“The fate of the Constitution of May 3 gives us another lesson. Only the nation state – and not a supranational federation – can be a reliable guarantee of the freedom of its citizens. When Poland disappeared from the map, we lost our freedom, and we regained it only with independence. What would Europe be without its constituent nations?” – wrote Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki as part of the next 22nd edition of the project “We tell Poland to the world”.
On Constitution Day on May 3, texts about the Polish democratic tradition appear in the largest press titles and on portals in several dozen countries. Through a lecture on history, they should enable a better understanding of Poland and the Poles. This is another 22nd edition of the “We tell Poland to the world” project.
The first constitution in Europe, one of the first women’s suffrage, help for nations and religious groups persecuted in other countries, who found protection in Poland, incredible courage in the struggle for freedom and democracy, and today solidarity and genuineness, in every dimension, help Ukraine – the world loved Polish history, we can see it from the reaction of editors from all over the world, to whom we offer texts in the latest editions of “We tell Poland to the world” – says Michał Kłosowski, head of international projects at the New Media Institute, deputy editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine “Wszystko co Most Important”.
This time, the tradition of Polish democracy in publications sent to more than 60 media around the world, written by eg Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, historian and head of foreign service at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Prof. Arkady Rzegocki and politics philosopher Jan Rokita.
Prime Minister: The Constitution of 3 May is proof of our identity
History is an element of cruel irony. Shortly after the idea of republicanism came to fruition in the First Polish Republic, a rift broke out and our homeland disappeared from the world map
Mateusz Morawiecki writes.
If we became a nation with the baptism of Poland, then on May 3, 1791, we became one in the modern sense of the word. The constitution adopted on that day is not only a legal act, a historical document, but also a proof of our identity. This identity rests on three foundations: law, freedom and Christianity. We want to subordinate our collective lives to the same values today and tomorrow. The Constitution of May 3 is the source of both the subsequent act of independence and the idea from which “Solidarity” was born
– writes the Polish Prime Minister.
A Pole is above all a free man. Even at a time when our ancestors lost their outer freedom, deep down they have retained their inner freedom. So it was under the partitions. That was also the case later, when the ominous shadow of the Iron Curtain fell over our homeland. The awareness of one’s own identity – Polish, and therefore European – meant that the homo sovieticus pattern remained alien to the vast majority of Poles
– underlined.
On February 24, 2022, he reminded us that freedom is not given once and for all. “The price of freedom is constant vigilance everywhere,” said Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States. The commitment to the war that takes place beyond the eastern border of our homeland is not only our freedom, but also our identity. Whether we will still be Poland when another two hundred or even a thousand years pass
– notes Mateusz Morawiecki.
The fate of the Constitution of May 3 gives us another lesson. Only the nation state – and not a supranational federation – can be a reliable guarantee of the freedom of its citizens. When Poland disappeared from the map, we lost our freedom, and we regained it only with independence. What would Europe be without its constituent nations? Europe will only exist if its peoples survive. Only as a community of united nation-states that respect each other’s individuality will the European Union retain the political and moral strength to confront the imperialism of Russia and its “red tsars”. And there are other challenges ahead. The balance of power in the world can change before our very eyes. Especially in such turbulent times, we must consciously and responsibly shape our own future. This is the legacy of the Constitution of May 3, which we must never forget
Mateusz Morawiecki writes.
Rokita: Today, the Western Alliance fulfills the same mission that the Commonwealth had in the past
Jan Rokita writes about Polish universalism:
Today, the Western Alliance fulfills the same mission of security and opportunities for civilization development that the Republic of Poland fulfilled in the past, as a union of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Lithuanians. (…) The phenomenon of that EU state was that it spread in the vast areas of Eastern Europe (up to the present Donbas, before which a bloody war is raging), an unprecedented political order, based on noble democracy, the rule of the law and religious tolerance. From the perspective of history, it can be said that the existence of this EU state has allowed both the Eastern Tatar despots, who in the Middle Ages subjugated all of Eastern Europe, and the Moscow “autocracy” to the far reaches of Europe + pushed+. originated at that time. At the same time, the political and military power of the Republic of Poland (for that is what the citizens of that time called their country) for a long time created something like a “safety zone”, through which the civilization of Central and Eastern Europe. When that EU state lost the ability to guarantee the security of this huge area in the 18th century, a common historical catastrophe of Poles, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Lithuanians took place. For many years, all these nations have been under the rule of tyranny, not only ignorant of the idea of individual liberty, but seeking their destruction and forcibly robbing them of their identity.
Regardless of the disputes and civil wars that the four united nations have waged throughout history, the time of those four centuries has shaped their national character. From them came the Polish “Solidarity”, which had a decisive influence on the new shape of Europe at the end of the 20th century, as well as on the current heroic defense of the freedom of Ukraine against a new attack from Moscow. The nations that once made up the vast Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth have learned over the centuries that they can simply cease to exist if they don’t defend themselves against the constant threat from the east. Therefore, their contemporary political aspiration is to reconstruct the former “safety zone” that their common state once gave them. Without this aspiration, Poland and Lithuania would not have made a successful attempt to join NATO, even in the 1990s, when there might have been a false impression that peace in Europe was here to stay and that Moscow was finally on the West would seem. Without this effort, there would be no urgent call from President Zelensky to open for Ukraine the still closed gates of the Western alliance.
notes Jan Rokita.
“Freedom and solidarity are at the core of who we are as Poles.
prof. Arkady Rzegocki writes about freedom and solidarity written in Polish DNA:
Let’s all celebrate Polishness in May. Both Poland and friends of Poland.
He also writes about the Days of Polish Heritage, which are celebrated in May.
Celebrating the great freedom achievements of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, celebrating regaining independence, celebrating the fall of communism, celebrating the Polish economic leap of the past 30 years. This year, for the seventh time, we express our joy in the Polish character through the celebration of the Polish Heritage Days. Their aim is to celebrate and promote Polish culture, the heritage of previous generations and the Polish contribution to cultural, economic and social life. This year, under the patronage of Witold Pilecki, the theme of the celebrations is “Poland. Solidarity for freedom. Freedom and solidarity define Polish like no other values, the expression of which we have been able to observe over the past year and a half. Freedom and solidarity are the basis of who we are as Poles
– writes Prof. Rzegocki.
“We tell Poland to the world” is a global project to promote Poland in foreign media, carried out by the New Media Institute, the publisher of the monthly news magazine “Wszystko co Most”. Earlier editions of the project related to anniversaries of the outbreak of the Second World War, the liberation of the Auschwitz camp, the battle of Warsaw, December ’70, the January uprising, the anniversary of the birth of John Paul II , the participation of Poland in the Economic Forum in Davos. Texts for the 40th anniversary of “Solidarity”, published in 38 countries, reached more than one billion. As many as 1,650,000,000 (more than one and a half billion – PAP Media Intelligence monitoring data) publications of 87 articles in more than 70 countries, including the worldwide “Newsweek”, “Le Figaro”, “El Mundo” and “La Repubblica”, had a range, about Polish war losses and the missing World War II.
The latest edition of the “We tell Poland to the world” project is being carried out by the New Media Institute with the support of the Institute of National Remembrance, the Polish National Foundation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Polish Press Agency. All texts of the project “We tell Poland to the world” are published (in all languages of the project) on the website www.WszystkoCoNajwazujesz.pl.
Source: wPolityce