Foxy Lepper and Giertych to form new party

It’s going to be called LiS – ‘lis’ is Polish for fox.

Stop sniggering…it’s true – Andrzej Lepper’s Samoobrona (Self defense) party and Roman Giertych’s Christian nationalist Liga Polskich Rodzin (League of Polish Families) will unite. Take the first letter of Samoobrona and the first letter from Liga, add an ‘i’ (and) and you get LiS.

When asked which of them would be the leader of LiS, Lepper said that it would probably be a joint leadership: “Me - balanced, calm and serious. Vice premier Giertych - eloquent, intelligent, witty.”

One possible election slogan for the new LiS party, says Lepper, could be: ‘Strong as a lion, cunning as a fox’.

Is this man on drugs?

But why and how, I hear you cry, would an ex-Stalinist like Lepper (previously a member of the old Polish communist party) and an uber-Catholic nationalist like Giertych get together and form a party? What have they in common, ideologically?

Well, not much, really. Policy-wise though, they both want to de-privatize much of what was sold off after 1989. They both want to limit foreign influence and renegotiate Poland’s membership of the EU. But that’s just about it.

What they have most in common, of course, is that both their parties have little support left in the country after a year and a half in the coalition government with PiS, and if an election was held now they would be left with no members of parliament at all.

Hence the emergence of LiS – the cunning fox. Lepper thinks that if they stand together they could get, ‘around 17 percent of the vote…’.

I think that is more than wishful thinking. I think voters will see it for what it is: the naked opportunism of two desperate men. LPR voters, what’s left of them, won’t stomach voting for Lepper, who has just been thrown out of government on suspicion of being involved in a corrupt land deal. And there are lots of other Christian nationalists to vote for that are outside Giertych’s party – like Marek Jurek’s PiS splinter group, for instance.

This unbelievable new alliance – LiS – looks less like a cunning fox, and more like a dumb, mangy old mongrel.

The speed of Lyzwinski’s DNA test...

...coming only 24 hours after he gave his tissue sample...

...has sparked off a conspiracy here that the tests were ‘faked’. The Prosecutors Office in Lodz had been ‘got at’ in other words, by a government who wanted the whole affair hushed up. Etc.

Not being an expert on DNA tests I wouldn’t like to comment - except to draw attention to the speed of the DNA test result confirming the identity of Saddam Hussein after he was caught down a little hole by the Americans three years ago this month.

Genome News, no less, reported back then:

One day after Saddam Hussein’s capture on December 13, Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, head of the Iraqi Governing Council, announced at a press conference that DNA tests had confirmed Hussein’s identity. The announcement came less than 24 hours after his capture, indicating that the DNA test, which usually takes days to perform, had been conducted with unusual speed.

I suppose when you need the results badly then science can be speeded up. And in the small world of Polish politics, Lyzwinski’s sex life and the capture of Saddam Hussein are equally Earth shattering – or maybe equally meaningless.

More
DNA twist in Polish sex scandal, BBC News

It’s not Lyzwinski’s baby!

So whose is it?

DNA tests released Saturday evening prove that Self Defense MP Stanislaw Lyzwinski is not the father of Aneta Krawczyk’s child.

But don’t think this is the end of it. Aneta Krawczyk’s lawyer has just said her client is considering forcing a DNA test on Andrzej Lepper! She is still claiming both Lyzwinski and Lepper had sex with her, promising a nice little job.

Lepper has just said that the whole thing is an attempted coup by the newspaper that broke the story, Gazeta Wyborcza, allied with opposition Civic Platform, to oust Self Defense out of the ruling coalition and so bring down the government.

The truth? Who knows. But it looks like we may have discovered a new sex position which should be included in the Karma Sutra.

Position 69 we know. But what do you think Position 68 is?

You do it to Andrzej Lepper...and then he owes you one!

More here

Not so all-mighty Lepper begs: ‘Feel my pain’.

Tearful Andrzej begs press to back off.

