Polish Builders
Dear All,
So long since we last spent any time together improving our homo-economic selves. Apologies to all. I have been ever so busy on a lecture tour of this nations finest universities educating younger homosexuals on how one can use the powers of homosexual domesticity to heal societies ills. I must say it was a very successful enterprise, with new homo home makers appearing the length and breadth of the country and sensibly moving to London or it’s nearest acceptable equivalent. Later this month I will be taking my message to Eastern Europe in the hope of bringing a little joy to our Slavic cousins.
For anyone who has ventured to Eastern Europe recently and Poland in particular you will have seen this is badly needed. Quite frankly I do not blame disaffected Poles for coming to this country, in fact I welcome them and this is what I want to discuss this week my dears; the gay housewife and immigration! Now don’t all go running away down the local dive bar at the mention of something that, on the surface, seems like it has no relevance to you, lacks any kind of glamour and of course has no sequins. I am sadly aware the words “political” and “gay” are rarely found together these days, but as I have said before, as well as being a creature of the home the gay housewife is also political creature. We can make our actions in the home positively affect the world for the greater good.
On a business trip to Poland about this time last year I was able to observe at first hand the election for President. The man who was leading in the poles and indeed won was a man call Lech Kaczynski. About a month before his brother, Jaroslaw, had led their party, Law and Justice, to victory in the parliamentary elections. Lech is famed for banning Gay Pride marches when Mayor of Warsaw and Jaroslaw for supporting a moves to ban abortion for victims of rape and incest and restoring the death penalty (all thankfully blocked). Together they lead Poland, the newest and largest EU member state and have become the driving force behind neo-conservatism in Europe. Accusations of corruption, bribery and scandal are a daily occurrence and they promote ambitious if not scary reform such as letting the church run the countries education program, vetting of the civil service for collaboration with the former soviet secret service, a government regulated national television service, removing the independence of the national bank and eventually turning Poland into “the Fourth Republic”. Sound familiar to anyone?
Historical comparisons aside, this remarkable double act’s policies are driving a new wave of homophobia through Eastern Europe from Krakow to Moscow. When dining in a street café in Warclaw (phonetically “Vrot-Slav”), Poland’s 5th largest city, 3 large men walked up to my dark skinned friend and I. They pointed at him, shouted “white pride”, pointed at me and shouted, “fag” and wondered off pleased with themselves. When talking to a gay British poet and writer, resident in Warsaw, he talked of the gay movement in Poland being driven underground because of fear created by the current political climate. There were posters saying, if the translation was accurate, “If elected I will ban Homosexuality”. Gay clubs were nearly impossible to find, and only when full did same sex couples feel safe enough to touch each other. As wealthy Anglo-Saxon westerners we were a great curiosity. All in all my experience was eye opening and frightening.
Those Poles who do not agree with their countries government or who do not feel safe because of their government I welcome to the UK. For many of us happy homo homemakers it is hard to imagine living under such threat, but for many of our fellow homo’s it’s very real. 99% of us were persecuted at school or by our flesh and blood in one way or another for being who we are and sought measures to escape that persecution, be it moving to an urban centre, changing school, changing job or totally changing our lives to be happy. Certain aspects of our lives have run parallel courses and while not saying us queers can understand the Poles better than anyone, we are well placed to empathize with their situation.
I believe we should publicly reject the tabloid frenzy of “Poles Stealing our Jobs” or “Immigrants sucking the system dry”. For a start it’s simply not true. When consumption of government services is compared with how much the individual contributes to the government on a per annum basis the average immigrant worker makes the government £600.00 while the average British worker in the same job costs the government £800.00. Also the immigrant community is prepared to do jobs we are simply not prepared to do because they have no choice. Who do we think packs our fresh trimmed asparagus that we happily buy at the supermarket, who cleans the toilets in our favorite bar, who unloads goods at Selfridges; immigrant workers, of which in the UK roughly 40% are Polish.
It is time the gay community politically re-activated itself both in terms of fighting for our rights and those of others. All it takes is a down turn in our economy and for life to become harder for a few years, like it did in Poland, and in 10 years time our socially democratic government, like Poland used to have, could be replaced with our very own Kaczynski brothers ready to reek havoc with society. Don’t believe the tabloid hype or the free papers, buy a few real newspapers, write letters to your MP, to newspapers, to the Kaczynski brothers. Inform yourself and make your self-heard. Dear readers, I like my two story 4 bedroom house in the suburbs in which I can have fabulous gay dinner parties without fear of persecution or having people shout “fag” or “white pride” at me and my friends as we eat out. As gay housewives lets try to educate a little to ensure we keep our hard fought civil liberties well into the future.
Love to All,
(m)Arthur
x
Say hello at MySpace or email me.
