Polish League Against Defamation

The Polish League Against Defamation (Polish: Fundacja Reduta Dobrego Imienia – Polska Liga Przeciw Zniesławieniom, lit. 'Good Name Redoubt – Polish League Against Defamation') is a right-wing[1][2] nationalist non-governmental organization based in Warsaw, Poland. It was founded in 2013 by Maciej Świrski.[3] Critics of the organization argue that its aggressive tactics have the opposite of the intended effect.[4][5]

Good Name Redoubt –
Polish League Against Defamation
Reduta Dobrego Imienia -
Polska Liga Przeciw Zniesławieniom
FormationNovember 2012
TypePublic relations
HeadquartersWarsaw, Poland
Key people
Maciej Świrski (Initiator and President)
Websiterdi-plad.org, rdi.org.pl

Aims and objectives

The stated objectives of the League are to defend the name of Poland and the Polish people against acts of vilification in the international media or historical misrepresentation in the world of politics. For instance, on the 75th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland in 2014, the League staged a protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw against the Russian government's denial of responsibility for the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union in occupied Poland. The protest was attended by several hundred people including civil rights organizations such as Euromaidan from Ukraine and Solidarność Walcząca.[6] According to the League's founder Maciej Świrski, the League acts through lobbying, publishing ads, open letters as well as articles which emphasize Poland's role in fighting against Nazi Germany during World War II.[7]

The Daily Telegraph, The Times of Israel, The Jewish Chronicle, and The Jerusalem Post have described the organization as "nationalist".[8][9][10][11] According to Amnesty International's Poland researcher Barbora Černušáková, it is a "nationalist organization close to Poland’s government".[12] Index on Censorship, has described the organization as a "campaign group close to the ruling Polish party",[13] as did The Guardian.[14] The Jewish Telegraphic Agency described the League as a "right-wing Polish group".[15] According to Haaretz it is an "independent organization considered close to Poland’s right-wing, nationalist government".[16] Argentine newspaper Pagina/12 called the League "a far-right organization".[17]

Activities

Petitions

Following the international release of the 2013 Polish film Ida, the league called for the film to carry title cards stating that Poland was under German occupation during the events depicted. More than 40,000 people signed a petition organized by the league criticizing Ida's supposed inaccuracies and anti-Polish bias. The film's director called the demands "absurd", "too silly to comment on", and "a stream of hatred from the rightist Polish media".[18]

The League collected tens of thousands of signatures in order to pass the Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, which has been criticized by historians as an attempt to silence discussion of Polish complicity in wartime atrocities. Świrski, who heads the league, was instrumental in passing the bill and was possibly the only person consulted prior to the law being presented to parliament by the Justice ministry.[3]

Lawsuits

Maciej Świrski brought a lawsuit against Newsweek.pl for a 2017 article in which it referred to the Zgoda concentration camp, operated by Polish authorities after World War II, as a "Polish concentration camp". In 2018, a court ruled in his favor and Newsweek.pl had to publish an apology stating that there was no such thing as Polish concentration camps. Verfassungsblog described the case as a "highly problematic" precedent which goes against the European Court of Human Rights verdict in Perinçek v. Switzerland (2013) that attempts to enshrine a particular version of history into law and punish those who dissent violate freedom of speech rights guaranteed in Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.[19]

In 2018, Polish Holocaust scholar Jan Grabowski sued the organization for libel after it accused him of "falsif[ying] the history of Poland" and "proclaiming the thesis that Poles are complicit in the extermination of Jews" in an open letter.[20][21] The case, originally scheduled to be heard in May 2020, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]

In 2019 the league funded a lawsuit against Grabowski and Barbara Engelking, editors of the 2018 Dalej jest noc ("Night Without End"), accusing them of defamation.[23] The court ruled in their favor, but was later overruled in an appeal.[24]

"Internet hussars"

The League received 280,000 PLN from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to create an internet system and recruit "Internet hussars" to report and take action on alleged anti-Polish statements in foreign media.[25]

Reports

In 2020, the organization released a 74-page report titled "Opportunities to Prevent Defamation on Netflix-type Streaming Platforms" in which it examined 557 fiction works and 47 documentaries for "anti-Polish" content. The report states that "Polish honey is presented as a ‘villain'" in the documentary series Rotten, which briefly mentions antibiotics in Polish honey.[26]

