Last November, I was tentatively optimistic that conservative populists, particularly in Central Europe, could have a leading role in ending German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s catastrophic mismanagement of the migrant crisis.[1] In fact, developments are even more positive than we might have hoped, with the new conservative government in Poland opposing the reception of “refugees,” pushing to increase the Polish birth rate, and fighting to eliminate leftist bias in state media.
Poland has a long and proud history of resistance to communism inspired by Polish nationalism. The November 11 National Independence Day celebrations in Warsaw typically feature Europe’s largest nationalist demonstrations, most recently featuring over 10,000 protesters with slogans such as “Today refugees, tomorrow terrorists!” and “Poland, free of Islam!”
While Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice party (PiS) won an outright majority of seats in parliamentary elections last October, not a single left-wing party was able to enter parliament, despite there being only an 8% electoral threshold to do so. ...
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