Dear All,
So long since we last spent any time together improving our homo-economic selves. Apologies to all. I have been ever so busy on a lecture tour of this nations finest universities educating younger homosexuals on how one can use the powers of homosexual domesticity to heal societies ills. I must say it was a very successful enterprise, with new homo home makers appearing the length and breadth of the country and sensibly moving to London or it’s nearest acceptable equivalent. Later this month I will be taking my message to Eastern Europe in the hope of bringing a little joy to our Slavic cousins.
For anyone who has ventured to Eastern Europe recently and Poland in particular you will have seen this is badly needed. Quite frankly I do not blame disaffected Poles for coming to this country, in fact I welcome them and this is what I want to discuss this week my dears; the gay housewife and immigration! Now don’t all go running away down the local dive bar at the mention of something that, on the surface, seems like it has no relevance to you, lacks any kind of glamour and of course has no sequins. I am sadly aware the words “political” and “gay” are rarely found together these days, but as I have said before, as well as being a creature of the home the gay housewife is also political creature. We can make our actions in the home positively affect the world for the greater good.
On a business trip to Poland about this time last year I was able to observe at first hand the election for President. The man who was leading in the poles and indeed won was a man call Lech Kaczynski. About a month before his brother, Jaroslaw, had led their party, Law and Justice, to victory in the parliamentary elections. Lech is famed for banning Gay Pride marches when Mayor of Warsaw and Jaroslaw for supporting a moves to ban abortion for victims of rape and incest and restoring the death penalty (all thankfully blocked). Together they lead Poland, the newest and largest EU member state and have become the driving force behind neo-conservatism in Europe. Accusations of corruption, bribery and scandal are a daily occurrence and they promote ambitious if not scary reform such as letting the church run the countries education program, vetting of the civil service for collaboration with the former soviet secret service, a government regulated national television service, removing the independence of the national bank and eventually turning Poland into “the Fourth Republic”. Sound familiar to anyone?
Historical comparisons aside, this remarkable double act’s policies are driving a new wave of homophobia through Eastern Europe from Krakow to Moscow. When dining in a street café in Warclaw (phonetically “Vrot-Slav”), Poland’s 5th largest city, 3 large men walked up to my dark skinned friend and I. They pointed at him, shouted “white pride”, pointed at me and shouted, “fag” and wondered off pleased with themselves. When talking to a gay British poet and writer, resident in Warsaw, he talked of the gay movement in Poland being driven underground because of fear created by the current political climate. There were posters saying, if the translation was accurate, “If elected I will ban Homosexuality”. Gay clubs were nearly impossible to find, and only when full did same sex couples feel safe enough to touch each other. As wealthy Anglo-Saxon westerners we were a great curiosity. All in all my experience was eye opening and frightening.
Those Poles who do not agree with their countries government or who do not feel safe because of their government I welcome to the UK. For many of us happy homo homemakers it is hard to imagine living under such threat, but for many of our fellow homo’s it’s very real. 99% of us were persecuted at school or by our flesh and blood in one way or another for being who we are and sought measures to escape that persecution, be it moving to an urban centre, changing school, changing job or totally changing our lives to be happy. Certain aspects of our lives have run parallel courses and while not saying us queers can understand the Poles better than anyone, we are well placed to empathize with their situation.
I believe we should publicly reject the tabloid frenzy of “Poles Stealing our Jobs” or “Immigrants sucking the system dry”. For a start it’s simply not true. When consumption of government services is compared with how much the individual contributes to the government on a per annum basis the average immigrant worker makes the government £600.00 while the average British worker in the same job costs the government £800.00. Also the immigrant community is prepared to do jobs we are simply not prepared to do because they have no choice. Who do we think packs our fresh trimmed asparagus that we happily buy at the supermarket, who cleans the toilets in our favorite bar, who unloads goods at Selfridges; immigrant workers, of which in the UK roughly 40% are Polish.
It is time the gay community politically re-activated itself both in terms of fighting for our rights and those of others. All it takes is a down turn in our economy and for life to become harder for a few years, like it did in Poland, and in 10 years time our socially democratic government, like Poland used to have, could be replaced with our very own Kaczynski brothers ready to reek havoc with society. Don’t believe the tabloid hype or the free papers, buy a few real newspapers, write letters to your MP, to newspapers, to the Kaczynski brothers. Inform yourself and make your self-heard. Dear readers, I like my two story 4 bedroom house in the suburbs in which I can have fabulous gay dinner parties without fear of persecution or having people shout “fag” or “white pride” at me and my friends as we eat out. As gay housewives lets try to educate a little to ensure we keep our hard fought civil liberties well into the future.
Love to All,
(m)Arthur
x
Say hello at MySpace or email me.
posted by Arthur Stewart at 3:03 PM
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