Breaking the Silence

Using popular culture to engage young people in human rights reporting

by Rafa Pankwski
edited by Liam Mahony

A Tactical Notebook published by

the New Tactics Project
of the Center for Victims of Torture
Published by
The Center for Victims of Torture
New Tactics in Human Rights Project
717 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA
www.cvt.org, www.newtactics.org

Notebook Series Editor

Liam Mahony

Layout and Copyediting

Tricia Cornell
Support for the Tactical Notebook Series
The Tactical Notebook series was produced with the support of the following funders: the United States
Institute of Peace, the National Philanthropic Trust, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, the United States Department of State, the Sigrid Rausing Trust (formerly known as the Ruben
and Elisabeth Rausing Trust), the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and a foundation and an
individual donor who wish to remain anonymous.
Additionally, the King Baudouin Foundation provided grants to our partner the ICAR in Romania to support
the regional training workshop held there and the production of tactical notebooks by workshop
participants.

Disclaimer
The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect those of the New Tactics in Human Rights
Project. The project does not advocate specific tactics or policies.

2004 Center for Victims of Torture

This publication may be freely reproduced in print and in electronic form as long
as this copyright notice appears on all copies.
 4 Author biography

5Letter from the New Tactics project manager

6 Editors Preface

7 Breaking the Silence

8Mobilizing Youth Culture

10 Building the Network

12 Investigating the Murder of Piotr Wozniak

13 Using the Correspondents Reports

16 Applying the Tactics Elsewhere

The Center for Victims of Torture

New Tactics in Human Rights Project
717 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA
www.cvt.org, www.newtactics.org
 Rafa Pankwski
Rafa Pankwski has served as secretary of the Never
Again Association (Nigdy Wicej) and deputy editor of
Nigdy Wicej magazine since 1996. His book Neo-Fas-
cism in Western Europe was published by the Polish Acad-
emy of Sciences in Warsaw in 1998.

Born in 1976 and a native of Warsaw, Pankwski has

studied at Eton College and Oxford University. He earned
his masters degree from the Institute of Political Science
at Warsaw University in 1998 and is currently a Ph.D.
candidate at the Institute of Applied Social Sciences at
Warsaw University. His thesis focuses on racism in popu-
lar culture.

Contact Information
Stowarzyszenie NIGDY WICEJ Nigdy Wicej
PO Box 6 Nigdy Wicej (Never Again) is an anti-racist, anti-fascist
03-700 Warszawa 4 organization that monitors and documents racist and fas-
Poland cist activities and conducts educational campaigns cen-
[email protected] tered on music and sports. The organization publishes
http://free.ngo.pl/nw the magazine Nigdy Wicej.
September 2004

Dear Friend,

Welcome to the New Tactics in Human Rights Tactical Notebook Series. In each notebook a human
rights practitioner describes an innovative tactic that was used successfully in advancing human
rights. The authors are part of the broad and diverse human rights movement, including
nongovernment and government perspectives, educators, law enforcement personnel, truth and
reconciliation processes, womens rights and mental health advocates. They have both adapted and
pioneered tactics that have contributed to human rights in their home countries. In addition, they
have used tactics that, when adapted, can be applied in other countries and other situations to
address a variety of issues.

Each notebook contains detailed information on how the author and his or her organization achieved
what they did. We want to inspire other human rights practitioners to think tactically and to
broaden the realm of tactics considered to effectively advance human rights.

IThis notebook features several tactics used by a volunteer organization, Nigdy Wicej (Never Again),
in Poland. Like many organizations, Nigdy Wicej uses a number of tactics to carry out its work. Two
of the tactics explained in this notebook are the use of cultural resources in the community to recruit
activists and the organization of activists into an information-gathering network. The experience
highlighted here demonstrates how these tactics have been used to engage and involve young people,
a segment of the population whose attention can be challenging to capture and even more difficult to
hold onto. The author also illustrates how different tactics are combined to reinforce and strengthen
each other. While Nigdy Wicej used these tactics to fight racism and neo-fascism, one can imagine
other ways they might be applied to broaden involvement in human rights, especially among youth.

The entire series of Tactical Notebooks is available online at www.newtactics.org. Additional

notebooks are already available and others will continue to be added over time. On our web site you
will also find other tools, including a searchable database of tactics, a discussion forum for human
rights practitioners and information about our workshops and symposium. To subscribe to the New
Tactics newsletter, please send an e-mail to [email protected].

The New Tactics in Human Rights Project is an international initiative led by a diverse group of
organizations and practitioners from around the world. The project is coordinated by the Center for
Victims of Torture and grew out of our experiences as a creator of new tactics and as a treatment
center that also advocates for the protection of human rights from a unique position one of healing
and reclaiming civic leadership.

We hope that you will find these notebooks informational and thought-provoking.

Sincerely,

Kate Kelsch
New Tactics Project Manager
 Poland remains a society in which the issues of racism, xenophobia, anti-semitism and intolerance are still
relatively unacknowledged. The general attitude of society seems rather closed towards difference, and
feelings of anti-semitism remain pervasive. There appears to be little concrete knowledge or monitoring of
the extent and manifestations of racism and discrimination within society, which in turn means that specific
measures to combat these phenomena are often lacking in various fields. [M]any cases of racist attacks
and violence may not be considered as such by the authorities.
From a June 2000 report by the European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), a Council of
Europe body.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been intro-

