2006.02.10 - The Polish government want to change the Campaign logo

The following is the translation of this article of the Gazeta Wyborcza. 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%