@Harry: I happen to know Portugal very well and trust me, Portuguese are not dark as they are not Mediterraneans like Spaniards and Italians so if Levi is dark, I suspect some .... African heritage ;). With such a look, I doubt he'd be welcome in Poland B, they would see him as an "ape"(as per most Poles' view of Blacks). At least, he would get a taste of xenophobia and racism ;)
"But try to imagine people with no money and who are (your choice) non white, non catholic (i.e. Jewish or Muslim), non hetero"
If they are all that, but they go to the polish consulate, apply for residence and have a residence stamp in their passport. No one have the right to condenm them.
They are legal. They are ok.
On the other hand, if they enter in a boat in Lybia after pay to ISIS thugs to be sent to lampedusa and then to EU, then they are illegal. Doesnt matter their color or race.
" I happen to know Portugal very well and trust me, Portuguese are not dark as they are not Mediterraneans like Spaniards and Italians so if Levi is dark, "
I am not dark. If i was dark (nothing against them) i would never leave Brazil since dark people there have so many benefits from the govern (free education, quotas at high profile public jobs, housing... why work at all?). But unfortunately i was considered white by my government and then i needed to leave brazil and build my life outside. Which fortunately i could.
@Levi: you don't read or you don't understand! 1. I did not say people who are all "that" but who can be x, OR y, OR z... 2. I did not talk about their being approved by the Polish authorities but about their being accepted by Polish population. If you dared see Poland the way it is, you would know that Poland is a racist, xenophobic and homophobic country and therefore it is extremely difficult to stay in Poland when "different". The very few foreigners living (not expats) in Poland live by themseves and have most limited social contacts with Poles. Poland is no doubt one of the most intolerant country in EU (recently in GW I read an article saying that Poland was the most racist country in EU but I would say "one of the most" ;)) and believe me, should I be "different", I would have never set a foot in Poland. That's also the reason why I am shocked at all those 3rd worlders eager to come to Poland, to a country in which they won't feel comfortable and shall have to live in ghettos. Poland is no place for them as Poland is a very closed, even claustrophobic (what an American colleague told me) society.
So do tell us Wulkan what your reaction would be if the UK populace had the same ignorant and xenophobic attitude as you do, but about Poles?
Do you think you are somehow "better" because of the colour of your skin?
Before you bang on about muslims and how they offend you; quite a few Silesian pious catholics offend me too, geneflucting in the church on a Sunday while being too vodka addled and lazy to provide properly for their families - something you will never see in muslim communities in the UK.
Let quotas of refugees settle, study and work, and they will become consumers. What is difficult to understand in that?
In the meantime, The Guardian newspaper reports that the European Commission is to table a deal with Poland where it drops opposition to re-settlement of 60,000 refugees EU wide, in return for support v Russia.
All who have studied political history know how ungrateful Polish diplomats through the ages have been for any past aid, so I for one wont be holding my breath that the Polish establishment has one breath of humanity in its' body and will do the right thing.
In places like Brazil, impossible to decide who is 100% white ;)
Poles are very fortunate that other countries are more tolerant and more generous that Poland is. Around 40 million Poles can enjoy the benefits from tolerant and generous countries. In other words, double standard!
@Dougpol: Poland is not generous but nevertheless welcomes the generosity from EU ,(
"Poland is no doubt one of the most intolerant country in EU "
Do you think that Poland is more intolerant than UK?
Buy a can of carlsberg in any place of London. Then take the tube and go to any of East London muslim dominated places like Tower Hamlets and you will see how tolerant UK is.
Just hold a beer in your hand. And walk around. And tell me what happened later. There are many videos on youtube showing people having their asses kicked in Tower Ham. By the local Sharia Police Because they had short clothes or alcohol.
There is even a video showing that. ALL THAT IN UK. Which is a country that is considered more tolerant than Poland.
I am not jew but i have jew name (very common in Portugal because of the past when many jews converted to catholicism). Even i not being jew i would be harmed there, in Tower Hamlets, that just because of my name. AND THIS NEVER happened in Lodz.
"racist morons in Poland B consider to be white are two very different things."
I agree. I dont consider myself to be white. Poles or Russians are white. I am Mediterranean.
"In places like Brazil, impossible to decide who is 100% white ;)"
That is true. And see how ironic is that there they decided that i didnt had the same rights as others just because i was too whitey for them.... if give benefits just to people that are considered black by a government official is not racism, i dont know what could be.
Has that happened to you or is that just your opinion. How well do you know any of the districts within the borough of Tower Hamlets.
