The Polish League Against Defamation ( pl, Fundacja Reduta Dobrego Imienia – Polska Liga Przeciw Zniesławieniom, lit=Good Name Redoubt – Polish League Against Defamation) is a right-wing

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

based in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

. It was founded in 2013 by Maciej Świrski. Critics of the organization argue that its aggressive tactics have the opposite of the intended effect.

Aims and objectives

The stated objectives of the League are to defend the name of Poland and the Polish people against acts of vilification in the international media or historical misrepresentation in the world of politics. For instance, on the 75th anniversary of the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

in 2014, the League staged a protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Warsaw against the Russian government's denial of responsibility for the atrocities committed by the Soviet Union in occupied Poland. The protest was attended by several hundred people including civil rights organizations such as Euromaidan from Ukraine and

Solidarność Walcząca Fighting Solidarity ( pl, Solidarność Walcząca) was a Polish anti-Soviet and anti-communist underground organization, founded in June 1982

. According to the League's founder Maciej Świrski, the League acts through lobbying, publishing ads, open letters as well as articles which emphasize Poland's role in fighting against Nazi Germany during World War II. ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'', ''

The Times of Israel ''The Times of Israel'' is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.

'', ''

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'', and ''

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is a broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, founded in 1932 during the British Mandate of Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''The Palestine Post''. In 1950, it changed its name to ''The Jerusalem Post''. In 2004, the paper ...

'' have described the organization as "nationalist". According to Amnesty International's Poland researcher Barbora Černušáková, it is a "nationalist organization close to Poland’s government". Index on Censorship, has described the organization as a "campaign group close to the ruling Polish party", as did ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency described the League as a "right-wing Polish group". According to '' Haaretz'' it is an "independent organization considered close to Poland’s right-wing, nationalist government". Argentine newspaper '' Pagina/12'' called the League "a far-right organization".

Activities

Petitions

Following the international release of the 2013 Polish film ''

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'', the league called for the film to carry title cards stating that Poland was under German occupation during the events depicted. More than 40,000 people signed a petition organized by the league criticizing ''Idas supposed inaccuracies and anti-Polish bias. The film's director called the demands "absurd", "too silly to comment on", and "a stream of hatred from the rightist Polish media". The League collected tens of thousands of signatures in order to pass the Amendment to the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance, which has been criticized by historians as an attempt to silence discussion of Polish complicity in wartime atrocities. Świrski, who heads the league, was instrumental in passing the bill and was possibly the only person consulted prior to the law being presented to parliament by the Justice ministry.

Lawsuits

Maciej Świrski brought a lawsuit against Newsweek.pl for a 2017 article in which it referred to the Zgoda concentration camp, operated by Polish authorities after World War II, as a "Polish concentration camp". In 2018, a court ruled in his favor and Newsweek.pl had to publish an apology stating that there was no such thing as Polish concentration camps.

Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog () is an academic blog published in German and English, which focuses on the constitutional law of Germany and Europe in general. It was founded on 30 July 2009 by and is now published in cooperation with the Berlin Institute for ...

described the case as a "highly problematic" precedent which goes against the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

verdict in '' Perinçek v. Switzerland'' (2013) that attempts to enshrine a particular version of history into law and punish those who dissent violate freedom of speech rights guaranteed in

Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights provides the right to Freedom of Expression and Information. A fundamental aspect of this right is the freedom to hold opinions and receive and impart information and ideas, even if the receive ...

. In 2018, Polish Holocaust scholar

Jan Grabowski Jan Grabowski (born 1962) is a Polish-Canadian professor of history at the University of Ottawa, specializing in Jewish–Polish relations in German-occupied Poland during World War II and the Holocaust in Poland.ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 1992 ...

the history of Poland" and "proclaiming the thesis that Poles are complicit in the extermination of Jews" in an open letter. The case, originally scheduled to be heard in May 2020, was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. In 2019 the league funded a lawsuit against Grabowski and

Barbara Engelking Barbara Engelking (born 22 April 1962) is a Polish sociologist specializing in Holocaust studies. The founder and director of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research in Warsaw, she is the author or editor of several works on the Holocaust in P ...

, editors of the 2018 '' Dalej jest noc'' ("Night Without End"), accusing them of defamation. The court ruled in their favor, but was later overruled in an appeal.

"Internet hussars"

The League received 280,000 PLN from the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to create an internet system and recruit "Internet hussars" to report and take action on alleged anti-Polish statements in foreign media.

Reports

In 2020, the organization released a 74-page report titled "Opportunities to Prevent Defamation on Netflix-type Streaming Platforms" in which it examined 557 fiction works and 47 documentaries for "anti-Polish" content. The report states that "Polish honey is presented as a ‘villain'" in the documentary series ''

Rotten Rotten may refer to: * Axl Rotten, ring name of American professional wrestler Brian Knighton (1971–2016) * Bonnie Rotten, American former pornographic actress, feature dancer, fetish model, and director * Ian Rotten, ring name of American profe ...

'', which briefly mentions antibiotics in Polish honey.

References

{{reflist Organizations established in 2012 2012 establishments in Poland Anti-Polish sentiment in Europe Organisations based in Warsaw Political organisations based in Poland