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Poland's post-election political scene [4080]
small group of people
In the overall scheme of things it is indeed a small group of people in this nation of 38 million. But those protecting their lost status quo are strategically positioned in such opinion-moulding areas as politics, media, showbiz and academia where their brain-washing potential far exceeds their numerical strength. Look at the judge and lawyer hate session in Katowice or the showbiz community's destruction of the Opole festival. You may dislike the use of the term mafia, so call it a clique, in-group, coterie, formation, whatever. The point is it all began at the Magdalenka follow-up to the roundtable where the luminaries of hte PZPR, KOR and Solidarity people willing to play ball with them laid the groundwork of what they euphemistically called III RP. Those were no longer communists or Trotzkyites but pure opportunists who deftly promtoed such crowd-pleasing gestures as restoring the eagle's crown, dismissing PRL and calling it III, not IV RP, pressing for the withdrawal of Soviet troops and similar moves which only disguised the group's true objectives: power and prestige. And one must admit they did an excellent job of bamboozling the Polish public and international opinion for quite some time. Yes, that clique are masters of progandsa and PR, but does that make them right? And yes, PiS are rough round the edges if not downright clumsy in that area. But if glibness and slickness are to be one's main criteria, then one could say the monopoly on truth is held by Madison Avenue. No-one is more adroit at packaging and selling ideas lifestyles and things!
You were not here back then, but as an educated person do you truly believe the status quo crowd (that's pretty neutral, innit?) are really all about constituions, tribunals and suchlike legal niceties rather than self-interest? If given the choice of remaining an oppositon or regaining power on condition they drop all the imponderables, do you really believe the majority would not opt for the latter?