Polish Consulate...

The picture ("Christmas Eve Underground") shows Polish Soldiers of Jozef Pilsudski's Legions celebrating the traditional Polish Christmas Eve 'Wigilia' in the trenches of the First World War.

posted by: Oborski at 22:31 | link | comments |

President Lech Kaczynski has declared a period of national mourning till Saturday. All entertainment events have been cancelled and the media have been asked to focus on commemorating the victims of the mining disaster in Ruda Slaska.

posted by: Oborski at 16:25 | link | comments |

posted by: Oborski at 19:35 | link | comments |

The death toll in the mine disaster in Silesia has risen to twenty three. The last of the miners missing after Tuesday’s gas explosion in the Halemba mine in Ruda Slaska were found in the early morning hours. According to a spokesman for the the state coal company, everything suggests that they died at the moment of the explosion. It occurred 1,000 meters below ground

posted by: Oborski at 12:33 | link | comments (1) |

The Polish Flag is flying at half mast today at the Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Kidderminster following the news that six bodies have been recovered and another two located in the Halemba coal mine in the city of Ruda Slaska, southern Poland, after an explosion 1000 meters below ground Tuesday evening.

About 70 rescuers worked through the night to try to clear 500m (1,640ft) of rubble to reach the men trapped some 1,000m (3,300ft) underground.

Hopes of finding the men alive are fading due to the extreme conditions underground, mine officials say.

"The conditions down there are extreme. It is hell. It is impossible to breathe in the area of the explosion, the ventilation has been destroyed," said Zbigniew Madej, a spokesman for the state-owned coal company.

Rescuers are trying to pump air into the shaft - it is not known if the breathing apparatus for the trapped miners will hold out.

Six bodies have been recovered. Another two have been located but could not be reached.

The identities of the dead could not quickly be determined as their ID tags had been blown away in the blast.

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski flew to the site of the blast and has declared a period of national mourning for the dead miners.

Polish Consul for the West Midlands, Cllr Mike Oborski, described the disaster as "a national tragedy. Poles across the World, including here in Wyre Forest are deeply moved and are praying for the dead, their families and in the hope small as it is, that there will still be survivors".

posted by: Oborski at 18:06 | link | comments |

15 November 2006

"A director of a department was drinking alone at his desk with a candle burning; he drank so much that he fell asleep and some confidential documents caught fire from the candle."
-An anonymous worker on why Interior Minister Ludwik Dorn has ordered staff to be breathalyzed at work

"Let's attack Slovakia-who knows, maybe they have nuclear weapons."
-Roman Giertych, deputy prime minister and education minister, on the Polish military presence in Iraq

"I feel very happy there, except when I switch on the TV. Unfortunately, out of habit I do it every night at news time."
-Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz, former prime minister (1993-1997) and former leader of the left, on his withdrawal from politics and his life in a house in the Puszcza Białowieska Forest

"Contraceptives disturb a woman's body and lead to infertility."
-Marian Piłka, a deputy from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS), on his legislative attempt to limit the sale of contraceptive drugs

"This is surprising news; after all, former kings rarely became courtiers to their own wives."
-Janusz Rolicki, a leftist columnist, on learning that former President Aleksander Kwaśniewski would help his wife prepare a TV program for private channel TVN Style

"He said that filling in the paperwork was lots of trouble but he was ready to punish the perpetrator so that the man would crawl out of the store on all fours."
-The manager of a shopping center near Warsaw on a police officer who offered to beat up a thief detained at the store

posted by: Oborski at 04:01 | link | comments |

By W.Ż.
15 November 2006

The opposition Civic Platform (PO) won most province assemblies in Nov. 12 local elections, according to unofficial results. The ruling Law and Justice (PiS) won most county and municipality councils. In cities, a number of the most popular mayors, mostly running as independent candidates, were re-elected in the first round.

The results consolidated a new force on the Polish political stage: the Left and Democrats coalition, formed before the elections by the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), Polish Social Democracy (SDPL), the Labor Union (UP) and the Democratic Party (PD). The center-left bloc came third in most large cities, as well as in the elections for provincial assemblies and municipality councils.

