I first came to Poland in the autumn of 2005. Whenever I stepped out in Warsaw --to go to the cinema, to the mall, the symphony or just to stroll through the Old Town, invariably I felt as if something was missing. I looked around and studied the people and listened to the language without being able to pinpoint what caused this feeling of discordance, the sensation that something was not placed quite as it should be. Two weeks later, as my friend and I were grocery-shopping in a large supermarket, I turned to him.

“Where are the black people?” I asked. I had been 16 days in Poland and I still hadn't seen a black person.

In Europe, where the majority of black people emigrate from Nigeria, Rwanda, Cameroon, etc., Africans referred to as blacks. Moreover, the few blacks I have encountered here have strong ties to their native countries still and refer to themselves as Nigerian, Rwandan, Moroccan, Tunisian, etc.

As my friend patiently explained, there are some blacks here. Not too many, given that for close to fifty years the country was under the yoke of communism, and as thus, unappealing to blacks. Or to anybody else, for that matter. Most of us know that the Iron Curtain was finally toppled in 1989, with the fall of the Berlin Wall symbolizing the fall of communism in Europe. What many people ignore, is that it was in effect a workers' strike that got the seed of dissidence firmly planted in the Polish cities of Gdansk and Szczecin as early as 1970. Poland's economic crisis worsened in 1976 and the government started rationing sugar. After a wave of countrywide strikes, communist authorities signed an agreement with the strikers and the Trade Union Solidarity (Solidarność) was established in August 1980. Regrettably, nothing truly changed for the people after this. Lech Walesa continued to lead protests against the government.

In an effort to stifle this new wave of rebellion, martial law was imposed in 1981, with the military ordering curfews and terrorizing citizens for two years. Brutality, however, could not kill the people's spirit nor douse their desire to be rid of communism. First in Poland after the Round Table Talks, then in the Czech Republic in what has come to be known as The Velvet Revolution, then on a domino effect in the rest of Eastern Europe, communism finally collapsed, opening the door for capitalist opportunism. The former Communist Block, as expected, was caught unawares. Gastronomical offenders soon had their golden arches in these Western-hungry countries with little added benefit besides the widening of waistbands.

At the same time that countries like Poland were opening themselves to the Western invasion, Libya was put under diplomatic isolation, enduring economic sanctions all through the 90's because of Muammar al-Gadafi's refusal to allow the extradition of the two Libyans accused of planting the bomb that downed Pan-Am flight 103 in 1988. Because the death toll included 189 Americans (the deadliest terrorist attack against the US until September 2001), the United States pressured European countries to close their borders to Libyan immigrants. In Poland, where people are catholic by decree, this policy, even though not written into law, basically encompassed Muslims, Jews, and whomever was deemed a “sectarian,” such as Jehovah's Witnesses. The church is particularly xenophobic about sects and the possibility of foreign companies controlling the economy. After the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, some blacks managed to trickle down to Poland, but they were the exception, not the rule.

Well into the first decade of the 21st century, Arabs are still finding it hard to immigrate to Poland because of fear of terrorism --as in American Pressure. Because xenophobia is all encompassing, the church doesn't want Muslims in Poland as much as it doesn't want Jews, therefore the pious sector of the population doesn't want them either --an unquestionable instance of filial piety as reinforcer of religious awe. Now, if I sound irreverent, it is because I am. When it should be fighting stereotypes and prejudice, the church in Poland is instead playing people's fears and whipping the conservative sector into a froth over religious issues.

This uniformity of creed is, in my opinion, what has the country trapped in the nightmare of the communist mentality still. All that ever happened here was for one doctrine to be swapped for another. Indeed, Poland is like a chrysalis slowly awakening from the communist bad dream to indiscriminately embrace all the vices of religion, including its patriarchal drawbacks. Add to this the natural intolerance of the extreme catholics that are infecting all sectors of the government, and you get policies that are enacted on the basis of bigotry.

