NEW ‘BROWN BOOK’ DOCUMENTS PREJUDICE AND HATE

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published the ‘Brown Book’ – documentation of racist, xenophobic and homophobic crimes and acts of discrimination in Poland in the years 2020-2023.

The long-time author of the ‘Brown Book’ was the late Marcin Kornak (1968-2014), founder of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, social justice activist and poet. He was the mind behind social campaigns promoting respect and diversity. 20 March marks the ninth anniversary of his death.

The United Nations General Assembly established 21 March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 1966 to commemorate the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa. On this day in 1960, police opened fire on Black people protesting against apartheid. Sixty-nine protesters were killed and one hundred and eighty were injured. The tragic anniversary is commemorated all over the world to express opposition to racism, discrimination, and xenophobia.

The latest edition of the ‘Brown Book’ on more than 300 pages describes cases of physical assaults on the basis of skin colour, language, or religion, as well as acts of verbal aggression. In addition, the report documents street demonstrations with slogans inciting hatred, acts of discrimination against minorities, and fascist banners displayed at football stadiums. Examples of hostility towards refugees from Ukraine can also be found therein.

– ‘In the Brown Book we paid a lot of attention to online hate speech, including the widely disseminated anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories, disinformation, and direct abuse against Ukrainians’, said Dr. Anna Tatar, co-author of the report.

– ‘The Brown Book documents negative social attitudes towards minority groups. In this edition of the report, we have described, among other things, attacks on people of Asian origin as well as other minorities who were accused of spreading Covid-19’, said Jacek Dziegielewski from the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association.

Selected examples of events documented in the ‘Brown Book 2020-2023’:

SZCZECIN. In mid-March 2020, unknown perpetrators devastated a plaque with an inscription commemorating the Jewish residents of the city who were murdered during World War II in the Belzec extermination camp. Someone painted a swastika and the SS symbol on the plaque.

LUKOW. On 19 March 2020, three pupils of a local elementary school attacked a fifty-nine-year-old Vietnamese-born resident of the town. They shouted insults, including ‘She comes from China and has coronavirus’, ‘F*ck off you slut!’, and ‘Get the f*ck out of here, you whore, you f*cking Chinese woman!’ The perpetrators hurled stones and litter at her, spat in her direction, and one of them pushed her.

GDANSK. On 20 June 2020, an unidentified assailant attacked a man of Egyptian origin. He yelled at him, ‘Get out from here, you black w*ore’ and punched him in the face. He also tried to stab him with a knife.

WARSAW. On 17 February 2021, a gay couple was attacked. The assailant shouted, ‘Stop holding hands, children are watching’ at the men and stabbed one of them in the back with a knife. The injured man was hospitalized.

POZNAN. On 14 March 2021, on a tram one of the passengers made threats and racist insults towards a Guatemalan man travelling with his wife and child.

SZCZECIN. On 12 December 2021, Konfederacja (Confederation, far-right party) organised a ‘Shooting Competition named after Kyle Rittenhouse’ (Kyle Rittenhouse shot two participants of Black Lives Matter protests in the USA in 2020). The poster announcing the competition contained an image of Rittenhouse with a machine gun and a Confederate flag, a symbol of racial discrimination.

SEDZISZOW MALOPOLSKI. On 13 January 2022, a resident of the town brutally beat a homeless man. He punched him in the face twice, and when the victim fell to the ground, he kicked him unconscious in the head, causing numerous injuries. As a result of this attack, Slawomir K. died after spending several days in hospital.

BIALYSTOK. On 15 January 2022, during the demonstration of COVID-19 deniers, its participants chanted, ‘This is Poland and not Polin!’ (the word means Poland in Hebrew; for the extreme right it has become synonymous with the alleged rule of Jews over Poland).

KATOWICE. On 9 June 2022, at a bus stop and on the bus an unidentified man attacked a teenage boy from Ukraine. He threatened him and hurled xenophobic slurs at him.

LUBLIN. On 30 August 2022, three Black students were attacked by a group of several men. The attackers shouted ‘Black c*nts’ and punched them repeatedly.

