Katalin Cseh expressed great joy in her Facebook post. After the Polish elections, she already envisions a Donald Tusk government, which will give the Polish people the opportunity to rebuild the Brussels-style state of law, to regain their battered freedoms against PiS, which is ruling the country into an abyss.
"Good, then we will live here. That will never change. This is what you have to love.
These are familiar thoughts to us Hungarians. They are familiar and terribly dangerous. Although these feelings, helplessness, resignation, hopelessness, giving up, "it doesn't matter" may be a coping strategy for many when living with a seemingly unchangeable political situation, it is precisely this that feeds the survival strategy of most autocratizing systems.
If the disaffected voters, the opposition parties applying to represent them, the victims of the system, the disappointed, disillusioned and desperate people all give up hope and faith in change, if they are not fueled by the fire of struggle, if their eyes are not on victory before during each election battle - then that country must have been lost.
Poland has now shown the world what it is like when a country is not lost.
What is it like when the hardening system, increasing violations of law, wiretapping, corruption, and daily attacks on freedom did not provoke disillusioned acquiescence, forced adaptation, raised hands and waving white flags from society, but fighting back, organization and invincibility.
The Polish opposition did not settle for the fact that in Jarosław Kaczyński's system they would not have a realistic chance for anything for a long time anyway. They didn't play for survival, they didn't want to win the election three years later, but they formed clear alternatives, in alliance with civil society, and fought like lions for their ideals, their future, and their country at every opportunity.
I didn't write alternatives by chance - because there were more. The Polish opposition offered a clear value proposition to right-wing, liberal and social democratic voters on three lists: led by convincing, charismatic politicians, agreeing on the common ground, but beyond that, authentically representing their own different vision. The opposition was electable, it was diverse, but still realistically capable of forming a coalition, not a blurring, quarreling, incoherent mass, and of course there were conflicts among them, countless times, but all along it was completely clear to everyone that
they don't want to defeat each other, but the PiS and its allies, who are ruling the country into an abyss.
I have no idea what the Donald Tusk government will look like exactly. One thing is certain, a new door will be opened for the people of Poland and for Europe as well. The opportunity for change, for constructive governance, for the reconstruction of the rule of law, and for the restoration of battered freedoms has been born.
As a Hungarian, I am simultaneously filled with infinite happiness, but at the same time, to be honest, somewhat envious.
We have a lot to learn from the success of the Polish opposition. And mostly not election and campaigning moves, but attitude. That we too can believe that, despite all the difficulties, we are indeed able to create the country that we could only dream of until now. To be able to get up from the ground even after many slaps, just as they got up, and to work with persistence, faith, enthusiasm, and an unceasing fighting spirit until we suffocate, until we can fulfill the mission that is not only expected of us , but what we owe ten million Hungarians.
Congratulations from the bottom of my heart, Poland! We are coming after you, my dear friends.”
You can read the full post HERE
Cover image: Illustration / Photo: Bors