Andrzej Lepper cried today at a press conference. Yes, political bruiser Lepper, referring to the hounding he is getting from the press since Aneta Krawczyk claimed she could describe what his todger looked like (see previous posts below), said today in front of the ranks of the national media: “You can hound me, but [blub, sniff] please, please [gulp] leave [blub] my family [blub, blub] alooooone….[blub].”

Hanky anyone?

New allegations in Samoobrona ‘sex-gate’ scandal

Lyzwinski wanted an abortion; forced drugs on Aneta to induce early birth!

This is one hell of a weird scandal. Aneta Krawczyk (photo), the women who claims that Vice Premier Andrzej Lepper and other top brass in Self Defense (Samoobrona) offered jobs and promotion within the party for sexual favours, was on the TVN Teraz My program last night (the same program that broke the Beger-gate scandal) making some more amazing allegations.

She says that Stanislaw Lyzwinski, with whom she is claiming that has had a child (we wait for the DNA tests), tried to get her to have an abortion. When this failed she says that a friend of his, who is a vegetarian surgeon [??], gave her drugs late in the pregnancy to induce a still-birth!

If that is true then Lyzwinki could be prosecuted under numerous, serious charges.

It’s also being claimed that Andrzej Lepper – who Krawczyk is also claiming had sex with her – sexually molested the present government’s Minister of Labour, Anna Kalata, who is also a member of Samoobrona.

He denies all the allegations claiming that it is all a set up to bring down the government.

How on earth are Samoobrona going to get out of this horror? How is the coalition government, of which they are a vital member, going to survive this?

More?

Polish Sex Scandal - Accuser Speaks, Traveling life blog

Sex, lies and Samoobrona

Another day, another scandal for the coalition government.

Last week it was film of the youth wing of League of Polish Families partying hard with neo-fascists.

This week it’s accusations by Gazeta Wyborcza that female workers for Self Defense (Samoobrona) were ordered to perform sexual favours for top members of the party, including the leader, Andrzej Lepper (baff!).

It is alleged that in a kind of political casting coach situation, a worker at a Samoobrona local government office, Aneta K (this is now a legal case so we can’t give her whole name), says that promotion was promised up the party ranks if she was willing to indulge in a little rumpy-pumpy with prominent member of Samoobrona, Stanislaw Lyzwinski (photo). She is also claiming that she was commanded to have sex with Andrzej Lepper, and to keep servicing him, if she wanted to keep the job.

The Prosecutors Office is looking at the allegations.

Party members are fighting back dirty, however. They say that Aneta has three kids, each by a different father. So she is a loose woman and not to be taken seriously.

Aneta K counters that, in fact, the first two kids are from her husband, who she is now separated from. But the third child is indeed Lyzwinski’s. To prove it she has had DNA tests done and is waiting for the results.

Wife of Lyzwinski says she trusts him if he says he didn’t do it, but if he did, then it just shows what a man he is (she sounds like she deserves him, stupid cow).

Andrzej Lepper is claiming that this whole ‘affair’ is a set up by Gazeta Wyborcza to break the ruling government coalition, which he is Vice PM of.

The coalition staggers on…but if Jaroslaw Kaczynski was serious in his election promise to ‘clean up Poland morally’ then how much longer can he tolerate a Vice Premier associated with grubby sex scandals and an Education Secretary, Roman Giertych, associated with neo-nazi party goers?

Well, maybe he can tolerate it as long as he needs a majority in parliament. But it’s gonna cost him and the government…

A bloody cheek

A US diplomat has suggested that Polish deputy PM Roman Giertych get the sack for asking for a debate about Poland’s involvement in Iraq.

Responding to a call from the nationalist Giertych - who is against Polish troops being stationed in Iraq - for an open debate about the war and for accurate figures of the many Iraqi deaths (30,000?...500,000?) caused by, or resulting from, the ‘Coalition’ invasion and occupation be published, the US Deputy Ambassador in Warsaw, Kenneth Hillas, (pictured) said in a meeting with a Polish official:

“Should a deputy government head in Germany, France or Denmark make such a statement, he would be dismissed from his post”.

