Mythology of the Law and Justice Party’s Migration Discourse
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.16.2019.63.12Keywords:
migration, discourse analysis, PiS, PolandAbstract
The aim of this paper is to contribute to the deconstruction of the migration discourse of the Law and Justice Party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS), looking for mythical structures in it and trying to decode them using discourse analysis. When it comes to migration politics, Poland is one of the most curious andambiguous contemporary cases. Previously predominantly a sending country, asits economy grows Poland is becoming a receiving country, faced with millions of incoming labour migrants. The Polish government lets them in, despite being anti-migrant in its rhetoric, especially when it comes to relocation of refugees within the European Union (EU). Some surveys reveal that countrywide anti-migrant sentiment is a rather new development: Polish attitudes towards immigrants have worsened since mid-2015, that is since the so-called European migration crisis was utilized by Law and Justice in their campaign at the 2015 Polish parliamentary election in order to gain fear-induced support. Therefore, Law and Justice’s migration discourse is fundamental to the study of contemporary Polish migration politics. I have analysed the news, interviews and othe rpublications from the official website of the Law and Justice party (pis.org.pl) over a period between June 2015 and July 2018. Based upon E. Cassirer’s, M. Eliade’s and H. Tudor’s understanding of political myth, I have identified a number of repetitive mythical structures and characteristics of political myths in the Law and Justice’s discourse on migration that can help to better understand Law and Justice’s political and ideological stances.
Downloads
References
“Bezpieczeństwo Polaków jest dla nas priorytetem”, PiS, 28 March 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/bezpieczenstwo-polakow-jest-dla-nas-priorytetem>, 22 October 2019.
Bottici C., A Philosophy of Political Myth, Cambridge 2007.
Brubaker R., “Between Nationalism and Civilizationism: The European Populist Moment in Comparative Perspective”, Ethnic and Racial Studies, vol. 40, no. 8 (2017), pp. 1191-1226. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2017.1294700.
“Brussels Explosions: What We Know about Airport and Metro Attacks”, BBC News, 9 April 2016, at <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35869985>, 22 October 2019.
Buczyńska H., Cassirer, Warszawa 1963.
Buzan B., Wæver O., Wilde J. de, Security. A New Framework for Analysis, London 1998.
Cassirer E., The Myth of the State, Garden City, N.Y. 1955.
Cienski J., “Why Poland Doesn’t Want Refugees. An Ethnically Homogenous Nation Battles EU Efforts to Distribute Asylum Seekers”, Politico, 21 May 2017, at <https://www.politico.eu/article/politics-nationalism-and-religion-explain-why-poland-doesnt-want-refugees/>, 22 October 2019.
“Donald Tusk jest wygodny dla krajów Zachodniej Europy”, PiS, 9 March 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/donald-tusk-jest-wygodny-dla-krajow-zachodniej-europy>, 28 October 2019.
Eliade M., Cosmos and History. The Myth of the Eternal Return, transl. by W.R. Trask, New York 1954.
Eliade M., The Sacred and the Profane. The Nature of Religion, transl. by W.R. Trask, New York 1961.
“Europoseł J. Wiśniewska o wyborach prezydenckich we Francji”, PiS, 18 May 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/europosel-j-wisniewska-o-wyborach-prezydenckich-we-francji>, 22 October 2019.
Góra M., Mach Z. (eds.), Collective Identity and Democracy. The Impact of EU Enlargement, Oslo 2010.
The Head of the Office for Foreigners, Information of the Head of the Office for Foreigners on implementation of the Act of 13 June 2003 on granting protection to foreigners within the territory of the Republic of Poland (uniform text in Journal of Law of 2016, item 1836) in the scope of perfo, Warsaw 2018.
“Każde państwo ma suwerenne prawo do obrony swoich interesów”, PiS, 6 February 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/kazde-panstwo-ma-suwerenne-prawo-do-obrony-swoichinteresow>.
“KE nie jest głucha na argumenty Grupy Wyszehradzkiej”, PiS, 29 September 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/ke-nie-jest-glucha-na-argumenty-grupy-wyszehradzkiej>, 22 October 2019.
Kołakowski L., Czerniawski A., The Presence of Myth, Chicago 1989.
Kubik J., FATIGUE : What Is It All About? A Programmatic Statement, 2018.
Liddell H.G., Scott R., Stuart J.H., A Greek-English Lexicon, Oxford 1968.
Łaciak B., Segeš Frelak J., The Wages of Fear. Attitudes towards Refugees and Migrants in Poland, Warsaw 2018.
Łukasiewicz K., “Strategies of Reconstructing Islam in Exile. A Case of Chechens in Poland”, in K. Górak-Sosnowska, Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe. Widening the European Discourse on Islam, Warsaw 2011.
“Mamy prawo bronić naszej suwerenności”, PiS, 16 September 2015, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/mamy-prawo-bronic-naszej-suwerennosci>, 12 October 2019.
Marciniak T., “A Survey of Muslim Minorities in Poland”, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, vol. 17, no. 2 (1997), https://doi.org/10.1080/13602009708716383.
“More than 2 Million Ukrainians Working in Poland, Says Polish-Ukrainian Economic Chamber”, Kiyv Post, 25 April 2018, at <https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/2-mlnukrainians-working-poland-says-polish-ukrainian-economic-chamber.html>.
“Najważniejsze jest bezpieczeństwo”, PiS, 23 November 2015, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/najwazniejsze-jest-bezpieczenstwo>, 22 October 2019.
“Nasze działania ws. imigrantów sprawdzają się i przynoszą rezultaty”, PiS, 20 May 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/nasze-dzialania-ws-imigrantow-sprawdzaja-sie-i-przynosza-rezultaty>, 23 October 2019.
