Posted on 10/29/2015 7:24:26 AM PDT by Trumpinator
Law and Justice party’s aggressive nationalism and strict Catholicism could reap dividends in crucial elections
The gigantic green-and-yellow tractor should be the pride and joy of Janusz Wnorowski’s humble farmyard. But the 57-year-old milk farmer associates the John Deere with the debt and bureaucracy that have visited him since Poland joined the European Union.
“Whom I vote for is a religious decision, not a political one,’’ he says, suggesting he will choose the ultra-conservative Law and Justice party of President Andrzej Duda. Tacitly endorsed by the powerful Roman Catholic Church, Law and Justice is seen in this village as a tool for Jesus Christ to give John Deere – and thus the EU – a good hiding.
Law and Justice may not win Sunday’s parliamentary and senate elections outright. But surveys suggest its rise will consolidate Poland’s shift to the right. It is expected to finish first, at least 10% ahead of the governing centrist Civic Platform. Law and Justice flirts with racism, homophobia and antisemitism. But in Kulesze Ko�›cielne, a village about 200km northeast of Warsaw, it is all about milk.
“Since we joined the EU in 2004, our government has not fought for Poland,’’ says Wnorowski, who has 95 cows. “All this,’’ he says, pointing to the John Deere and a range of alterations imposed by EU rules, “is unnecessary on our small farms.’’ One outbuilding carries an EU plaque, showing that it was built with a grant.
“We have received money, but we have also had to take out loans. Now people in Brussels are deciding that grain farmers should be better compensated for last summer’s drought than beef and milk farmers. It is nonsensical. Poland did not decide to impose sanctions on Russia, yet we have been the first to suffer the consequences of them.’’
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
I studied in Europe a couple of decades ago (how time flies) and what most people here in the states would call EU socialism is actually EU bureaucracy in the service of finance capitalism like forcing small farmers to buy modern equipment on loans or be banned from selling products if they don't, etc.
Sorry, lodi....
Russian tears are the sweetest tears.
Poland did not decide to impose sanctions on Russia, yet we have been the first to suffer the consequences of them.
bfl
Here’s how it works: when a country imposes economic sanctions on another, certain segments of that country’s economy bear the cost. It should come as a surprise to anyone but a Russian sychophant trying to score points.
Russian tears are still the sweetest tears.
Ping.
My analysis is that the implementation of Socialism always results in what you’re referring to as EU bureaucracy and others call ‘crony capitalism’.
A privileged elite controls the productive class to self enrich themselves and their “friends”, the highest bidder. The productive, increasingly penalized, become less productive by quitting, leaving, going underground, etc. The Socialists/bureaucracy grows and eventually runs out of other people’s money. Communism, chaos or revolution is the end result.
So, Socialism and bureaucracy may be different in theory, but, in the real world implementations, they are one in the same. Can you name a country where Socialism resulted in less bureaucracy- other than Cambodia?
And in this case it cost the pro EU party that went with the Russian sanctions the election. The farmers voted against the Russian sanctions. So your narrative fails here.
Correction = Pro EU tears are the sweetest tears.
So at the same time the EU was forcing an end to govt owned businesses they imposed taxes and regulations that pretty much hamstrung the privatized businesses so the end result is still a form of control.
And for bonus points, you must mention George Soros. Do svidaniya.
That's called 'Fascism'.
The EU makes the French govt sell the cheesemaker to private interests but then imposes on it regulations that force the cheesemaker to build new storage facilities, use certain kinds of trucks for delivery, etc. These rules can be anywhere from forcing workers not to smoke in the production area - something they did all the time before - to mandating bathroom breaks which would not have existed ironically in the old French owned model.
That is what I meant.
Boring.
Most pro-Russian posters are. I’ve only met a couple who don’t toe the Kremlin line.
How low energy of you.
Sounds like even Stalin did not mess with these farmers as much as the EU has.
From the article:
Kulesze Ko�›cielne, a farming community dating back to the 15th century, takes a bleak view of the future it believes is being shaped for it by the EU: the death of small farms. In a meeting room full of sports trophies, mayor Józef Grochowski, 60, describes an incredibly united village. “We stick together. We are all milk farmers or have been. Last year, we were the Polish village whose cows produced the highest amount of milk per cow.
“But now the rules have changed. If you produce too much milk, you are fined. One of our farmers faces certain ruin. He has to pay a fine of 600,000 złotys (£101,000). He is not the only one facing punishment. It is madness.’’
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