Today in Warsaw we had a pocket-size demonstration against construction of a new mosque, only 2nd in capital and 5th in Poland for our approximately 15,000-30,000 Muslims.
Protests are led by previously unknown group Europe of the Future. It is headed by the former president of Karma Kagyu Buddhist Association – for those readers not familiar with divisions inside Western Buddhism: they are faithful to Ole Nydahl, teacher from Denmark, controversial but very influential in all Europe. Lama Ole is known of his racist views; questioned what would be greatest disaster for him, says: “Islam in Europe”, and “Muslims do not behave in civilized way” in his opinion. According to visual artist Joanna Rajkowska, who wrote interesting commentary about it, this view is prevalent among his followers in Poland.
Other supporters of Europe of the Future are Mlodziez Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youths) – ultra right group with hardly hidden fascist attraction, as well as other islamophobic right wingers. Weird coalition, isn’t it? Well, this is Poland. Our right wing parties support Palestinians because they don’t like Israel (and, you know, there are Jews in Israel) and at the same time demonstrate against a mosque.
What is consoling – and somehow surprising – more people in Poland are in favor of the mosque than against. Public opinion poll in today’s “Gazeta Wyborcza” says that 48 % respondents said “yes” to the rough question: “Would you agree to the construction of a mosque with minaret in your neighborhood?”. “No” said 42 %. At least we are not Swiss, yet.
This house hosts the only mosque in Warsaw, for now.
Hey, Robert.
You’ve taken on a really delicate topic.
I just wanted to share that your post resembles to a great extent the situation in Bulgaria, my home country. To me, this issue has its roots in our history as well as economic and political development.
On the one hand, you have people that are afraid of muslims becoming a great part of the population. On the other hand, there are the politicians monetizing on this issue and the social tensions it creates.
We live in a globalized world, borders don’t matter. However, we are limited in our understanding of human rights and control.
I do not understand the slightly positive tone of this article. I agree that this is a tremendously huge problem within Europe, but joining and agreeing with such racist ideas won’t make any good to the so wanted globalization and development process, as we all may predict. These sort of movements can be classified as rather degradation than stimulating and constructive ones.
@Ivan: I am able to understand fears of people in countries with high proportion of immigrants, like Austria or France. Or Bulgaria, whose relations with its big Muslim neighbor, Turkey, are problematic. In Poland the situation is different, you almost don’t see dark faces in the streets here. And still we have the same “imported” fears. This is strange and tough to justify.
@Martina: I don’t get what you mean by “positive tone”. Positive is that most of the people do not sign up to islamophobia.
@ Robert - Now when I revise my comment it is just the lapsus script that I’ve made! I am sorry for the confusion!
Robert, thanks for this. When the UN Goals talk of international co-operation, issues like this need to be addressed. The world will have to do better than to condemn a whole race of people on the basis of their religion.
I agree with you when you say: What is consoling – and somehow surprising – more people in Poland are in favor of the mosque than against.
Dear Robert, how can you lie so shamelessly to people who may never have a chance to find out about truth?
For a start: the guy from ‘Europe of the Future’ you talking about has never been a president of the organization you mention. The religion he follows is his private matter (just as it happens in all civilised countries, you know?). There are representatives of different religions, together with atheists within ‘Europe of the Future’; although they all do admit to be sharing humanist views.
Buddhist teachings don’t say anything about Islam. When Ole Nydahl addresses the topic, he strongly emphasises every time that those are his private views and that every Buddhist is freely allowed to have their own.
Now, calling somebody a ‘racist’ is actually a very serious accusation and, in this case, also a complete lie. If Ole Nydahl says anything about some other views he simply doesn’t share, does it make him a racist? There exist Muslim people of all possible races in the world. Religion is not a race. Ole Nydahl also despise political correctness, cowardice, mass murder, war crime, violence against women… you name it.
Mlodziez Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youths) is not in any way related to Europe of the Future. As far as I know, they were strictly banned from making any racist rants at the demonstration, and eventually withdrew from it when its organisers (as a sign of not being connected to any racist or right-wing group) started waving the flag of Israel.
Finally, saying ‘more people in Poland are in favor of the mosque than against’ based on just one of many polls is a massive overstatement. Try checking some other surveys on the topic in question and then share their results with others. Besides, you even skipped the other part of the same poll on which responders, for a question ‘Would you give your permission to your child if they wanted to marry a Muslim person?’ mainly answered ‘no’ (47% to 31%’yes’).
It’s really embarrassing that a journalist can simply mindlessly repeat some untrue pieces of information, while manipulating some other ones. All that, I’m very sad to say, make you look extremely unprofessional and/or very biased.
Dear Anonymous Reader!
(Holger Danske is a name of Danish legendary hero)
I am glad someone from Ole camp finally took the floor. Seems you are loosing guard, guys. Once I dared to write very short piece on Karma-pa (not the one you follow, but the other one, recognized by Dalai Lama and most of the world) I had a few dozen of protest e-mails in my mail box within two days, all written according one pattern. Thus I was counting on heated (or hated) debate this time.
