Poland Knows Better - No Equality in the Polish Campaign Slogan

This thread is a bit oldish, yet I thought it might be worth to report here the English translation of an article by Terry Davis published today on the  Gazeta Wyborcza, in Poland.

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Use the compass to find the right way
by Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

A year ago, I was one of many people in Europe and around the world who thoroughly enjoyed the Polish riposte against the negative rhetoric in the run-up to the French Referendum on the European Union Constitution.  The handsome Polish plumber telling the French that he was staying at home but inviting them to visit was a masterpiece of public relations and an effective response to xenophobic messages in France.

But a few months ago, I was considerably less amused by some of the news coming from Poland.  The wave of intolerance targeting especially gays and homosexuals, came as a surprise and was in stark contrast to the positive image of an open and modern society which used to give a lesson in tolerant behaviour to its European neighbours.  I was particularly disappointed by some politicians who endorsed and propagated homophobic views instead of standing up against the language of prejudice and hate.

To be perfectly honest, the image is not entirely black and white.  Unlike some other capitals in Europe which continue to violate the right to the freedom of assembly guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, a Gay Pride Parade in Warsaw was not only authorised this year, but took place without incident.  But to tolerate – grudgingly - those who are different is not enough because genuine tolerance requires acceptance, understanding and respect.  In the Council of Europe, we are not in the business of imposing values on anyone because this would be meaningless and counter-productive. In any truly open and democratic society these values are embraced, not pushed down people’s throats.

The key is education, and the Council of Europe has developed a multitude of tools and programmes to help our member states in teaching the values which our Organisation was set up to defend and extend.  One of them is Compass, a manual on human rights education for young people, produced by the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights.  Since its first publication, Compass has been translated into thirteen languages, from Spanish to Arabic.

In May 2005, the Polish version of Compass was launched on the occasion of the Council of Europe Summit in Warsaw, and we were all very proud.  A year later, the new Polish Minister of Education dismissed the Director of the government agency which financed and distributed the manual, and we were all very puzzled.  Reportedly, the Minister objected to the Compass chapter on homosexuality and homophobia.

Naturally, I asked the Polish authorities for a clarification of a decision which seemed, to put it mildly, unusual in the light of Poland’s membership in the Council of Europe and its commitment to the values it represents.  These values are not a smorgasbord from which governments can pick and chose as they like. 

I have now received a reply from the Polish authorities, but I am afraid that their arguments fail to fully alleviate my concern of government sanctioned homophobic behaviour.

How this story will unravel, it is too early to say.  If any individual’s human rights have been violated as a result of the government’s action or omission to act, the case may come to the European Court of Human Rights.  Eventually, if no satisfactory explanation is provided, I will report the matter to the Committee of Ministers, and it will be to the member states’ governments to decide on whether and how they want to react.  But at the end of the day, what is really important is what Poland does to honour its word to the Council of Europe and to its own citizens - not in response to external pressure – but out of Poles’ own sense of honesty and self-respect.  As a friend of Poland for more than 60 years, I have no doubt that a country I like and admire will do the right thing and dispel any doubts about its commitment to freedom, tolerance and human rights.

regarding Poland: where can i find contact to national committee responsible for the campaign "all different  - all equal" or ... so called "wszyscy równi - wszyscy solidarni" in Poland? here on this website there is only email. where can i find telephone number to someone responsible for the campaign in Poland? Is it Youth Programme National Agency, or polish Ministry of Education?
/Julia

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We have to be the change we want to see

As I remember the first slogan for new compaign was: ALL DIFFERENT - NOT INDIFFERENT !!

Realy good slogan, but on some language was not good. Darek Gržemny(polish) has told that in the Polish language this slogan sounds ugly(sorry I do not remeber how it sounds).. In some another country was the same problem.

In this case I thik better to use "ALL DIFFERENT - ALL EQUAL" in both versions: english original version (to make name wellknown) & translation.

Igor Ivanov

Youth Union SiiN

The following translation of the article mentioned in the original post by maxfras has been done internally to the Council of Europe. The article appeared on page 2 of the newspaper.

Gazeta Wyborcza
Ewa Siedlecka  February 10, 2006,

THERE IS NO ROOM FOR EQUALITY IN POLAND

The Council of Europe’s campaign “All different – all equal” will be termed in Poland “All different – all in solidarity we stand”. The term “equality” will be not in use as it is associated with the Parades.

The Council of Europe’s campaign “All different – all equal” that promotes tolerance began in 1995. From 2006 its second stage, mostly addressed to  young people, has started. The characteristic black and white logo with the campaign’s motto “All different – all equal” has remained. The  Polish Ministry of Education, however, responsible for establishing the Campaign National Committee wishes  that this motto be changed in Poland to “All different – all in solidarity we stand”.
“I can’t understand why “equality” drops out of the motto, actions against discrimination,  intolerance and xenophobia were then the core of the campaign” – says Hanna Machińska, Director of the Warsaw Information Office of the Council of Europe.  Until now our essential task under the campaign has been to convince everyone that he or she has the right to expect equal treatment by public authorities, regardless of his or her nationality, religion, origin or sexual orientation. The new motto seems to lack all these contents – she adds.