WARSAW. On 24 September 2022, the streets of Warsaw witnessed the protest march under the slogan ‘Stop Ukrainization of Poland’, organised by Konfederacja Korony Polskiej (Confederation of the Polish Crown), a far-right party headed by Member of Parliament Grzegorz Braun. The participants unfurled banners ‘This is Poland and not Ukropol!’ (a conspiracy theory claiming that Poland is being overtaken by Ukrainians) and ‘Stop replacing the ethnic structure of Poland’.

LUBLIN. On 7 January 2023, two men attacked a Ukrainian woman, her 13-year-old son and her pregnant daughter. They shouted at them, ‘Ukrainian wh*res’, ‘F*ck Ukrainians’, ‘Get the hell out of Poland’. When the boy tried to call the police, they knocked him to the ground and punched him on the head. They also pushed the pregnant woman. They were charged with publicly insulting the Ukrainian citizens, making death threats, and using violence.

POZNAN. On 7 March 2023, activists of Mlodziez Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youth, a far-right organisation) disrupted a meeting with Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko. They chanted ‘Poland is for us!’ Meetings with the writer were also disrupted by members of Mlodziez Wszechpolska on 21 November 2022 in Krakow and on 14 February 2023 in Warsaw.

GDANSK. On the night of 11/12 March 2023, two juvenile perpetrators painted a swastika on the entrance to the synagogue in Gdansk-Wrzeszcz. Three ‘K’ letters, which stand for Ku-Klux-Klan, also appeared on the façade.

In April 2022, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published a report entitled ‘Let’s Maintain Solidarity with Refugees’ about cases of discrimination and hate speech against Ukrainians, refugees, and ethnic minorities in Poland in the context of the ongoing war. In January 2023, the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association published a report on hate speech as well as antisemitic and anti-Ukrainian conspiracy theories propagated on the Media Narodowe (National Media) online tv channel. After the report had been published, the channel was removed by YouTube.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organisation founded in Warsaw in 1996. It has monitored hate crimes and hate speech as well as campaigned against antisemitism and xenophobia, for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally.

From 1 March 2022 to 1 March 2023, data collection for the ‘Brown Book’ was supported by the Henryk Wujec Civic Fund. Henryk Wujec (1940-2020) was an activist of the Workers’ Defence Committee (KOR) in the 1970s, political prisoner in the 1980s, member of the International Auschwitz Council and civil society mentor.

‘Brown Book 2020-2023’ (full version of the report):

https://www.nigdywiecej.org//docstation/com_docstation/172/brown_book_2020_2023.pdf

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

https://twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

www.linkedin.com/company/never-again-association

THE VIRUS OF HATE AND STEVE BANNON’S DECLARATION OF WAR

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has echoed the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ warning against ‘the tsunami of hate and xenophobia’ sparked by the coronavirus pandemic. The Warsaw-based organization has published its latest REPORT ‘The Virus of Hate: Brown Book of the Epidemic’. The report documents acts of racism, xenophobia and discrimination which have occurred in the context of the coronavirus in Poland in recent weeks and months.

The authors of the report recorded cases of assaults on members of minorities who are unjustly blamed for spreading the virus, as well as numerous examples of hate speech and conspiracy theories about the pandemic spread by the far right.

The descriptions collected on over 30 pages include the following events:

– On 1 March, during mass in the St. Michael Archangel church in Wroclaw Fr. Leonard Wilczynski, belonging to the Salesian order, stated in his homily that the COVID-19 pandemic is ‘God’s punishment for living in the sin of homosexuality’. He also added that the Chinese ‘are dirty, eat bats and dead fetuses’.

– On 25 March in Sosnowiec three men attacked a female of Chinese descent – a scientific worker of the Silesian University. The victim said: ‘They surrounded me, I was so afraid – even now I am trembling. They kept shouting «virus» and «China»’. She also added: ‘I do not feel safe here as a woman of Chinese descent’.

– On 8 April in Szprotawa local media reported that a security guard of the local supermarket refused a Ukrainian man entrance to the store on the grounds of his nationality. One witness to the event reported: ‘When the young man wanted to enter the store, the security guard asked him if he was Polish or Ukrainian. When he replied that he was Ukrainian, he was told that he could not go inside’. The employee’s xenophobic behaviour stemmed from the false belief that all persons of Ukrainian origin in the town were carriers of COVID-19.

