News from the ‘NEVER
AGAIN’ Association
Attacks on foreigners
and minorities, racist threats and insults as well as marches by extreme-right
groups have become commonplace in Poland. Marcin Kornak (1968-2014), founder of
the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, warned against extreme nationalism and impunity
of neo-fascists as early as the mid-1990s. The magazine that he created, ‘NEVER
AGAIN’ – ‘NIGDY WIECEJ’, is commemorating his stance with a special issue.
It contains over 200
pages of articles, analyses and opinion pieces from renowned academics,
activists and journalists including Adam Michnik, the editor of Poland’s main
newspaper ‘Gazeta Wyborcza’, and many others.
-‘Marcin Kornak’s
contribution to the building of a modern, open and tolerant society was
exceptional and will continue to be an inspiration for future generations of
those who have the sensitivity and energy to act’, wrote the former Foreign
Minister and Speaker of Parliament, Radoslaw Sikorski. Former President of
Poland Aleksander Kwasniewski eulogized Marcin Kornak’s achievements: ‘He was a
brave person with a big heart who devoted many years to creating a world
without discrimination. He initiated many wonderful initiatives to promote
tolerance and multiculturalism that have enriched our society.’
Marcin Kornak was the
author of the monumental ‘Brunatna Ksiega’ [The Brownshirt Book], a
multi-volume study documenting xenophobia, antisemitism, racism
and acts of discrimination. This work is continued in the latest issue of
‘NIGDY WIECEJ’, which comprises a selection of hate crimes from 2014-2016
including: the assault on the Romani poet Edward Debicki in Gorzow
Wielkopolski; an attack on a group of students from Turkey, Iraq and Kazakhstan
by football hooligans in Lodz; racist threats towards a four-year-old child in
Rzeszow; an antisemitic picket line by the NOP [National Rebirth of Poland] in
front of the Israeli embassy; a joint ONR [National-Radical Camp] and MW
[All-Polish Youth] demonstration during which participants chanted ‘Time for a
clout round the Islamic snout’; an assault on an Indian couple in Wrzesnia as
well as an attack on Ukrainians in Kutno; and vandalism of a plaque
commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto.
The new issue of ‘NIGDY
WIECEJ’ also contains articles about xenophobia and nationalist populism that
escalated during the humanitarian crisis affecting refugees from North Africa
and the Middle East. Wojciech Burszta, Aleksander Smolar and Marcin Czerwinski
focus on how public reporting of the refugee crisis led to an exacerbation of
xenophobic attitudes and violence in many European societies.
This special issue of
‘NIGDY WIECEJ’ magazine is published on a non-commercial basis and is available
free of charge at the following site: www.nigdywiecej.org
(the articles are in Polish).
The ‘NEVER AGAIN’
Association was founded by Marcin Kornak in 1996 as an independent organization
that monitors xenophobic incidents and publishes the anti-racist magazine
‘NIGDY WIECEJ’. It also conducts educational campaigns such as ‘Music Against
Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of the Stadiums’.
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