To a large extent the church, which is a dying institution to begin with, has its claws deeply wedged in the treacherous heart of politics. And so it is that the hero, in its death throes, has become the demon that is telling the government what to do, as Plato would have put it. The majority of Poles, but most especially the old brigade, bow their heads and do as they are told by the priesthood. It was only natural, then, that those seeking to be elected in the last term should find a way to collude with the church. Immediately Father Rydzyk, “The Cardinal Richelieu of Poland,” seized the opportunity to try and plant his reactionary views into the highest sectors of the government, calling for a decree to make Poland 100% catholic (apparently 95% of catholics is not enough for him).

Now, if Poles are racist against anybody, that has to be Jews, if only because of historical hatred, as there isn't anything so hard to change as a bad habit. This resentment against the Jewish people dates back centuries and it was periodically expressed in the form of pogroms. Not too long ago, a conservative newspaper made reference to a “hostile Jewish presence in finances,” while the catholic radio station (approx. one million listeners) still vilifies Jews. Thankfully, aside from the extreme conservative sector led by Father Rydzyk and indoctrinated by Radio Maria, most politicians are careful not to voice their views openly because that would constitute political suicide.

Ever since it joined the European Community in May 2004, Poland has taken gigantic steps towards becoming integral part of the Union, even as it struggles against the reactionary tendencies of the conservative sector. Despite some detractors, unification has been embraced wholeheartedly by the upwardly mobile and the young. As one of the newest members of the European Community, Poland is viewed by its neighbors both as a new, expanding economy, and as a sound investment. Thanks to its inclusion in Schengen last year, the country's borders are now open, which has brought a new influx of black immigrants because globalization is the main methodology that drives our age. In a first come, first served economy, competition has become fierce.

Between one to two hundred black males come to Poland every year to enroll at the universities. About one fourth end up staying in the country. So far the ratio is approximately ten black males for every black woman, as it is the males who leave their villages in pursuit of better opportunities while the females are left behind to take care of their elders. Others come as political refugees or in search of better opportunities.

I talked to a Nigerian who came to Poland six years ago to establish his own company because at the time “Poland was a new market, exploding with opportunity.” Here he married a Polish woman. Two years ago, when they went on holiday to Africa, this man refused to take his wife to his village. When I asked him why, he merely shrugged and said nothing. This couple have a child together, which leads me to believe the marriage survived despite the slight. Were I in the mood to make conjectures, I would say that discrimination goes both ways: ten years ago blacks were harassed on the streets of Warsaw, but this changed because Poles are too busy making money now. More recently, a black man refused to take his white wife to his native village. Quid pro quo.

Another Nigerian, soccer player Emmanuel Olisadebe, was granted Polish citizenship by the president, as was Brazilian Roger Guerreiro. Both athletes have played brilliantly for the Polish soccer team, with Olisadebe being declared Best European Player five years ago.

Despite this new trend for assimilating outstanding players into Polish teams--half the table tennis team is Chinese--or the magnanimous way in which the government grants temporary student visas to youngsters, politicians are still using globalization to justify the country's bureaucratic obstacles against immigration instead of viewing it as the paradigm it is.

In a society where the good/bad, us/them, black/white binaries still apply, the wall of bureaucracy works as a shield against foreigners. But as draconian laws go, this tendency for inflexible policies is backlashing against the country. In an interesting paradox, since it joined the European Union Poland has seen the largest exodus of able workers in modern history. The intelligent and the able are emigrating in droves to the UK and Ireland, to Sweden and the Netherlands, in the hopes of finding better work opportunities there. Approximately two million Poles have left the country so far, most of them permanently, depleting the country of talent.

Aside from a Presidential plea in a local newspaper urging Poles to return, the government is not doing much to improve work conditions, offer job incentives, increase salaries or facilitate the purchase of housing in a country where real estate prices have skyrocketed and the cost of living doubled in the past two years, leaving people strangled with debt. At the first opportunity they get, Poles are still jumping ship to escape the maladies of their society. Those who have chosen to stay, deal with the dissatisfaction of a life spent chained to a desk by embracing pursuits such as compulsive shopping, internet dating, senseless television watching or drinking in their free time. But these are the lucky ones. In more extreme cases, there are the ones who have developed social and mental dysfunction to cope with the futility of their lives or who altogether try to fix the problems they have created for themselves by attempting, unsuccessfully, of course, to commit suicide.

Busy as it is trying to manipulate politics, the church isn't doing much to soothe the souls of its followers.

by América Martin