References
  1. Minkner, Kamil (2016). "Polish contemporary art to the anti-Semitism of Poles and its political significance" (PDF). Review of Nationalities. 6 (1): 195–221. doi:10.1515/pn-2016-0011. S2CID 55590500. One of the right-wing organizations Redoubt of Good Name – Polish League against Defamation (Reduta Dobrego Imienia...
  2. Pankowski, Rafał (2018). "The Resurgence of Antisemitic Discourse in Poland". Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs. 12 (1): 21–37. doi:10.1080/23739770.2018.1492781. S2CID 149913361. One of the first cases, initiated by the right-wing group Reduta Dobrego Imienia (also known as the Polish Anti-Defamation League), concerned a publication in a media outlet in Buenos Aires
  3. Feder, J. Lester; Krasnowolski, Marcin (3 March 2018). "The First People Have Just Been Accused Of Violating Poland's New Holocaust Law". Buzzfeed News.
  4. Flieger, Esther (13 March 2018). "Aronson kontra Świrski i Reduta Złego Imienia". Gazeta Wyborcza. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  5. Majmurek, Jakub (30 May 2020). "Nie damy, by nas znetfliksił wróg!". KrytykaPolityczna.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  6. Magdalena Piejko (17 September 2014). "Wielki protest przed ambasadą Rosji - 17 września, 75. lat temu Sowieci napadli na Polskę". Informacje. Niezalezna.pl. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  7. Świrski, Maciej (November 28, 2012). "Reduta Dobrego Imienia Polski. Brońmy się sami widząc biernośc polskiej władzy" [Polish Anti-Defamation League. Seeing the passivity of the Polish government, let defend ourselves.]. wPolityce.pl (in Polish).
  8. Oscar-nominated ‘Ida’ attacked by Polish nationalists, Times of Israel, 28 Jan 2015
  9. Oscars 2015: Pawel Pawlikowski on Oscar winner Ida, Telegraph, Tim Robey, 23 Feb 2015
  10. ARGENTINA NEWSPAPER FIRST TARGET OF CONTROVERSIAL POLISH HOLOCAUST LAW, JPost, Eytan Halon, 3 March 2018
  11. Polish historian says he was forced to switch jobs because of his Holocaust research, The Jewish Chronicle, Sam Sokol, 5 April 2018
  12. Poland's Holocaust Law Is a Dangerous Threat to Free Speech, Time, 9 March 2018
  13. Gebert, Konstanty. "Projecting Poland and its past: Poland wants you to talk about the “Polocaust”." Index on Censorship 47.1 (2018): 35-37., insert by Jemimah Steinfeld, quote: A campaign group close to the ruling Polish party filed charges of defamation against Argentinian newspaper Página/12 this March, the first case after the law was passed. Página/12 published an article in December 2017 about the massacre of Jews in Jedwabne in 1941, featuring an image of anti-communist Polish partisans. The Polish League Against Defamation claims confusing the image of the partisans with the issue of Jedwabne is defamatory. Since then, other media have shared the article.
  14. Davies, Christian; Goñi, Uki (5 March 2018). "Poland: group sues Argentinian newspaper under new Holocaust law". the Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  15. Polish group sues newspaper in Argentina under controversial new Holocaust law, 4 March 2018, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
  16. Poland's Holocaust Law: First Lawsuit Filed Using Contentious Legislation, Haaretz, Ofer Aderet, 4 March 2018
  17. Granovsky, Martín (5 March 2018). "Repudio mundial por la agresión a Página/12 | Alto impacto del ataque montado por una organización ultraderechista polaca". PAGINA12. Retrieved 25 October 2020.
  18. Ida director Pawel Pawlikowski stands ground against complaints of historical inaccuracy, Guardian, 30 Jan 2015
  19. Gliszczyńska, Aleksandra; Jabłoński, Michał (12 October 2019). "Is One Offended Pole Enough to Take Critics of Official Historical Narratives to Court?". Verfassungsblog. Retrieved 19 October 2020. A highly problematic trend has emerged just recently, creating a precedent in the Polish legal doctrine. In January 2017, the Polish edition of Newsweek magazine published an article by Paulina Szewczyk entitled "After the Liberation of Nazi Camps, Did the Poles Open Them Again? 'The Little Crime' by Marek Łuszczyna". The author of this article stated that after 1945 Poles reopened the Świętochłowice-Zgoda camp, a branch of the former Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. A lawsuit against Newsweek's editor-in-chief was brought by Maciej Świrski, the president of the Polish League Against Defamation (RDI), based on the press law provisions. In January 2018, the court decided in his favour, ordering the editor-in-chief to publish a corrigendum admitting that the assertion of the existence of "Polish concentration camps" created by Poles is false. This initial ruling was subsequently upheld by the Court of Appeal and eventually the Supreme Court, the latter finding Newsweek's last resort appeal (cassation) to be unfounded.
  20. "Holocaust scholar sues group that said he 'slandered' Poland". AP NEWS. 16 November 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
  21. Grzyb, Amanda F. (14 April 2020). "The Changing Landscape of Holocaust Memorialization in Poland". In Gigliotti, Simone; Earl, Hilary (eds.). A Companion to the Holocaust. John Wiley & Sons. p. 631. ISBN 978-1-118-97051-5.
  22. Roache, Madeline; Waxman, Olivia B. (8 May 2020). "World War II in Europe Ended 75 Years Ago—But the World Is Still Fighting Over Who Gets to Say What Happened". Time. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  23. "The RDI Backs the Family of Edward Malinowski in Their Lawsuit against Prof. Barbara Engelking and Dr. Jan Grabowski". Polish League Against Defamation. 21 May 2019. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  24. Warsaw, Staff and agencies in (2021-08-16). "Polish appeals court overturns ruling against Holocaust historians". Guardian. Retrieved 2022-01-18.
  25. ""Internetowa husaria" za 231 tys. zł. Sprawdzamy efekty projektu z pieniędzy MSZ". Konkret24 (in Polish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  26. Koschalka, Ben (27 May 2020). "Report warns of "anti-Polish" content on Netflix and other international streaming platforms". Notes From Poland. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
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