Paweł Pietkun: EU censorship will have a huge impact on elections in Poland
WE ARE DEALING WITH INCREASINGLY STRONGER CENSORSHIP IN THE EUROPEAN UNION. AMONGOTHERS, INSTITUTE OF SCHUMAN’S THOUGHT WAS AFFECTEDBY IT. HOW BIG IS THE RISK THAT THIS CENSORSHIP WILL AFFECT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN POLAND SCHEDULED FOR MAY?
Paweł Pietkun:
Censorship will have a very big impact. Generally, what is happening in the European Union is dangerous not only for Poland, not only for elections in Poland. It is dangerous for all countries that would like to retain at least some semblance of independence. The European Union is building a superstate. The pressure to ensure the smooth conduct of this process is very strong and very expensive, but the costs for the EU administration do not play a special role, as can be seen in subsequent budgets. This also shows how much the European Union cares about influencing individual countries, building this structure independently of the state and implanting certain ideological plans into it. This is also visible in the legal acts prepared by the European Union. These are different legal acts. This is, for example, the issue of this directive, which is supposed to warn and somehow control the development of artificial intelligence. It is dangerous because this entire document lacks an answer to the question of who would decide what is true in what artificial intelligence creates. Who would decide about this? Of course, the decision will be made by the EU administration, whose views we know and which has set itself in concrete and will not want to budge even an inch. In my opinion, this is what every election will look like in which a politician with views other than those pro superstate will want to be elected. The one that favors the European Union will be promoted. The one who is against will be harassed and disturbed, just like in Poland. Just like it happened during previous governments, when the European Union, even without white gloves, interfered in Polish internal politics and Polish affairs. It financed those organizations that it believed were favorable to it, and hindered the Polish government, which did not favor it – in the opinion of the European Union, because it had a different worldview and saw the future differently – through the judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union, through the actions of the European Commission, and also through the decisions of the European Parliament .
RECENTLY, A REPORT BY THE MCC BRUSSELS ANALYTICAL CENTER CAME TO LIGHT, ITS AUTHORS REVEALING THE HUGE SCALE OF FUNDS SPENT BY THEEUROPEAN COMMISSION ON CENTRALIST PROPAGANDA THROUGHOUT THE EUROPEAN UNION. IT TURNS OUT THAT THE EC SPENDS MORE ON PROPAGANDA THAN ONSECURITY. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
This is another reason for concern regarding the future of the European Union, but also the future of Poland and not only Poland in the European Union. I would like to draw attention to the fact that even before this disturbing report by the analytical center, the British administration, which was heading towards Brexit, expressed a similar tone. This is not mentioned today. The issue of Brexit was overshadowed primarily by economic issues, and somewhat rightly, by immigrant issues. We, Poles, were hit by Brexit because a very large group of Poles went to work in Great Britain. However, in fact, the key argument for Great Britain leaving the European Union was regaining independence and legal independence, and they said it directly. Only here there was the intervention of the European Commission and all those „progressive” forces that strive to tighten integration within the Union, to create one large organism similar to the United States. Even in such simple areas, the European Commission spends money to keep us all thinking that Brexit was about getting rid of migrants. NO. These were multi-faceted efforts by the British. They wanted the Supreme Court of Great Britain to be independent of European tribunals and for the judgments made in Great Britain to be independent of what the European Union has to say about it. These were very valid efforts. The European Union is a creation that was supposed to be an alliance, a community of independent states, but it is no longer such a community of independent states. In fact, it is becoming a superstate and will spend every amount of money to conduct propaganda in this direction.
They wanted the Supreme Court of Great Britain to be independent of European tribunals and for the judgments made in Great Britain to be independent of what the European Union has to say about it. These were very valid efforts. The European Union is a creation that was supposed to be an alliance, a community of independent states, but it is no longer such a community of independent states. In fact, it is becoming a superstate and will spend every amount of money to conduct propaganda in this direction.
THIS GENEROUS PAYMENT OF CENTRALIST PROPAGANDISTS IS DE FACTO REMINISCENT OF THE YEARS OF COMMUNISM AND IS AN INDICATOR OF TOTALITARIAN STRUCTURES. THIS IS HOW STRICTLY TOTALITARIAN STATES BEHAVE..
Indeed. Fortunately or unfortunately, we Poles have a period of such subordination to Moscow in our history. We were still very lucky, because we were a country that was in the Eastern bloc – we, Czechs, Hungarians but many countries that are in the European Union today were not so lucky. Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians are perfectly aware of this – these were countries that were republics of the Soviet Union. Today Brussels wants to create the same republics. If this operation is successfully carried out, we will not be a state, but we will be a quasi-national entity, dependent on the decisions of Brussels, just as we were dependent on the decisions in Moscow. This is a very big danger. We, Poles, see this clearly because we have already practiced it once, and history is the best teacher.
IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT IS THE AWARENESS OF THIS STATE OF AFFAIRS BOTH AMONG JOURNALISTS AND THE GENERAL PUBLIC?
As for society in general, looking at how discussions take place on the Internet, but not only on the Internet, also in various social groups, in various associations, this awareness is increasing. However, when it comes to journalists, we must remember that this EU propaganda, for which the EU administration allocates huge funds, is also used to bribe journalists. Sometimes it happens in such a way, as in Poland, that those journalists who want to take part in this propaganda get better jobs, in better media, and can be promoted faster. European media, not only in Poland but throughout Europe, are divided into pro-EU media, which are simply a propaganda mouthpiece for the European Commission, and media that still have a hint of freedom and speak directly about what hurts them. Please note that much nicer cars are parked in front of the editorial offices of those media that are pro-EU than in front of the editorial offices of those media that call for reflection and consideration. Throughout the European Union.