– On 8 April, Radio Wnet in Warsaw presented its listeners with a special programme introducing a conspiracy theory pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic, advocated by well-known British extremist, David Icke. According to Icke, the responsibility for the pandemic rests with a secret global group, described as a ‘cult’, with which ‘madmen from Silicon Valley’, the World Health Organization, the British heir to the throne Prince Charles, and entrepreneur Bill Gates are connected.

– In the second half of April in Poznan, in the middle of the night, unknown perpetrators smashed the windows of a flat occupied by a Filipino man, who has been living in Poland for ten years. A report about it was broadcast on 23 April on the television channel, TVN24, and that night, there was a second attack on the flat, with stones once again being thrown. According to the victim, both attacks were associated with the COVID-19 epidemic and hostility towards people of Asian origin. ‘Some Filipinos experience incidents of people shouting «corona!» after them on the streets. One of the Filipinos was spat in the face and called «Chinese». We are very afraid’ – he said.

– On April 25 Grzegorz Braun, a Member of Parliament representing the Confederation party, shared his views on the pandemic in an interview on YouTube: ‘Jew-communists are trying to use the coronavirus to get rid of Trump […]. Bill Gates is heading for a situation in which each person on this globe will need to legitimise  his or her existence with a certificate of kosher standard’. On 6 May, during a speech in the Polish Parliament, Braun made threats of death by hanging to the Minister of Health, Lukasz Szumowski, in reaction to sanitary measures introduced in the preceding weeks in connection with COVID-19. On 8 May in Warsaw Braun together with Piotr Rybak (who had been convicted for publicly burning an effigy of a Jew in Wroclaw in 2015) participated in skirmishes with the police during a protest against sanitary restrictions imposed to combat the epidemic.

– On 9 May, TVP Info, a Polish state-run television channel, broadcast a thirty-minute conversation with Steve Bannon, an idol of the international alt-right movement and former advisor to Donald Trump. Bannon presented an ideological conspiracy theory on the COVID-19 pandemic, using military rhetoric. He stated: ‘This is really a serious matter, and I think that every leader in every country in the world should listen when the commander in chief of the US Armed Forces [the President] says that we have been attacked just like at Pearl Harbour and this time the Chinese are responsible. […] The real dark days are ahead, […] now they are turning to a kinetic type of war. […] This was like an order of assassination. The death of each person, each nurse, each doctor can be blamed on the Chinese Communist Party’.  He also added a confrontation with China was inevitable and said: ‘This is our goal, our destiny’.

According to the research carried out in April 2020 by the Centre for the Study of Democracy at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities in Warsaw, as many as 45 percent of Poles believe in conspiracy theories alleging that ‘some foreign forces or countries intentionally spread the coronavirus’ and only 42 percent recognize its natural origin confirmed by scientific knowledge.

Rafal Pankowski, a co-author of the report of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association and a sociology professor at the Collegium Civitas university, commented: – ‘The global pandemic is also a global crisis of social trust and values amid confusion and anxiety. It is fertile ground for the dangerous growth of xenophobia and conspiracy theories. For the first time in Polish history we are dealing with such a wave of hatred against people of Asian origin, but the antisemitic stereotypes are also present, together with hostility and contempt for various other groups – for example Roma, Africans, Ukrainians, Americans, Russians, as well as Muslims, refugees, LGBT people, environmentalists, vegans, and others’.

– ‘Unfortunately, the media are also involved in promoting conspiracy theories about the coronavirus, often inviting people with extreme views as experts. These «experts» are also gaining popularity on the web, where antisemitic and xenophobic content is distributed on a massive scale. Companies such as YouTube and Facebook, contrary to their formal announcements, often tolerate such content on their platforms’ – said Dr. Anna Tatar, co-author of the ‘Brown Book’.

– ‘Examples of hatred are unfortunately coming from the top. In a pandemic, conspiracy theories promoted by public figures: celebrities, artists, politicians, journalists and clergy are particularly alarming’ – adds Jacek Dziegielewski, also a co-author of the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association report.

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent organization established in Warsaw in 1996. It has campaigned against racism, antisemitism, and xenophobia, both in Poland and internationally. Among others, it is a member of the International Network against Cyber Hate (INACH), which brings together organizations from twenty countries fighting hatred and discrimination on the Internet. Together with partners from Estonia, Slovakia, Romania and Spain, it conducts research on hate speech as part of the Opcode: Open Code for Hate-Free Communication project.

