UK, Ireland / Polish Communism Attacking England? [9]

i hope it does. the sooner the better.

History / Pan-Slavic dreams of Polish/Russian cooperation. [12]

The dreams of a Pan-Slavic unity are noble and worth pursuing. As a Pole I feel a spiritual connection to Russians, Croats, and all other Slavic nations. We are, after all, from the same tree.

The idea of a Russian or Polish dominated union, however, sickens me as chains are made in this way. A Pan-Slavic union must include autonomy for all her nations. Under the 19th century inspired movement it was, for many, unfortunately a dream that spelled out Russian domination of all - all Slavs would convert to Orthodox Christianity and learn Russian. I know that other Pan-Slavs attempted to create a universal Slavic language by combining all of them. Again, I am against both visions - domination and forced mixing. I think regional autonomy and mutual respect are the way to go. I propose a de-centered federalist framework and not a singular unified Slavic state.

I don't think that this should be conceived as an alternative to "Eurabia" - which is a jingoist term that attempts to inspire paranoia and hate. I think we should stand up as being distinct from the West, which threatens our cultural survival more than Arab or Muslim immigrants who have always immigrated into Slavic Europe. Like Jews, Tartars and Gypsies they are a part of us. You are forgetting that Poland-Lithuania, for example, has a rich tradition of allowing foreigners to live within her realms and to practice their religion in freedom.

Genealogy / Indian? Gypsy? Turk? [41]

I don't know where people get the impression that Polish people are blond and blue eyed. Some of us are, but many of us are also swarthy. We're Slavic, and as a Slavic people we've had contact with Roma (Gypsies), Jews, and Turks not to mention years of hard labour in the steppes under the scorching sun ;) We've also been invaded by Vikings and Swedes, so perhaps that's where some of our light features come from. Either way we have a wide range and both extremes (light and swarthy) that I would say are native to Poland, and Slavic people in general. Perhaps this is why historically in the West, we've only been able to pass as "marginally white" - so, yes, you Poles are "definitely Caucasian" (just like Greeks and Turks) but you're "off white." I know that I often get asked if I am from India, Greece, or the Middle East.

As for the Indian connection, it is more likely that you have Roma relatives than Native American Indian relatives.

Love / Love my polish girlfriend alot but under pressure from family [166]

I am Polish Catholic and my wife is Indian Muslim.

I would like to begin by saying that I am sorry for some of all of the insolent words that were thrown your way. There is no reason to call you any of those nasty names that some of my compatriots have called you. Unfortunately there is a lot of Islamophobia in Poland -- maybe not totally unfounded since the Islamic world invaded us so often and took us into Slavery (Slave comes from the word Slav), but it is an unacceptable attitude in today's Poland. Also, Polish people forget too often that medieval Poland was a place of religious tolerance (when Spain was in inquisition mode) where many peoples lived comfortably side by side.

Despite the xenophobic remarks thrown your way, I feel that the advice is basically correct. You really only have two choices: 1) tell your family or 2) end the relationship. Perhaps a reason why you're being attacked here is because you are actually wavering on this choice, which casts doubts about how much you love her. What I am mean is if you really loved her it wouldn't be a choice; you would have to pick #1.

I wish I could help you out more, but both of our families get along very well. Her parents were very supportive as were mine. We had two weddings to represent both traditions in full splendor (Polish wedding in Polish church and reception in a Polish restaurant + Indian wedding in a Mosque and Indian reception Hall). Maybe because we are both from immigrant families (we all live in Canada) that it is a basis for how we can relate to one another. Life for immigrants is not easy, so that is something we have in common. Good luck and whatever your choice, I hope you listen to your heart.

Life / How do Poles feel about non whites/non Slavs living in Poland? [150]

You know, Poland was a good place for people escaping religious prosecution during the medieval ages. I think many Poles forget that we opened our doors to Jews during the Spanish Inquisition and that the Tatars who lived in Poland from 14-18 century brought Islam with them. For generations these people lived together amicably. The Tartars were even granted szlachta (nobility) status.

Unfortunately, today things have changed somewhat. Poland wants to crawl up USA's ass so far that it has adopted the phobias of the West (like Islamophobia). It has forgotten it's longstanding Slavic traditions and is more likely even to relate to Westerners than to its Slavic brothers (for example Russians).

I prefer the Commonwealth of the past to today's "central European" (yet another attempt to distance ourselves from the East) republic. What gives me hope, however, is that America will never view Poland as equal or as civilized enough (to them Poland is the land of Borat). Here in the West, Poland is backwards and Poles encounter racism here despite the fact that we are European. Some White American's don't even view Slavs as properly White. Remember, Hitler didn't think of us as pure white either -- we were too Slavic. I think we should embrace ourselves and stop trying to get approval from the West.

Life / How do Poles feel about non whites/non Slavs living in Poland? [150]

Poland was never white... White was a Western European colonial invention. They can keep it, and LAGirl with it.

Life / How do Poles feel about non whites/non Slavs living in Poland? [150]


Thanks McCoy. That makes a lot of sense. Why bring my wife into this? For the record I look darker than my wife and I'm Polish. Probably because I happen to have Gypsy and Jewish ancestors. But of course a racist like you could never fathom that.