“Nie będzie zgody na przymusową relokację uchodźców”, PiS, 4 September 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/nie-bedzie-zgody-na-przymusowa-relokacje-uchodzcow>, 22 October 2019.
“Nie zgadzamy się z decyzją KE”, PiS,5 May 2016, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/niezgadzamy-sie-z-decyzja-ke>, 21 October 2019.
“Number of EU citizens that are usual residents in the rest of the EU as of 1 January 2017, EU-28 (million)”, Eurostat, 2018, at <https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Number_of_EU_citizens_that_are_usual_residents_in_the_rest_of_the_EU_as_of_1_January_2017,_EU-28_(million).png>, 21 October 2019.
Osborne S., “The most Anti-Immigrant Countries in Europe”, The Independent, 7 December 2016, at <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/europe-immigrationmost-anti-immigrant-countries-italy-france-germany-uk-a7460301.html>, 22 October 2019.
Osiecki G., “Rząd otwiera się na imigrantów. Cudzoziemcy pomogą nam załatać demograficzną dziurę?”, Gazeta Prawna.pl, 4 June 2018, at <https://serwisy.gazetaprawna.pl/praca-i-kariera/artykuly/1127723,zmiany-w-zatrudnianiu-cudzoziemcow-imigranci-bez-pozwolenna-prace.html>, 22 October 2019.
“Paris and Brussels Bombers’ Links Uncovered”, BBC News, 9 April 2016, at <https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-35879401>, 22 October 2019.
“Platforma Obywatelska nie ma pomysłu na Polskę”, PiS, 12 May 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/platforma-obywatelska-nie-ma-pomyslu-na-polske>, 21 October 2019.
“Poland Refuses Middle Eastern Migrants”, Euronews, 2 January 2018, at <https://www.euronews.com/2018/01/02/poland-refuses-mid-east-migrants>, 12 October 2019.
“Polityka migracyjna UE nie przynosi efektów”, PiS, 19 June 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/polityka-migracyjna-ue-nie-przynosi-efektow>, 22 October 2019.
“Polska broni dzisiaj własnych interesów”, PiS, 24 August 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/polska-broni-dzisiaj-wlasnych-interesow>, 22 October 2019.
Prelinger E., “Extension and Structure of the Self ”, Journal of Psychology, vol. 47, no. 1 (1959), https://doi.org/10.1080/00223980.1959.9916303.
“Q&A z Prezesem PiS Jarosławem Kaczyńskim”, PiS, 7 May 2016, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/q-a-z-prezesem-pis-jaroslawem-kaczynskim>, 22 October 2019.
Risse T., A Community of Europeans? Transnational Identities and Public Spheres, Ithaca, NY 2010.
Rooduijn M. et al., The PopuList: An Overview of Populist, Far Right, Far Left and Eurosceptic Parties in Europe, 2019, at <http://www.popu-list.org>, 29 October 2019.
“Sądownictwo powinno być radykalnie zmienione”, PiS, 17 March 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/sadownictwo-powinno-byc-radykalnie-zmienione>, 22 October 2019.
Stańczyk E., “Exilic Childhood in Very Foreign Lands: Memoirs of Polish Refugees in World War II”, Journal of War & Culture Studies, vol. 11, no. 2 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1080/17526272.2017.1328637.
Strzelecki M., “Poles Value Denying Muslim Refugees over Being in the EU, Poll Shows”, Bloomberg, 5 July 2017, at <https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-05/most-poles-prefer-banning-muslims-to-eu-membership-poll-shows>, 22 October 2019.
“To było dobre spotkanie przyjaciół”, PiS, 8 April 2016, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/tobylo-dobre-spotkanie-przyjaciol>, 22 October 2019.
Törnquist Plewa B., The Wheel of Polish Fortune. Myths in Polish Collective Consciousness during the First Years of Solidarity, Lund 1992.
Tudor H., Political Myth, London 1972.
“UE musi sprawiedliwie traktować swoje kraje członkowskie”, PiS, 14 December 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/ue-musi-sprawiedliwie-traktowac-swoje-kraje-czlonkowskie>, 22 October 2019.
“UE od samej siebie musi wymagać praworządności”, PiS, 30 June 2017, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/ue-od-samej-siebie-musi-wymagac-praworzadnosci>, 22 October 2019.
Wahl-Jorgensen K., “Media Coverage of Shifting Emotional Regimes: Donald Trump’s Angry Populism”, Media, Culture & Society, vol. 40, no. 5 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443718772190.
Walicki A., Philosophy and Romantic Nationalism. The Case of Poland, Oxford 1982.
Wodak R., The Politics of Fear. What Right-Wing Populist Discourses Mean, Los Angeles 2015.
“Wspólnie możemy wpłynąć na losy Europy”, PiS, 3 January 2018, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/wspolnie-mozemy-wplynac-na-losy-europy>, 21 October 2019.
“Za nami udany szczyt UE – Bałkany Zachodnie”, PiS, 17 May 2018, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/za-nami-udany-szczyt-ue-balkany-zachodnie>, 28 October 2019.
“Zauważalna jest spójność stanowisk Grupy Wyszehradzkiej”, PiS, 21 June 2018, at <http://pis.org.pl/aktualnosci/zauwazalna-jest-spojnosc-stanowisk-grupy-wyszehradzkiej>, 22 October 2019.
Zúquete J.P., “Missionary Politics – A Contribution to the Study of Populism”, Religion Compass, vol. 7, no. 7 (2013), https://doi.org/10.1111/rec3.12048.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
How to Cite
Funding data
-
Horizon 2020
Grant numbers 765224
.png){kind=link}