In the election for Warsaw mayor, SDPL leader Marek Borowski, supported by the center-left, came third with over 20 percent of the vote. The winners were PiS candidate, former Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz with about 39 percent of the vote, and PO candidate Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz with about 35 percent. They will run in a second round Nov. 26.

In the next two weeks, Marcinkiewicz and rival Gronkiewicz-Waltz will be fighting for the votes of Borowski's supporters. According to political scientists, most are likely to support Gronkiewicz-Waltz. Borowski himself had made his support for Gronkiewicz-Waltz conditional on a political agreement between the center-left and PO. "The main goal of the center-left is to remove PiS, Samoobrona and the League of Polish Families (LPR) from power wherever possible. We believe that the coalition is detrimental to Poland," said Borowski Nov. 13, at the same time denying rumors that, in exchange for his support, he expected the position of Warsaw deputy mayor.

If Gronkiewicz-Waltz wins, PO will reign supreme in the capital: the party already has a majority in the Warsaw City Council, even without forming further political alliances.

While PO has good reason to be satisfied, Samoobrona and the LPR, junior partners in the ruling government coalition, suffered stinging defeats. In many regions, they did not even get one candidate into local authorities. In Warsaw's election for mayor, Samoobrona and LPR candidates received 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent of the vote respectively. The LPR result is shocking. Samoobrona's candidate, little-known European Parliament member Marek Czarnecki, was not generally expected to achieve a significant result, but support for LPR deputy leader Wojciech Wierzejski at a mere 0.3 percent was a total defeat. He was even outdone by Waldemar "Major" Fydrych, the leader of the popular 1980s anti-communist art performances, who garnered twice as much support. Fydrych ran on the list of the Dwarves and Loafers Committee that he had founded.

The State Election Commission announced provisional results on the morning of Nov. 13. According to the unofficial results, based on data from election commissions, in the elections to provincial assemblies the winner was PO, ahead of PiS and the Left and Democrats coalition. In the elections for county councils, the winner was PiS, followed by PO and-a big surprise for commentators and further proof of Samoobrona's failure-the Polish Peasants' Party (PSL), until recently considered to be doomed to political oblivion in the near future.

The State Election Commission has also given unofficial results for the mayoral elections in some cities. In the first round, mayors were elected in Gdańsk, Gdynia, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Katowice, Kielce, Olsztyn, Opole, Rzeszów, Toruń and Wrocław. In all of them, the winners were incumbent city mayors, running as independent candidates.

Unofficially, the best results in mayoral elections were achieved by Gdynia's Wojciech Szczurek and Wrocław's Rafał Dutkiewicz: both of whom won about 85 percent of the vote in their respective cities. The two were also supported by the two parties dominating the Polish political stage: PiS and PO.

State Election Commission Chair Ferdynand Rymarz stressed that, contrary to expectations, voter turnout may be a record. According to preliminary data, it was 44.18 percent. The turnout was the highest in the capital, where about 53 percent of eligible voters made it to the ballot box.

Political scientists are now discussing to what extent the local elections will change the situation in Poland. They note that, paradoxically, the result of the elections may augur greater stability for the ruling government coalition. PiS no longer has to fear attempted rebellions by the party's smaller coalition partners, as the prospect of early parliamentary elections might mean they lose power. This mainly applies to LPR, but also to Samoobrona, especially considering the unexpectedly good results of PSL-a traditional rival of Andrzej Lepper's party in the struggle for the rural electorate's support.

Experts also believe that early parliamentary elections would not significantly change the situation: it is likely that neither PiS nor PO would garner a majority that would enable them to govern alone.

posted by: Oborski at 03:59 | link | comments |

Speech to mark Polish Independence Day delived by Cllr Mike Oborski at the Polish Ex-Servicemen's Club, Kidderminster on 12th November 206.

posted by: Oborski at 18:16 | link | comments |

On Sunday, a day after Independence Day, Poland’s national holiday, Poles vote in local government elections. Local councils at all levels will be elected, as well as city presidents and heads of rural communes and counties.

How important is the ballot for the country’s political and social scene?