Roman Giertych has said of the memorandum containing these remarks:

'Maybe we have created a situation in which Poland has allowed the US to exercise absolute power over its foreign policy to the extent of eliminating Polish opinions...'

Many are wondering why it is that only extreme politicians like Giertych and others (see my Andrzej Lepper – peace activist) are reflecting and voicing public opinion in Poland. A majority of Poles have been against the Iraq war from the very start.

This is because mainstream conservative and ‘liberal’ politicians in Poland have been so anxious to bend over backwards (not a pretty picture) to any demand by Washington, no matter how ridiculous or destructive.

But Giertych is right: the current US administration has a very vague idea of what ‘national sovereignty’ means – which is why they went in to Iraq in the first place.

More?
Polish ministry summons U.S. ambassador over accusation diplomat overstepped his bounds, IHT, Nov 6
U.S. spokesman refuses to discuss brouhaha in Poland over U.S. diplomat's comment, IHT, Nov 7

The Beger tapes transcript – English version

Here is a rough and ready transcript of the ‘Polish Watergate’ tapes.

Renata Beger is in the hotel where members of parliament stay when they are in town. Opposite her is Adam Lipinski, vice chairman of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS). This is the first of three days of meetings.

September 22

AL. – So are you with the other group of five [the breakaway group of lawmakers who broke from Samoobrona and want to remain in the coalition]?

RB – I am talking about myself.

AL – So it means that the group of five people, that means six. You would like to join PiS and they will go to that [parliamentary] club….or maybe they are creating another group…..so it’s good…what are your expectations?

RB – Mmm…as I said...

AL – Meaning the Secretary of State for Agriculture, yeah?

RB – Yeah, immediately

AL – You know, its no problem at all….because we have lots of vacancies…lots….so no problem. And the other people…?

RB - They…

AL - I prefer if they didn’t push it…the Secretary of State…

RB – No, no…they would be speaking for themselves.

AL – Aha…

RB – And I am sure, 100%, about three of them…the other two are, maybe…

AL – You know, there are different options…some people just want to be re-elected…so we have some possibilities with them …for example, you can come to a deal…if anyone wanted to…with [Roman] Giertych [leader of coalition member, far right LPR]. Giertych has some places with blank spots [on his electoral lists for the local elections coming up in November]…if you match them up, some can join LPR. Giertych really wants to, let’s say, puff himself up…and there maybe is a guarantee of re-election with LPR. We can talk about PiS as well, you have a wide area for maneuver here.

Film is edited

RB – Let’s talk about me first

AL – Your proposition is the Secretary of State for agriculture and joining PiS. One talk to the president [of the party Jaroslaw Kaczynski], sincerely speaking…

RB – Yeah but I was talking about much more…

AL – Meaning?

RB – About my court case [about making up sponsorship signatures before standing as an MP].

AL – And how do you imagine solving this?

RB – That’s your problem, not mine. I told Wojciech [the other PiS negotiator].

AL – There is no point in cheating you. I would do it this way: you should meet an expert on that…you explain what you mean and that person will explain how it will go. If there is something…you know, I don’t know about this, he, will tell you and you take the decision. If there are some things going on then you can’t stop them.

RB – No, you can’t.

AL – I don’t know, but if you like I will find out and tell you.

another edit

RB – We have talked about the parliamentary club, position, the top place on the list in my region.

AL – The Pila region?

RB – Yeah, Pila. Mr Kraczkowski was there now [sic].

AL – I get it. I’ll make notes…[starts making notes of what she is demanding, like writing a shopping list]…

RB – And of course, jobs for my people. Because part of my people are coming with me. The local elections. They were already mentioned on the list. I am interested in two high places.

AL – Not so fast…[tries to keep up with what she is saying with his pen]

RB – Yeah.

AL – How do you mean?

BR =- Two high places. One I can give to the name of someone called Beger. [goes through list she has written out before hand so as not to forget something].

AL – OK, so…

BR – And I have underlined, I want this from you in writing. I said to Wojciech and others who contacted me that I want it signed.