duced to the concepts of human rights and anti-rac-
ism at Never Agains concerts. Thousands have signed
up to join the organization. Of these, more than 150
have been trained to serve as volunteer correspon-
dents, each producing monthly reports. The result is
the most exhaustive source of information on hate
crimes and racism in Poland. The publication serves
not only for general education, it has also provided
Editors Preface important investigative reporting that has prompted
Never Again (Nigdy Wiecej) is an anti-racist network coverage of these issues in the mainstream Polish
and publication in Poland. More importantly, it is part media. This strategic combination of cultural recruit-
of a growing movement against racism in Europe. ment, maintenance of a broad volunteer network,
RafaB Pankowski describes here several tactics used careful documentation and public education is Never
by Never Again to break silence around racism and Agains unique contribution to our tactical notebook
build a human rights culture among the youth popula- series.
tion in Poland. The tactics described in this notebook
include how Never Again uses cultural events such as This notebook provides an overview of the creation
concerts and football games to recruit young people and functions of Never Agains volunteer correspon-
to this movement. Through this recruitment, they have dents network. It includes some basic background in-
organized an extensive network of volunteer corre- formation, describes how cultural mobilization is used
spondents throughout Poland to report on and chal- as a recruiting method, discusses the way the net-
lenge the tolerance of extreme-right and racist groups work functions, both in the field of gathering and of
and ideas in their society. These correspondents are distributing information, and explains difficulties in-
taught to carefully and regularly report any and all volved in sustaining a network on a voluntary basis.
incidents of racism and xenophobia in their districts. Finally, some attention is given to possible applications
Never Agains organizers then process and synthesize of Never Agains experience in human rights struggles
this information, publishing it in a magazine that is in other countries.
distributed to thousands of readers, including many
mainstream journalists throughout Poland and Europe. Liam Mahony, notebook series editor

6
Breaking the Silence lenge the tolerance of extreme-right groups and ideas
There are no official statistics on hate crimes in Po- in society.
land. The police do not keep records on ideologically
motivated crimes and thus the issue of racist extrem- Being a relatively small organization, with very mod-
ism is generally kept off the agenda and away from est financial means at our disposal, we could not base
the eyes of the public. One may suspect that even if our tactic on expensive investigating operations, mass
the state collected such statistics it would be limited advertising or costly legal battles. What we could count
to the most obvious cases of racial (i.e. white vs. on, however, was the very real concern about the
black) violence and it would not include the extreme- spread of violence shared by many people all over
right attacks on people who do not necessarily belong Poland and their willingness to help us raise aware-
to ethnic minorities but are considered anti-national ness of this very real social problem.
by the perpetrators. It is important to remember that
in Poland the majority of the victims of extremist vio- THE RISE OF THE EXTREME RIGHT AND THE
lence do not belong to ethnic minorities. DENIAL OF RACISM
After 1989, Poland along with other post-communist
Recognizing a problem is a pre-condition for solving it. countries throughout the region underwent major
This is why Never Again has defined as its main goal political, economic and cultural changes resulting from
breaking the silence surrounding the issue of extreme- the collapse of the authoritarian regime and a widely
right violence. shared determination to join the Western bloc. The
political breakthrough enabled various minority
The voices of the targeted groups are weak and rarely groups to preserve and develop their cultural heri-
heard in public debates. Ethnic minorities constitute tage in a democratic environment. It also unleashed
only about two percent of the population and they re-emerging extreme-right organizations promoting
are hardly visible in the media and in the corridors of racist and chauvinistic ideologies.
power. Other victimized groups are socially
marginalized as well: they belong to religious minori- Expectations for a democratic renewal were high and,
ties (often labeled sects, e.g. Hare Krishnas), or dis- undoubtedly, the country has changed for the better
sident youth subcultures (e.g. punks) with little or no in many ways since 1989. At the same time, the 1990s
access to channels of mass communication. The role witnessed a steady erosion of the moral fundaments
of Never Again is therefore to give a voice to the of Polish democracy, a growing cynicism and a brutal-
voiceless. ization of the language of social and political life. The
new democratic culture has often proved superficial.
Never Again believes that gathering and publishing The breakdown of solidarity and trust among social
reliable information that demonstrates the persever- groups has been accompanied by a rising unemploy-
ance and the relatively large scale of extreme-right ment rate (20 percent of the work force in the spring
activities (including violence) has to be the backbone of 2002). This context provided fertile ground for right-
of all serious anti-fascist initiatives aiming to contrib- wing extremism. The rise of the far-right was enabled
ute to social change. It is necessary to use concrete as a result of the weakening of state social and politi-
cases of racist and fascist violence in order to chal- cal control over society, combined with the failure of
the new system to replace this con-
trol with democratic ways of deal-
ing with extremism.

Since the late 1980s racist political

groupings have been growing
slowly but visibly. The extreme right
advocates a mono-ethnic state
based on a single national culture
and it questions the basic values of
democracy. Over the past decade it
has traveled from the margins of
politics to the Sejm (Polands parlia-
ment). Since October 2001 and for
the first time in Polish post-war his-
tory the extreme right has had its
own independent parliamentary
representation with the League of
Polish Families (Liga Polskich Rodzin,
LPR), which won seven percent of
the vote and 40 seats (out of 460)
Polish and American neo-Nazis. Note the Polish national emblem on the top left.