Not only in Poland. It looks like this everywhere. The message is clear: if you take part in our propaganda, you will be better off, you will earn more money, you will be richer, you will enjoy greater prestige, because it is also a machine that drives itself. Journalists themselves invite themselves to various media. This is a pattern that is very clearly visible and this is the greatest danger we have to face in order to find the truth in this gigantic flood of propaganda.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE ROLE OF A JOURNALIST IN THE MODERN EUROPEAN UNION? WHAT MAIN TASKS OR CHALLENGES SHOULD IT MEET?
The role of a journalist, whether in the European Union or the United States, in Asia or in Africa, is always the same. A journalist is an intermediary- hence the name „media” – between information and the recipient: reader, viewer, listener. A journalist has one duty and one role – to show the truth. This is the role of journalists. If we, journalists, show the truth, if we give our recipients the opportunity to choose, we say: you know this point of view, now get to know this point of view, it will be enough for the European Union to shake its foundations – those positions that talk about creating a superstate. What is the role of a journalist? It depends on which journalist, because the role of a journalist paid by Brussels will be simple: conduct propaganda, encourage people to do what, according to European commissioners, is inevitable anyway. However, the role of a journalist who is a journalist by vocation is to tell the truth about everything that is happening in the European Union. Also about the threats posed by EU decisions, about the money spent on propaganda, on promoting values that are contrary to the European values by which we lived, which other countries also draw our attention to. For example, the current American administration and Canadians say that European values are not exactly what they are trying to instil in us now. We have our values and we must be faithful to them. Otherwise we will be left with nothing.
THE QUESTION IS WHETHER THERE WILL BE ROOM FOR HONEST JOURNALISM AT ALL IN THE EU SYSTEM?
This is a very important question, but I think there will be a place for it. Just like in the Polish People’s Republic (PRL), i.e. at a time when we were largely subordinated to Moscow, the second circulation media appeared, the so called tissue paper. This is how, for example, „Tygodnik Solidarność” started. Many newspapers started this way. A journalist will remain a journalist. We will recognize real journalists by the fact that they will tell us the truth and will be open to discussion about what they have written, what they have said, about what they are convinced of. And propagandists will remain propagandists. The European Union does not realize that in this second journalistic circuit it is very easy to stumble, fall, and put an end of the most gigantic project of seizing power.
DOES THIS MEAN THAT WE WILL HAVE TO CREATE AN UNDERGROUND PRESS?
I think so. Of course, this won’t happen this year, but I think that some editorial offices will operate, perhaps not so much underground, but on the verge of it. They will be clearly poorer because they will not receive subsidies from the European Union. They will not be able to count on financial support from one source or another, because from the perspective of European commissioners they will be illegitimate. These editorial offices will actually be the underground of this journalism, but they will be very popular. Please look at Radio Free Europe, which started as a counterweight to communist propaganda, and which is still doing great today and producing very good materials. People will look for the truth and they will be very good at it. Even if we have to tighten our belts – I’m speaking a bit on behalf of journalists now – and live at a slightly lower standard than our colleagues from the propaganda media, we will simply do it. Not for the first time, not for the last time.
THERE IS STILL THE ISSUE OF AI AND REPLACING JOURNALISTS IN THE SO CALLED NEWSROOMS. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. WHAT DANGERS DOES THIS
POSE, ESPECIALLY IF WE TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THAT AI IS TRAINED IN ACCORDANCE WITH LEFT-WING AXIOLOGY, AND ACCORDING TO EU LAW, EVERY RIGHT WING AND CHRISTIAN MESSAGE IS TREATED AS DISINFORMATION AND EXTREMISM
The big danger here is that we don’t actually have any organs or any idea I’m speaking here as humanity, this applies not only to Europe, but to Europe above all – we don’t have any controlsystems to check whether artificial intelligence is not lying to us or not skewed in one direction. What artificial intelligence scientists call bios, distortion, lack of objectivity, it works. Artificial intelligence hallucinates, i.e. sometimes writes untruths and provides false information. Sometimes it is crooked and supports one of two views because it has been trained to support it. This carries a great danger, because young people who are now entering adulthood – aged 15-16 – begin to distance themselves a little from the authorities who accompanied them in their earlier age – I mean primarily their parents and grandparents – they start to read and assume that what they have found is true, and this does not always have to be true. Such control will need to come over what artificial intelligence feeds us. Especially since, for now, artificial intelligence is a tool of only one side, a tool of the side that has power and money. I think that the artificial intelligence underground is still the melody of the future, if it appears at all. To tell you the truth, I think that artificial intelligence, which will sooner or later reach so far into our lives, will become a project shelved as a very dangerous project, threatening humanity.
PAWEŁ PIETKUN, JOURNALIST, DIRECTOR OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF DIPLOMACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS
SCHUMAN OPTICS MAGAZIN
MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BY INSTITUTE OF SCHUMAN’S THOUGHT PRESENTS IMPORTANT CURRENT TOPICS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF SCHUMAN’S THOUGHT ISSN: 2956-4484
VOL. 27| MAR 2025
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