Review of Nationalities

Israel’s evolving approach to citizens who have returned to the diaspora

Steven J. Gold — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This article examines the means by which Israel has sought to fulfill the contradictory goals involved with maintaining contacts with emigrants while simultaneously sustaining a national mission that asserts Jews can only achieve fulfilment, security, and self-determination by residing in their own country. It describes three successive approaches by which Israel and the larger global Jewish community have addressed the challenges associated with Israeli emigration. These are condemnation, pragmatic acceptance, and the assent of the Israeli American Council.

“The Churches overtook politics”. The contribution of religious factors and faith-based initiatives to Polish-German reconciliation

Joanna Kulska — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

More than half-century long process of reconciliation between Poland and Germany can be recognized as one the most exceptional contemporary examples of the rebuilding of relations both socially and politically. The fact that the reconciliation process between “eternal enemies”, Poland and Germany, succeeded is considered in metaphysical categories a ‘miracle of reconciliation’. The essence of this process was well summarized in 2015 in the Common Statement of the President of Poland Andrzej Duda and the President of Germany Joachim Gauck in the words “the Churches overtook politics”.

This article aims to outline the contribution of the religious element as a significant factor in the process of Polish-German reconciliation, during which non-state actors were crucial players at its earliest stage, namely till the mid-1960s. The author proposes that in the case of the Polish-German

reconciliation process the role played by civil society to a great extent was motivated by the religious convictions and faith-based engagement of the pioneers, who became bridge-builders in Polish-German relations not only independently or without the support of, but usually against contemporary political elites. In this particular case, reconciliation, religiously rooted, was both deliberated and practically utilized with reference to its theological understanding.

Polish autonomous nationalism against the background of social movement theory

Marcin Pisarski — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The purpose of this article is to analyze autonomous nationalism as a new social movement. This current of nationalism, which emerged at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, is characterized by a radical rejection of liberal democracy, as well as the ideology of the New Left. As a result of the analysis of the published content, it was possible to conclude that autonomous nationalism is a formula of nationalism as a movement of resistance to the establishment, adapted to the conditions of the 21st century. Economic conditions also influence the success of this social nationalism, which is inspired by the political thought of Otto Strasser. Autonomous nationalism is a novelty on the Polish far right also because of its rejection of Catholicism, as well as the formula of cultural nationalism associated with the national-Catholic current. Instead, a commitment to the ethnic concept of the nation as a ‘community of blood’ is noticeable in the movement under study. This goes hand in hand with the new neopaganism popular in the milieu.

Political, legal and religious conflict in Montenegro – genesis, course, last clash

Magdalena Ickiewicz-Sawicka — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Contemporary Montenegro was created as a result of the break-up of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Although this country was for a short time an integral part of Serbian Republic and functioned on the international arena as the so-called new Yugoslavia, Montenegrin society decided in a referendum to proclaim independence in 2006. Despite the fact that the separation took place in a peaceful manner, the frozen conflict between these countries slowly began to intensify. The areas it covered were legal, political and especially religious issues. The dispute reached its climax during the Covid-19 epidemic, when the Montenegrin authorities put to a parliamentary vote a draft of the Law on Religious Freedoms, which would de facto deprive all property of the Serbian Orthodox Church that has been operating in Montenegro for centuries. This led to mass protests by the indigenous Serb population identifying with the Serbian Patriarchate. The regulations against which the supporters of the pro-Serb opposition protested provided that religious communities would have to prove the transfer of ownership of real estate and land they had acquired before 1918, when Montenegro became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes – a state created after the World War I, which was renamed Yugoslavia on January 6, 1929. The main goal of the article is to present the genesis and development of the conflict summarized above, as well as to show its legal, religious and political consequences not only for the Montenegrin state, but indirectly for the entire region. The article consists of two main parts. The first one covers a short description of the Montenegrin nation/regional/ethnic group with the general problem of its identity outlined. The second describes the genesis, essence and recent events of the Serbo-Montenegrin conflict, which is taking place on the legal, political and cultural-religious level. The text includes an introduction and final conclusions.

