Poland: Ex-PM Jarosław Kaczyński Starts Blogging · Global Voices
Jakub Górnicki

On Feb. 18, Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Poland's national conservative Law and Justice party, started a blog on the popular platform Salon24.
His first post is a transcript of one of the speeches he delivered a few weeks ago, titled “Poland and the Polish people deserve modern economic patriotism”:
Patriotism means loyalty to your own nation. It's based on the trust in the community whose traditions have shaped the way we live and the institutions that organize our life activities. Given this, we can talk about economic patriotism, but here we see some difficulty. In Poland, the tradition of being wealthy is rather weak and, above all, dramatically discontinuous. So, the Polish patriotism, evaluated from the economic perspective, needs more modernizing characteristics and is associated with loyalty to our nation as a project. A great project – Poland! […]
Igor Janke, editor-in-chief of the blogging platform Salon24 (which is considered very right-wing), welcomed Jarosław Kaczyński in his recent post:
I am very pleased that Jarosław Kaczyński has decided to join Salon24. He is not an ordinary guest. Warm greetings. The appearance of this blog got many of his enemies and supporters interested. Almost at the same time, [deputy PM Waldemar Pawlak] has returned to blogging. Blog posts from [SLD, the Democratic Left Alliance, and PO, the Civic Platform] MPs have appeared. These are all good signs. Salon24 is supposed to offer diverse opinions. We invite politicians and supporters of all political options.
Given that Jarosław Kaczyński is one of Poland's key politicians, and taking into account his controversial theories, the upcoming first anniversary of his brother's death, and the parliamentary elections in October 2011, this blog is likely to become a very important voice for Poland. It will create an opportunity for other bloggers to start conversations or at least comment within the blogosphere on Kaczyński's ideas. He used to neglect such interaction in the past and was thought to be an enemy of Internet users, which resulted in plenty of negative publicity for him.
Kaczyński has published only one post so far, but it has generated over 1,650 comments in just two days (partly due to the fact that the story was picked up by the mainstream media and TV stations). Below are some examples that show how many emotions surround this new blogger.
“Average woman”:
I am really happy that I can say how much I admire your determination and strength, and also your normal, human kindness.
Kendzior67:
With all due respect to Mr. Kaczyński, but it is going to be like with the [head of our social insurance office] and his blog – he is not responding to comments either.
Blachara:
I suggest that you start with learning the [national] anthem.
Zap30:
Mr Jarek, this post is one big pre-election propaganda. You are not saying anything detailed. […]
Anna M.:
Mr. [Kaczyński], please be here as often as you can and prove your critics wrong. I am honoured to meet you “online” and exchange views on important topics