Tuesday 18 March 2008

An die Freude

(Warning! This post may include political content!)

Last night I switched on the tv and was confronted with the careful tones of Lech Kaczyński (but I had to check the info feed at the bottom of the screen) holding forth against the Lisbon Treaty, against a backdrop of two gay men signing their wedding vows.
Forgive my misinterpretation of his perspective (= treaty >> charter of human rights >> gay marriage >> The Fall of Polish Society): I don't speak heem very good the Polish yet.


'Joyful, Joyful, we adore Thee' is a staple of the Oregon Catholic Hymnal (stay with me). There are several different versions of this particular rejoicing hymn, for each season of the year, and they all fit the same tune (Beethoven's Ode to Joy).

Sitting in the organ loft playing through the hymns for this weekend, I reflected on how many Centre-Right Catholic Poles in our congregation would unwittingly be singing the European Union anthem this Easter Sunday...
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Polish politics are more complicated that they seem. Kaczynskis (both of them) can hardly be against Lisbon Treaty, seeing as they negotiatied it themselves. They demand only that any change to the Treaty should require an agreement of Parliament.
Since the Treaty is effectively a constitution of a new para-state entity, that demand seems pretty obvious.

The problem is, the whole conflict is rather artificial, since originally Kaczynski wanted to put that provision in a preamble to the ratification statute - and the preamble has no legal power.

The only connection with gays is that if the government was to sign the Charter of Fundamental Rights, it could be used to override Polish constitution and to force Poland to accept homosexual marriage.

Actually, Britain is in a rather similar position - if I remember right, there were some promises of a referendum which seem to have been conveniently forgotten. England also seems unvilling to ratify the Charter.

19 March 2008 at 00:47
pinolona said...

Aw yes! Political debate on Travels without my Spaniel!

Don't worry Baduin, I have no intention of simplifying Polish politics. I'm just manipulating it to make a funny story. Although if gay marriage is such a marginal issue why was there so much footage backing up Kaczynski's speech at prime time on TVN1?

Yeah the UK's none too happy about the treaty but that's just generalised British Europhobia. (go on... bite me...)

Referendum? Don't be daft. Next they'll be letting us choose our own Prime Minister...

19 March 2008 at 09:44
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19 March 2008 at 18:46
Anonymous said...

You never know about that PM election thing. What with the ugly faces of personal identity documents and a national DNA bank looming over the horison, popular democracy may one day knock on UK`s door too.

20 March 2008 at 10:28

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