Poland not only for Poles: how to manage immigration sensibly
Poland is already and will increasingly be a multi-ethnic country. Discussions on whether or not to let immigrants in, and possibly – how many – are overdue by some 10-15 years. The only thing left to ponder is how to organize and control migration so as to avoid the biggest risks and achieve the maximum benefits.
Rafał A. Ziemkiewicz
Like many key issues for Poland’s future, the issue of immigration and immigrants has never been seriously discussed in Poland. For it is difficult to consider as a serious conversation both the pseudo-moral aggravations of the liberal elite and their hysterical calls to accept “refugees” in any number, without asking them for anything and not only without any conditions, but also with the intention of keeping them by the state, and the reaction to this demagogic rhetoric and attempts to “relocate” migrants from the West to us, limited to the simplest opposition.
Meanwhile, developments did not deign to wait for Poles to get bored with the idle thrashing between PO and PiS and think about their future, so that today the conversation on the subject must begin with the observation that Poland already is and will increasingly be a multi-ethnic country. Discussions on whether or not to let immigrants in, and possibly – how many – are overdue by some 10-15 years. The matter is a foregone conclusion, and to those who do not see this, hailing the vision of a post-Yalta mono-ethnic Poland, one can only say in the words of a poet: “Vain griefs, vain toil, impotent malice”1.
EXCHANGING CITIZENS FOR THE UNRULY
Poland underwent tremendous transformations after 1989. On the one hand, it achieved the world’s second-highest economic growth in 30 years, on the other hand, it paid for it with the pathology of “self-defensive Poland”, i.e. the disintegration of social solidarity, the explosion of egoisms, and the spread of the “what is mine is what is most important” attitude and widespread approval of it (contrary to the stereotype, this attitude is mainly characteristic of the left-liberal metropolitan elites; I heartily recommend Piotr Wójcik’s text on the pages of Krytyka Polityczna analyzing the mentality of the “upper-middle class” on the example of Jerzy Owsiak’s interview for the portal Onet.pl2).
The generation of greedy egoists and coarse Darwinists did not want to bear the sacrifices and inconveniences of giving birth to and raising children – and the part of it that did want to, left to give birth to and raise children for other, richer countries. Ultimately, the reversal of this World War II effect, which was the “Piast Poland” that had filled Gomułka and Jaruzelski with such pride3, was decided by our entry into the European Union, which in essence was a contract for money in exchange for citizens. Britain alone at its peak was home to 1.3 million Poles, who in a short time turned out to have the highest fertility rate of all the ethnic groups present, well exceeding the immigrants from Pakistan and Middle Eastern countries. These children are unlikely to consider returning to Poland, for the same reasons that, for example, my daughters do not plan to return to Góra Kalwaria or Czerwińsk4. And the newly born in Poland will only constitute a small fraction of the numbers that are needed, because there is simply no one to give birth to. The misfortune of this exchange of citizens for concrete (because we mainly used EU funds to lay concrete in our cities) was not the sheer number of emigrants, but above all the age and social structure of emigration.
IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE WITHOUT MIGRATION
The combination of high economic growth and childlessness can only produce one result. At the moment, there are about 2 million refugees from Ukraine from Poland (it is worth noting that in the “taxonomy” of the EU they are not treated as refugees! – privileges associated with this status are reserved only for economic migrants from foreign cultural circles), a sizable group of Ukrainians and Belarusians who lived and worked here already before the war, numerous groups of immigrants from Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines, India, who have taken over the old People’s Republic of Poland’s block housing estates and, as can be seen on the streets, have often already brought their wives and children to Poland. At the same time, the rate of “registered unemployment” has gone below 5%. Knowing how strong the tradition of employment “on the black market” is and how strong additional incentives for this were given by the tax “inventions” of the so-called Polish Order, it can be estimated that actual unemployment is in the range of 2-3%, which in practice means a shortage of labor in many industries and areas of the country.
