Przemysław Czarnek

Przemysław Czarnek (born 11 June 1977 in Koło) is a Polish politician who was voivode of the Lubelskie Voivoideship from 2015–2019.[1] He was elected in 2019 as member of the IXth Sejm as a member of Law and Justice.[2] Czarnek is known for his opposition to LGBT rights,[3][4] women's rights,[5] and children's rights,[6] and filed a criminal case in opposition to recognition of Ukrainian victims of the Home Army in the 1944 Sahryń massacre.[7][8][6]

Przemysław Czarnek

On 19 October 2020, Czarnek was appointed Minister of Education and Science,[9] after a delay related to a SARS-CoV-2 infection.[10][11]

Childhood and education

Czarnek grew up in Goszczanów in the county of Sieradz in the Łódź Voivodeship of western Poland. His mother was a nurse and his father a truck driver. He moved to Lublin to live with an uncle at the age of 15.[5]

Czarnek graduated from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in 2001 in law, obtained his doctorate in constitutional law from KUL in 2006, and obtained his habilitation at KUL in 2015.[12]

Academic career

Czarnek was appointed as a university professor at KUL on 1 October 2019.[5] According to an analysis by OKO.press, at the time Czarnek's publications had no citations in Scopus, only three citations of his habilitation thesis in Google Scholar and most of his publications were in low-ranked publications made by or linked with the Catholic Church.[6]

Czarnek was awarded a medal for services rendered to the Maria Curie-Skłodowska University (UMCS) on 28 October 2019. During the award ceremony, activist Anna Dąbrowska held up a banner "Medal for the hater – shame". UMCS staff member Tomasz Kitliński said that the decision to award the medal had not been consulted with university staff and was a surprise, and that it took place in a context of decreased democracy within the university.[7] Kitliński also stated in an online post: "The governor of Lublin Region prides himself in offending Ukranians, Muslims, the LGBT community and women, for whom he sees no social role other than the reproduction of children". Czarnek sued for Kitliński for allegedly slandering a public official. Art professionals started an online petition to support Kitliński.[13]

Political career

Czarnek was appointed as the voivode of the Lublin Voivodeship in 2015. He was elected as a member of parliament in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election, resigning from his position as voivode.[5] According to Catholic University of Lublin professor of theology Alfred Wierzbicki, Czarnek's politics come "from the extreme right of the National Radical Camp".[14]

Minister of Science and Education

In early October 2020, Czarnek was announced as the likely new minister of education and science (which was earlier divided into the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, MNISW, and the Ministry of National Education, MEN), shortly before he tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. His nomination was delayed after his SARS-CoV-2 positive status was announced.[10][15] Czarnek was formally appointed Minister of Science and Education on 19 October 2020.[9]

The heads of 79 universities in Poland released a joint statement criticizing Czarnek's proposed reforms, arguing that they infringed on the autonomy of the universities and obstructed academic freedom, while allowing pseudoscientific views to be taught in universities.[16]

Positions on human rights

Czarnek has made several public statements in relation to human rights. Prior to the 2018 Equality March in Lublin in favour of LGBT rights and the rights of other minorities including the disabled, refugees, ethnic minorities and religious minorities, Czarnek described the march as promoting "perversion, deviance and denaturing" and called for the march to be forbidden by the authorities.[3]

LGBT rights

Czarnek is known for repeatedly making homophobic statements.[3] He described the 2018 Lublin Equality March as "promoting pedophilia", and said that it should be banned, in contrast to the right of freedom of assembly.[17] Polish Ombudsman Adam Bodnar stated that this can be considered hate speech against participants in the march.[17] Bartosz Staszewski, one of the organisers of the march, sued Czarnek, demanding that Czarnek publicly apologise.[18] The court ruled that he had to apologize, but then he repeated the statement.[19]

During the 2020 Polish presidential election campaign Czarnek stated in a live television broadcast that "[we] should stop listening to this nonsense about human rights, or any equality. These people [LGBT] are not equal to normal people".[4][20][21][22] According to The Guardian, this was "the most homophobic outburst so far" from a member of the ruling party.[22]

On 3 August 2020, Czarnek stated that it was certain that "LGBT ideology was derived from neomarxism and came from the same roots as German Hitlerian national socialism."[6]

Women's rights

Czarnek stated in relation to women's rights that "Career first, maybe later a child, leads to tragic consequences. If the first child is not born [when the mother is aged] 20–25 years, only at the age of 30, how many children can [the mother] bear? Those are the consequences of telling a woman that she doesn't have to do what she was destined to do by the Lord God."[5]

Children's rights

One of Czarnek's research themes is that violence against children is allowed by the Polish constitution, as the violence is a method of raising children.[6]

Artistic freedom

In relation to artistic freedom, Czarnek wrote in a publication that "There is also a lack of justification for privileging artistic freedom and freedom of speech at the cost of religious freedom and the associated right to protection of religious sentiment".[6]

