“Such threats that we heard today against Radio Maryja and Father Tadeusz Rydzyk expose the real intentions of those in power and their hypocrisy,” Dr. Jolanta Hajdasz said in an interview with wPolityce.pl. The director of the SDP’s Press Freedom Monitoring Center comments on the words of Roman Giertych from KO, who demands that Radio Maryja’s license be revoked due to a bankruptcy violation. “There is no bankruptcy violation here. He did not grant the license. If necessary, Poles will defend these media outlets,” the vice-president of the Polish Journalists’ Association says.
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wPolityce.pl Portal: Have you read Roman Giertych’s posts attacking Father Tadeusz Rydzyk?
Dr. Jolanta Hajdasz: I have nothing but words of extreme indignation and condemnation for Roman Giertych’s truly disgusting attack on Tadeusz Rydzyk’s father. Let me just say that Giertych did no one any favors. He was not the one who granted the license to Radio Maryja and Telewizja Trwam, and he is not the one who will take it away. Radio Maryja received the license in accordance with the law and allowed it to finally begin to respect it. He has gone so far that it is difficult to rationally discuss these slanders and insinuations.
Giertych claims that the concordat is being violated in Poland and points the finger at Father Tadeusz Rydzyk. He is talking about withdrawing Radio Maryja’s license.
There is no violation of the concordat here. Its provisions prohibit the clergy from exercising state and public functions. They cannot participate in any political party or body and cannot run for election. That’s it, period. The Concordat and Polish law do not deprive priests of their passive voting rights because they are citizens of our country. They can think as they wish, they can express their opinions and vote as they wish. In my opinion, the clergy even have the right to express their opinions – especially in the media they create. After all, we have democracy and freedom of speech, we can create our own media. No one forces anyone to listen to or finance Radio Maryja or Telewizja Trwam. No one is forced to accept the content presented there, because in the public space we have the right to our opinion. But I repeat: the Catholic clergy and Catholics have the right to do so.
Father Tadeusz Rydzyk and the works created on his initiative broke the media monopoly of the 1990s in the Third Polish Republic and created crowds of journalists. Doesn’t Giertych see that he is attacking things that have a permanent place in Polish history?
In a truly democratic country, Father Tadeusz Rydzyk and all his collaborators who created Radio Maryja and Telewizja Trwam would be people who received state awards. For these media outlets and for all the initiatives that were created around them. After 30 years of dedicated service to society in Poland, these media outlets deserve respect and appreciation for what their creators have done for all of us. The list of these merits is really very long. We should start with what was most important, that is, breaking the monopoly of the liberal media in the 1990s. During the political transformation, when Radio Maryja began broadcasting, many young people were fascinated by the exit from the communist system to democracy, but few people noticed that huge social groups were not represented in the media and had no opportunity to break with their own way of thinking and their problems. It was an exclusion from the media. Father Tadeusz Rydzyk and Radio Maryja reached out to us without asking for anything or demanding anything. Father Tadeusz Rydzyk showed how to solve difficult social problems without disregarding people. Many conservative and right-wing media outlets based on Christian and Catholic values learned professional journalistic ethics from Radio Maryja and the Redemptorist priests.
Do you think those in power want to scare the creators of Radio Maryja so that they don’t dare to criticize them?
The attacks we are dealing with today are unprecedented slander and political harassment against the environment, which those in power cannot cope with. If it were not for Radio Maryja and Telewizja Trwam and other conservative media outlets, it would be much easier for them to govern. They could do anything with the segments of the economy and culture that have been taken over one by one. Donald Tusk and his ministers know well that they must silence and destroy the authority of Radio Maryja in order to implement their plans. I accept what MP Roman Giertych wrote with the greatest indignation and I hope that no one takes such threats seriously. Otherwise, we would have a total collapse of the state.
I’m afraid Roman Giertych is not a lonely island in these waters.
I will tell you frankly. If Radio Maryja expressed views that were close to those of Roman Giertych and the ruling coalition, it would be evaluated very positively. I would then say that it is a credible and reliable media outlet because it is involved in the affairs of citizens and that it is a media outlet that does not ignore important and socially significant problems.
But this is not the case and will not be the case. Are they afraid of this?
Absolutely yes. But I want to emphasize that Roman Giertych made a mistake. This huge crowd of Radio Maryja listeners are not just “mohair berets,” in Donald Tusk’s words, who can only be reduced to the level of a vote. Definitely not! They are people with their own opinions and who know their place in the world. It is very important for them to have their own means of communication, through which they can learn about what is happening in the world and interpret certain events. Radio Maryja has the great advantage of being one of the few Catholic media outlets that can refer to current social, political and cultural events. In addition, this radio station allows its listeners to have a broad discussion. And this is its great value. That is why listeners appreciate this radio station and do not want its license to be withdrawn because of the artificially created problem of “interference in politics.” The Church is always attacked under this pretext when it preaches truths that are inconvenient for politicians.
Roman Giertych was once associated with the Radio Maryja community.
Roman Giertych is a perfect example of a politician who treated this environment with interest. He wanted to make a career based on the authority of the Radio and its creators, but as can be seen from his later actions, he never fully identified with what Radio Maryja preached. As the head of the League of Polish Families, he sought support and popularity there. Today he is attacking Radio Maryja because his intentions were exposed very quickly and he did not get anything he wanted at that time. And he simply betrayed his environment and trampled on the ideals he supposedly served. If he had done all this in good faith, he would have remained faithful to these ideals. Unfortunately, he did something cruel. And he continues to do so.
If the ruling team wins the presidential elections and changes the National Broadcasting Council, will they withdraw Radio Maryja’s license?
Such words from politicians from the ruling coalition do not surprise me. It is enough when we look at the lawlessness we will have to deal with after December 13, 2023, especially when it comes to public media. Unfortunately, these threats are real and they can do this. With the state apparatus, the police and the force at their disposal, they will be able to implement even the most controversial plan. But they will not succeed. They will not be able to deprive Catholics and conservatives in Poland of the freedom to describe the reality that surrounds us. Let us recall those hundreds of marches across Poland in defense of Telewizja Trwam, when the Civic Platform refused to give it a place in the multiplex in the so-called first licensing process in 2012. People demanded that the National Broadcasting Council – dominated at the time, it is worth remembering, by people from the Civic Platform – grant space in the multiplex to this television station, which had existed and broadcast via satellite for years. And they were even granted space to stations that had no programming and had not even started broadcasting. Public resistance will be great, I have no doubt.
Aren’t we going to stand still?
If necessary, Poles will defend these media outlets. Such attacks and threats that we heard today against Radio Maryja and Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, however, expose the real intentions of those in power and their hypocrisy, because they talk so much about freedom of speech and democracy. In their opinion, unfortunately, actions contradict words, so we must resist and not succumb to the lies and manipulations that we have been dealing with throughout the entire functioning of the current government.
Thank you for the interview.
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