‘The Virus of Hate: Brown Book of the Epidemic’ (full report in PDF): https://bit.ly/2Z4EO20

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity 

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

‘MUSIC AGAINST RACISM’ LIVES ON

The NEVER AGAIN Association has released a special vinyl record to commemorate Marcin Kornak, the late founder and chairman of NEVER AGAIN, one of the stalwarts of the Polish anti-racism movement. 20 March marks the fifth anniversary of his passing and 21 March is the UN International Day Against Racism.

Marcin Kornak (1968-2014) launched the high-profile campaigns ‘Music Against Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism Out of Stadiums’. As the editor-in-chief of the NEVER AGAIN journal, he initiated the ground-breaking register of hate crimes in Poland known as the ‘Brown Book’. For his civil society activism, Marcin was awarded the Order of Polonia Restituta, one of Poland’s highest distinctions. Moreover, the Friends of Integration Association, working in the field of disabled people’s rights, granted him the title of Person Without Barriers (Marcin was physically disabled since he had had a serious accident at the age of 15). He was also an Ambassador for the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE).

The special EP entitled ‘I Know My Path is Right’ includes tracks dedicated to the memory of Marcin Kornak by two Polish rock bands closely associated with NEVER AGAIN: Qulturka and Skowyt. Their songs address the issues of bigotry and violence.

Marcin Kornak, who was also an acclaimed poet and author of alternative rock lyrics, launched the Music Against Racism campaign in 1996. Over the years, numerous artists representing diverse genres joined NEVER AGAIN to say no to racism and intolerance. The NEVER AGAIN Association released a whole series of records under a common motto of Music Against Racism, including hip-hop, electronic, metal, and reggae compilations. The campaign’s emblem accompanied more than 1400 concerts and festivals, while over 300 bands put it on their album sleeves – the open white-and-black palm of a hand symbolizes peace, friendship and diversity.

The cover for ‘I Know My Path is Right’ was designed by Witold Popiel, a NEVER AGAIN activist and graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts. The record was produced in cooperation with the independent label Jimmy Jazz Records. As a commemorative item, it will be distributed free and will not be sold commercially.

Qulturka is a punk-rock band founded in Pila in 1995. Its partnership with NEVER AGAIN concerning anti-fascist actions dates back many years. In 2010 the band recorded an album called ‘White, Yellow, Red, Black’ in support of the Music Against Racism campaign.

Skowyt debuted with ‘Achtung, Polen!’ in 2011 released under the patronage of Music Against Racism. The band’s name – translated as The Howl – refers to Allan Ginsberg’s poem of 1956, which condemned soul-crushing conformity and helped kick off the entire Beat Generation.

The NEVER AGAIN Association was founded by Marcin Kornak in 1996. It has campaigned against racism and xenophobia, and for peace, intercultural dialogue and human rights both in Poland and internationally. Among others, it has conducted large-scale anti-racist activities at the Polish Woodstock festival, the biggest open-air free music festival in Europe.

More info:

I Know My Path is Right’ EP (2019): https://youtu.be/gpaewF3bgVA

Music Against Racism (issued in 1997) – the cult classic album compiled by NEVER AGAIN: http://bit.ly/2SWRrtp

www.nigdywiecej.org

www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity

www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

A NEW REPORT ON VIOLENCE AGAINST MUSLIMS

The ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association has published a REPORT part of its ‘Brown Book’ monitoring activity – on incidents targeting Muslims in Poland in 2017-2018. The association calls for the condemnation of xenophobic violence and for solidarity with those who experience it.

Former Gdansk mayor the late Pawel Adamowicz was viciously criticized for his efforts to support refugees and to create a migration policy based on respect for diversity. Two weeks before his death, the public prosecutor discontinued proceedings regardingdeath certificates’ that the ultra-nationalist All-Polish Youth addressed to Adamowicz and ten other city mayors for signing a declaration of cooperation aimed at the integration of migrants in Polish cities. On 20 January, Muslims joined in prayer at the ecumenical funeral mass to mourn the assassination of the Gdansk mayor.

