NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

4.1.3. Media discourse (1991) This section is based on an insight into the media discourse, as presented by the daily Gazeta Wyborcza . The main issues dominating the media discourse in the beginning of 1990 were, to a large extent, related to the changed and still changing political environment in Poland and abroad. The beginning of the process of the political, economic and societal transformation was marked by the reopening of the debate on the fundamental issues and value orientations of the Polish society. The reconsideration of “traditional” values and value orientations, as well as the creation of the new societal order, became dominant issues in the political discourse, along with a redefinition of the traditional dichotomy between “we” and “others”. The stereotype that a “good Pole” should maintain a narrowly-defined nationality and Christian values during his/her whole life was spread by several political leaders representing influential parties. On the one hand, they used the national “others”, represented by the Germans and Jews, in order to underline the positive image of the Polish nation; but on the other hand, “others” were also used as a symbolic threat to the Polish national identity and traditional values. The absence of the so-called Russian element in the Polish political discourse might be explained by the awakened position of the Soviet Union on the international scene, since the Soviet Union was perceived as the loser of the Cold War. Furthermore, the increasing importance of the unified Germany in Europe evoked many reminiscences among the representatives of the majority of Polish political parties. To some extent, the “reappearance” of Lithuania on the Eastern border, as well as the revitalisation of historical memories and the existence of numerous Polish minorities living in the Lithuanian territory, made Polish-Lithuanian relations one of the top topics of the year. The specific case of the Carmelite Church in the town of Przemyśl indicates that Polish Ukrainian relations also started to be an issue in the political discourse, albeit not a dominant one. Similarly to the party programmes, the media statements were also divided into three categories. The first category of statements referred to a positive self presentation of the political leaders and the Polish nation. The most frequently used points of reference were the nation, state, religion, independence and traditional values. Furthermore, the main focus was on the statements of leaders of the parliamentary parties, while the appeals of non-parliamentary parties and other political actors were analysed separately. In terms of positive self-presentation and values, the representatives of the political parties referred most frequently to national and traditional values, religion and patriotism. The ZChN leader, Goryszewski, declared that the

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