Breaking the Silence 7

 in the Sejm and One reason for this situation is the determination of
counts as one of the the authorities to maintain Polands self-image as a
several important po- tolerant democratic country soon to be accepted in
litical forces in the the European Union. The government vigorously re-
country. jected the report by ECRI and the official response
included the following argument:
Meanwhile, during Investigations generally indicate the hooligan nature
the 1990s the far of such offenses. ... A breeding ground for misdemean-
right extended its ors or felonies of the above-mentioned type are con-
political-cultural base flicts with local communities or incidental acts of a
through numerous hooligan nature which may affect Polish citizens or
publications, discus- white aliens to the same degree. 1
sion clubs and social
events. A watershed Unfortunately, many in the Polish media also tend to
moment was the cre- follow the official line of denying racism, due either to
ation of a Catholic- apathy and a lack of a critical approach to social issues
nationalist radio or, at times, to overt nationalist sympathies.
station under the
name Radio Maryja, Mobilizing Youth Culture
Poland for the Polish, neo-fascist graffiti in which has hundreds The mobilization of cultural resources is the key com-
Sosnowiec. of thousands of lis- ponent to Never Agains success in building its volun-
teners daily. It fre- tary network of correspondents. By anchoring our
quently allows members of extremist organizations activity in the field of youth culture, we have been
to broadcast their political message and thus provides able to recruit and sustain popular involvement. Popu-
an important public space to xenophobic (and, espe- lar culture is an important tool in building a social move-
cially, anti-semitic) ideas. ment and it has played a major role in the construction
of the Never Again correspondents network. Authen-
The influence of the extreme right among Polish youth tic and noncommercial youth culture forms the basis
stems largely from, and is reflected in, the develop- for the involvement of many Never Again members
ment of the fascist skinhead subculture and its ac- and sympathizers. Two campaigns in particular have
companying racist music scene as well as the closely made an impact on our ability to mobilize a youth
related soccer hooligan scene. The first organized at- constituency: Music Against Racism and Lets Kick Rac-
tempt to use the skinheads for political aims came in ism Out of the Stadiums. Both these campaigns stress
the late 1980s from National Rebirth of Poland the need for young people to involve themselves ac-
(Narodowe Odrodzenie Polski, NOP). Festivals have tively in the struggle against racism. The message of
been organized and records produced and distributed Never Again to young people is not just Dont be
without difficulty. Many neo-nazi cultural events have racist, but also Get involved!
taken place in state-owned cultural centers.
MUSIC AGAINST RACISM
In general the attitude of the authorities to racist ex- The Music Against Racism campaign in Poland was in-
tremism has been conspicuously tolerant, despite a spired by the British Rock Against Racism movement
considerable wave of violence committed by neo-nazi initiated by Tom Robinson in the late 1970s. As part of
skinheads and encouraged by extremist political the Polish campaign, several compilation CDs have
groups. None of the racist organizations were banned been released in cooperation with independent music
despite existing legal provisions, such as Article 13 of labels, featuring well-known Polish and foreign rock
the new constitution enacted in 1997 which specifi- bands, and Music Against Racism concerts have been
cally forbids racist activities. The introduction of Ar- organized. One such event, the environmentalist and
ticle 13, similar to constitutional provisions in other anti-racist Przystanek Woodstock Festival in August
European countries, was a result of a joint campaign 2000 organized by the charity Wielka Orkiestra
by Never Again and the Polish Union of Jewish Stu-
dents. The Polish anti-fascist youth movement origi-
nated in the early 1990s in response to neo-fascist My first contact with Never Again was because of the Music
violence. Never Again started as an informal group in Against Racism campaign. I had heard about other anti-racist
1992 and registered as an association in 1996 as the initiatives before, but it was the Music Against Racism CD
only national anti-fascist organization. that sparked my active engagement in this field. I read the CD
cover, took a pen, wrote a letter to the address given there and
got in touch with Marcin [the network coordinator]. Thats
how it all started. Arkadiusz Zacheja, a long-time Never
1
The official reaction of the Polish government to the European Again correspondent
Commission Against Racism and Intolerance (Council of Europe)
report on Poland adopted December 1999.

8
Swiatecznej Pomocy, gathered a massive crowd of cludes a list of victims of racist murders committed in
250,000 young people who responded enthusiastically Poland in recent years, while Support, Help, Join Us
to the anti-racist message. Many musicians made anti- was the message repeated on all Music Against Rac-
fascist statements from stage and the Never Again ism compilations. The idea was to inspire listeners to
information booth was busy throughout the three- become active agents of social change rather than
day festival. The event was repeated successfully in passive consumers of the CDs and concerts.
August 2002 with the strong presence of Never Again
and its proactive anti-racist campaigning. More than 100 concerts were held under the banner
of Music Against Racism all over Poland and many of
In addition, numerous artists have put the Music the organizers were members of Never Agains infor-
Against Racism campaign logo on the sleeves of their mation network. At numerous other concerts (of all
recording. Never Agains success in convincing many musical styles!) anti-racist information desks were set
respected musicians to take a stand against racism up by activists encouraging young people to reflect on
was possible thanks to a wide range of personal con- the issue of racism and intolerance.
tacts in the music scene, especially those of the
associations chairman, Marcin Kornak. The musicians In 1998 the Music Against Racism campaign was voted
appeared very responsive to the campaign. It is diffi- one of three major music events of the year by read-
cult for me to talk about specific reasons for my in- ers of Brum, a popular music monthly. The campaign
volvement in this campaign, because resistance against was supposed to end in 2001, but it has been contin-
racism for me is as obvious and natural as blood in the ued spontaneously by people all over the country.
veins, said Krzysztof Grabaz Grabowski, the singer
of the Polish rock legend Pidzama Porno. Grabowski LETS KICK RACISM OUT OF THE STADIUM
wrote a special song called Antifa, which has be- Never Agains other, more recent major campaign
come the anthem of the campaign. concentrates on sports, soccer in particular. It differs
from the music campaign in that rather than prima-
The campaign uses data gathered by the correspon- rily serving as a recruitment possibility, it is often more
dents network to illustrate the seriousness of the prob- of a defensive attempt to combat the evidentracism
lem of racism and includes a call to action for all in an influential cultural scene.
members of its audience. The Jedna rasa ludzka rasa
(One Race Human Race) compilation CD cover in- The sports campaign is considerably more difficult
because soccer stadiums until now have been almost
completely dominated by a xenophobic subculture.
Lets Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums is the only anti-
racist campaign in Poland aimed at soccer fans, but it
is inspired by the success of similar campaigns in En-
gland, Germany, Italy and Austria. We publish Stadion,
an anti-racist magazine for soccer fans, and usually
run a sports column in the Never Again magazine it-
self. In April 2002, in the run-up to the World Cup, in
cooperation with the Football Against Racism in Eu-
rope (FARE) network we released the CD Lets Kick

Lets Kick Racism Out of the Stadium poster featuring Polish soccer player Emmanual Olilsadebe (left). Kids displaying the poster during
an international soccer match (right).

Breaking the Silence 9

 Racism Out of the Stadiums and printed a poster activities to become a regular correspondent. It is only
featuring Emmanuel Olisadebe, Polands first black natural that young peoples interests are not always
international player, also a supporter of our campaign. stable. All those who make their first contact by phone,
Several amateur soccer tournaments have been or- e-mail or in person are asked to write a letter with
ganized as part of the campaign, most notably during their personal details. This is the first filter, since many
the Przystanek Woodstock Festival. In addition, Never people do not do even that much. In return they re-
Again gives support to local anti-racist groups of soc- ceive a standard package consisting of Never Again
cer fans by providing leaflets, posters, banners, etc. leaflets. At this step, again, many people do not re-
Until now, the best results have been achieved at spond. Those who respond a second time can be as-
smaller clubs such as Orkan Sochaczew and Wkra sumed to stand a chance of longer-term involvement
Zuromin, which now have a strong anti-fascist follow- as correspondents and they receive the one-page in-
ing. troductory information on the correspondents duties.

