Back From Poland

There. Back from Krakow, Poland. I was there visiting the ‘Festival for Tolerance’ (see other article). This text is exceptionally in English for the friends made there (sorry, my polski isn’t that good). It’s hard to summarize this great experience in an understandable text, but I’ll try. Here follows a depiction of a trip of fun, tolerance, cooperation, internationalisation and blooming love J

Kris (the person, not the problem girls :p) invited me for this trip, as there was still some space left in his car (and he wanted a buffer for the lesbians on the trip). The direct rain connection used by the Antwerp people was too expensive and long, so we went from Leuven to Keulen by car, from Keulen by plane to Krakowitz and from Krakowitz by bus to Krakow. And all that just in 8-9 hours. We checked into our gay-friendly hotel (with hot cleaning Polish men) and were of to the opening of the festival.

The first acquaintance with the Polish, German, French, Antwerp and other people group gave a nice idea of the internationalisation going on there. The festival lasted several days with workshops, meetings, parties,… I will only depict the items we visited, in random order.

The main reason I went on this trip was the voyage to Auschwitz on day 2. I read up on my history, but the local visit only demonstrated that the real experience is as important as book knowledge. The movement made a tribute to (amongst the millions of others) the lesbigays killed during the Endlösung of the Nazis. Official numbers depict that only 10 people were in Auschwitz due to homosexuality, but there is no certainty. Overall the attention and the conversations did not relate to the fallen community members, but to the fallen in general. Very strange all. The sun was shining, the grass was happily green as if this was a cheerful place, in stead of the events that took place several decades ago. It was a strange sensation. Nooit meer oorlog – Nie wieder Krieg – War, never again.

The main event of the Festival was the March for tolerance. Kris had prepared me for the worst, as the March was attacked two years before by extremists that threw rocks at the crowd. We were sitting on a terrace at the main square one hour before the March, as the counterstrike (tegenbetoging) passed. 200 people dressed in white and carrying Polish flags that were handing out pamflets against homosexuality and gay rights. At the end of the couterstrike were the skinheads, closely garded by the (heavily armed) policemen. They were posters with ‘Stop Dewiatschi’ (spelled incorrectly), which is Polish for ‘Stop the horrible deviation’. ‘Gays and lesbians, Poland is laughing with you’. And of course, super 'funny' plaques with gay pictograms.

Time for the March, we assembled at the starting point, alongside 1000 other demonstrants. More than one thousand lesbigay people walking through the streets of Krakow, screaming ‘Nye fascisme’ (no to fascism) and ‘tolerancia’ (tolerance!). We were guarded by 4000 policemen, that followed us throughout the March. At one point the counterstrike-skinheads came alongside and started protesting, while throwing eggs and stones. Not to trivialise the events, but overall the safety of the March was big, due to the excellent handling of the Polish police. The demonstraters were driven out effectively and the ones throwing stuff were arrested. Perhaps to the Belgian readers, the fact that extremists threw stones sounds unbelievable, but is was true. Though unpleasant, they showed the absolute necessity of this March in question. The atmosphere was great, the people as well. This is how the BLGP should be. No street party, but a straightforward March of lesbigays demanded the so nedded tolerance. Stijn Bex and Jan Rogier, two Flemish members of Parliament, travelled to Poland to visit the Festival as well, and they appeared on the VTM-news on Saturday, with a nice documentary on the March and the need for international pressure.

We visited several Polish lesbigay-bars, starting with the Kitsch on Thursday/Saturday and the Cocon on Friday. Poland has great beer (pint-style like in Dublin > 0.5L), but like everything (from taxis to food) the average beverage will not cost you a lot of Zlotys (1 euro = 3.6 Zlotys).

In the Cocon I asked the DJ to play a ripped CD with “je t’adore” by Kate Ryan, to advertise the Belgium entry for the Eurovision Song Festival, and he did! So we introduced the ‘kniezwengel’ in Poland (time to write Anciaux for some cash benefits). We convinced at least 3 Polish guys and 2 Germans to vote for Kate, so perhaps we will hear: ‘Belgium, 12 point’ from Poland and Germany (if they all send 5000 smsjes).

The finishing party in the Cocon was great. Goodbye of course to friends made, but also the fantastic performance of a German group of Drag Kings, the Sissy boys.Those guys were so masculine it drove even the gay spectators wild (we love you, Yoeri!). If they are the entry for Germany, I will vote for them!

Overall I like to thank Kris for inviting me into this great experience, and everything connected to it. I really hope WJNH (wel jong niet hetero – Yes young, not straight – the umbrella organisation for lesbigay youth associations in Flanders and Brussels) will have the chance to start its international program soon, I’m really up for it (yeah, Ilke!). And hereby you are all cordially invited to the Belgian Lesbian and Gay Pride. We will arrange for a place to sleep if needed (a hojotel, he Kris :p). Viva internationalisation!

I met some great people, from Agnes to Samuel to Andreas to Christoph to Stijn/Jan. And Ilke, Sarah en Emily (the person, not the action, girls :p). And lekkere Bartek of course (ironically - Bartek is Polish for Bart), a Polish boy with Flemish connections. A big buzi (kiss) from me, baby. Hope to see you soon!

Papa! (byebye – so long).