Examples of events documented in the ‘Brown Book’ include, amongst many others, the following incidents:

A group of men assaulted a Pakistani citizen. According to the victim, They shouted, <Osama, Osama!>. Then they asked if I was a Muslim.’ As a result of the incident he had a broken nose, broken teeth, as well as head and chest injuries. (Ozorkow, 3 January 2017)

Two unidentified individuals beat up a student from Saudi Arabia. The attacked man received several fist blows to his face. (Zakopane, 8 January 2017)

Three men attacked Pakistani workers of a restaurant. They shouted abusive words, like ‘dirtbags and ‘terrorists’. Moreover, one of the assailants forced his way behind the counter, hit one of the Pakistanis and pushed him onto a hot grill. The two remaining perpetrators beat up the owner of the facility as well as another employee. (Swidwin, 8 April 2017)

Four men took part in an assault on a kebab shop. They verbally abused one of the employees, a Bangladeshi citizen, with words including ‘you turban and ‘you nigger’ and spat on him. The perpetrators also threw chairs at the remaining employees and demolished the interior of the shop. (Lodz, 17 April 2017)

An unidentified man spat at a girl who wore a hijab. The teenage victim was participating in an educational excursion for young people from Germany. (Lublin, 21 June 2017)

A man and an accompanying woman assaulted a Chechen woman dressed in traditional Muslim garb. The assailant shouted at her, ‘You fucking Muslim!’, ‘To the gas chamber!’ and ‘Fuck off from here! He pushed her down to the ground and kicked her head and the rest of her body. (Warsaw, 7 September 2017)

Unknown perpetrators devastated a mosque. Surveillance cameras recorded two masked men breaking a few dozen window panes in the building by throwing stones and lumps of concrete. (Warsaw, 27 November 2017)

An unidentified man attacked a student from Saudi Arabia; he punched him in the face and shouted: ‘If you are to explode, do it where you came from! (Lodz, 8 January 2018)

In a kebab shop an assailant aimed a firearm at three Moroccan citizens and shouted that they are to ‘get the fuck out of Poland’ and that ‘Poland is for Poles’. (Gniezno, 12 February 2018)

An owner of a similar shop, an Egyptian national, was beaten by three men with a metal stick. (Warsaw, 13 May 2018)

Another Egyptian victim, belonging to the Coptic Catholic Church, made the following statement: ‘They were very aggressive. They said I was an Islamist and an Arab. When I showed them the cross I was wearing and said I was a Christian, one of the men spat on [my cross] and attacked me with his fists.’ (Krasnystaw, 31 August 2018)

In a bus two Turkish passengers were attacked by five apparent fans of football club Legia Warsaw. One of the victims, a dual citizen of Turkey and Poland, said, ‘They began to call us names, <Dirtbags, get the fuck out of here>. They were getting more and more aggressive. They sang a racist song (…) One of them severely head-butted me in the face.’ (Warsaw, 15 December 2018)

At a railway station, a group of a dozen or so men attacked three Arab students. The assailants hit one of them on the back of the head and pushed him down to the ground, forced the second onto the tracks just before the departure of the train, and beat the third until he lost consciousness. (Katowice, 22 December 2018)

– ‘This carefree show of hatred towards Muslims or people perceived as Muslims often stems from the rhetoric used by politicians, celebrities and other public figures in the media. They use negative stereotypes and derogatory expressions and this, in an unavoidable manner, facilitates xenophobic attitudes towards representatives of various minorities’, said Dr Anna Tatar, the author of the report.

The ‘Brown Book’ gathers examples of such public rhetoric which contains prejudice against Muslims or direct calls for violence towards them. The monitoring activity noted words by the regional curator of education Barbara Nowak when she told the King Jan Sobieski Secondary School students, ‘The patron of your school was a wonderful king who managed to save the whole of Europe from Islam. You must follow his example (Krakow, 11 September 2018). In turn, Wojciech Cejrowski (right-wing author and commentator) posted an appeal on Twitter (19 October) to send in photographs of Muslims living in Poland. In response, Internet users began, without asking for permission, to take photographs of women with hijabs and Arab men and to publish them with derogatory commentaries: e.g. ‘Muslim savages’; ‘more and more of them can be seen in Poland, they should be chased away while it’s still possible because the plague spreads quickly’.

