– Believe what you want, but inciting hatred is neither a religion nor a worldview. Say what you want, but inciting hatred is not freedom of speech. Incitement to hatred is pure evil, said his wife Magdalena Adamowicz, a KO MEP, on Monday evening, on the sixth anniversary of the attack on Paweł Adamowicz. The brother of the president of Gdańsk, KO MP Piotr Adamowicz, pointed out that “we are thinking about how we can counteract hate” when “certain regulations already exist.”
Monday, January 13, marks the sixth anniversary of the fatal attack on the mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, who was stabbed during the city finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. One of the elements of the celebrations was the laying of flowers and candles at the memorial plaque located between the Torture House and the Golden Gate – in the place where the attack took place. Adamowicz's relatives also gave speeches on the stage near the blackboard.
“None of the people who ruled six years ago answered for the wrongdoing”
She was the first to speak Magdalena Adamowiczwife of a murdered local government official and MEP of the Civic Coalition.
– Six years ago, Paweł was murdered in this place. A year ago, my husband's murderer was sentenced to life in prison. In this final judgment, the court ruled that my husband was not an accidental victim, and that politics was the background of this murder. None of the people who ruled Poland six years ago and unleashed a hurricane of Polish-Polish hatred to cement their power, none of them after October 15, 2023, have still answered for the evil they did to all Poles in Poland. Nobody, she said.
As she said, “we look with disbelief at what is happening now, what the new gang of that unaccounted evil is doing.” In her opinion, “it's worse than it was six years ago.”
– Since my husband's murder, these people keep saying: we have the right to attack as much as we want. And it's your own fault because you go around without protection, she continued. – So the victim of the hate, who couldn't defend himself, should be blamed, and not the haters who were in the murderer's head? It's pure evil. And unpunished evil grows stronger. Unresolved evil attacks with redoubled force, she said.
She added that now hatred “is pouring out again in a raging river from television, the name of which is beyond her throat.”
Adamowicz with a “call” to the Polish state
– I am standing here now in a place where six years ago the hatred poured out from Kurski and Kaczyński's television took a deadly toll. And I call. I appeal to the Polish state with all my might to prevent such a tragedy in the future, said Adamowicz.
She reminded that “a person threatening to kill another person says directly that he was inspired by a specific television.” – If television licensing is needed for anything in a democracy, it is for such situations. Television stations are punished for bad words. We also agree that Russian stations spreading propaganda cannot broadcast in Poland. But television that spreads such hatred that it inspires murder threats in its viewers operates without any consequences, she continued.
According to her, “everyone targeted by this television receives such threats.”
– Here, above this slab, from this place a clear call, a clear demand must be heard. Television spreading hatred, television inciting murders, such television has no right to exist in Poland. It has no right to exist anywhere. Think what you want, but inciting hatred is not an opinion. Vote for whoever you want, but inciting hatred is not a political party. Believe what you want, but inciting hatred is neither a religion nor a worldview. Say what you want, but inciting hatred is not freedom of speech. Incitement to hatred is pure evil. This is pure evil, because hate always breeds hate. Incitement to hatred fuels the spiral of hatred and always leads to tragedy, said the MEP.
– This is why society not only has the right, but must defend itself against incitement to hatred – she emphasized.
“Do I still have my brother's number on my phone? Yes, I do.”
Piotr Adamowicz – KO MP and brother of Paweł Adamowicz – thanked everyone for coming.
– This morning one of the journalists asked me if I still had my brother Paweł's number on my mobile phone. I said yes, I still have it. When asked why, because six years have already passed, I say: indeed, six years have passed, a long time. But the circumstances are the same. These circumstances – referring to what Magda said – are hatred, hatred, contempt – he said.
He also mentioned his personal experience. – I can even understand, because I am a public figure, when an MP from a well-known party publicly calls me an idiot. I can understand that. This speaks volumes about him as a person. However, what is happening again and has happened in recent days does not allow me to delete this phone number – he continued.
He noted that “hate and hatred can lead to crimes, to the crime of murder.” – You may wonder if it will always be like this? Or maybe it will be better? I will remain skeptical. Unfortunately, it won't get any better, he said.
Piotr Adamowicz:TVN24
– Our country will soon have a real election campaign, I mean presidential elections. What is happening is that not much is happening at the moment. Things are just starting to happen, he argued. He also said that Facebook had changed its content moderation policy and that is why – in his opinion – “we will have a free American woman.”
– This is not a good situation and will not be a good situation. Therefore, I would like to remind the executive authority – not only of it, but above all – of a certain provision: whoever insults another person in his presence or even in his absence, but publicly or with the intention that the insult reaches that person, shall be subject to a fine or restriction of liberty. This is Article 216, paragraph one of the Penal Code, he said.
– We are currently thinking about how to counteract hate and hate speech. But some regulations already exist. Therefore, I would like to point out once again that such provisions enabling the prevention and combating of hatred exist in Polish law, he added.
Tragic death during the Grand Finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity
On January 13, 2019, the Mayor of Gdańsk, Paweł Adamowicz, was seriously injured with a knife during the city finale of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity at Targ Węglowy. The local government official was taken to the University Clinical Center in a very serious condition, where he died the next day. The funeral took place on January 19 in St. Mary's Basilica. The urn with his ashes was also buried there. The man who attacked him he was legally sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2024.
Main photo source: TVN24