AL – Mmm, you know, I am not sure if that’s possible. We can…make a deal.

RB – I want the signature of the PM [Jarosalw Kaczynski]. He is the one who has the authority.

AL – But you know, we can make a deal, because…

RB – We are playing for high stakes.

AL – And you know, I think that the PM, he can guarantee the nomination for secretary of state. You know, I mean…we can come to a verbal agreement that you will be secretary of state. You can believe me, or not. But let’s assume that you believe me. Secretary of state is no problem.

RB – This is straight talking.

AL – The top of the Pila list, we can come to a deal. You can have PiS’s declaration that we guarantee you the local government parliament. A declaration by the party’s chairman or by the chief of the zarzad glowny [?],…somehow signed by [Kaczysnki]. The other things … of course not.

September 25 Lipinski, who sounded very confident of what he was saying in the meeting before, suddenly starts to get less so. Up until now the negotiations are what you would expect from the horse trading of coalition politics. But now things take a turn for the worse. It’s here in this session that Lipinski brings up what has been interpreted by most Poles as a bribe.

RB – And what about our agreement?

AL – So, um…first you, must have talked to someone else about your demands?

RB – I talked to Kuchczysnki [head of the PiS MPs in parliament].

AL. – Ah…

RB – He invited me.

AL – I understand… it's OK, this is not an accusation, but I don’t want to be the guilty one, as I promised that…I have spoken to the PM [J Kaczynski]. He has not accepted the position of secretary of state, so far. I’m being straight.

RB – Yeah, we are being straight [actually she is really starting to get the bit between her teeth here and is stringing him along…].

AL – That’s clear. He has not accepted it yet. That way is blocked now, if I can say so. The switch of Samoobrina people, because now its that thing about the Promissory Note [if they leave Samoobrona]. The MPs are just scared.

Some time later...and here comes the bribe...…

AL – I spoke today to Minister Ziobro [Minister of the Interior] and he says that as far as he knows, after talking to lawyers, Lepper can use the … it can take a few months. But he can’t take assets if the MPs react quickly.

It will work this way: he uses the promissory note, MPs protest, the promissory note is blocked. The court case happens and the court case is won. Ziobro says that this case is won.

RB - I have the impression that if there are some MPs who are just waiting for my decision, then you could protect me financially, just in case…and others will follow me..

AL – We were thinking today, if not setting up…Hmm… theoretically you could even the charge parliament this money (over 100,000 dollars each member of parliament].. if Lepper…theoretically it’s possible.

RB – How? In what way?

AL – Well, ummm. parliament….the debt collector can take away until the MPs protest and parliament would provide this money somehow, I don’t know how, I am not a lawyer.

RB – You mean, you would finance it, yeah?

AL – Yeah, because we thought about setting up a fund which would provide the money for these MPs until the case is solved. If, God save us, the debt collector comes in.

September 26, with a different negotiator.

WM – What could harm you is.. for example, you just come in from nowhere and get the position [of minister]…better to wait two or three weeks, otherwise it might seem like a obvious trade off which would bring the [status of the position of minister] down.

RB – Like Sosnierz [who left an opposition party and walked into a company with that party’s connections], for example?

WM – I don’t know, not my area. I don’t give a damn about Sosnierz. It wasn’t good to nominate him now, but so what. You should wait a while. You joined, fact. Because you wanted to, and then we will see. But don’t give up on that. And after two weeks, and it all calms down. Then you can get nominated.

RB – Lipinksi didn’t say so.

WM – No, don’t push it immediately because they will kill us. You know, those who just take, lose. That person loses because he has been corrupted because he went for something. But no, he went for it because he was convinced about it…..

The Polish Watergate?

Massive political scandal hits government

I am watching TVN 24 at the moment and they have ‘secret camera’ footage of a Law and Justice (PiS) government representative offering to pay the ‘fine’ dissident members of Andzrej Lepper’s party Samoobrona are being asked to pay by their party, for leaving the party and staying with the government.