Poland was never a pure white country -- it's a Slavic country. My race (race being a fiction anyways) is if anything Slavic, not white. Hitler understood this all too well. His treatment of western soldiers was a thousand times better than his treatment of eastern soldiers. Slavs were consider just a step above Jews. We were considered Caucasian (so are Iranians, and Indians), but we were never considered sufficiently white. Some of the research I'm doing on Slavic immigrants into Canada and US shows a similar perception -- there were the real whites, and the Slavs, Mediterraneans, Hebrews etc. It took some time for them to "prove" their whiteness, and some are still trying to prove it.

Besides, what does "white" mean anyways? Growing up in Poland nobody every told me "you're white" or anything like that. The main thing for Polish people is nationalism, not some racial affiliation based on the collective experience of colonialism by Western Europeans. That today some of you unenlightened peasants aspire to the limiting identity of "white" is ignoble.

Life / How do Poles feel about non whites/non Slavs living in Poland? [150]

That is not true. There are pale Jews and Gypsies and dark Poles who have no Jewish or Gypsy ancestry. Zawisza Czarny, contrary to popular Polish myth, was not named that after his armor but after his appearance. The same can be said about the Sienkiewicz's fictional character Jan Skrzetuski (who was based on a historic figure), who is described as having a dark complexion. Skin pigmentation varies across all populations and Polish people have been and are varied. Perhaps, we are not so much white/Biały as we are biało-czerwoni/ white and red ;)

On a scientific note, there is more diversity within what you consider to be "racial groups" than between them. That is the position of a 1995 UNESCO statement on race. Race is in fact a fiction. There is no pure race. Poles, who belong to the Slavic group, have certainly many influences (from groups who themselves cannot be said to be pure).

Love / HOW CAN POLISH WOMEN KEEP A BLACK MAN? [84]

This threat and the question it is based on is racist. There is no way of answering the question of what "do black guys like" without assuming that people with dark skin pigmentation have similar tastes, dispositions, etc... Like they are all the same and their skin color determines what they like.

For that matter, the question what do Polish guys like is ridiculous as well. As if red and white guys (Biało-czerwoni guys ;) like all the same stuff.

Love / Love my polish girlfriend alot but under pressure from family [166]


I regret that you make Poland look bad. Poland has always had foreigners in its midst. This is our history. Gypsies, Jews, Armenians, Cossacks, etc.

It's regrettable that Polish people had a better attitude to immigrants 400 years ago than they do now. Now many Poles sound like a bunch of xenophobes.

It's ironic that after WWII Poland became a "homogeneous" nation made up of 99% Poles. Before this, for centuries Poland's boundaries included many other nationalities. It's like the Nazi's succeeded. Some of you have become as racist as they have, with your dreams of a pure homeland. They encouraged tensions between Slavic people (esp. Ukrainians and Poles) and between Slavs and non-Slavs (Jews and Poles, for example).

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]


Don't forget that after WWII, Poland's infrastructure was devastated. The USSR rebuilt a lot of that. The early period of Soviet takeover implemented a plan that called for accelerated development of heavy industry. Under Soviet rule, Poland was in fact spending too much on industrialization.

Maybe that's not something one should mention, but there were important developments that took place during that time that make Poland the place it is today.

Also, don't forget that a lot of other things worked much better than they do in the West: universal health care, guaranteed employment, free tuition, woman's rights. These were some very important lessons for the West, which sought to implement some of these "social programs" into its Keynesian Welfare State. They did this to quell working class struggle in America, when communism was seen as a real threat.

History / Fall of Communism in Poland [33]


You have Western occupants now. I guess you prefer Nike swooshes and McDonald's arches to hammers and sickles.


He has. The God of the "free" market has blessed us with public spending cuts, massive unemployment and bankruptcy. More than a million jobless. That's quite the achievement in a country that had not before known unemployment.

We love our new conquerors. They rule us by making us feel free from communism. USA! USA!

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]

It's not a question of communism failing in Poland; it's a question of the Polish people being ready for communism. The backwardness of the peasants, the Western-looking intellectuals, the demoralized urban classes, the destroyed infrastructure spelled the defeat of that system before it could even take root. The social conditions were not right for communism in Poland.

When Marx spoke of communism he meant it for the developed, industrial nations like France and England. It was never his aim to advocate it for peasant societies like Russia or Cuba. It is, however, in those societies that capitalist oppression was more easily seen. For Marx, however, a society had to undergo capitalist development before it could arrive at socialism. It's interesting that his socio-historical insights are accurate in that regard (all of those countries that wanted to skip this stage of development are now forced to go back to it).

Of course the way the Bolsheviks went about it was all wrong. They actually defeated workers' uprisings and forced the Soviets (the real revolutionary organs of participatory democracy and economic planning to submit to the state). Lenin's NEP actually allowed for some private enterprise. There were many communist revolutionaries who were disappointed with such arrangements, calling Russia a state capitalist country.