For many years, xenophobic commentaries can be heard in broadcasts aired by the nationalist Catholic radio station, Radio Maryja. The ‘Brown Book’ for 2018 contains, amongst others, the words uttered by Tadeusz Rydzyk, director of the Torun-based station, who in a programme on the subject of ‘mixed marriages’ said, ‘I look, for instance, at Polish women who see some man and they like him because he has a darker skin… and then with this Arab, it’s like <go join the harem, go there>. So, it’s like that, this is dramatic. (11 December). This statement failed to trigger any response from the National Broadcasting Council or from Church authorities.

In 2018, following an intervention by the ‘NEVER AGAIN’ Association, the Allegro online e-commerce platform removed T-shirts showing slogans and symbols derogatory to the Muslim faith such as ‘Stop Islam and a drawing of a mosque crossed out.

In Poland there are, according to various estimates, between 15 and 25 thousand Muslims which accounts for less than 0.1% of the total population.

NEVER AGAIN’ Association is an independent anti-racist organization, founded by the late Marcin Kornak (1968-2014) to monitor incidents of a xenophobic nature. It also conducts educational campaigns such as ‘Music Against Racism’ and ‘Let’s Kick Racism out of Stadiums’.

The ‘Brown Book’ is a monitoring activity, carried out by ‘NEVER AGAIN’, of racist, xenophobic and antisemitic incidents since the mid-1990s.

NEVER AGAIN’s ‘Brown Book’ documentation of selected Islamophobic incidents from 2017 and 2018:  READ PDF 

Additional information:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ

O AGRESJI WOBEC MUZUŁMANÓW – RAPORT NA DZIEŃ ISLAMU W KOŚCIELE

Stowarzyszenie „NIGDY WIĘCEJ” opublikowało raport o wybranych napaściach na muzułmanów w latach 2017-2018 w Polsce, odnotowanych w monitoringu „Brunatna Księga”. W związku z obchodami Dnia Islamu w Kościele katolickim (26 stycznia) stowarzyszenie apeluje o potępienie aktów ksenofobicznej przemocy i o solidarność z tymi, którzy jej doświadczają.

Za działania na rzecz uchodźców i tworzenie polityki migracyjnej opartej na szacunku wobec różnorodności obrażany był śp. Paweł Adamowicz, prezydent Gdańska. Dwa tygodnie przed jego śmiercią Prokuratura Rejonowa Gdańsk-Śródmieście umorzyła postępowanie w sprawie „aktów zgonu”, które Młodzież Wszechpolska wystawiła Adamowiczowi i prezydentom dziesięciu innych miast za podpisanie deklaracji o współpracy „w celu przyjaznego przyjęcia imigrantów”. 20 stycznia prezydenta Gdańska pożegnali także muzułmanie, którzy modlili się podczas ekumenicznej mszy pogrzebowej.

Przykłady zdarzeń udokumentowanych w „Brunatnej Księdze” (spośród wielu innych):

Grupa mężczyzn pobiła obywatela Pakistanu. Poszkodowany relacjonował: „Krzyczeli: <Osama, Osama!>. Potem zapytali, czy jestem muzułmaninem”. W wyniku zdarzenia miał złamany nos, wybite zęby, obrażenia głowy i klatki piersiowej (Ozorków, 3 stycznia 2017).

Dwaj nierozpoznani sprawcy pobili studenta pochodzącego z Arabii Saudyjskiej. Poszkodowany mężczyzna otrzymał kilka ciosów pięścią w twarz (Zakopane, 8 stycznia 2017).

Trzech mężczyzn zaatakowało pochodzących z Pakistanu pracowników lokalu gastronomicznego. Obrzucili ich wyzwiskami „Brudasy” i „Terroryści”. Ponadto jeden z napastników wtargnął za bar, uderzył jednego z Pakistańczyków i pchnął go na gorący ruszt. Dwaj pozostali sprawcy pobili właściciela lokalu oraz drugiego pracownika (Świdwin, 8 kwietnia 2017).

Czterech mężczyzn napadło na bar z kebabem. Jednego z pracowników, obywatela Bangladeszu, wyzywali: „Ty turbanie” i „Czarnuchu”, a także opluli. Sprawcy rzucali też krzesłami w stronę pozostałych osób z obsługi oraz zdemolowali wnętrze lokalu (Łódź, 17 kwietnia 2017).

