TVN24 | TVN24 News in English
3 października 2023
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Źródło:TVN24 News in English, The Guardian
Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2018
"We must put a stop to further degradation that is leading Poland towards authoritarianism; that’s the most important thing now," the Polish Nobel Prize-winning writer Olga Tokarczuk told the Guardian. The British newspaper said Tokarczuk had given a "rare political interview" less than two weeks ahead of Poland's parliamentary election scheduled for October 15.
The Polish Nobel Prize-winning writer Olga Tokarczuk gave a "rare political interview" to the British daily "The Guardian". The convsersation with the writer, published on Tuesday (Oct. 3), pertained mainly to the upcoming parliamentary election in Poland.
"We as citizens will need to be assured that a new government would have faith in democracy, Europeanism and freedom guaranteed by law," Tokarczuk said less than two weeks before Poland goes to the polls in a potentially pivotal election on October 15.
"We need assurances that such a government would listen to us and respond to our needs, and not, like the present one, subordinate the majority of citizens to anachronistic 'traditional values' adhered to only by a 30% minority," the novelist added.
"The Guardian" reminded that Tokarczuk has been facing criticism from nationalists and conservatives for what they see as "anti-Polish" ideas. The British paper also noted the writer is "an avid supporter of women’s rights and attender of marches against Poland’s restrictive abortion laws".
"[If] I refer publicly to anything to do with current Polish social or ecological policies, journalists who depend on the present government will immediately respond by stigmatising my words, and the trolls will start up their hate," the writer said. "It demonstrates that my beliefs are awkward for the present government, not just during an election campaign."
Nevertheless, Tokarczuk does not encourage Poles to vote for any particular political party. In her view, "the most important thing" for any future government would be to stand against current social trends in Poland.
"If the government changes in Poland, then I hope – regardless of what kind of coalition emerges after the vote – that above all it will put a stop to the anti-progressive, anti-civic activities we have been dealing with in recent years, and which have been intensifying from one month to the next," Tokarczuk said.
"We must put a stop to further degradation that is leading Poland towards authoritarianism; that’s the most important thing now."
"The Guardian" wrote that "the illiberal turn of central eastern European states, most notably Hungary and Poland, has often been explained as a rebellion against cosmopolitan and multicultural values championed by the west".
However, the newspaper added, Olga Tokarczuk had recognized Poland's "yearning for cultural diversity in the region that was destroyed during the years of Nazi rule and the Soviet era".
"Homogeneity is not natural in this part of Europe, many people can feel there’s something missing," the author told "The Guardian".
"I notice the areas where a nostalgia for diversity is being felt more and more, being cultivated and restored. I hope these phenomena will put up resistance in the near future to idealized, fictional homogeneity, a concept that, put into effect for nationalist ideas and duly made to serve the demagogues, has already done so much harm in the history of the world," she added.
The Polish Nobel Prize laureate also commented on the dispute over Agnieszka Holland's latest film "Green Border". "In the context of the major problems demanding swift solutions with which the world and Poland are struggling, it is shocking that politicians find the time to make malevolent, mean-spirited comments about movies that they haven’t even seen," she said.
"It is clear that the role of these comments is merely to reinforce the divisions within society and to radicalise public feelings in the run-up to the election."
"Only a government that is playing for all and that does not shy away from violence is capable of treating an artist like an object in such a ruthless way," Olga Tokarczuk added.
Autor:gf
Źródło: TVN24 News in English, The Guardian
Źródło zdjęcia głównego: Markus Wissmann / Shutterstock.com
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