This text was originally published last Saturday in Polish. In the spirit of producing material about Poland in English (there needs to be much more than we currently see), I now submit it to you, dear readers, in that language. I welcome any and all comments and appreciate the feedback that you provide very much.
Poland's history lends itself to epic if tragic storytelling. Stories of Poland's past have been overwhelmingly told to Poles, however, failing to reach foreign (especially English-language) audiences. The reasons for this are varied, and in the past were outside of Poland's control, as described in Hollywood's War with Poland, 1939-1945 by Professor Mieczysław Biskupski, for example. Since Poland regained its independence in 1989 however, and especially since a more nationalistic government came to power two years ago, there are no more excuses for Poland not boldly shaping the narrative about itself.
While traditional publishing and feature films have a role to play, the 21stst century is decidedly focused on the internet, and specifically social media, which has become the dominant form of information dissemination technology. With 46 million Twitter followers and counting, U.S. President Donald Trump is able to singlehandedly steer the national and international conversation in a way that would have been impossible if he had to rely on the mass media gatekeepers actively hostile to his agenda. The same entities trying to undermine Donald Trump are doing the same thing to Poland, because its government professes similar Western values.
Poland does not have its own Trump, or Viktor Orban, a charismatic national leader who can connect with international audiences. Whether the new Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, can play that role, remains to be seen, though his op-ed in the Washington Examiner last month on the judicial reformations in Poland is a good sign. What Poland will have to rely on in the near future is a dedicated “fanbase” of patriotic Poles and their allies around the world, who create and share stories and news about Poland that rarely ever finds its way into The New York Times.
Of course a well-funded, strategic communications strategy at the national level would go a long way towards burnishing Poland’s reputation abroad. It won’t change the minds of enemies, but it can provide information alternatives for neutral viewers that never hear about Poland other than through fake news blasts from CNN. Whether content is produced from the grass roots or government entities, it will face the same hurdles from increasingly monopolistic mass media channels, the managers of which hold even more intolerant, progressive views than the legacy media.
One recent example is YouTube’s temporary, soft censorship of a video about Poland’s immigration policy released by the Ministry of the Interior. The video was put in “YouTube purgatory” (not visible in recommended videos, with comments and view count disabled) for purportedly containing “offensive content”. The video would have been much more effective with an English narrator, rather than rapidly changing subtitles, but it’s a start. Both the volume and quality of such attempts should increase.
In a similar incident, the English version of a compelling animated video about Poland’s World War II history, “The Unconquered”, was temporarily blocked for a reported copyright issue. These suppression techniques can be used to dampen the popularity of content to prevent it from going viral. Besides calling out these incidents when they happen, the only appropriate action is to keep creating and sharing, utilizing the numerous channels available, in an attempt to “flood the zone” of the information sphere.
Last November, following the annual Independence March in Warsaw, former Belgian PM and current EU Parliamentarian, Guy Verhofstadt, scandalously stated “there was 60,000 fascists marched in the streets of Warschau, neo-Nazis, white supremacists…”. Of the few effective responses in English, reaching over 100,000 people combined, were by YouTubers Max Kolonko and Stefan Tompson (the latter’s eminently reasonable video was also censored by YouTube, because of “complaints” by users claiming it violated speech policies).
If Poland’s leading politicians are uncomfortable defending Poland publicly in English (or at least through an interpreter), a versatile press secretary should be groomed to hold both regular press conferences with foreign media and to respond to rhetorical attacks from abroad. As Kolonko himself stated in his video about how the Polish government, ideally the president, should respond: “in English, unfortunately that's the way you have to do it, there is no alternative.” Guy Verhofstadt’s salvo against Poland, even in broken English, received exponentially more airtime internationally than all of Poland’s domestic hand-wringing about the speech. Conservative EU Parliament members, Marek Jurek and Ryszard Legutko, active in defending Poland in this case and others, should do so in English, on a regular basis.
The role of historical memory is perhaps more important to Poland than in any other country in the world. An excellent, recent documentary produced by Polish Public TV (TVP) “The Wola Massacre: Indictment” (“Rzeź Woli: Akt Oskarżenia”), tells the story of the largest mass killing of civilians during World War II, which took place in 1944 in the Wola District, during the Warsaw Uprising. Moving interviews with survivors, great cinematography and animated cut-scenes, create a compelling and dramatic narrative. The film ends with the statement, “Nothing will heal the wounds of the Wola Massacre, but perhaps someday memory of it will enter into world consciousness.” How this is supposed to happen if the film is only available in Polish? Productions like this are prime candidates for translation and English narration, to make it accessible to 1.5 billion English speakers worldwide. The cost is minimal compared to all of the production costs that have already been invested.
A new generation of Poles who were born abroad and speak English as a native language are increasingly engaged in publicly defending Poland from attack. Both they and other Poles who aren't shy about using English should be encouraged and supported in utilizing their communication assets to amplify an accurate and compelling picture of their homeland. The world needs to see and hear the real story about Poland.
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