    • Yes I think so, after all we all know who Zuckerberg is friendly with, don’t we? A certain German Chancellor, and we know her views.

    • The open letter from Polish League Against Defamation to Mr. Richard Allan. The answer concerning discriminatory practices by Facebook in Poland

      Dear Mr. Richard Allan

      In response to your open letter concerning the public uproar about Facebook’s censorship policy that is currently taking place in Poland, I would like to present you with some cultural context that seems to have been missed by your community standards assessment team in dealing with posts and user profiles on Facebook in Poland.

      In your letter you have written about the political neutrality of Facebook and its standards that prohibits hate speech.

      However, at least in the Polish market, it has long been obvious that Facebook administrators use a double standard in relation to its users that bears all the characteristics of discrimination based on religion, political views and nationality.

      This unequal treatment seems directed against those Facebook users who post or at least try to post conservative content associated with, for example, their Catholic faith or their patriotic sentiment.

      This phenomenon can be noticed by the administrators systematic and documented refusal to remove or block (despite repeated reports of violation of standards) content which insults or ridicules Polish heroes fighting for freedom, veterans of World War II and the fight against communism, accounts that slur St. Pope John Paul II and Jesus Christ, or profiles that promote Communist and Nazi content.

      In most of these cases, Facebook reps plainly reply that the content does not violate Facebook’s community standards. When it comes to hate speech, many cases are documented whereas users with seemingly liberal or leftist views use grossly abusive language towards conservative Facebook users, yet notification of such abuse typically ends with a “no violation of standards” response from your team. On the other hand, when users with more conservative views publish information containing references to Polish history and symbolism – Facebook swiftly blocks them for the use of “hate speech.”

      There are known and documented cases of Facebook blocking users who have posted an image of a contemporary Polish Navy pennant that according to Facebook authorities, without precedent, is an example of “symbolism referring to hate speech!” It is worth noting that the user in question happens to be the editor-in-chief of one of Poland’s largest daily newspapers, who consequently closed his Facebook account. Can you imagine such a thing happening to the editor of USA Today after posting the US Navy flag?

      The current public uproar in Poland regarding Facebook’s policies is caused precisely by these kind of practices.

      In your letter you also mention that you care about understanding the context of posted content on Facebook. However, the practice we observe clearly indicates that your team of people who assess the content and who as you claim are Polish native speakers, may indeed write and speak Polish, but absolutely do not understand the specifics of the Polish cultural code, Polish history and Polish symbolism. The profile of a member of parliament was even suspended after he invited his constituents to join a legal gathering to honor Independence Day and on this occasion posted a picture of a sea of Polish flags. Your administrators assessed this as “hate speech!”

      Therefore, it is obvious that your team whose role it is to “examine cultural context” either does not know Polish history, the Polish reality and Polish symbolism (in which case you should consider replacing them), or they do know, and are guided by prejudice, which Facebook management –either doesn’t notice or – God forbid, condones its workers’ discrimination of users based on their nationality, religion or political affiliation.

      These sort of actions lead to a growing perception that Facebook is an arrogant cultural imperialist, who will impose on “the backward, illiterate natives” exactly what to believe in, how to behave and how to express themselves.

      Mr. Allan: we are not the next cohort of “savages” that you need to enlighten and teach civilizational values. The Polish people proudly look back on over a thousand years of history, which nurtured Europe’s first liberal and democratic institutions and traditions, contemporaneous to the Magna Carta. The first democratic constitution in Europe was adopted in Poland more than 200 years ago.

      Last but not least: while Facebook derives commercial profits from advertising and business activities in Poland, it does not comply with the Polish legal system, nor the US Constitution, for that matter.

      Firstly, the Polish constitution prohibits censorship. This shares congruence with the First Amendment of the American Constitution. Facebook’s practice of arbitrarily blocking accounts, is undermining this seminal freedom of expression, which is guaranteed in the Constitutions of both of our countries.

      Secondly, in Poland it is prohibited to promote Communism and Nazism (this comes from brutal historical experiences with totalitarianism). Both of these ideologies are constantly present on Facebook pages made available in Poland and despite numerous reports sent to administrators have not yet been removed. In this way Facebook has become an accomplice in a legal offense described in Art. 256 of the Polish Penal Code.

      Thirdly, in Poland it is prohibited to insult religious feelings, including objects of religious worships (it also comes from our experiences with Communism). Facebook pages are constantly full of offensive content targeting Jesus Christ, St Pope John Paul II and other Saints, the Catholic faith and other Christian faiths. Both Jesus Christ and the Saints of the Catholic Church are objects of religious worship in Poland. Despite repeated requests the Facebook administration does not block such content. Thus, Facebook has become an accomplice in a legal offense defined under Art. 196 of the Polish Penal Code.