Nierozpoznany mężczyzna opluł dziewczynę, która nosiła hidżab (tj. chustę zgodnie z zasadami islamu zakrywającą włosy i szyję). Poszkodowana nastolatka była uczestniczką wyjazdu edukacyjnego dla młodzieży z Niemiec (Lublin, 21 czerwca 2017).

Mężczyzna i towarzysząca mu kobieta pobili Czeczenkę ubraną w tradycyjny muzułmański strój. Napastnik wykrzykiwał pod jej adresem: „Pier…lona muzułmanka!”, „Do gazu!” i „Spier… stąd!”. Przewrócił ją też na ziemię i kopał po głowie i całym ciele (Warszawa, 7 września 2017).

„Nieznani sprawcy” zdewastowali meczet. Kamery monitoringu zarejestrowały dwóch zamaskowanych mężczyzn, którzy wybili w budynku kilkanaście szyb, obrzucając go kamieniami i kawałkami betonu (Warszawa, 27 listopada 2017).

Nierozpoznany mężczyzna zaatakował studenta pochodzącego z Arabii Saudyjskiej: uderzył go pięścią w twarz i wykrzykiwał: „Jak masz wybuchać, to u siebie!” (Łódź, 8 stycznia 2018).

W barze z kebabami napastnik wycelował z broni w trzech obywateli Maroka i krzyczał, że mają „wypier…ać z Polski” oraz „Polska jest dla Polaków” (Gniezno, 12 lutego 2018).

Właściciela podobnego lokalu, obywatela Egiptu, trzech mężczyzn pobiło metalową pałką (Warszawa, 13 maja 2018).

Inny zaatakowany Egipcjanin, należący do Kościoła katolickiego obrządku koptyjskiego, relacjonował: „Byli bardzo agresywni. Powiedzieli, że jestem islamistą, Arabem. Pokazałem im krzyż, który noszę, i powiedziałem, że jestem chrześcijaninem, wtedy jeden z mężczyzn go opluł i rzucił się na mnie z pięściami” (Krasnystaw, 31 sierpnia 2018).

W autobusie dwóch pasażerów pochodzenia tureckiego zostało zaatakowanych przez pięciu pseudokibiców Legii Warszawa. Jeden z poszkodowanych, obywatel Turcji i Polski, relacjonował: „Zaczęli nas wyzywać: <Brudasy, wyp…ać stąd>. Byli coraz bardziej agresywni. Śpiewali rasistowską piosenkę. (…) Jeden z nich uderzył mnie mocno z główki w twarz” (Warszawa, 15 grudnia 2018).

Na dworcu kolejowym grupa kilkunastu mężczyzn zaatakowała trzech studentów pochodzenia arabskiego. Napastnicy uderzyli jednego z nich w tył głowy i powalili na ziemię, drugiego zepchnęli na tory tuż przed odjazdem pociągu, a trzeciego pobili do nieprzytomności (Katowice, 22 grudnia 2018).

– „Ta łatwość okazywania nienawiści wobec muzułmanów lub osób postrzeganych jako muzułmanie bierze się często z języka – tego, którym w wypowiedziach medialnych posługują się politycy, celebryci czy inne osoby publiczne. Używają negatywnych stereotypów i obraźliwych sformułowań, a to w nieunikniony sposób wpływa na ksenofobiczne postawy względem przedstawicieli różnych mniejszości” – powiedziała dr Anna Tatar, autorka raportu.

„Brunatna Księga” gromadzi również wybrane przykłady takich publicznych wypowiedzi odwołujących się do uprzedzeń wobec muzułmanów bądź wręcz nawołujących do wrogości wobec nich. W monitoringu odnotowano m.in. słowa wygłoszone do uczniów II LO im. Króla Jana III Sobieskiego przez małopolską kurator oświaty Barbarę Nowak: „Patron waszej szkoły to wspaniały król, który potrafił obronić całą Europę przed islamem. Musicie brać z niego przykład” (Kraków, 11 września 2018). Z kolei Wojciech Cejrowski zamieścił na Twitterze (19 października) apel o nadsyłanie zdjęć muzułmanów mieszkających w Polsce. W odpowiedzi internauci w sposób niedopuszczalny, bez pytania o zgodę, robili zdjęcia kobietom w chustach i mężczyznom pochodzenia arabskiego, a następnie publikowali je wraz z obelżywymi komentarzami, np. „Dzikusy muzułmańskie, coraz więcej ich widać w Polsce, trzeba ich gonić, póki jeszcze można, ta zaraza rozprzestrzenia się szybko”.