Catalan legal acts and documents related to the region’s independence process in the context of the radicalization of independentism. Selected examples from 2012-2017

Wioletta Husar-Poliszuk — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The article tackles the issue of normative acts and documents passed by the Catalan parliament that are part of the region’s independence process. The subject of the study includes the laws and declarations that caused the most controversy and were adopted between 2012 and 2017, the most turbulent period for Catalonia in political and social terms. Importantly, they are analyzed in the context of the radicalization process of Catalan independentism.

Economic (in)dependence of Arctic indigenous peoples on the example of Greenlanders

Krzysztof Kaczmarek — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Climate warming is causing ice in the circumpolar zones to melt, making it easier to access the natural resources there. It is not only individual states but also international corporations that are seeking to take control of these deposits. In the vast majority of cases, the indigenous inhabitants of the Arctic have little influence over the exploitation of the deposits. This is due to the economic and political superiority of the authorities of the countries they live in. Very frequently, even their autonomy is only apparent, and it concerns merely a few aspects of economic activity. It is only in the case of the Inuit living in Greenland that the situation is different. They have real control over their own territories. They have a wide autonomy within the Kingdom of Denmark and no option of Greenland gaining independence would be beneficial for them. The article constitutes an attempt to analyze the possibility of their economic independence.

How do SISTERS IN ISLAM struggle with perception of Muslim women in Malaysian society?

Żaklina Dworska — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Sisters in Islam are the most thriving organization working for the rights of Muslim women in Malaysia. The main activities that have been undertaken by the activists over the years are publicity and clear opposition to cases of injustice among the extremely sensitive environment such as inequality of women in Muslim society. This article aims to raise awareness and show the importance of the problem to the society addressed by Sisters in Islam referring to the fundamental principles of Islam. The effectiveness of an organization is determined by the achievement of their goals and Sisters in Islam meet certain assumptions not only with their attitude, but also with the actions they take on local, national and international scale.

Disagreements in remembering, contradictions in commemoration. Main narrative trends in conflict of memories in Poland after 1989

Anna Ratke-Majewska — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The purpose of this article is to present how the concept of conflict of memories can be understood (referring to Poland after 1989), and to show what are the main directions of narratives in this conflict, formulated within the framework of several areas fundamental to Polish public discourse. It was also of great importance to discover what types of narratives construct each of the narrative trends about a particular past event. This made it possible to formulate conclusions concerning the shape of the featured conflict, its course and potential for permanence.

Gezi Park analysis as an example of social movement

Sercan Mutlu — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

This article aims to analyze the Gezi Park social movement, which started in Istanbul in 2013 and spread all over Turkey in a short time, in the context of class dynamics. In this context, firstly, the adequacy of examining the Gezi Park movement within the scope of new social movements will be emphasized. Secondly, the study will attempt to establish an alternative critical approach based on class. With this approach, class dynamics of the Gezi Park movement will be sought under the titles of historicity, antagonism, and holism.

Anti-HEPP initiatives in Turkey as an example of environmental movement

Abdulsamet Ölçek — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

As one of the developing countries, Turkey’s demand for energy is increasing. This demand has led Turkey to the use of renewable energy sources after the 2000s. In this context, HEPPs (Hydroelectric Power Plants) have come to the fore in energy production. However, the widespread use of HEPPs has led to an increase in environmental problems. The problems experienced were protested by various social segments and created social opposition in the process. As a result of these protests and social opposition, an anti-HEPP social movement emerged in the context of environmentalism, which is a social movement in Turkey.

Lights on the emergence backgrounds of the de facto autonomy of North and East Syria (NES). Its features of quasi state and interdependence with roots of the Kurdish question in Syria

Khoushnaw Tillo — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The research is presenting backgrounds to the sudden informal secession of the Kurdish regions in Syria from the central government of Damascus in 2012, to successively create a kind of de facto autonomy known as Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). This research is trying to expose features of a quasi state demonstrated by AANES through analyses of its existence mechanisms and collaborations with the International Coalition in fights against ISIS, and also in the efforts by AANES to obtain international recognition for its autonomous project. Furthermore, to point the relations between indigenous secession attempts presented by AANES and roots of the Kurdish question in Syria, also the inter-engagements with micro- and macro-aspects and fluctuations of political transformation inside Syria and the existing severe ethnic and sectarian fragmentations of Syria’s society, considered as the main factors behind Syrian state failure and fragmentation, that also became very obvious after the outbreak of civil war in 2011, to finally present prognoses about the fate of AANES and Syrian state.

