Job Discussion Forums

[gamze90]

Hi -I was watching Ross Kemp on gangs Poland and it scared the S**T outta me! Is Poland really as 'nazi' 'facist' 'homophobic' as the programme makes out? Kinda put me off of ever wanting to visit the country....

[sparks]

A key lesson you should learn early on in life: Do not believe everything the media tells you/see on tv/read on the internet

No. It isn't. Western media have recently been piecing together a lot of misrepresentations of the country.

[dragonpiwo]

Poland has a bit of a hooligan problem but it's connected with footy and basketball etc. Don't go to matches and you'll never see it.
Poland is a white, catholic country and until relatively recently, there weren't many non-whites there, so attitudes to different races are a bit backwards sometimes. There is homophobia in Poland but there also seem to be a lot more gays around, so attitudes are changing.

Poland is a really nice place to live it's just working there in EFL that's so shit because the money is so so bad.

[scot47]

Poland rates with Slovakia as a place with high levels of racism.

[Master Shake]

[scot47]

Compared to what most students in Britain are accustomed to.

[scot47]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/14/academics-defend-historian-over-polish-jew-killings-claims

[manumany]

In terms of homophobia, it's about where the UK was in the seventies - almost no-one even in the media is openly gay, and if you get out of the western-looking, English-speaking circles and raise the topic you'll find very little tolerance in a surprising number of people.

Of the five teachers I've known of Asian and African ethnic origin and have talked to about it, all have experienced racism, which is not surprising, but one wouldn't go out alone, one experienced regular insults and was spat on and punched in the street, and one was beaten to a pulp shortly after arriving.

Not one of those teachers ever told me about having a problem from any of their students, though.

Poland is, I think, a very divided society in terms of social attitudes, and I'm in no position to empirically compare racism here to any other countries, but it is definitely a place I would warn a teacher that they are likely to experience racism if they are dark-skinned.

[dragonpiwo]

Not just anti-black. If you go out drinking, you'll find quite a few who don't like the Brits or people speaking English much.

[gregory999]

An analysis based on the European Values Survey (EVS) done in 2008 showed that compared to other European nations, Poland had very high levels of political tolerance (lack of extremist political attitudes), relatively high level of ethnic tolerance (based on attitudes towards Muslims, immigrants, people of another race, Roma, and Jews) and at the same time low levels of personal tolerance (based on attitudes towards people considered "deviant" or "threatening"). From 1998 to 2008, there was a marked increase in political and ethnic tolerance but a decrease in personal tolerance.[11]

In terms of trends over time, at the beginning of the 1990s, due partly to the political euphoria accompanying the fall of Communism, Poland was the most tolerant nation in Central and Eastern Europe. Over the course of the nineties however, tolerance decreased so that by 1999 the country was recorded by the EVS as having one of the highest rates of xenophobia in Europe. Antisemitism increased during this time as well. The factors behind these decreases in tolerance and some of the radicalization in attitudes towards other ethnic groups during this time likely included the country's economic problems associated with a costly transition from communism (for example, high unemployment), ineffectual government, and possibly an increase in immigration from outside.[11]

However, these attitudes began to change after 2000, possibly due to Poland's entry into the European Union, increased travel abroad and more frequent encounters with people of other races. By 2008 the EVS showed Poland as one of the least xenophobic countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The negative attitudes towards Jews have likewise returned to their lower 1990 level, although they do remain somewhat above the European average.[11] During the same time period, ethnic tolerance and political tolerance increased in Southern Europe (Spain, Greece) and decreased in other parts of Northern Europe (Netherlands).[11]

While the Roma were the group which was listed as most rejected, the level of exclusion was still lower than elsewhere in Europe, most likely due the long history of Roma (see Polska Roma) and their relatively low numbers in the country.[11]

According to the European Jewish Congress while the number of anti-Semitic attacks and incidents of vandalism in Western Europe is on the rise, in Poland there has been a dramatic decrease in these.[12]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Poland

One of the most high-profile events regarding blacks in Poland in recent years was the death of Maxwell Itoya in 2010. Itoya was a Nigerian[5] killed in a police raid on a market in Warsaw. His death sparked a riot and mass arrests at the scene of Itoya's death. The event led to a widespread debate in the Polish media regarding policing and racism.[6]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Poland

[dragonpiwo]

Poland's always been a bit racist. It was the Russians and Germans when I arrived. Now the footy crowds are pretty black and white racist. It's changed a lot but it still isn't good. The strange new arrival is the odd anti-Brit type racism you can come across in pubs late at night from time to time.
You don't need to read reports, just go and live there.

[Master Shake]

[dragonpiwo]

Nope not against just me. Our lot have discussed this phenomenon. We've all seen/experienced it.
Beggars can be real trouble too.
I think the anti-Brit sentiment comes from Poles having a hard time in the UK and because of the Ryanair weekend warrior stag dos, which have seen gangs of Brits going over to Poland and getting wasted, running about naked and shagging anything with a pulse. Kinda like the Americans in Mexico at Spring break. That kinda thing doesn't improve a nation's image.
We lost our kudos long ago in Poland and it's part of the reason why native speakers aren't even regarded as real teachers by many Poles.

[sparks]

Whenever anyone mentions how the Brits behave in Krakow and how appalled they are that they pee on statues and run through the rynek wearing diapers etc. I remind them that they don't do it because they don't have any respect for Poland and its people, it's just that that's how they are, they would do the same in Birmingham or wherever they come from too

[dragonpiwo]

That's true. However, I do think that there's an element of 'we can do what we want because they get paid sweet fa there' going on. I was on a Polish flight landing in the UK one year and in arrivals stood a young guy with a banner that read 'Welcome back hooker shaggers' . I laughed at the time but it's a bit sad that Prague and to a lesser extent Poland and Budapest have become places for better off westerners to misbehave. All these titty bars appeared in Poz before the Euros of 2012. They didn't go away. Personally, I think the should keep all that stuff outta town like in the old days. Fact is, the Brits are notorious for behaving badly when abroad. Even the English teachers .