Why “equality” has dropped out?  Equality is constantly discussed so what’s the reason for its duplication? Moreover, it is associated with the Quality Parades – says Jarosław Zieliński, Deputy Minister of Education, who is in charge of the Campaign on behalf of the Polish Government. In my opinion, the context of our motto has been enriched and new dimension brought to it: solidarity in diversity. Actually, at the previous stage of the Campaign different mottos were adopted in  different countries, for example, in the Chech Republic it read; “Respect to everyone”.

Not only the motto, but also the content are to differ from previous ones. Actions against intolerance and racism  are to be replaced by “the promotion of the inter-culture dialogue through actions aimed at developing and fostering  participation of the youth in Polish national culture, supporting the culture of national minorities living in Poland, and promoting international cooperation between young people”,  and under the human rights profile: “ the promotion of actions aimed at giving equal opportunities (…) addressed to children and young people living in rural areas, especially those living in regions of called “post-state-farms”. Why Poland intends to promote activities of social nature instead of promoting classic human rights? Why we should talk all the time about those  idle mottos, which have already been hackneyed?  We obviously support them, but our intention is to create for the youth decent living conditions. Otherwise, only some chosen ones will benefit from human rights – says Minister Zieliński.

The Information Office of the Council of Europe in Warsaw witnesses the inflow of protests lodged by nongovernmental organisations, which have been largely involved in activities initiated under the motto: “All different – all equal”. Ernest Lewicki  of the “Ostra Zieleń (Harsh Green)” Association says: “This kind of understanding dims the real massage of this praiseworthy initiative.” One of the anti-fascist organisations: “This motto very strongly associates with that of Polish solidarity  as voiced by the Law and Justice”. CyberHate – an organisation that tracks down the speech of hatred in the Internet: “The term does not reflect the core of the action and plays the role of an exponent of  “Polish-nation self-satisfaction ”.

Everyone can organise his or her own campaign and name it as he or she wishes, but saying that a campaign with “solidarity” means the same as a campaign with “equality” is just not true – says Halina Bortnowska of the Helsinki Committee in Poland. She is an animator of “Wirydarz” an organisation gathering young people who carry out activities for tolerance and against anti-Semitism and speech of hatred.

Piotr Nowina-Konopka of the Schumann Foundation: “I can’t understand why we tend to break out of  European solidarity and invent our own mottos even in our common actions”.

Minister Janusz Zieliński: “ We should look not only at European mottos, but also  take care of our own Polish values. The Council of Europe has not forbidden and will not forbid us to change mottos. The Campaign is mostly funded by the government, and for our own money we could be free to choose our own  priorities and mottos.

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The article also contained a poll, were 4375 people expressed their opinion on what motto is the best. The results as on Friday at 15.45 were:

• All different, all equal (Wszyscy różni, wszyscy równi) (3941) - 90%
• All different, all in solidarity we stand (Wszyscy różni, wszyscy solidarni ) (434) - 10%

I just wonder if there is some Polish-speaking person with some spare time that would be ready to volunteer and translate the text of the article into English. I think this would allow the discussion to go beyond the linguistic boundaries of Polish and therefore enrich itself with more diverse point of views.

For the sake of our press review record, here at the secretariat would also appreciate very much if we could receive a scanned version of the article as appered on the newspeaper (with the indication of the page and date of publication).

Thank's to the ones who will help!

Dear Maxfras, of course this topic is most than welcome on this forum, where the debate can go public and develop in a more comprehensive way. Hanjo (which you might know is the campaing director) already posted you a reply, and maybe more people can join the conversation.

On the other side, I would ask you (and anybody else) to please no "cross post" (posting the same message on different forums): through the "recent post" menu or through the various boxes in the left and right coloumns of the site, it's very easy to keep track of new messages even if these are not in our "favourite forum". Equally, having the message in two different forums makes more difficult for people who will react to your post, to interact between them, as their respective comments could be in separate forums as well.

My best wishes for the Polish people and government to find a translation who will not betray the spirit of the campaign.

Mac.

The European Steering Group discussed the issue of translating the slogan and took the following decision:

The Steering Group proposed that this decision should be stressed in a letter of the Director of Youth and Sport to the members of the statutory bodies in youth field (CDEJ and Advisory Council) and to the permanent representations of the member states here in Strasbourg. We are going to draft such a letter and send it out as soon as possible.

Concerning the translation in Poland we were informed that a final decision has not been taken so far. The issue should be discussed in the first meeting of the National Campaign Committee.

Hanjo