Many genuine soccer fans no longer go to matches All correspondents are required to provide personal
because of the violent, xenophobic environment. It details regarding their background that can be
affects women and minorities in particular, but also checked to establish their credibility. We try to be very
many other fans who still love the game but are dis- careful about who we work with. We learned the hard
gusted by the atmosphere which prevails at the stadi- way that racists will try to infiltrate our network. Luck-
ums. Other fans still attend but do not like the ily we discovered quickly that people connected with
xenophobic culture there. Until recently such fans felt the extreme right were trying to feed us false infor-
isolated from each other. These people have re- mation by, for instance, sending us information about
sponded in increasing numbers to the anti-racist cam- their own enemies within the extreme right. Fortu-
paign and, in some cases, they have volunteered to nately, Never Again has accumulated enough experi-
become correspondents for the network. The enor- ence to be able to detect such attempts early on. Never
mous popularity of the Nigerian-born Emmanuel Again only uses information from proven reliable
Olisadebe, who became the best player on the Polish sources and often holds off on publishing information
national team, added momentum to the anti-racist not confirmed by an independent source.
sports campaign. Emanuel has consistently supported
Never Again in its attempts to highlight the problem HOW THE NETWORK WORKS
of racism in the stadiums. Currently there are approximately 150 correspondents
in the Never Again network nationally. The voluntary
Building the Network correspondents come from a variety of backgrounds
As a direct result of the CDs, concerts, meetings and and age groups. The majority, however, are young
other popular culture events, Never Again has re- people. They need guidance about what kind of infor-
ceived many thousands of letters from young people mation has to be included and how it should be pre-
expressing their willingness to become volunteers for sented.
the anti-racist movement. A majority of the current
regular correspondents made their first contact with Every correspondent is provided with a simple one-
Never Again through the music and sport campaigns. page checklist to be used in the preparation of monthly
reports. The list details the kinds of incidents that
should be reported, as well as possible accompanying
events that would give some context: extreme-right
My name is Pawel. I am 18. I live in Szczecin and I am a fan of Pogon [a
marches and demonstrations, the distribution of rac-
big soccer club]. I would like to receive more information about the Lets
ist and fascist publications (including papers, pam-
Kick Racism Out of the Stadiums campaign and to learn more about ways
phlets, books, records, tapes, etc.), racist and fascist
to fight neo-fascism in Polish stadiums. Along with my friends (34 people)
graffiti, racist and nationalist statements in the me-
we want to join the Never Again Association. Letter from a Never
dia, etc. The correspondents are constantly reminded
Again supporter
of the necessity to include all available details (what,
where, when, etc.) so their reports will be as specific
as possible. The work of the correspondent is entirely
Many of them, in addition to participating in informa- voluntary, but nevertheless they must be disciplined
tion-gathering, have initiated campaigns and events and responsible. Never Again stresses that all corre-
on a local level. Thus, the correspondents network is spondents have the right to withdraw from the net-
also a living social movement. work at any moment for any reason as long as they
inform Never Again that they can no longer continue
And by linking itself to popular culture, Never Again their reports. As long as they are serving as corre-
has proven that social activism can be fun, too. spondents, though, they are obliged to send written
reports every month on extreme-right activities in
Of course it would not be realistic to expect every their local areas. It is important that the information
young person who expresses interest in Never Agains flow is regular. Even if there is no news, it should be

10
reported. In this field no news is indeed good news,
but if there is no report, we have cause to worry about
the safety of the correspondent.

In return for regular reports, every correspondent

receives a monthly internal bulletin produced by
Marcin Kornak, the network coordinator. The bulletin
includes an overview of the most important develop-
ments on the far-right and serves as a forum for ad-
vertising planned anti-racist and anti-fascist events,
concerts and conferences. Through the bulletin the
correspondents learn about each others work and see
that they are part of a wider social movement.

The correspondents use diverse information sources,

varying according to local circumstances. Local media, Anti-fascist demonstration in Tarnobrzeg.
for instance, may often publish some highly relevant
information which does not make it into national head-
lines. The Piotr Wozniak murder case (see below) dem- right press. The godfather of the Polish extreme right,
onstrates how important monitoring the local media Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, himself attacked Never Again
can be. in a broadcast on Radio Maryja in April 2002. He re-
ferred to members of the Never Again Association as
Correspondents frequently report incidents which they mongrel dogs who piss on everything. Several hit
themselves witnessed. Many became involved in the lists have circulated within the neo-nazi skinhead
network because the issue of racist and fascist vio- movement containing personal details and addresses
lence related to their own (sometimes everyday) ex- of Never Again activists (fortunately, the neo-nazis
perience. In some small towns, the neo-nazi skinhead got the addresses wrong). In light of such threats, ev-
culture of violence is pervasive and observable on a ery Never Again participant is informed about the
daily basis and correspondents simply narrate their risks involved. They are also assured of maximum soli-
own experiences or those of their friends or other darity from the whole network in case of any prob-
members of the community. lems. A separate security instruction sheet is
distributed to those network members who need it.
The correspondents are not limited by strict content All network correspondents are strongly advised not
guidelines: They may also report on the issues and to give their home addresses to anybody who cannot
incidents they consider important or relevant. In this be fully trusted.
way the network remains responsive to grassroots
concerns and problems affecting various constituen- On several occasions when the culprits could be identi-
cies. fied, Never Again issued a warning against continuing
the threats. This certainly surprised the culprits who
Because of funding constraints we have been unable had, like cowards, expected to remain anonymous,
to organize systematic, uniform training for correspon- and the threats ended.
dents or a large meeting of the whole national net-
work. Undoubtedly this is a weakness of the In 1998 a correspondent of Never Again was severely
organization. Nevertheless, members of the core beaten and threatened with a gun by a group of neo-
Never Again team do try to arrange personal meet- nazis linked with the German fascist party NPD in the
ings with each correspondent. We talk to them infor- border city of Frankfurt am Oder. Never Again mobi-
mally and ensure that they are clear about what their lized its extensive media contacts to alert the Polish
role is. Usually they understand the role quite well. and international public before the trial so that the
We sometimes have to encourage them to include authorities could not let them go unpunished.
more detail in the reports. Continuous education of
the correspondents (and of the core team, too!) is a In the spring of 2002 a female correspondent was
permanent feature of the network, and a personal beaten and threatened by a group of neo-nazis in the
connection with the participants is important as well. eastern city of Zamosc. Never Again initiated a na-
Never Again, therefore, also feels like a group of tional letter-writing campaign to give her support and
friends, which is an important aspect of a living social encouragement. Her story was covered by the national
movement comprised of young people. media, too, and subsequently the threats ended.