And this fine, amounting to over one hundred thousand Euro (which almost no Samoobrona MP could pay), was not being offered by PiS but from the coffers of the State – meaning the tax payer would pay for the government’s dirty dealing.

Looks very, very bad. The TV program has lots of ‘hidden camera’ stuff of the arm twisting that is going on by the government to stave off an election. The government really does not want an election.

The TV ‘set up’ was arranged by the beatroot’s very own political sex bomb, Renata Beger, who set up the ‘candid photography’. I suggested a few days ago that she was considering joining the government. This was wrong. She was actually conspiring against the Kaczynskis.

It looks very bad for a government that has fashioned itself as the ‘anti-corruption’ government.

Whatever the reality the only phrase that comes to mind is that ‘the shit has hit the fan’.

The weirdest thing about this is that it is a massive journalistic exclusive for TVN 24 news channel but the programme was broadcast at 10 O’clock at night!

This is potentially a huge story which I am writing down as the news is happening on the TV. Much more later….

Polish govt under fire after secretly filmed talks, Reuters,

A Freudian analysis of bitter ex-coalition politics?

Great little post at Our man in Gdańsk blog...

...about the insults that have been flying around between Andrzej Lepper and PM Kaczynski since the former was kicked out of government by the latter.

They have been accusing each other of low class thuggishness, basically. It’s been a bit messy.

Our man makes an interesting connection with the word warcholstwo, troublemaaking, sowing dissent. Kaczynski has accused Lepper of this. Communist boss Wladyslaw Gomulka used the same word in 1968, when the Communist party was purging Jews from its ranks, and Jews from its country.

See post here.

Freudian slip?

Beatroot launches the Polish Pro Corruption Party (PPCP)!

Samoobrona lawmaker (law breaker) Renata Beger, has been convicted of falsifying her electoral sponsorship list.

She made up 1700 names out of thin air, apparently. The signatures were hand written, so she must have been up all night, poor love.

She has received a two year suspended sentence for her trouble.

All rather embarrassing for her party, Samoobrona, which has led the crusade against political corruption.

Renata first came to attention when she was on the special parliamentary commission looking into the ‘Rywingate affair’, a tale of high corruption during the previous SLD government.

In an interview to a woman’s magazine at the time, she confessed to finding her boss, Adnrzej Lepper a bit sexy (?) but also admitting that she was a very amorous person herself, saying that she had ‘kurwiki in her eyes’ – an extraordinary expression which could be translated as ‘the look of a prostitute in her eyes’.

Gulp!

But dear Renata has inspired this blog to start its own political party – the Polish Pro Corruption Party (PPCP). Renata can be our president (if she promises not to give me any of that kurwiki nonsense!).

The PPCP will stand in the next Euro elections. We think Brussels is not corrupt enough and could learn a few tricks from Poland.

PPCP doesn’t mind if we haven’t got any support as we’ll just make up our signatures anyway.

We welcome backhanders and back scratching. Our accountant will bribe himself to falsify the accounts.

Our election slogan will be: VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN!!!

Andrzej Lepper – peace activist

Polish ‘populist’ is pressing for withdrawal from Iraq

Now that a new coalition has finally been formed between nationalists Law and Justice, Self defense and League of Polish Families, foreign policy could look a little different from the unquestioning pro-Americanism that has been characteristic of the whole of the Polish political class up until now.

The war in Iraq, where Poland is participating with a token 900 troops, has never been popular here and a majority think that ‘our boys’ should come home.

After the election last autumn, however, President Lech Kaczynski announced that army would be in the war torn country until at least the end of the year.

No party has dared to distance itself from the United States. Until now.

We have yet to be presented with concrete policies by the new coalition – on anything! - but new Vice-Premier, Andrzej Lepper makes clear that there will be some changes:

"The coalition agreement says nothing about Iraq. We are still against our military presence there and if it comes to a vote in parliament, we will oppose (extending the stay)...We want to withdraw our troops from Iraq and we will try to convince the president."

