Warsaw, Poland – Under the auspices of cracking down on so-called “hate rhetoric,” Poland’s new liberal-left government is seeking restrictions on free speech. The move has raised concern with the country’s traditional right wing, with members of the Konfederacja (Confederation) party voicing a need to safeguard public discourse.

According to a new report by Remix, Poland’s Confederation party has denounced a plan by the ruling progressive coalition to penalize what it calls “hate speech.” While the government says their proposed restrictions seek to defend immigrants, religious minorities, and homosexuals, Confederation asserts that limiting dissent in this manner would only serve to “destroy free speech” amongst Poles.

Poland’s current left-wing coalition took control of parliament in October after it ousted the conservative Law and Justice Party (PiS) after eight years of power.

MP Karina Bosak defiantly voiced the party’s concerns, stating that regulations will only curb free expression and debate in Poland and ultimately criminalize conservative and religious viewpoints.

“The ruling coalition, as part of its coalition agreement, has announced that they want to penalize so-called hate speech,” said Confederation MP Karina Bosak. “The current left-wing Deputy Minister of Justice Krzysztof Śmiszek, from the New Left, has stated that his department is currently working on introducing these regulations, which limit freedom of speech and public debate in Poland.”

“We, as the Confederation, strongly oppose this. The direct consequence of criminalizing certain words will, in fact, be the criminalization of conservative, religious, Christian views,” she continued.

Bosak further stressed the need for free and open public debate, rejecting the notion of any topics being off-limits: “(Confederation) does not want there to be any sacred cows in Poland, that there are social groups whose ideas cannot be criticized at all in a healthy, free public debate.”

"We will defend Poles against such regulations and proposals that threaten freedom of speech and their values," she declared.

Party member Dobromir Sośnierz echoed Bosak's sentiments. He argued that what is deemed hate speech by the left could simply refer to speech disliked by the ruling coalition and Minister Śmiszek, rather than speech expressing a genuine hatred towards someone.

“This government is starting not by expanding our freedoms but by limiting them again, which will also lead to clogging up the courts,” Sośnierz said.

Deputy Minister Śmiszek—an open homosexual—recently drew criticism for legislative changes that would find those who practice "hate speech" against homosexuals to be criminally liable. In a public statement, the far-left lawmaker expressed a desire to ban so-called "homophobic" and "discriminatory" statements in the public sphere.

“The time has come to ban disgusting, homophobic, discriminatory statements in the public sphere,” he said.

Minister Śmiszek's apparent willingness to subvert the largely Christian and conservative inclinations of the Polish people has surfaced in recent years. In May of 2023, the gay MP introduced legislation that would remove the need for parental consent to perform sex change operations on minors.

In October, Śmiszek made headlines for a symbolic "marriage" to Robert Biedroń, leader of the Spring party and his partner of 23 years. The two men reportedly engaged in the political stunt to outrageously call for so-called "marriage equality" in Poland, a country that in 2023, was ranked as "one of the worst" places to live for European homosexuals.

“There were nerves and emotions, but there was also anger that in 2023, in the middle of Europe, two people who love each other are not recognised by their country," said Śmiszek of his marriage ceremony. "...That instead of respect and dignity, hundreds of thousands of people in Poland receive contempt.”

The latest assault against free expression in Poland comes amid a series of free-speech-related outrages erupting across the Western world. In the United Kingdom, restrictive, heavy-handed hate speech legislation was used to convict multiple pro-White, nationalist activists, including Sam Melia of Patriotic Alternative. According to prosecutors, Melia is alleged to have "stirred racial hatred" for a series of stickers that merely raised awareness of the consequences of unchecked immigration into the UK.

In the United States, a wave of anti-Zionist sentiment inside college campuses triggered calls for restricting freedom of speech in America. The demands—stemming from college professors and others seeking to protect American Jews from co-called "antisemitism"—come amid an increasingly bloody, Israel-imposed war on Gaza, which has levied accusations of genocide and resulted in over 22,000 Palestinians dead.

Have a story? Please forward any tips or leads to [email protected]