The safety of our correspondents is a primary con- Correspondents are strongly encouraged to establish
cern. Members of the Never Again team have been working relationships with local social organizations
threatened numerous times and attacked in the far- and communities of potentially vulnerable groups such

Breaking the Silence 11

When I saw a review of the Music Against Racism CD in the January
edition of Brum [a music magazine], I decided to write you. Congratula-
tions on this wonderful idea. Music is a thing that unites people and institutions to provide all necessary assistance to the
educates them. The release of your record is in my opinion the event of the couple.
year. I am very interested in your anti-fascist activities. I believe that if many
people unite against racism, it can be eradicated. Letter from a Never Never Agains network of correspondents is not a
Again supporter membership organization. We do not issue formal
membership cards or anything like that. Sometimes
My name is Lukasz. I am interested in the Lets Kick Racism Out of the the correspondents need a press card, and we do some-
Stadiums campaign. I sometimes go to the stadium of Lech [a big soccer times provide this. According to the Polish Press Law,
club in Poland] but recently much less frequently. I am afraid Ill see a gang authorities are especially required to assist journalists
of bald idiots [skinheads] starting a riot or be stopped by a policeman who who produce a press card. Never Again press cards
wants to find a scapegoat. I dont want the soccer fans scarf to be are therefore issued to those correspondents who
associated with nazism or soccer games to be associated with riots. This is have a record of reliability and who really need them
why I want to join you. Letter from a Never Again supporter in their activities.

Occasionally we have received information from

sources inside the far right. In some cases it was a
as ethnic and religious minorities, immigrant commu- result of rivalry between extreme-right organizations
nities, gay and lesbian groups, disabled peoples orga- and leaders trying to topple each other. Such informa-
nizations, youth groups and others. These local groups tion, while often very helpful, does not constitute a
are often willing to share information they themselves significant part of our work and cannot always be
have gathered on issues of discrimination and violence. trusted. On several occasions we have received very
In some cases Never Again is the only channel for this good insights from former members (or indeed former
data to be used outside of the victimized community leaders) of fascist groups who broke their ties with
itself. Of course, in each case it is important that the racist politics on moral grounds and felt they owed
correspondents obtain as many verifiable details about something to society to repay any wrong doing.
the nature and the circumstances of the incidents as
possible. Thanks to the network, Never Again has been able to
collect information about racist and extreme-right
Many of the incidents documented by Never Again incidents, especially violent acts, from all over the coun-
are not reported to the police. This is due to the gen- try. With extensive contacts at the grassroots commu-
eral distrust of the police that is still widespread among nity level and in the youth scene, Never Again has
many sections of Polish society, and especially among access to information unavailable to the well-funded
minorities and youth. Never Again encourages victims establishment NGOs, mainstream journalists or aca-
to report attacks to the police because the state has demics. No other organization or institution in Poland
an obligation to combat hate crime and to protect its has this kind of data at its disposal. Because of this,
citizens. (Never Again does not have special expertise Never Again has become an unrivaled source of infor-
in dealing with legal issues, but it provides basic legal mation on racism and neo-fascism in contemporary
assistance to the victims whenever necessary.) Never- Poland.
theless, Never Again respects the decision of the vic-
tim if he or she declines to report the incident to the Example: Investigating the Murder
police and/or chooses to remain anonymous. of Piotr Wozniak
The Nation comes first. If they dont understand it,
In some cases, Never Again correspondents provide we will kill them, says an angry young man with short
other important assistance to victims such as basic hair wearing a bomber jacket with political symbols
psychological support when the victim feels isolated on his sleeve as he points to anti-fascist protesters
and intimidated. In June 2001, Never Again was con- during a nationalist skinhead rally in the center of
tacted by a disabled peoples organization in the city Warsaw. The camera focuses on his face and the
of Sosnowiec where a neo-nazi skinhead gang had threatening words are repeated. The crowd of
been harassing a disabled couple. They were repeat- skinheads nods in approval.
edly abused and threatened by the young neo-nazis
and fascist symbols were painted on the door to their Then Michal Warchala, a member of Never Again,
flat. The police refused to protect the couple. A local appears on screen in a different setting. He explains
correspondent of Never Again was asked to research that the angry young man is Damian Mikulski, a 21-
the situation and she offered to stay in the couples year-old activist in the National Rebirth of Poland
flat for a few days to help them overcome the stress (NOP), the main neo-fascist organization in the coun-
of harassment. She helped connect the disabled try. Mikulski is also the leader of the White Legion, an
peoples group to community authorities, who in turn NOP-infiltrated noe-nazi skinhead gang active in the
pledged their solidarity and assistance to the previ- stadium of Legia Warszawa, a popular soccer club.
ously isolated and intimidated victims of harassment. Warchala explains that shortly after the video at the
Never Again issued a special letter asking the local demonstration was shot, Mikulski was sentenced to

12
nine years in prison for his part in a brutal killing of race and ethnicity, but also of religion or lifestyle. But
Piotr Wozniak, a 25-year-old student, in the issue of racist and fascist violence very rarely fea-
Wladyslawowo in northern Poland. The three culprits tures on the national agenda and it is hardly reported
tried to drown their victim and when that was unsuc- in the mass media.
cessful they took turns stomping on his head with their
heavy boots. Using the Correspondents Reports
Never Again does not aspire to be an academic insti-
The murder was briefly reported in a local paper as a tution. Our data-gathering and publishing activities
case of hooliganism and the possible political or ideo- can more appropriately be labeled activist journal-
logical background of the attack was not mentioned. ism. At the same time, Never Again magazine pub-
Because the murder and the trial took place in the lishes articles offering an in-depth analysis of the
north of the country, nobody knew about it in War- problems and thus constitutes an important intellec-
saw and the national media kept silent, too. tual forum.