But the move has little chance of success. The whole Polish political establishment has made a point of identifying itself with the US for its defense. Getting a populist (i.e. popular?) move such as a withdrawal through parliament is a long shot.

But at least one political party is in tune with the ordinary Poles on this issue. Strange that it has to come from such an unlikely direction!

More?
A surprise Polish coalition government, Polish Outlook, May 6
Lepper: `I'm no fascist', Haaretz.com, May 6 (hat tip - Eugene)

Polish populism?

The mainstream media and political parties label any idea outside the narrow confines of the political centre as ‘populist’. It’s become a meaningless term of abuse.(photo: Roman Giertych and Andrzej Lepper - two Polish 'populists')

Populist parties join Polish government, EU Observer
Poland's foreign minister quits over PiS coalition with populists, Monsters and Critics

Put ‘populist’ and ‘Poland’ into google and 477,000 entries will pop up. It seems we have entered the populist age.

All the above headlines refer to the new coalition agreement between the ruling Law and Justice party, the ‘populist’ Self defense party, and a few from the ‘populist’ League of Polish Families.

But it’s not only they who are the populists, apparently.

In October last year, after the parliamentary and presidential elections were won by the Law and Justice party (PiS) and the Kaczynski brothers, the BBC reported that there was, High hopes for Poland's populist leader – meaning, not Andrzej Lepper or Roman Giertych, but President Lech Kaczynski.

Many were calling PiS populist back then and in one interview Kaczynski went out of his way to declare that he ‘was not a populist’. He regarded the label as an insult. And he was right to think so.

Since then the populist tag has usually been confined to Lepper, Giertych etc.

Populism?

Populism is generally taken to mean rhetoric or ideas that paint the political elite as out of touch with the masses, is corrupt and self-serving and should be replaced by the common sense of the people.

So, if crime or terrorism is increasing, and if ordinary people think that stiffer prison sentences (or capital punishment) would have a deterrent effect, then the populist policy would be ‘tougher on crime’. If opinion polls show that people feel that the EU is to blame for economic woes then the policy should become more euroscpetic.

If that is how populist is being used today then yes, Lepper is a populist, but so is Kaczynski. Even the name of his party, Law and Justice, taps into people’s fears that Poland is falling apart and becoming more and more crime ridden because of communist/liberal influences.

Kaczynski’s whole programme, therefore, is populist.

But how about opposition parties like the so-called ‘liberal’ Civic Platform? They promise that what the country needs is an unfettered free market to combat the protectionism, state interference and high taxation which are to blame for Poland’s problems.

That, surely, is just a kind of middle class populism.

George Bush (and Blair) have tried to claim – as their support in the opinion polls plummets - that security is the number one issue for the US and the UK. So, increased state spending on security and defense, a crackdown on civil liberties and the invasion of other countries are justified because ‘the nation and our way of life is under threat’.

That’s a very populist rhetoric.

The truth these days is that, in this post-ideological world of managerial politics, where policy is driven by focus groups, all parties have become populist.

Is it a bird, is it a plane...?

...no, it’s Andrzej Lepper, Super-capitalist!

Yes, you thought that Lepper, leader of the populist, left wing farmer’s union and lawmaker, was the former communist party political bruiser, the farm owner down on his luck, who came to fame as the organizer of road blocks in rural areas in the fight to defend the Polish farmer from market reforms, Brussels, and towns and cities in general with populations of over six hundred and fifty.

You thought his foreign policy included a sympathetic ear to the trials and tribulations of the Belarus’ president, Alexander Lukashenko.

You thought his economic plan included halting privatization, and the state keeping hold of all major industries.

You thought that Andrzej Lepper was an unreconstructed, Soviet-type socialist with a dollop of nationalism thrown in.

But just as Clarke Kent slipped off his suit and tie in a phone booth to reveal the caped crusader beneath, so Lepper has thrown away the muddy boots and straw in the top pocket, to reveal a tasty pinstripe suit.

Andrzej Lepper has declared himself a capitalist!