In these circumstances, Poland is not able to function properly – let alone develop – without mass immigration. The only thing to ponder now is how to organize and control it so as to avoid the biggest risks and achieve the maximum benefits. And this should be done quickly, because so far everything is going “on the spur of the moment”, and the political and opinion-making elites, utterly preoccupied with generating mass hysteria and then treating it, seem not to have noticed one of the biggest challenges facing Poland.
Taking the matter seriously is greatly harmed by the emotions associated in colloquial thinking with the term “immigrant”. These emotions are hardly surprising – we can all imagine the consequences of the flooding of Western Europe by immigrants, the flourishing of banditry on the streets of those “culturally enriched” cities, open riots, the degradation of immigrant neighborhoods, and, on the other hand, the deliberate amplification of these problems by the builders of the “Brave New World”, symbolized by the “Soros cabs” transporting illegal immigrants to the shores of the Mediterranean5.
These images blind us to the fact that there are countries that have built their power on immigration. Of course, the most obvious and most often cited example is the United States, but one can find models more contemporary to, say, the United Arab Emirates, currently home to some 1.5 million indigenous people and 9 million immigrants who have come from various countries – except Muslim ones, for the UAE firmly and unilaterally does not allow anyone from there except the rich.
The key to understanding the issue lies in the fact that there are two completely different types of immigration and two different types of immigrants. Those who built the U.S. came there with the intention of making a fortune, building their lives anew, with their own efforts, their own entrepreneurship, and without anyone’s help except, possibly, the support of relatives previously settled in the U.S. In order to guard against people potentially dangerous to or simply not needed in America, a transit camp was built on Ellis Island, from where anyone, if they proved not to meet the criteria for settlement, could be dispatched to their country of origin.
I would call the second type of immigrants, the very kind that are flooding Western Europe today, entitled immigrants. They don’t come here to work, but to enjoy the prosperity they believe they are entitled to – in which they are reassured by the swindlers of the cynical policy of smashing European nations with the immigration hammer and numerous “useful idiots” with the mentality of our MEP Janina Ochojska.
STEAL WHAT HAS BEEN STOLEN
Some readers probably wonder why a rich Muslim country like the UAE is open to Christians from the Philippines, to Hindus, and in general to everyone but Muslims. Because the Prophet ordered his followers to spend a certain percentage of their income, very precisely calculated in the Quran, on alms for their poor fellow believers (this almsgiving, “zakat”, is one of the five duties of the faith, just like the pilgrimage to Mecca). If we let some, say, Jordanian in here – any native Emirati will tell us – this Jordanian, instead of working, will immediately fall down and say that we have an obligation to support him – well, he will be right. That’s why the rich Muslims of the UAE prefer to fulfill their “zakat” by financing the construction of mosques in Europe and keep their poor fellow-believers away from the border.
In Western Europe, on the other hand, the role of “zakat” is fulfilled by “historical justice”. European prosperity, as perceived by Africans and residents of other post-colonial countries, comes from the great plunder perpetrated by white ancestors on ancestors of color – so today’s Europe simply has an obligation to share it. “Grab nagrabliennoye” – steal what has been stolen, as Comrade Lenin taught. We should also add that migrants recruited from the poor have different expectations – a roof over their heads, clothes, guaranteed food and security, and a smartphone, all of which they get in Western Europe at a moment’s notice. This is enough for them, and few feel the need to work hard to have more.
While the media in Poland were gloating – the liberal outlets with indignation, the “right-wing” ones with delight – about the construction of a fence on the border with Belarus and the repulsion by state services of its hybrid attack, perhaps only one Polish journalist, Rafał Otoka Frąckiewicz, took an interest in who these “Lukashenka tourists” are and went to the place of origin of most of them – northern Iraq. His descriptions show that a significant portion of the migrants are members of the local upper class, often entrepreneurs. “They live prosperously, however, they believe that peace is temporary. They try to get out of the country at any cost. They monetize assets and try to get out of the conflict zone. Their goal is economic migration.” Elsewhere, Otoka-Frąckiewicz quotes one such migrant: “Unfortunately, our passports are only less lousy than the Afghan” (that is, they don’t offer a chance for a legal visa to Europe). The whole paranoia of the policy pursued by the left-liberal Eurocracy can be seen in this: a rich Iraqi who wants to become European, work and thus really make his new homeland rich, has no chance to do so, but if he blends in with the poor and jihadists, and uses his wealth to enrich the people-smuggling mafia, he will be assured of the “benefits” that an illegal immigrant receives.
