About the tragedy that stirred not only Poland but the entire civilized world. Yesterday, January 14th, the Mayor of Poland’s Gdansk Pawel Adamowicz died in a hospital from stab wounds, received as a result of an attack. About a friend of Ukraine and Ukrainians ‒ in the reactions from DUMKA.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin noted that after the murder of Adamowicz there will be a lot of discussion about hate and violence in politics in the media discourse. Moreover, the minister is convinced that Ukraine needs this discussion, as well as necessary actions. After all, violence cannot be tolerated, forgotten, or hushed up.
People’s Deputy Iryna Podolyak noted that the mayor of Gdansk was a worthy person, served the society for twenty years, was pleasant to Ukraine and sensitive to injustice. At the same time, Podolyak stressed that we need to cherish kindness in society, learn to debate in a civilized way on tantalizing topics, and not “bark and devour each other, stigmatizing from a running start”.
Oleksiy Minakov, a political expert, wrote that Adamowicz’s murder should alarm Ukraine. In his opinion, behind the murderous attack on the Mayor, there is a clear global problem ‒ the radicalization of Polish society. This is indicated by the motives of the murderer; this is confirmed by local journalists.
At the same time, the expert believes that Poland is interested in a stable Ukraine, just as we are interested in a friendly Poland with a predictable policy towards Ukraine. And for this, you need to wage a systemic struggle with the Kremlin’s hybrid threat, deeply launching its tentacles into the political systems of our countries.
Journalist Yevhen Prykhodko is convinced that this is a murder, which, in one way or another, is politically motivated and will be used for political purposes. And if the majority already perceives this tragedy in the context of a public political conflict without the conclusions of the investigation, this already speaks of the atmosphere in Poland.
The chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, MP Refat Chubarov said that after the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, killed Adamowicz sheltered in Gdansk the families of the Crimean Tatars, who were forced to leave the peninsula, due to the persecution of the Russian occupiers.
Roman Bessmertny, a politician, diplomat and one of the authors of the Constitution of Ukraine, noted that the first and the main lesson for Ukraine is that we need to be attentive. So, there is an election campaign, all are competitors, but we must understand that there are more important things ‒ this is Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. Bessmertny is convinced that Adamowicz’s murderer was not acting on his own, he was led, and he was shown a target. And the object of aggression was also chosen not at all by chance, the Mayor was a non-individual person, but the man-state.
People’s Deputy Mykola Knyazhytsky stressed that Adamowicz was a friend of Ukraine and Ukrainians, collaborated with the mayors of Ukrainian cities, shared his management experience and cared about the development of economic and cultural ties between other states. He was close to the tradition of solidarity of a large democratic movement, which he often compared with the Ukrainian Maydans. He supported our country during the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Yevhen Magda, executive director of the Institute for World Politics, wrote that Polish society is different from Ukrainian in the perception of the memory of the fallen citizens.
“We are witnessing a large division of society, which Russia perfectly uses to influence the state and the region as a whole”, Andrii Smoliy, a public activist and blogger, said.
People’s Deputy Olena Sotnyk stressed that the most terrible is the motive for the murder of Adamowicz because the murderer was “condemned by the party” to which the mayor belonged. That is, the murderer did not for a moment think about what does the mayor have to do with this, that the courts pass the verdicts, not parties, even if they are super-influential, and it certainly will not restore justice.
Reactions were collected by Stepan the Goat