Because of the existence of its national network of Of course, gathering all this data would be a waste if
voluntary correspondents, Never Again was able to we couldnt use it effectively to promote political
put together different pieces of the puzzle, uncover change. Never Again takes great pains to carefully
the ideological motivations behind the killing and hand decode and analyze information from its correspon-
the national media a critical story on a silver platter. dents and produce reports that can maximize its im-
pact on Polish society.
A Gdansk Never Again correspondent sent in the small
note published in the local newspaper. A Warsaw cor- DECODING AND ANALYZING THE DATA
respondent reported that a local neo-nazi skinhead The first step is to understand and occasionally de-
had been arrested for something he had done in the code the information received. For this purpose it is
north of Poland. Upon checking the information it necessary for the Never Again team to use their in-
became apparent both reports related to the same sight into the cultural characteristics of different youth
event. Then another network member noted that scenes. For example, the meaning of various symbols
Mikulski had been present at an Independence Day can be essential to comprehending the nature of an
NOP rally in Warsaw. Never Again had some video incident.
footage of this rally in its archive. The video was rein-
spected and members of Never Again discovered with One such symbol is the Celtic cross, also known as the
horror that it had been Mikulski who had mentioned White Power symbol. It originated in medieval Ire-
killing people as a possible way to affirm his political land and is still used as part of an ancient Celtic iden-
views. tity. However, in the latter half of the 20th century it
acquired a totally different meaning across Europe,
The story was published in Never Again magazine and becoming an international symbol of the neo-fascist
Radek Dunaszewski, a TV journalist, became inter- movement. The Celtic cross has been used increas-
ested. With the cooperation of the national television ingly as a replacement for the swastika, both because
channel TVN, Mikulskis political ties were exposed in of negative reactions from the public and for legal
a documentary using the video from the demonstra- reasons. The use of the swastika as a political symbol
tion and an explanation by a Never Again expert. is prohibited in many European countries. The Celtic
cross, however, is less widely known and therefore
Thus the ideological nature of the crime was brought more acceptable to the public and authorities alike. In
to public attention: The murder was not simply ran- recent years it, too, has been banned in Germany. The
dom, but was a result of the culture of violence pro- White Power symbol has now been adopted by the
moted by racist extreme-right organizations who racist element in the soccer stadiums. The sight of
target anybody who is deemed alien because of Celtic crosses and other neo-nazi skinhead signs is com-
their race, religion or lifestyle. Piotr Wozniak was monplace in Polands stadiums and the sports authori-
murdered because he had been classified as an anti- ties generally choose not to intervene. This is partly
national element by the extreme-right thugs: They due to their ignorance of the meanings of fascist sym-
did not like his alternative clothes. bols.

The murder of Piotr Wozniak was not an isolated inci- The knowledge of such symbols is necessary to estab-
dent. Since 1989 Never Again has registered 31 deaths lish the background of the culprits if they wear these
resulting from xenophobic attacks, usually by neo-nazi signs on patches, badges, T-shirts, etc. Sometimes it is
skinheads who are members or sympathizers of ex- important to take into account whether fascist graf-
treme nationalist organizations. In 2001 alone, Never fiti appeared in the area shortly before an incident
Again collected evidence of 228 hate crimes, acts of took place. We then try to put different aspects of
violence committed by nazi-skinheads against those information together like pieces of a puzzle. Thus we
who are considered alien on the basis primarily of can sometimes pinpoint the ideological connections

Breaking the Silence 13

of certain crimes, confronting the standard official television. There have been numerous cases when they
argument that extremist violence is just harmless hoo- used stories first published by us for their own articles
liganism. and programs. Members of Never Again are not of-
fended. They are always happy to see that their work
In early December 2000, Roma families living in is useful (of course we always ask the big media to
Zakonnic, Piastowska and Rybacka streets in the town mention Never Again as a source). In many cases we
of Brzeg were subjected to repeated harassment by have helped journalists with their inquiries and inves-
gangs of neo-nazi skinheads who invaded the area tigations. Occasionally we have provided specific sto-
under the cover of night, sprayed racist graffiti on the ries to trusted journalists in the mass media knowing
houses, tried to break in doors and broke windows. they would make good use of them. As illustrated by
The police were called several times but failed to ar- the case of Piotr Wozniak, the cooperation between
rive in time to arrest the perpetrators. Speaking to Never Again and the mainstream media can result in
the local press, police officers dismissed the attacks as breaking the wall of silence around the issue of racist
bogus stories, made up by the Roma themselves. and fascist violence. Building up a network of main-
Stefan Gornicki, a deputy commander of the local stream media contacts has been a long and gradual
police, claimed the Roma painted the racist graffiti process. Sometimes we identify a journalist who might
themselves. Gornicki said the Roma were prepared to be interested in our work on the basis of a related
pay each other for false testimonies, and that they article on youth or human rights. More often, though,
pretend to be persecuted in order to be able to go to journalists have tended to approach us themselves
Switzerland or England. After Never Again was asked for the information.
for assistance by a Roma rights organization, a local
correspondent undertook an independent investiga- By the summer of 2002 the national and international
tion. It was discovered, among other things, that some print media had run 289 stories with assistance from
of the racist graffiti had been made with special pat- Never Again. About 11 hours of TV programs and 26
terns, similar to those used by a fascist organization hours of radio programs about the issue were broad-
under the name the White Eagle Union Polish Na- cast nationally thanks to assistance from Never Again.
tional Party (ZBO-PPN). Shortly before the attack, a We often act as consultants for such productions and
chapter of the ZBO-PPN had been opened in the nearby quite frequently we have appeared in the programs
city of Opole. as experts. On a few occasions we have provided spe-
cial undercover video footage, too. A number of se-
NEVER AGAIN MAGAZINE AND THE MEDIA lected television programs with our input have been
The uses of the data are manifold, but the most im- put together on a single video collection, which is used
portant means of communicating the cases of violence as an educational resource for schools, youth groups
to the public is the Never Again magazine. Every issue and other audiences.
of the magazine, edited by
Marcin Kornak, includes a list Each issue of the magazine is
of violent incidents with a rac- accompanied by a press re-
ist or extreme-right back- lease. The magazine is sold in
ground. The list is based on the a national chain of news-
correspondents reports. In ad- stands as well as at concerts,
dition, the magazine carries meetings, events, university
analyses of the situation re- bookshops, etc. A significant
garding racism and xenophobia number of copies are distrib-
in Poland and in Europe, inter- uted by the correspondents in
views, reports from anti-racist our network who promote
events, legal documents, etc. the magazine among their
peers.
The magazine is distributed
nationwide and currently has a The readership of Never
circulation of 3,500 copies. This Again also includes ethnic and
may not be a huge number in religious minority activists,
itself (although it is one of the educators, human rights
highest-circulation anti-fascist NGOs, institutions such as the
magazines in Europe), but to Ombudsmans Office, and
assess the impact the magazine members of parliament. On
has nationally, the number of several occasions formal ques-
copies needs to be multiplied: tions have been posed by
many of the readers are jour- members of different politi-
nalists working for mass-circu- cal parties to government
Never Again magazine.
lation newspapers, radio and ministers in both chambers of