POLAND’S ELLIS ISLAND
The conclusions seem obvious to me: Poland should pursue a policy that is exactly different, modeled on the former American policy (the UAE’s migration policy, for various reasons that I do not have space to enumerate here, is not a good model for us). We need to have our own Ellis Island, separating potentially useful immigrants from claimants, preferably outside Poland – the construction of a fence on the border should be accompanied by the opening of offices, in places like northern Iraq, where local residents could apply for a residence visa in Poland.
If millions of people in the world are ready to take the risks and hardships of modern migration, to generously reward the mafia, to risk their lives to improve their lot, then common sense says that it is possible to select from these millions a group of those who are ready to become Poles, to grow into a new culture and, by making themselves rich, make us richer as well.
All that is needed is to create opportunities for them. God forbid, don’t give them any benefits, development loans (“He who has no copper should sit at home”, as our ancestors used to say6) or privilege them in any way (but also, if they live according to the law and meet the conditions, don’t discriminate them), but give them the freedom to make a living. This is yet another reason why Poland should return as soon as possible to the basics of the systemic revolution of the 1930s and reinstate the Wilczek Act7.
Of course, immigration also entails the need to expand the police apparatus and improve the justice apparatus. We need laws and institutions to quickly respond to and remove from the country those who violate the law or attempt anti-state activities, we need a system for granting temporary stay visas, residency visas, conducting – on the basis of the American or Danish model – examinations in knowledge of Polish law, culture, and language, as a condition for granting further residence rights, we need to develop for their use, translate, and print the appropriate textbooks… We need practically everything, and we need it immediately, because the problem of the lack of workers and its satisfaction by importing workers in completely abstract procedures – with the current institutions helpless and only seemingly in control – is growing and will grow exponentially. Fortunately, nothing needs to be invented here, it is enough to analyze and adapt the experience of other countries.
And if this can be combined with a broader reform of the state, currently entrenched in a state of disorder and general impossibility of everything, an influx of immigrants eager for material success and ready to assimilate could be a major driver of future civilizational success. For those coming from poor countries, Poland has the potential to become the European homeland of economic freedom and the land of success that America was for Poles and other Europeans 100 years ago. It’s just a matter of knowing how to assess and use that potential, rather than waiting for things to move in the right direction on their own while Poland’s political and opinion-making elites continue to be predominantly occupied with outraging each other.
1 An allusion to a Polish poem by Adam Asnyk from 1877
2 The referenced article was published under the following link in Polish: https://krytykapolityczna.pl/gospodarka/wosp-jerzy-owsiak-klasa-wyzsza-srednia-nfz-polski-lad-komentarz-piotr-wojcik/
3 A reference to the allusions made by the leaders of the Polish People’s Republic that Poland had returned to its roots after the capitulation of Germany in 1945, i.e. to the nation as it was established and ruled by its first dynasty in the 10th century onward, thereby underlining the significance of the Polish People’s Republic as the true and just successor of the Polish nation, heritage, and identity.
4 Towns located in the Masovian district with a population of approximately 11,000 and 1,200, respectively.
5 Many emigrants from northern Africa who escaped their homeland were taken from ships traveling in open waters to boats funded by George Soros’ NGOs directly for the purpose of transporting them to southern Europe, which directly contributed to the mass problem of illegal immigration.
6 An old Polish saying meaning that one should not think about investing without the means to do so
7 An act of law instituted in 1988 which instituted a laissez-faire approach to commercial activity in Poland