Let’s move to the arguments:
1. “The guy from ‘Europe of the Future’ you talking about has never been a president of the organization you mention”. Correct. He was member of a board. This is 100 % my translation mistake. But does it really change a lot?
2. I never wrote that all Buddhists are anti-Muslim. Tiny minority of them is. Strangely, this minority is close to Ole Nydahl. I am glad to hear that he does not force his followers to share all his private views, but you know very vell that the position of a teacher in Buddhism is unique. You put absolute trust on him, you follow him blindly. BTW, isn’t Buddhism something about love and compassion for all human beings?
3. “Mlodziez Wszechpolska (All-Polish Youths) is not in any way related to Europe of the Future. As far as I know, they were strictly banned from making any racist rants at the demonstration, and eventually withdrew from it when its organizers (as a sign of not being connected to any racist or right-wing group) started waving the flag of Israel”.
Wait a second. At the anti-mosque demonstration you people waive the flag of a Jewish State to show you are not racists… I must read it again: At the anti-mosque demonstration you…
Did it work? Well, when you sh*t expect flies to come.
4. Condemnation of somebody’s religion is not racism? Technically you are right. But in Poland “Muslim” associates clearly with darkish-skinned person from the Middle East. I live in a capital and have never met personally any Polish convert to islam, although I know there are some, rare birds.
5. Finally, you mention a pool question: ‘Would you give your permission to your child if they wanted to marry a Muslim person?’ mainly answered ‘no’ (47% to 31%’yes’). So, what proves that? That people are skeptical to the prospects od inter-culture marriage? OK, you may claim that having a mosque in my neighborhood enhance chances that one day my daughter will marry a Muslim, but this is far fetched. Knowing how afraid are Polish people of The Others, I am really surprised less than half said “no”.
‘I was counting on heated (or hated) debate this time.’
Yup, I must say it shows what you were hoping for it and, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you won’t get any. If it’s hatred you’re after, you need to turn to completely different direction.
1. ‘Correct. He was member of a board. This is 100 % my translation mistake. But does it really change a lot?’
No, he was NOT a member of the board neither. Do your homework, buddy.
2. ‘but you know very vell that the position of a teacher in Buddhism is unique. You put absolute trust on him, you follow him blindly’
I think there is a quote from historical Buddha that sums it up nicely. It was something like: ‘Don’t follow my teaching simply because it’s something that comes from Buddha (or authority, teacher etc). Check everything out yourself.’
Therefore, logically, if there is somebody who, for whatever reason ‘follows him blindly’ they’re not even really Buddhist, are they?
‘isn’t Buddhism something about love and compassion for all human beings?’
As far as my sources are concerned, Buddhism talks about ‘compassion and wisdom’, in good balance. Now, can you spot the subtle difference?
3. ‘Did it work? Well, when you sh*t expect flies to come.’
As I’ve read in different reports, there were no racist or Nazi-like related incidents on that rally. Maybe after all it was not truly a sh*t since flies didn’t get interested enough to actually really join and get involved? Oh hang on, are you talking about Israel?
4. ‘Condemnation of somebody’s religion is not racism?’
Racism (Oxford Dictionary):
1.The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others.
2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.
Period. If you want to freely draw any mind-boggling conclusions and interpretations, you’re better off finding your own term. Otherwise it looks like you don’t understand the words you’re using.
Oh, and ‘criticism’ doesn’t equal ‘condemnation’, either.
5. ‘So, what proves that?’
It proves sir that you seem to manipulate facts in order to support some semi cooked theories of your own. If you’ve had supplied both results (which were in pretty much contradictory to each other), there wouldn’t have been much of a reason for the last section of your text, nor the conclusion that followed.
‘OK, you may claim that having a mosque in my neighborhood enhance chances that one day…’
Nope. What I claim is that you’re either not very well prepared to the topic you touch, or/and your intentions remain very unclear.
And finally…
‘I am glad someone from Ole camp finally took the floor.’
Hell man, believe it or not: there is no ‘camp’. Have you missed out on compulsory army service, or something? I don’t belong to any organization nor follow any religion. If there was any ‘camp’ I would aspire to, it’d be the one where all the objective, fair, honest and truthful people belong.
Why don’t you join in some day?
Excuse my late answer, I was out of town. First, even websites sympathizing with anti-Muslim crusade, while quoting press articles, do not deny Jan Wójcik was Karma Kagyu board member. Second, I don’t understand why you persistently mix Israel in this affair, as far as I know Israel has nothing to do with construction of a new mosque in Warsaw. Likewise, waiving Israeli flag to shoo away skinheads (I still read it as a joke) is a blind alley. Third, “wisdom” you say… Vast word. For some wisdom equals extermination of the others, for some denying others’ right to pray, and for me wisdom aims at peaceful coexistence of all religions, races and nationalities.
I can continue this discussion, but please sign your comments with your real name. This is not that kind of forum where people use nick-names. I am surprised that such “fair, honest and truthful person” like you have no courage to reveal your identity.
