Zbigniew “Zibby” Chrzanowski | Courier Times

Freedom of speech, assembly, and press are core tenants of democracy, but as the saying goes, democracy dies in the dark. On Aug. 11, in the late evening and in the middle of the summer holiday, Poland’s ruling government led by the Law and Justice Party (called the “PiS Party”), blew out one more candle that lights freedom’s path. In Poland’s lower house of parliament (the “Sejm”) the PiS Party passed a law to reduce the ability of free and independent media to operate if its ownership is 49% or more from a non-European source. The bill is called “lex TVN,” and it negatively affects America’s interests.

 

We take for granted that television news is pumped into our homes from multiple stations. Democracy is loud and messy, and the free and independent press holds our leaders, and ourselves, accountable. This is a necessary part of a healthy democratic society. It was not too long ago that Poland, my home country, was under Soviet communist rule, and our freedoms to speak out and report the truth made us political targets. And, today, according to Freedom House, “Freedom of expression has come under sustained attack, through both assaults on the press and encroachments on the speech rights of ordinary citizens. Freedom in the World data show freedom of expression declining each year over the last 13 years.”

 

Why is the PiS Party trying to change the media laws, to get rid of foreign-owned media? Because PiS is losing political power. First, it attacked the courts, then reproductive rights, then our LGBTQ friends, and now the media. This all matters to the United States’ relationship with Poland, because the large American, widely respected company, Discovery Inc. owns TVN. TVN24 is the most widely watched, and widely respected, TV station in Poland; over 75% of Poles believe in a free and independent media. PiS does not care. It is overstepping its political mandate and angering the American business community in the process. Poland has become a nationalist country, but we need to continue to stand up and ensure it does not become an autocracy.

 

Freedom needs to be cared for. I arrived in the United States from Poland in 1989, when communism fell and democracy in Poland was re-born. The freedom of speech and expression that existed in the USA was fascinating to me. I had a dream that a similar democracy could exist in Poland.

 

Upon my return to Poland, from the U.S., I served in the Polish Sejm for two terms in the late ’90s, about a decade after the Soviets left Poland. We built and strengthened our country — the third Republic of Poland. I fought for the establishment of democratic norms, and I personally know the people in the ruling party of Poland who are trying to destroy it now. They follow the footsteps of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. They will not stop until they get what they want — to remain in power. Americans should care because Poland has been that solid friend and ally to America for over 250 years. We cannot have that alliance threatened.

 

Poland has become a strong marketplace for ideas, and yes, business investment. The U.S. is the second largest source of foreign direct investment today into Poland. In fact, Discovery is the third largest source of U.S. investment into Poland, supporting thousands of jobs. The economic benefits of the U.S.-Poland relationship is indisputable. Yearly trade in goods between the U.S. and Poland is over $15B, and in services is $7.2B (where Poland benefits with a $2.6 billion trade surplus). More than 290,000 jobs in Poland come from U.S. companies and direct investment. The robust economic partnership is evident — 4.4% of Polish GDP comes from the bilateral economic relationship with the U.S. All of this is under threat.

 

If this law is not stopped, TVN will become a political tool of the PiS Party, and free and independent media will die in Poland.

 

I know that many of my former colleagues currently in the Sejm and in the PiS Party do not agree with receding democratic norms in Poland. This “lex TVN” bill puts everything Poland has worked for at risk.

 

Please visit www.ProtectUSPolandFuture.com today and call on Sejm members to halt the “lex TVN” law, and be vocal. We Poles have a republic, but only if we can keep it.

 

Zbigniew “Zibby” Chrzanowski is a former member of Polish Parliament, and a resident of Newtown Borough.

Source: Courier Times Opinion