Od wielu lat ksenofobiczne komentarze wygłaszane są też na antenie Radia Maryja. W „Brunatnej Księdze” za 2018 r. znalazły się m.in. słowa wypowiedziane przez dyrektora toruńskich mediów, o. Tadeusza Rydzyka, który w audycji na temat „małżeństw mieszanych” stwierdził: „Ja np. patrzę, jak Polki zobaczą, spodoba im się taki jakiś mężczyzna, bo ciemniejsza cera i tego… i z tym Arabem i później jest <idź do haremu, jedź tam>. No tak jest, to są dramaty” (11 grudnia). Wypowiedź ta pozostała bez reakcji m.in. Krajowej Rady Radiofonii i Telewizji i władz kościelnych.

W 2018 r. po interwencji Stowarzyszenia „NIGDY WIĘCEJ” z platformy Allegro zostały usunięte koszulki, na których widniały obrażające muzułmanów slogany i symbole, np. napis „Stop islam”, a także rysunek przekreślonego meczetu.

W Polsce mieszka, według różnych szacunków, od 15-25 tys. muzułmanów, tj. mniej niż 0,1% populacji kraju.

Dzień Islamu w Kościele katolickim w Polsce obchodzony jest od 2001 r. Podczas chrześcijańsko-muzułmańskich spotkań odczytywane są fragmenty Biblii i Koranu, prowadzone są modlitwy i debaty, a uroczystości kończą się agapą (tj. wspólnym posiłkiem, braterską ucztą). Tematykę obchodów wyznacza coroczne przesłanie kierowane do muzułmanów przez Papieską Radę ds. Dialogu Międzyreligijnego z okazji zakończenia miesiąca postu (ramadanu). W maju 2018 r. w orędziu tym zachęcano do wspólnej pracy „na rzecz harmonii w społeczeństwie coraz bardziej wieloetnicznym, wieloreligijnym i wielokulturowym”.

Dzień Islamu w Kościele katolickim w Polsce organizowany jest przez Radę Wspólną Katolików i Muzułmanów oraz Komitet ds. Dialogu z Religiami Niechrześcijańskimi Rady ds. Dialogu Międzyreligijnego z ramienia Konferencji Episkopatu Polski.

Papież Franciszek wielokrotnie apelował o szacunek wobec muzułmanów. Już kilka dni po konklawe w jednym z przemówień zapowiadał: „Bardzo ważne jest intensyfikowanie dialogu między różnymi religiami. Myślę nade wszystko o dialogu z islamem i bardzo sobie cenię obecność podczas mszy św. inaugurującej moją posługę tak wielu przedstawicieli władz religijnych i świeckich świata islamskiego” (22 marca 2013).

Stowarzyszenie „NIGDY WIĘCEJ” jest założoną w 1996 roku przez Marcina Kornaka (ur. 1968-zm. 2014) niezależną, apolityczną organizacją ekspercką, która monitoruje incydenty na tle ksenofobicznym. Prowadzi kampanie społeczne, m.in. „Muzyka Przeciwko Rasizmowi” i „Wykopmy Rasizm ze Stadionów”.‎

„Brunatna Księga” to monitoring zdarzeń na tle rasistowskim, ksenofobicznym i antysemickim prowadzony od połowy lat dziewięćdziesiątych przez Stowarzyszenie „NIGDY WIĘCEJ”. Jego pomysłodawcą i wieloletnim redaktorem był śp. Marcin Kornak. W publikacji tej opisywane są zabójstwa, pobicia, wyzwiska, akty dyskryminacji, demonstracje uliczne, dewastacje nekropolii i pomników, a także przykłady mowy nienawiści w debacie publicznej.

Wybór zdarzeń islamofobicznych (za lata 2017-2018) udokumentowanych w monitoringu „Brunatna Księga” Stowarzyszenia „NIGDY WIĘCEJ”: PLIK PDF

Dodatkowe informacje:

www.nigdywiecej.org
www.facebook.com/Respect.Diversity
www.twitter.com/StowNIGDYWIECEJ