      The public upset caused by Facebook’s activities Poland, which goes well beyond the groups that you arbitrarily censored shows how important Facebook has become as a medium. Facebook has a significant impact on the social and political life in Poland, having become a vital space for the solidification of democratic discourse. According to the basic principles of democratic debate, that you hopefully agree with, all participants have the right to express their opinions, even if that opinion is not shared by a platform’s administrators, as long it is legal.

      For further growth of Facebook’s business in Poland, it is important for Facebook to remain an ideologically neutral ground and to put and end to the on-going transformation into an overzealous partisan participant in political battles as well as a censor, which in Poland, especially after the experience with communist censorship, is perceived very negatively by a much larger part of society than the groups you ban.

      If Facebook does not correct their course, a large part of Facebook’s user base that does not identify with the clearly politically biased management of the Polish Facebook administration, will simply shift the center of gravity of its digital presence to a more neutral environment. Trust, advertising, and business will no doubt soon follow. The dynamism of the social media market, which allowed Facebook to quickly gain its dominant position, works both ways, and a negative trend – once started – is very difficult to reverse.

      The events of recent weeks, including Polish Facebook’s employees ostentatious public siding with an extreme political organization as well as their zealous participation in anti-government rallies, along with the blatantly selective and inconsistent censorship applied by Facebook that fails to block the users and posts which glorify the genocidal system of Nazi Germany or Stalinist communism and permits systematic and obscene verbal and graphic abuse of religious people and their beliefs, undermines the perception of Facebook as an ideologically neutral space which is beneficial to the democratic discourse.

      Political disputes will continue, but you should consider how the effect of clumsily taking sides will affect the revenue and growth prospects of Facebook on the Polish market.

      If Facebook does not remove the content or correct the content mentioned above (which insults objects of religious worship, promotes communism, Nazism and other totalitarian systems, insults the heroes of Polish history) and if you do not cease to arbitrarily censor users posting legal content and discriminate against members based on religion, political views and nationality, the organization led by me will take legal action against Facebook in Poland.

      Sincerely,

      Maciej Świrski

      President
      Polish League Against Defamation

      PS. At the occasion of our correspondence, let me ask you one question: Does Facebook pay corporate income taxes for profits from its activity on the Polish market in Poland?

  2. Okay, I know it will sound stupid.

    But WHY can’t we be free to think what we want to think? Why all this crap? And it IS crap.

    Merkel is a dictator, I don’t know much about Zuckerberg but I think he is another squish, polically correct squish I should say.

    I don’t hold any hard opinions, I believe in freedom for all people. Everyone should have a right to their opinion, what ever they are. Why is this so hard, people?

  3. Poland will milk the EU cash cow and Western European countries for all its worth for as long as it can – in any way that it can. Muslims are not even a momentary destraction. Brexit has it right. No real pain no real change or gain. It’s an EU world disorder that needs to be changed anyhow – and now. Britain is leading the way. I am hopeful once again about the apparent beginning to debrudderhud the obama clinton sod off saudi White House USA.

    • I have read that Poland has recently become a net contributor to the EU. Its EU-funded motorways are some of the most expensive toll roads to use in Europe, while much of the money the country does receive in EU funds goes to “anti-racist” gender/GLBT events.

  4. These so called misleadingly named antifas MUST BE SMASHED!!!!

    Theres loads of these dreadlock white squater types in germany and uk,

    Smash them! They operate in gangs, we must operate in gangs,

    Tooled up, and itsctime to seek out any persons who align themselves with these antifa NEO NAZIS.

    THE NAZIS VARE ANTIFA! The racists are ANTIFA,

    ANTI WHITE RACISTS!!!!

    Get tooled up, now, know the enemy.

  5. And there’s more…

    Now you can get a ban from Facebook, for merely posting an invitation to the Independence March.

    The report below from the organisers says: “Urgent! Some of the organisers of the Independence March have been banned from their private Facebook accounts for… posting the official poster of the Independence March. Apparently it violates Facebook’s “community standards”. ”

    http://www.dzienniknarodowy.pl/3492/i-ty-mozesz-dostac-bana-na-facebooku-za-plakat-mar/

    FYI, the official poster of the Independence March merely contains a picture of a big crowd, a king on a horse and the slogan – “Poland the bastion of Europe”…

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