“A socialist party has no chance today,” he says, with the dazed look of a Damascus experience still lingering in his eyes. He’s in favor of the privatization of everything but essential industries. He’s a modern guy! Honest!

But what led Lepper to this flash of market orientated inspiration? What took Leper out of the pig shed with shovel and into the office and executive toys?

Naked ambition? Quite probably. He knows that the minority PiS government can’t rule without him and his Samoobrona (Self defense) party. He wants a formal coalition with PiS, and a place in the government.

But he’s not just decided he’s a capitalist. He also says that he is now a ‘social-liberal’.

Oxymoron? Yes, but a typically Polish, political oxymoron. The liberal bit means he ‘believes’ in the market. The social bit means that the state is not going to be cutting social services, welfare, and social spending in general. And the farmers are still going to get price stability and lots of subsidies.

A tactical metamorphoses. But the change is less like a Clarke Kent to a Superman, as a tadpole into a frog.

Presidential candidate: Andrzej Lepper

In third place in the opinion polls (12%), he’s fighting for the rights of farmers, pigs, and Alexander Lukashenko.

He’s the maverick isolationist who is anti-EU, anti-Atlanticist, and anti-globalist. He’s the ex-boxer who’s been in court more times than a Polish grandma has cooked up bigos. And he is the self-styled modern day Polish Robin Hood, who has about one in ten Polish voters cheering him on.

I have seen him described by the foreign press as being on the ‘far right’, but this completely misses the point about politics in a post-communist country like Poland.

Up until 1992, Lepper was a pig farmer who was a member of the PZPR, the old communist party. When his farm hit hard times he decided it was time to fight back against the ‘shock economic therapy’, and savage free market reforms of the newly capitalist Poland.

So he formed Samoobrona (Self Defense) the radical farmers union. Lepper quickly became a constant media presence – organizing roadblocks to keep out cheap imported grain from the EU and elsewhere. His direct action method of protest attracted the attention of not just the news media, but also the cops, who arrested him countless times for obstruction and other public order offenses.

Samoobrona’s party song is a jolly little ditty that makes plain the Lepper mindset: “This land is our land, and we won’t let anyone punch us in the face.” Catchy, isn’t it?

He first stood for president ten years ago, when he polled just over one percent. The next time he tried, in 2000, he got three percent. This time he will probably get around twelve percent. So things are going in the right direction for the man who is attracting the disaffected and disposessed in modern day Poland.

He has made anti-Semitic remarks in the past, which is probably where the ‘far right’ tag comes from. He has praised Goebbels for his mastery of the media, and Hitler for his ‘economic policy.’

But he has also expressed regard for someone who is usually thought to be a bit of a basket case, the President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko. He supported Lukashenko’s successful attempt to change the constitution so that he could stand for a third term as head of state. Lepper thinks that he should be president ‘till he dies.’

King of the Polish populists

Lepper is a strange mixture of two French populists: Jose Bove – the darling of lefty anti-globalists who once drove a tractor through his local MacDonald’s - and far-right, neo-fascist, Jean Mari le Pen.

Like Hitler, he is a lover of our fury friends, and campaigns for the rights of farm animals. In Washington D.C. in 2001 he was awarded the Albert Schweitzer Medal for his campaign for more humane farming. He vows to ‘stop the concentration camps’ of modern farming methods in Poland. “Farm animals are like any other living being, and have natural instincts that must be expressed.”, he told a doting American audience.

Foreign policy under Lepper and Samoobrona would turn Poland into, well, another Belarus. He is as suspicious of American capitalism as he is of the interventionism of the EU. He accuses both of dumping surplus agricultural products on the Polish market, with the full permission of the government. And as far as the domestic economy is concerned, he would slow down privatization, and make sure that Polish firms stay in Polish hands.

So, all in all, Andrzej Lepper is an oddball, and someone who defies the usual political labels of left and right.

He won’t get into the second round of the presidential elections, but he can always be relied upon to liven up Polish politics a bit. Political journalists, in particular, would miss him if he were ever to fall under a tractor.