14
parliaments based on the data published on the pages has included information from Never Again in their
of Never Again demanding explanations for the au- reports and publications. The Brzeg case, for instance,
thorities lack of action against organized racism and was included in several high-level international reports
neo-fascism. thanks to assistance from Never Again. In July 2001,
Jolanta Skubiszewska, the coordinator of Never
In addition to the national level, the information gath- Agains sports campaign, addressed an Extraordinary
ered by the correspondents network is used both lo- Congress of the International Football Federation
cally and internationally. (FIFA) in Buenos Aires on the spread of racism in
Polands soccer culture.
THE LOCAL LEVEL
On the local level, the news about cases of violence In this way, information about racist extremism trav-
published in the nationally-distributed magazine can els from the grassroots level to the international level
and often does play an important role. The list of inci- despite the denial of racism by officials in the Polish
dents that includes hate crimes committed in the area government.
can be photocopied and distributed in the local com-
munity. Sometimes the local media and institutions IMPACT
such as schools become interested after a local issue is It is difficult to measure the impact of our activities on
publicized by Never Again. The publication of infor- the level of xenophobia in Poland. Never Again con-
mation on right-wing extremist attacks in an area can ducts a wide range of activities in diverse fields such
also serve as a deterrent for the perpetrators in the as research, education, awareness-raising, advocacy,
future. On one occasion members of Never Again run- lobbying, etc. The information-gathering network of
ning an information booth at a rock concert were ap- correspondents is but one important part of these
proached by a skinhead leader who asked not to be wide-ranging activities. Of course the level of xeno-
mentioned on the pages of Never Again anymore and phobia in society depends on many other factors, and
promised not to take part in any further anti-minor- the activities of one association cannot eradicate it.
ity activities. Nevertheless, Never Again has managed to raise
awareness of the problem of racism at least in some
In some cases, Never Again issues press releases when sections of Polish society, especially among youth, but
an expected incident can be prevented, e.g. in March also to some extent among politicians. There is still
1999 a violent anti-semitic NOP demonstration in front much to be done.
of a synagogue in Lodz was cancelled after Never
Again publicized a statement warning against it. Simi- FUNDING
larly, a visit to the Sejm by French ultra-nationalist A serious roadblock to publishing Never Again maga-
Jean-Marie Le Pen was canceled in May 2001 after zine is a persistent lack of financial resources (the
Never Again issued a warning to the public about the magazine is intended as a quarterly), resulting in de-
possible scandal. lays in the publishing schedule. This is alleviated by the
existence of a regularly updated Web site, http://
THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL free.ngo.pl/nw, managed by Bartlomiej Gutowski, a
On the international level, the information from the member of the Never Again team.
correspondents network has proven vital, too. Never
Again constantly cooperates with anti-racist and anti- The possibilities for funding anti-racist work in the
fascist organizations abroad, most notably Searchlight majority of Central and Eastern European countries
(the London-based international anti-fascist monthly), are generally very limited. Support comes more often
with the Amsterdam-based European anti-racist net- from outside rather than from inside the countries.
work UNITED for Intercultural Action and with the Our work can be threatening to those inside the gov-
Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE) network. ernment because our very existence makes it impos-
There is a constant exchange of information among sible for them to deny the existence of racism. Funding
anti-fascists internationally, which is made necessary Never Again would not be in their best political inter-
by the increasingly international nature of extreme- est. Never Again survives on the enthusiasm of its
right activities. volunteers. It has no paid staff and no regular office.
And yet, it has managed to continue and to expand its
In addition, Never Again has provided information activities for the past decade, the development and
about the extent of extreme-right activities to inter- maintenance of the national correspondents network
national institutions such as the European Commis- being its major achievement.
sion Against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) set up by
the Council of Europe, the EU Accession Monitoring
Project of the Open Society Institute and the Euro-
pean Roma Rights Center. Each of these institutions