Ukrainian victims of war crimes by Poles

In July 2018, a commemoration of the Sahryń massacre, in which hundreds of Ukrainian civilians were killed by the Polish Home Army on 10 March 1944, was held. Czarnek described the commemoration as a "great provocation".[7][8] He officially informed the police that the commemoration was, according to him, a crime by the president of the Lublin Ukrainians' Association under the Act on the Institute of National Remembrance.[6]

Jewish victims of war crimes by Poles

In 2019, Czarnek opposed a memorial by Polish artist Dorota Nieznalska that commemorated Jews who were killed by Poles during and after the Holocaust. He called the memorial a "scandal" and "anti-Polish", and said that it should be removed.[13][23] Tomasz Kitliński, who commissioned the memorial, refused to comply.[13]

References
  1. Wschodni, Dziennik. "Oficjalnie: Nowy wojewoda lubelski - dr hab. Przemysław Czarnek z KUL". Dziennik Wschodni (in Polish). Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  2. "Wybory do Sejmu i Senatu Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 2019 r." wybory.gov.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 30 November 2019.
  3. Pospichil, Alina (2018-09-29). "Wojewoda lubelski o Marszu Równości: to zboczenia, dewiacje i wynaturzenia. Organizatorzy: podejmiemy kroki prawne" [The voivode of Lublin on the Equality March: it's a perversion, deviance and denaturing. Organisers: we will take legal action]. Gazeta Wyborcza (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  4. "Przemysław Czarnek o LGBT: oni nie są równi normalnym ludziom". Onet Wiadomości (in Polish). 14 June 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  5. Piekarczyk, Dariusz (2020-10-05). "Przyszły minister edukacji i nauki pochodzi z Goszczanowa" [The future minister for education and science is from Goszczanów]. Sieradz naszemiasto (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  6. Leszczyński, Adam (2020-09-11). "Dowodził, że bicie dzieci jest zgodne z konstytucją. Za co poseł Czarnek został profesorem?" [He proved that beating children is constitutionally allowed. Is that why Czarnek became a professor?]. OKO.press (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  7. Ambroziak, Anton (2019-10-23). "Czarnek – poseł elekt, homofob i seksista – z medalem UMCS. Rektor: Nie obchodzą mnie jego poglądy" [Czarnek – elected as a member of parliament, homophobe and sexist – with a medal from UMCS. Rector: His points of views are irrelevant]. OKO.press (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  8. "Wywiad wojewody Czarnka – przekroczono czerwoną linię" [Interview with the voivode Czarnek – a red line was crossed]. nasze-słowo (in Polish). 2018-07-23. Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  9. Leszczyński, Adam (2020-10-19). "Tym razem to nie minister Czarnek mówił rzeczy dziwne i nieprawdziwe. Wyręczył go prezydent Duda" [This time it wasn't minister Czarnek who said strange and false things. President Duda appointed him.]. OKO.press (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-19. Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  10. "Przemysław Czarnek zakażony koronawirusem" [Przemysław Czarnek infected by the coronavirus]. Tok FM (in Polish). 2020-10-05. Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  11. "'Ci ludzie nie są równi ludziom normalnym'. Jaki był kontekst tych słów?" ['Those people are not equal to normal people'. What was the context of these words?]. OKO.press (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  12. "dr hab. Przemysław Czarnek". Nauka Polska (in Polish). 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  13. Fishman/Contr, Getty/Chuck (12 December 2019). "Polish Politician Dissed Holocaust Commemoration — Then Sued The Curator Who Commissioned It". The Forward. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  14. ""Obawiam się najgorszego typu indoktrynacji". Jakie będą rządy Przemysława Czarnka w ministerstwie edukacji i nauki?". Newsweek.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  15. "New Polish education minister tests positive for coronavirus". ABC News. Associated Press. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
  16. "79 rektorów polskich uczelni miażdży "pakiet wolnościowy" ministra Czarnka". OKO.press. Archived from the original on 2021-01-13. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  17. "Homofobia wojewody lubelskiego to przejaw mowy nienawiści - ostrzega RPO". oko.press. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  18. Białach, Sebastian (2018-10-02). "Organizator Marszu Równości pozwał wojewodę i radnego PiS. Domaga się przeprosin m.in. za słowa o 'promowaniu pedofilii'" [The organiser of the Equality March sued the voivode and PiS councillor. He demands an apology, in particular for the term 'promotion of paedophilia']. Onet.pl (in Polish). Archived from the original on 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  19. "Under fire over LGBT rights, Polish leader blames activist". AP NEWS. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
  20. "Bulwersujące słowa posła Czarnka o LGBT: 'Ci ludzie nie są równi ludziom normalnym'". TOK FM (in Polish).
  21. "Komentarze po słowach Czarnka o LGBT. "Odczłowieczenie, chamstwo, brak szacunku"". Gazeta.pl (in Polish). Retrieved 14 June 2020.
  22. Walker, Shaun (19 June 2020). Written at Warsaw. "Polish president scales down homophobic rhetoric as election nears". The Guardian. London.
  23. "Polish politician who called Holocaust memorial a 'scandal' appointed education minister". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 29 October 2020.
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