So, did Poland even really experience something like communism? This is another question. It's worth pointing out that the USSR called itself two things: socialist and democratic. The latter claim was always contested by Western intellectuals, but not the former. Why? There is enough literature to suggest that Russia was not a communist society by communist standards, but it is a good propaganda tool to be able to point to the USSR and say, 'that's communism.'

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]

That's word for word Nazi propaganda.

Can you provide some evidence for this claim? From my studies there were certainly many prominent Jewish communists (Marx, Trotsky, etc), but there were more non-Jews who were its active theoreticians and activists.

For anyone interested in the history of the Jewish Bolshevism accusations, Wikipedia has some good info: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Bolshevism

History / Fall of Communism in Poland [33]


Why is it so obvious? I lived there during those times.

I'm not defending Russian styled "communism" being imposed on us (it was actually state capitalism). I think Solidarnosc, which toppled the thing was a desirable thing. I am just again the simple minded, reactionary longings that Polish people have for the West. Like neoliberalism, European Union, capitalism and liberal-democracy are not forms of domination!? We're a cheap labor that's ready to crawl up USA's ass. It's disgusting that we can't tell that both were "evil empires."

Love / Is sex with Polish guys different to sex with English guys? [173]


Don't flatter yourself. Why do you think we're called Poles?

Every woman knows that a real Slav sausage is the best thing that can happen to her in bed. What the hell would she want with some limp British beef or a German wiener schnitzel? What laska fantasizes about some English bloke? Eastern Euro men have better tracksuits, cooler hair cuts and sexier accents. I'm only half-joking.

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]

Hahaha


Marx was an activist. He believed that communism was inevitable and that it was the next logical step after capitalism. He was writing during a time when capitalism was blatantly oppressing the working class (slums, ghettos and urban waste were the common lot for the workers). He believed, wrongly, that capitalism would exacerbate the situation and that the working class would have no choice but to overthrow the capitalist class and to take control over the means of production (which they build anyways).

He was not a Utopian in the sense that he did not believe that people had to be perfect to enjoy a communist society. Then again, he wrote very little on the subject.

Love / Do Poles ignore domestic abuse? [54]

I don't have the stats on that. You are asking for anecdotal evidence, which won't give you a real picture either.

I hope for your sake you get out fast. It's disgusting that he is treating you like that.

Love / Do Poles ignore domestic abuse? [54]

You know, the movie A Street Car Named Desire portrays Stanley Kowalski as an abusive husband. He was this big, brutal Polish guy. Today his character is considered as a racial stereotype.

So your question is certainly not ungrounded, but I think it is, like all stereotypes, a bad one.

Life / Homosexuals in Poland / Hands off (PETITION) [797]

Looks like it's time for you guys to start "the homophobic thread." Most racists find homophobia to be an easy and natural transition (just supplant "black" with "gay").

Life / Homosexuals in Poland / Hands off (PETITION) [797]


That's very poststructuralist of you: no being; just becoming.


I think that two men in leather, grinding at a club and Wroclaw Boy admiring another man's body at the gym are actually the same thing. That is, neither "is" any more gay than the other or any less. Both are just activities that people engage in. There is no inherent homosexual behavior, but one type of society might classify Wroclaw Boy's behavior as gay, whereas another would not.

History / Why communism failed in Poland? [275]

Communism never failed in Poland because it was never tried in Poland.

Poland experienced State Capitalism, which is something that Lenin said he was building.

Communism is a highly democratic, worker controlled social system -- I don't think any country has fit that bill. We've had glimpses of it in Spain in 36, in France in 68, Chiapas in 94, but Russia, China and Cuba have never seen communism.

Life / polish-indian couple looking for baby names [28]

Hi Babyname,

I am curious what name you went with because you have probably had the baby by now.

My wife and I are in a similar situation: I am Polish and she is Indian. We've just had a baby boy and named him Anjay Dymitri, with my last name.

We chose Anjay because it is both a Polish and Hindi name, although we went with the Hindi spelling because it is phonetically compatible with English and because it balances out nicely with our Polish last name. Dymitri was a name I've always loved and like it for its Slavic roots.

I think some good names for girls are that reflect both cultures are Natasha, Sonia, Maya, Alka.

Life / Cool Polish names [133]

We have just had a boy and named him Anjay. We spelled it phonetically. For us the pronunciation is more important than the purity of spelling.

Good luck

Genealogy / Indian? Gypsy? Turk? [41]


So you're giving us a dose of antipolonism to cure us of our anti-Asian sentiments?

I'm not excusing the anti-Asian stuff I see here - in fact I find it appalling. But you have to consider that some Polish people are under the delusion that they are white and they are trying to prove themselves very hard by hating on everyone who isn't. Of course from the point of view of the West, as you have just demonstrated, they are "backward." I think hating on others for being "backward" makes them feel like they are in the civilized club (of Western imperialism).

Genealogy / Indian? Gypsy? Turk? [41]

Exactly. That's what makes it a true delusion.

Biologically there is no such thing as a white race, yet you think you are a member.
Hitler went after the Poles considering them to be subhuman Slavs (i.e. not white or not white enough).
US has historically excluded Slavs from whiteness (also Jews, Gypsies, Italians and others) maintaining that whites = western/northern Europeans.