Warsaw, Poland – A raised fist holding a rosary in a gesture of resistance has become the symbol of this year’s Independence March – an annual nationalist event in Warsaw to celebrate Polish independence.
Participants on Monday are marching under the slogan: “Take care of the whole nation” – an excerpt from a Polish Catholic song calling on the Virgin Mary to protect the country.
The event is expected to begin at 2pm local time (13:00GMT), with the march kicking off an hour later.
In past years, the march has drawn thousands of nationalists from Poland and abroad and featured racist and anti-immigrant chants.
Nationalists who attended the march were focused on external “threats”, such as migrants and refugees, Islam, and Jews, as well as the internal “enemies”- liberal media, “communists” and “cultural Marxists”.WATCH00:00
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This year’s main threat, as perceived by hardliners, comes from those aiming to destroy a “Catholic Polish” identity and traditional family values – namely the LGBT community and activists promoting sexual education.
“The Independence March is a sad event, as it shows that Poland has a huge problem with national identity, especially the youth, which has been looking for answers in ethnonationalism,” said Rafal Pankowski, sociologist and political scientist at Collegium Civitas, and the head of the anti-racist Never Again Association.
“This event has also ceased to be only a day for Polish nationalism. It’s become a hub for far-right groups from around the world.”
In 2018, the centenary of Poland’s independence, about 200,000 participated in the event, which was attended by President Andrzej Duda.
“The participation of the president in the march last year was symbolic, as it was an extreme form of legitimisation of the movement. And it was a great mistake. The president showed that radical nationalists are legitimate hosts of a national celebration.
“This is one of the elements which contributed to what happened in the election – a legitimisation of radical groups, which for years were at the fringes of politics,” Pankowski said, referring to recent gains by the far right.
Global News 
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