The Poles in Vienna in the literary works of Radek Knapp

Adam Romejko — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Migration is a phenomenon accompanying humanity from its beginnings. The issue of migration is dealt with not only by scholars, but also by writers and novelists. Among them is Radek Knapp (1964-) from Warsaw, who came to Vienna at the age of twelve, and where he lives to this day. In his novels and short stories, Knapp presents the reality of Vienna and its inhabitants from the perspective of ordinary people. Among them are people from Poland who settled in Austria looking for a better life there. They quickly experience that you have to work hard in the Western Paradise. Failures are not uncommon life experiences. Knapp, writing about Vienna and its inhabitants, those from many generations and the newest ones, does so with a specific sense of humour. One of his most popular works is the novel Mr. Kuka’s Recommendations (1999). It has been translated from the original German into the following languages: Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Polish and Russian. It became the basis for the script of a feature film with the same title (2007). It is worth emphasizing that no works by Knapp were published in English.

Challenges for Polish educational policy related to the influx of students from Ukraine

Dorota Szaban — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

Every humanitarian crisis is also an education crisis. Beyond learning, education offers a protective environment that is even more relevant to crisis-affected populations, particularly children. As a result of the intensified wave of refugees following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, nearly 200,000 Ukrainian students were sent to Polish schools. This is an unprecedented situation that authorities at various levels and schools have to deal with. The article is an attempt to answer the question to what extent such a large influx of foreigners is a challenge for the Polish education system, or more broadly for the education policy of Poland. What are the directions of the necessary changes in the existing legal rules and the functioning educational system, and who should implement these changes? A thesis was formulated that for a long time the problem of educating the children of foreigners (both immigrants and refugees) had not been of much interest to the central educational authorities, and the introduced solutions had not been implemented on a large scale. In a situation resulting from the war in Ukraine, the influx of refugees exposed the shortcomings of this system. The COVID-19 pandemic and the related operation of the school in a remote formula, changing the previously known grammar of the education system, also had an impact on the existing situation.

Belarus in Polish eastern policy during the Polish-Soviet War (1919-1920)

Dariusz Miszewski — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The late 19^thcentury saw a national awakening of the Belarusian people. During World War I, under German occupation, the Catholic Belarusian national movement intended to create a sovereign Belarusian state (the Belarusian People;s Republic) or in union with Lithuania (a revived Grand Duchy of Lithuania). After the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, Orthodox national activists wanted a sovereign Belarus within a federal and democratic Russia. The Belarusian People’s Republic, established in March 1918, was not recognized by any state. Poland, Lithuania and Soviet Russia intended to incorporate the Belarusian lands on an autonomous basis. As a result of the Riga Peace Treaty (1921), the Belarusian lands were divided between Poland and Soviet Russia.

Andrzej Dwojnych, Rafał Łętocha, W stronę Królestwa Bożego na ziemi. Myśl społeczno-polityczna mariawitów polskich, Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2021, pp. 422

Ryszard Michalak — Fri, 30 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0100

The study of Mariavitism, both in terms of history and doctrine, is a particularly scarce phenomenon if we contrast it with the scholarly literature dedicated to other trends of Christianity. Polish researchers, in particular historians, sociologists, religious scholars and political scientists, obviously devote most attention to Roman Catholicism. However, in recent years they have also extended their attentions to minority trends, especially Orthodoxy, Pentecostalism, Baptism, Lutheranism, Adventism and Methodism, to which numerous monographs and scientific articles have been devoted. It is worth considering for what reason Mariavitism is somewhat on the sidelines. As an unmistakably Polish phenomenon (and one that originated on Polish soil, which makes it unique, bearing in mind that the Polish National Catholic Church was founded in the USA), it should, after all, be more interesting than, for example, ‘imported’ Protestant denominations.