NATIONALIST POPULISM AND POST-COMMUNISM

Tymiński from Partia X considered the anti-Semitism in Poland to be “a normal and just defence against the anti-Polonism of the Jewish minority”. 114 Last but not least, the specific case of the Carmelite Church in Przemyśl pointed to a renewal of Polish-Ukrainian animosities. Several studies have been already written on the takeover of the Carmelite (Catholic) Cathedral in Przemyśl by the Uniate Church. 115 However, it should be underlined that the case of the Carmelite Church case had a clear political dimension. The Common Committee of the defence of the church was supported by the regional office of the NSZZ “Solidarność”, Porozumienie Centrum – in this case, the regional congress of the party voted in one voice for the statement supporting the Committee – and earlier, also by the mayor, the local government and Wojewoda. Generally, it can be concluded that the parties that frequently used nationalist populist slogans gained significant support in the elections. At the same time, the representatives of those parties were the most-quoted discussants when the media statements were taken into account. 4.2. Nationalist populism in the Slovak political discourse (1992) 4.2.1. Party manifestos The 1992 parliamentary elections held on June were important from at least two points of view. First, they had a decisive influence on the final status of the Czech-Slovak Federation. Secondly, the elections helped the politicians operating with the nationalist and ethnocentric rhetoric to create a government and dominate the political scene. In comparison to the first democratic elections held in 1990, the number of competing political parties was reduced. The selection of the political parties included in the analysis is based on their electoral success on the one hand, and on the availability of their political programmes on the other. After combining both of these criteria, the total number of analysed parties was reduced to six. Nevertheless, the analysis includes the political programmes of the most important parties competing in the elections: Movement for Democratic Slovakia (Hnutie za demokratické Slovensko – HZDS), Slovak National statement was originally broadcast by Polish television on 17 October 1991. GazetaWyborcza (November 13, 1991), p. 2. 114 Statement of Stanisław Tymiński, leader of Partia “X”. Gazeta Wyborcza (19 August 1991), p. 3. 115 See, for instance, C. Hann, ”Postsocialist Nationalism: Rediscovering the Past in Southeast Poland”, Slavic Review 57(4).

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