Dear Mr Stefaniecki,
As someone above advises please do your homework. First I was nether board member of Karma Kagyu, this is a lie or gossip that Joanna Rajkowska wrote in her article, and my response to that appeared in Gazeta Wyborcza.
http://warszawa.gazeta.pl/warszawa/1,34889,7719528,Strach_przed_islamem__strach_przed_nienawiscia.html
There you can also find my response to “joining hands with skinheads”. You can also find at our webpage against what we are protesting. Recent publication of Rzeczpospolita shows that our suspicions of fundamentalists notions in Liga Muzułmańska are justified. If you could also read publications of Liga Muzułmańska on islamization of Europe, on sharia law you will find them not different from o. Rydzyk groups. So the charge that we are uniting with Młodzież Wszechpolska is ridiculous.
Best regards,
Jan Wójcik
I am still surprised to see strong skinhead movements so active…I guess I am naive..actually just heard a story of a skinhead boy causing trouble in the MINI (BMW) factory in Oxford, amongst his fellow Poles…shocking.
Hello everyone,
Why this blatant taking of sides? Remember: In emptiness everything is equal.
You say that you wish to ‘join a group’ in which everything is true and objective. Understanding emptiness, you should understand that there is no such thing. Islam and Buddhism are compleley empty and exist only as mere imputations by the mind. As such, both Allah and Buddha do not exist at all in the way they appear to us. So what are you (both sides of you) so concerned about?
It is true that many religious practitioners hide behind a shrowd of of false sweetness and self righteous pacifism. Lama Ole does not, which is very respectable. He takes a stand in worldly affairs, knowing fully that this may harm his reputation. I am a Buddhist practitioner of a different tradition, in which my teacher has done the same and been heavily criticised for doing so.
On the other hand, how can we argue what Ole’s motive’s are? I do not know if his motivation is fueled by racism, separatism and nationalism, or if it is fueled by compassion, equanimity, etc. Similarly, it is the right of other enquiring minds to heavily question Lama Ole’s teachings and methods, since many of his teachings and actions seem to contradict Buddha’s entire message.
If I may offer my own conclusion on the subject: It is completely clear that a generalisation of a people and their belief is misleading and inaccurate- especially a religiously-fuelled, intentional separation between one group and another. This can, I think, only lead to anger, hatred and confusion. I therefore believe that Ole’s actions, no matter what their motivation, are partially flawed.
At the same time, it is clear that there is a problem with many aspects of fundamentalist Islam , specifically with regard to the way women are treated. The infiltration of such a ‘culture’ in to our own is indeed dangerous and must be halted right away. Let’s not hide behind political correctness, but let’s check our motivation and make sure we do things for the benefit of ALL living beings, not just white Europeans.
Mr Stefanicki is a pathetic manipulator. Yes, the demo was based on racism, intolerance and hatred - but not of the demonstrators - of ISLAM! Would Mr.Stefanicki criticise demonstration against Father Rydzyk’s extremism? Certainly not, he would applaud. So why to treat totalitarian islamism differently? PS. And question: Even if some demonstrators were Buddhist, do Buddhists have a right to take part in political life of their country? According to RS, they have not.
oh all of you buddhist guys opinions are so harmful and full of ignorance. I deeply believe that one of the main teachings of buddhism is the tolerance and love for the others. which is not, certainly, visible in your lack of understanding for islam, it’s evolution as a religion and a complex problem of islam people seeking for better life. why do we all tend to forget that christianism for example, has it’s own, very dark part of history? disrespect for women is still visible in catholic Italy (Berlusconi) and we used to burn women on the stakes all around Europe!! all of you guys are probably europeans, raised in a way more or less faithful to christian heritage (not necessarily christians though). And now you are Diamond Way buddhists. Many of you have bought buddhism imo, just like one of the products from a shelf marked with “a neo-new age enlightment special offer” label, where buddhism was just next to eco food and Paulo Coelho books. May it be a rude generalization, but sadly I know so many people who are buddhist this way :(.. Quite a long time ago I’ve dedicated myself to the studies of eastern religions, languages and culture and I really do feel that Lama Ole introduced a lot of superficial stuff to buddhism and simply presents it in a very cut down to western world measurements manner. buddhism inolves reflection! where is your reflection? did you let yourself confuse it with emotions, and judge on the basis of emotions? because what drives your opinion on Islam is a fear of unknown, of xenos. and reflection would be the attempt to meet Islam, understand those people tragedy of living in schizophrenic reality, it would be a try to know a bit about this religion and giving the people a hand in this difficult time to make them feel that they can also have their contribution to build a modern world!! don’t you agree this egyptian and islamic countries revolution is something like, i dunno, 1848 Spring of Nations
? these people and religion have a beautiful way to go, so we should proudly help them, wait patiently and help even in such a simple way as building them a place, where they could meet up and peacfully fullfil their spiritual demands. however this does not mean we have to accept what is being done to muslim women, but as such an experienced, old and civilized 
societies we got this possibility to suggest the right path (although i believe muslims in europe treated humanly will finally, automatically respond humanitarian). and sorry for this harsh lama ole attack, but i just can;t stand this omnipresent process of mcdonaldization..