Not that the UK is relevant to the thread. In Poland, although there are certainly problems in Poland B, just as there are in any rural society in Europe, people are generally free to live their own lives.
I was also wondering whether Levi has ever been harrassed, threatened or assualted by Muslims. Also in the off-topic section he says he lives in Arabia. Why live amongst Muslims if you dislike them so much? At the same time I completely agree that Muslims who don't approve of alcohol etc should either put up and shut up or choose to live in an Islamic state instead.
"'ve heard of West Ham and East Ham, but Tower Ham is a new one to me."
Tower Ham. = Tower Hamlets.
I tought that this would be obvious to anyone with brain
"Unlike you I actually have lived in a neighbourhood of the UK where Muslims made up more than 95% of the population"
Unlike me? I live in a muslim country!!!!
So dont come with your fairy tales about how wonderful is life among muslims. I am acessing this website via proxy because EVEN INTERNET is censored here. So just try to walk with a beer in tower hamlets and tell me what happened. Or you also wants alcohol and pork to be illegal like here in Arabia (and now in tower hamlets)?
I keep telling you, Lodz has probably the smallest problem with racism in Poland. Go to Radom or Bialystok and tell the knuckle-draggers there that you are superior to their fellow Slavs because you have enough money to apply for a residency permit. Your views about Poland's problem with racism and xenophobia might well change very quickly, almost as quickly as you'd be running.
Quite. As a coloured person, Levi would be very much in a difficult position. Even more so if he'd come here 'legally' by marrying a Polish woman.
Unlike you I actually have lived in a neighbourhood of the UK where Muslims made up more than 95% of the population. I very much liked living there. I felt safer there than in the non-Muslim parts of the city and I almost certainly was safer there too, most probably safer than I am in Warsaw too.
Me too. I lived and worked in an area that was majority Muslim, with both British Pakistanis as well as people who've reverted to Islam (and work in a majority Muslim country now). Never any problems at all. I didn't however feel any less safe than here in Warsaw - it's a very safe city for all its residents, wherever they come from.
@Dougpol: the European Commission is to table a deal with Poland where it drops opposition to re-settlement of 60,000 refugees EU wide, in return for support v Russia.
I am curious as to why you think that Poland should accept any of these refugees. These people speak mainly French, German or some English. Poland was never a colonial power and the Polish language is difficult for most Europeans, let alone people from countries with rudimentary, education systems.
Do you really think it would be fair to place these people in a country which is staunchly, Catholic, where they will not be able to find work or be able to integrate, and, which has a harsh winter climate that they would never acclimatise to.
France, Germany and the UK have overly, generous, benefit systems which is why these refugees would not want to be settled in Poland, trying to exist on 800 złoty per month, or do you propose giving them more than a pensioner or unemployed Pole.
The EU is offering approx. 4,600 euros for every refugee/economic migrant taken in. The estimate in the UK for supporting a refugee is approx. 20,000 GBP per year, that is a conservative estimate which does not take into account his/her human rights to have their family join them. It seems that Italy and Greece are not that impressed with the help given by the EU commissioners so why should Poland create a huge problem for its people
why should Poland create a huge problem for its people
A couple of decades ago tens of thousands of Poles were refugees, fleeing the communist regime. 70 years ago hundreds of thousands of Poles were refugees at the end of WWII. Isn't it time for Poles to do their share of helping people who are refugees now?
A couple of decades ago tens of thousands of Poles were refugees, fleeing the communist regime.70 years ago hundreds of thousands of Poles were refugees at the end of WWII.
@Avalon; the problem is that Germany, France and England are fed up of paying and their people do not want more refugees and that's the reason why the EU have considered spreading refugees around the EU while taking consideration of each country's situation and also what said country has already done in favor to refugees. At the current time, Italy and Greece, which are both in lousy economic situations have to do the most and it is not fair. French police block the French border with Italy as most refugees in Italy would like to move to France.
The situation is tragic but I don't think that refugess should be accepted (and of course always by the same countries) as it does not solve the problem in the medium term. A politician (I don't remember who, Hilary Clinton ?) said that refugee centers should be created in ... Africa. The EU's attitude is to encourage them to come to Europe, what helps smugglers become richer and richer and also among refugees, how many would be terrorists, criminals and so forth?
Obviously the EU has again the wrong solution.
It is true too that Poland is not generous to foreigners.
Isn't it time for Poles to do their share of helping people who are refugees now?
Why should Poles who are still in Poland pay for those who left? Doesn't make sense. Make those Poles in UK, US, etc. receive new refugees in their homes if you want them to "do their share".
