On my travels about Warsaw a few indications of a racist/ extreme nationalist sub-culture in Poland. I don't want to over exaggerate this here, and I have yet to see or meet anyone who is actively racist (that is, someone who is actively engaging in attacks of a verbal or physical nature of people from other races) but it's one of the telling differences that makes me realise just how well integrated the UK has become - despite all the pressures that the significant and rapid immigration we've experienced has caused, particularly on public services -you'd never see anything like this in London, or, as far as I have experienced, in any other city in the UK.
The title for this post is taken from
This is England - an amazing film by Shane Meadows, documenting the changes in the UK's Skinhead culture in the 80s.
Also see
here from a recent blogpost of mine on the same subject.
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| Zoliborz |
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| Stoklosy |
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Metro
UPDATE: Chris points out in the comments that the final one is actually not a racist/fascist sticker, but an antifa one. See comments below.
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I don't understand the last one - is it racist or antiracist??
ReplyDeleteWithout knowing the local gangs, some of these are hard to translate. In Katowice, they have "GKS" - Górniczy Klub Sportowy or "RUCH Chorzów" sprayed on walls around the city which are two football teams. Both are known to be violent and getting caught between them can be dangerous. White Pride??
ReplyDeleteKolin - I haven't seen any anti-racist stickers although as I mention in my last post there's a lot of Anti-fascist graffiti which seems to compete with the White Pride stuff.
ReplyDeleteYellerbelly - White Pride is a pretty generic term (originating from the US) for racist, nationalist movements. The symbol is the celtic cross which is reasonably common around Warsaw - more info here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_pride
(I know a little about this as I did my dissertation on the BNP).
Kolin & Paddy: It's definitely antiracist/antifascist, it often comes along with "AntiFa" or "Muzyka przeciwko rasizmowi" (Music against racism) sticker nearby.
ReplyDeleteP.S.: Just take a look at http://antifa.bzzz.net/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=68&Itemid=72 , it's commonly used by punks (they're not dead, indeed!) / anarchists / antifascists.
ReplyDeleteThanks Chris for clarifying. I have to say I find it (the Good Night White Pride sticker) a bit baffling - it looks exactly like the usual racist stickers and it features someone (not clear who) beating someone else up. But then I've always found the UK's "Love Music Hate Racism" thing a bit oxymoronic. Surely hating people is the whole problem in the first place. Anyway, I shall amend the post for the record!
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