Calls for a high turn-out in local government elections have been coming during this campaign from politicians, NGOs and the church. Many bishops have addressed pastoral letters in which they appeal to the people to take responsibility for their ‘small homelands’.

Are these calls going to be headed?

Yes, of course I will take part in the election and I think all Polish people should do so. I’m not from Warsaw but I will go home to take part.’

‘It’s a very important event because I can decide about the future of our country so it’s very important to go and cast a vote’

‘We have the right to vote and we should do it because it is our duty’.

In the previous local government elections four years ago, the turn-out was 44 percent. According to the latest polls, around 50 percent of the Polish people want to cast their votes on Sunday but analysts fear that the real turn-out will be much smaller. Many people think their voice doesn’t have any impact on how local affairs are run.

‘Some people think this elections, as all elections, don’t change anything in policies, in the government.’

‘Yes, it’s a very important event but I don’t think my vote will change anything here in Poland’.

For an outside observer of the Polish scene, the campaign, particularly in the big cities, is very similar to the parliamentary election campaign, with the stress on nationwide rather than local issues. Party logos figure prominently on billboards promoting candidates for councillors. Political analyst Jacek Kucharczyk of the Institute of Public Affairs does not find this surprising.

‘I think this is related first of all to the level of political conflict, which is very high. The elections seem to most Poles a kind of preliminary elections or a rehearsal before the parliamentary elections, rather than genuine local government elections’.

According to sociologist Ireneusz Krzeminski, today’s deep political divisions are not a good augury for local governments.

‘In addition to political parties, the election race is entered by numerous local coalitions and associations of local residents. They, too, tend to adopt a certain political label, either for or against the ruling coalition. Clearly, existing political divisions have been transferred onto a local level.’

Local government elections are held just over a year after the parliamentary and presidential elections, which were won by the conservative Law and Justice. Since then, it has lost much of its popularity and opinion polls give its candidates several percentage points less than the opposition Civic Platform. The results of the Sunday vote will therefore be an important test for these and other parties in the Polish Parliament. Jacek Kucharczyk again.

‘These elections will show to everybody what is the level of support for each party, for both coalition members and the opposition. It will not only determine whether the oppositioin is as strong as it seems to be in the opinion polls but those results will also show how strong are the individual members of the ruling coalition, For example, would the League of Polish Families survive parliamentary elections, because according to opinion polls the party wouldn’t make it to the next parliament, but the politicians of the League of Polish Families are hoping that the elections will show that the real support is higher than the one indicated by opinion surveys so it’ll be very important also for the behaviour of those junior members of the coalition, whether they will be pushing for more influence within the coalition knowing that they risk an early election or whether they will be much more obedient members of the coalition knowing that prime minister Kaczynski can always threaten an early election and make good on this threat.’

Given the degree of political conflict in Poland, the outcome of local government elections will be very important for the overall political atmosphere in coming weeks and months.

posted by: Oborski at 21:45 | link | comments |

November 11th is not only Rememberence Day, to commemorate and remmber the dead of two World Wars and many other campaigns, across the U.K..

For the large Polish Communities apread across the U.K., including in Kidderminster and across Wyre Forest, it is also Polish Independence Day when Poles celebrate the declaration of the rebirth of the Polish State on November 11th 1918.

As well as taking part in the Civic Rememberance Day parade, wreath laying and service at St Mary and All Saints the local Polish Community will also hold their own Polish Independence Day celebrations at the Polish Ex-Servicemen's Club in Kidderminster's St.George's Terrace at 5.00pm.

The highlight of the evening will be a major speech by Consul of the Republic of Poland for the West Midlands, Cllr Mike Oborski, on "The Contribution Of The Polish War Time Generation".

The speech is being delivered in memory of the much beloved and long serving Chairman of the S.P.K. (Polish Ex-Combatant's Association) and of the Polish Ex-Servicemen's Club in Kidderminster. This year marks the tenth anniversary of the sudden and untimely death of Mr. Zych.

Cllr Oborski said "this is always an extremely moving and emotional event that means a great deal to all Poles. I am sure that this year will be no different."

"Cześć!"

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