14 August 1980. Workers from the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk close the gate and go on strike. Thousands of civilians support the strike openly and bring flowers to the shipyard. On August 31, an agreement is signed between the Polish government and Solidarinosc. The free trade-union Solidarinosc is born. It doesn’t last long as on December 13, general Jaruzelski breaks the agreement. Several months of hope end when the militia sends tanks and take over the shipyard in Gdansk. Several workers are killed, many are wounded.

In the following years new battles take place. Only in 1989, with the first free elections, Solidarinisc frontman Lech Walensa becomes the first non-communist president of Poland since WOII.

In 2003, when I visit the shipyard, there are only 2,000 workers from 17,000 left. Most of them were not paid for 3 months. The shipyard is sold to a private company. A last ship is worked upon. The buildings are mainly empty or rented to small private enterprises.

The former leader Walensa is giving lectures in the USA, where they see him as a kind of Polish Rambo that conquered communism. Walensa still leads Solidarinosc, in 2004 being a small organisation that organises pilgrimages to roman catholic sanctuaries. The ex-president Walensa presents a tv program about fishing now. His former colleagues are mainly unemployed and vote for the (ex-) communists again. In May 2004 Poland joins the European Union. Many people in Poland fear that life will get harder for them.

Now in 2024, 20 years after Poland joined the EU, we know that this fear and hardship translated in support for the radical rightwing PIS. In Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Portugal and so on, parties based on hate speech gain support. Hate is easy to organise, solidarity so much harder. Ask the people that risked their lives by supporting Solidarinosc back in the eighties.

The hate preachers of the extreme right don’t care about peace. They want war, chaos & power for themselves. To achieve that, they divide us in groups, whichever fits them best. It’s the old game of people who have something to hide, slavedrivers, colonialists, nazi’s and other enemies of mankind.

The European peace project is at stake. Let us take an example of the brave man and woman of Solidarinosc and use our energy for democracy and justice. Those were never free gifts, but achieved by solidarity..