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Marta Danon

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A woman wears a mask in Krakow earlier this month
GAZETA WYBORCZA

Choking In Pollution, Poland Says Coal Is Not A Problem

-Analysis-

WARSAW — For the Polish government, coal is nothing to worry about.

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Jakub and Dawid with their marriage certificate
GAZETA WYBORCZA

Poland To Portugal, Homophobia Wave Helps Gay Couple To Wed

WARSAW — Jakub Kwiecins and Dawid had been together for nearly seven years, living rather anonymous lives as a couple in Warsaw until their 15 minutes of Internet fame arrived last July after posting their own version of Roxette's hit ""Some Other Summer"".

And while the exuberant clip prompted articles in the international LGBTQ media, in their native Poland, it generated mainly hate. "Maybe I was being naive, but we did not expect that at all," says Kwiecins, who prefers to just use his first name. "The most painful is that we live among such people. I think that we both became less patriotic."

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Polish flag at a Nov. 11 march in Warsaw
GAZETA WYBORCZA

Kebab Violence And Blatant Racism In Poland

-Analysis-

WARSAW — In Poland, hatred is clearly fueling violence. But after six racist attacks were registered in a four-day period, this was the reaction from the country's Interior Minister: ""There is no racism in Poland.""

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December in Bialystok
GAZETA WYBORCZA

Bialystok Story, If Swastikas Can Silence Esperanto

BIALYSTOK — There are plenty of cities in Poland that have something to hide. Bialystok is one of them. That's where 80,000 Jews disappeared. Twice. The first time was during World War II; the second time, right after the War, when residents desecrated the Jewish cemetery and used it in the winter for riding their sleds in the snow.

When there is something to hide, it creates the obsession to conceal the trails that might lead to the secret — what nowadays is called taking care of one's public image. Bialystok has spent millions on billboards promoting multiculturalism and on advertisements saying the city is particularly clean and quiet. One day, when swastikas showed up near the billboards, they were covered up and cleaned off with the money from the advertising fund. The municipal authorities would all claim in unison that the swastikas were an attack on the city's image.

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Winter in the Donbass region
Ukraine

In War-Torn Donbass, Ukrainians Of Polish Origin Beg Warsaw For Help

WARSAW — More than 60 Ukrainians of Polish descent in the breakaway region of Donbass have asked Poland if they could be evacuated there, a request Warsaw has refused. Instead, it offered a modest aid package.

"Many of us are elderly people. There are single mothers too. It's not possible to live here any more. There is no work. The streets are occupied by armed bands. We are all of Polish descent and it's enough for our neighbors to look at us with hostility," says Jerzy Prykolota, who lives with his wife, 18-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, in Luhansk, which along with Donetsk, makes up the region of Donbass.

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The so-called Black (Czarny) protesters on Oct. 24 get ready to march.
GAZETA WYBORCZA

Poland's Abortion Battle, Why Free Women Are Done With Weak Men

Only when an abortion is legal, can we begin to speak of moral decisions and love. But men, we are told, are scared and frustrated by these protests. One Polish woman's frank words for men.

-OpEd-

WARSAW — A recent interview with Polish psychologist Pawel Drozdziak set off a renewed round of polemics following the massive nationwide protests this month against government proposals for strict bans on abortions in Poland.

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