Radzikowski: independency and sovereignty

myslpolska.info 2 years ago

As all year on 11 November we celebrate the National independency Day, established in 1937, and restored as a state vacation in 1989. On this day we traditionally celebrate state celebrations and commemorate those who contributed to Poland's regaining independency in 1918.

I am not going to examine whether it is accurate and historically appropriate to adopt this date. I besides do not mention to the question of how this vacation should be celebrated and whether the appropriate form of it is, for example, the yearly “March of Independence”. I believe that in the first place it is essential to explain what independency is and whether this concept is the same as the frequently associated concept of sovereignty.

In dictionary terms, independency means the independency of the State from another states in interior and external matters, namely the anticipation for the State to independently form interior relations and the ability to act independently in global relations. There is no uncertainty that the United Nations (193 states) as well as the UN - Vatican observer position are considered independent. Non-recognised countries are a separate issue, or only partially recognised internationally, whose position may sometimes be akin to that of independent countries.

How easy it is to see the concept of independency is only formal and explains little. The position of independent states has no respect for the criteria applicable to this category, which are de facto dependent countries. Moreover, the countries that are formally independent are besides falling and falling, specified as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan or Afghanistan. Ukraine is besides consistently heading towards the categories of these countries.

And here comes the notion of sovereignty, meaning the actual anticipation of making independent decisions internally and externally. Of course, in the current reality, given the full complexity of global connections in political, economical or military terms, no state is full sovereign. This besides applies to powers specified as the USA, China or Russia. This is not only about interdependencies between these countries, but besides the influence of global institutions and large corporations that have a real impact on planet policy. It is so only possible to talk of the scale of sovereignty of a given country, which may be larger or smaller. The degree of sovereignty does not always depend on the size and wealth of a country, which is best illustrated by, for example, North Korea or Cuba.

In the light of the above considerations, the question must be asked whether and to what degree modern Poland is simply a sovereign state? The answer to this question is complex and requires any historical reflection. The solidarity circles that took power after 1989 accepted the thesis that Poland regained sovereignty only after that date. This thesis developed and led almost to an absurd environment related to PiS and alleged "the right of independence". It is true, of course, that the Polish People's Republic was a country with limited sovereignty, which resulted in the geopolitical agreement at the time, conditional on belonging to the Warsaw Pact and the RPG, although this does not mean that the sovereignty of our country was increased after 1989. The solidarity elites along with part of the erstwhile power arrangement simply changed Moscow's dependence on Washington and Brussels. After more than 30 years of systemic transformation, Poland in many areas is simply a little sovereign state than before 1989. An example of this is the rule of primacy of EU law over national law and interference in the Polish legal order by abroad entities. Similarly, the actual extraterritoriality of U.S. military bases in Poland and the exclusion from the Polish jurisdiction of American soldiers stationed in our country (Poland has renounced precedence in criminal jurisdiction). The fact that the Polish authorities voluntarily agreed to specified solutions is simply a secondary substance and does not change the essence of the substance – it is the fact itself, not its legitimacy.

So on 11 November, do we have something to celebrate?

Is Poland, contrary to the noisy patriotic phraseology, an independent entity on the global stage? This issue is peculiarly crucial in the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, as there is simply a hazard of Poland being drawn into this conflict. Especially worrying are the words of politicians trying to combine the issue of independency and sovereignty of our country with events from beyond our east border. That is evidenced by words Jarosław Kaczyński, which on the eve of the National independency Day stated at the monument of Józef Piłsudski in Krakow: "The issue of independence, the issue of sovereignty is present an unresolved issue, is present a substance which, as if put up again, has been placed in various ways, has been posed in an highly brutal way, due to the fact that present the blood of our brother-in-law Ukrainian nation is pouring out".

Michał Radzikowski

Photo by Jarosław Kaczyński at 1 of the meetings (photo profile fb Law and Justice)

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