Breaking the Silence 15

Applying the Tactics Elsewhere might be recruiting young people to take action about
The tactics used by Never Again can certainly be used other social problems, such as a war affecting their
by other groups focusing on human rights issues, par- country, the AIDS epidemic or gender violence. Am-
ticularly unacknowledged violations of rights, like rac- nesty International has used concerts to build mem-
ism and nationalism in Poland. What Never Again has bership all over the world. Comedians and musicians
done is combine a set of tactics into a campaign: a) have often been recruited to build support for cam-
cultural mobilization to recruit activists; b) organizing paigns against hunger, homelessness, etc.
of activists into an information-gathering network;
and c) production and dissemination of analyses and On a small-scale, an organization might start by try-
publications based on this networks work. Clearly all ing to set up information tables and recruitment tables
three of these tactics are applicable to other settings at cultural events, concerts, etc. Never Agains example
and other countries. shows that such a movement may also be able to build
alliances among the artists themselves, and thus or-
We will focus here on the first two, since publication ganize concerts with specific political agendas, and
and dissemination are methodologies that are already invite artists who are also building these political mes-
widely-understood and used in the grassroots human sages into their art. An organization considering such
rights movement. an effort may already have some connections to the
world of cultural performers that can be taken ad-
MOBILIZING CULTURAL RESOURCES vantage of, or it may be able to approach artists whose
The tactic of mobilizing cultural resources to create a artistic message suggests an affinity to involving them-
national network of voluntary correspondents to selves with such a campaign. Thus, Never Again was
break the silence around difficult social issues can be able to ally with artists as well as record labels to help
used in other settings. The national context will de- spread their message. The same is true in other areas
termine what the underreported social problem might of culture thus a major step forward for Never Agains
be, and what cultural resources can be mobilized to stadium campaign was the involvement of a popular
highlight the issue and to build a national network. In soccer star.
the case of Poland, music and sports were powerful
mobilizing tools, especially for youth. In other cultures, ORGANIZING ACTIVISTS
this might also be true as music and sports are not For Never Again, it isnt enough to simply spread a
always merely fields of entertainment, but also im- message at cultural events. If you really want to take
portant defining features of the social landscape. It is advantage of this tactic, you also need to organize a
not a coincidence that neo-nazi skinheads have been process to channel the positive interest your culture
able to take advantage of the stadiums to mobilize work sparks. You need to develop ways to recruit
their message. Never Again is a positive example of people who are inspired by your message into an or-
using the opportunity that these cultural gathering ganizational framework, and give them an ongoing
places represent to involve people with a strong hu- role in the good work you are trying to promote. For
man rights consciousness or change peoples opinions Never Again this involved building a correspondents
and commitments about injustice. network. In another setting it might involve building
local chapters for a movement or campaign to con-
Youth culture mobilization can be particularly effec- front injustice, advocate or lobby.
tive for anti-racist organizing in a setting where a
young and violent skinhead movement is active. These Once the function of the network is defined, the net-
movements create environments that can be very dis- work itself must be built up through recruitment.
tasteful for the majority of young people. Thus in ad- Never Again had such success with its concerts and
dition to an altruistic concern for justice, there will be CDs that it was able to build a network with a rela-
people interested in rescuing a part of their own cul- tively passive recruitment process after that stage.
ture from deterioration. There is a constituency of From thousands of initial inquiries there was a pro-
people who are disgusted with their stadiums or con- cess of self-selection wherein those who became net-
cert halls being dominated by obnoxious groups, and work correspondents were those who showed
this disgust may be an important resource from which persistent initiative to stay in touch with the organi-
an organizing campaign can draw. Sadly, racist and zation. In another context this might not be sufficient,
violent movements are spreading throughout youth and the group might want to be more proactive in
culture in many parts of the world, so there are plenty seeking out network members. It might produce ma-
of places where an effort to mobilize for justice and terials about the problem being addressed and the
against racism and violence may be able to draw from objectives of the network, and take these out in a
this constituency. variety of settings, as well as presenting them at meet-
ings of other similar minded organizations, with the
The idea of using cultural resources for political mobi- explicit goal of recruiting network members. It might
lization to break the silence around some difficult so- hold assemblies or trainings to excite and empower
cial issue can be much more universal. A similar effort people to take on this commitment.

16
One thing that made this mobilization process effec- the political importance of their efforts as well as to
tive for Never Again was that the organizations pri- keep them in touch with the activities of their col-
mary product the Never Again magazine, was a leagues in other parts of Poland.
regular effort and was a visible symbol and demon-
stration of the importance of the volunteers work. Any organization involving volunteers in confronting
Thus once volunteers were recruited, the magazine violence and human rights abuse would do well to
provided a steady momentum and reason for them learn from Never Agains careful concern for the se-
to stay involved. This is very important. In another curity of its people. Training must go into detail on this
type of campaign where cultural mobilization is used aspect, ensuring that those who join the effort are
to recruit young people, the organization needs to willing to accept the risks, and assuring them of the
have a concrete way to utilize members or volunteers full support of the organization if they are ever under
on a regular basis. It cannot merely ask new recruits attack. Security procedures will vary from one con-
to show up at meetings or join a committee. New text to the next, but the need to pay conscientious
recruits have a great need to feel useful and to see attention to the risk will not.
value and outcome from their efforts. A regular pro-
cess involving visible products or events can help main- In conclusion, while these tactics are being used in Po-
tain their spirit and commitment. land, they can be utilized in other countries and com-
munities by adapting them and drawing upon
Beyond this, Never Again also learned that to keep a resources available in local contexts. We hope that
network alive, the connection needed to have a per- the explanation of the use of the tactics by Never
sonal emotional element. Since each correspondent Again will give you a good sense of how they were
was facing a difficult, and perhaps lonely task in their applied in one context and ideas for how you might
little corner of Poland, it was essential to empower tap into cultural resources in your own country to break
them and create a sense of togetherness, of family, the silence around unspoken human rights concerns
of a movement that would make a positive change. arising in your country.
Its internal newsletter helped correspondents to see

Breaking the Silence 17

Appendix I
USEFUL READING
http://free.ngo.pl/nw. The Never Again Web site, includes information in English.

http://www.unitedagainstracism.org. Web site of UNITED for Intercultural Action, includes information book-
lets such as Resistance Against Intolerance.

When Hate Comes to Town: Community Responses to Racism and Fascism: Searchlight Community Handbook.
Searchlight Educational Trust, London 1995.

http://www.turnitdown.com. Practical information on using music in campaigns against racism.

http://www.farenet.org. Football Against Racism in Europe: combating racism in and through soccer.

18
NOTES

Breaking the Silence 19

To print or download this and other publications in the Tactical Notebook Series,
go to www.newtactics.org.
Online you will also find a searchable database of tactics and
forums for discussion with other human rights practitioners.

The Center for Victims of Torture

New Tactics in Human Rights Project
717 East River Road
Minneapolis, MN 55455
www.cvt.org / [email protected]
www.newtactics.org / [email protected]