Coming together under attack, and then – even greater divisions which are here even today. “The main lesson form 9/11 is that Islamism – radical Islam – is a great threat to the entire world”, said Daniel Pipes, founder of Middle East Forum, the son of the advisor of President Reagan, on Against the Tide TV.
We asked the founder and director of the Middle East Forum about the impact of the 2001 Islamic Al-Qaeda terrorist attack on the United States. Pipes also assessed the situation in Afghanistan and the presidency of Joe Biden. Talk by Eunika Chojecka.
Eunika Chojecka: Do you remember your first reaction, your first thoughts when the September 11 attacks happened?
Daniel Pipes: I was at home, on my way to the office. I got informed that the first plane had hit the building in New York. And that changed my life. I was very busy for the next few years, trying to understand this phenomenon and trying to explain it. […] My first thought was that it’s the radical Muslims – Islamists. But I did not say that. […] For about a week I couldn’t really express myself. Then, the US government finally confirmed that it was Islamists. […]
How did the attacks affect the USA, both government and the American society?
The immediate impact was to bring Americans together. The slogan was: United we stand, Americans are together. But it very quickly fell apart, in three, four months. […]
You have Polish-Jewish roots. How did the attack affect Europe and the whole world? What do you think about that, from the perspective of those last 20 years?
Initially, there was great sympathy for the United States. It was the only time in NATO’s history that NATO got together to fight an enemy. The only time. But it quickly, again, began a subject of great argument and difference. And we see that now, 20 years later. A great argument over the causes, the implications of the Islamist phenomenon. […] The number one implication was that the US government began wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Wars that went on for many, many years. And they created divisions between left and right, between supporters of the wars and opponents of the wars. This was the number one result on the attacks on 9/11. […]
“They came for us, they will come for you. Or they will castrate you and only then leave you alone”, say journalists from one of the Internet TV stations in Poland. World public opinion is outraged by the amendment to the media law, pushed by Law and Justice, the so-called Lex TVN, which the Polish Sejm voted on in early August this year. It prevents the broadcasting of radio and television media outside the European Economic Area in Poland. Although the Polish government denies this, the amendment is in practice aimed at TVN, which belongs to the American Discovery group. The government coalition’s reluctance to TVN is confirmed by the fact that the government-dependent National Broadcasting Council has not extended TVN’s broadcasting license to this day, despite submitting an application in this matter in February last year. The existing license expires on September 26, 2021.
However, the fight between Law and Justice and the free media began much earlier. First, efforts were made to silence the smaller stations by probing whether the society and the journalistic community would express solidarity with the small media that were persecuted, and then cracked down on larger entities.
This was the case with an independent – financed by viewers – Against the Tide TV run by a New Covenant Church in Lublin, which has been called a “sect” by the government media for several years. In this case, the church brought a lawsuit against TVP.
“In my opinion, the reason why our television is discriminated against and persecuted by the Law and Justice government is that we present critical comments about the current government and its connections with the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. We also show that communist China entwines all environments in Poland with an increasingly dense net – even the police and border guards”, comments Pastor Paweł Chojecki, the editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV.
The actions of the Against the Tide TV are so effective that the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of China – the Global Times daily – demanded that the Polish authorities silence the Against the Tide TV for the #SayYesToTaiwan #SayNoToCommunistChina campaign. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Beijing issued a statement on this matter in October 2018.
Dear Editor,
We would like to kindly inform you that in connection with the appearance on 30/10/2018 in the Chinese media space, articles, and comments about the Youtube channel Idź Pod Prąd TV (Eng. Against the Tide TV) – the Polish Embassy in Beijing has published an announcement for whom it may concern, which is as follows: 1. Poland was one of the countries which were the first to acknowledge PRC in October, 1949 and has been guided by the principle of “one China” ever since. 2. The Embassy of the Republic of Poland does not comment on the activities of Youtube users, for in Poland there is a constitutional principle of freedom of expression.
Sincerely, Office of the Spokesperson, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The document presents specific examples of the persecution and discrimination of Protestant Christians, including activities carried out by the Polish government, Polish services, and the judiciary. It describes, inter alia, the case of burning the car of Grzegorz Dolecki, a Christian from the Church of the New Covenant in Lublin, also associated with Against the Tide TV. The car burned down right next to a house where several small children were staying. The prosecutor’s office dismissed the case. The report was sent to the Polish authorities as well as to the US Department of State.
Examples of discrimination by state authorities include, for example, the Law and Justice government’s threefold refusal by the Ministry of Interior and Administration to conclude a separate agreement regulating relations between the New Covenant Church in Lublin and the Republic of Poland (two decisions in April 2020 and one in August 2020), although such a possibility is explicitly provided in art. 25 sec. 5 of the Constitution, which states: “Relations between the Republic of Poland and other churches and religious associations are determined by laws adopted on the basis of agreements concluded by the Council of Ministers with their respective representatives”. Such agreements have been signed by other churches of a similar nature, such as the Baptist Christian Church in Poland and the Pentecostal Church in Poland.
Another example of discrimination against Against the Tide TV and New Covenant Church in Lublin is the passivity of the prosecutor’s office and the police in the event of physical attacks against the editor-in-chief of the TV, pastor Paweł Chojecki, as well as television journalists and members of the Church. Reported cases concerned: car burning, car destruction, multiple unscrewing bolts in car wheels, puncturing inner tubes, fecal contamination of a building owned by the church. This passivity also consists in persistent disregard for criminal threats directed against members of the Editorial Board and the Church. A dozen or so such cases were discontinued by the prosecutor’s office, even despite the detection of the perpetrators.
The most recent example of a violation of fundamental civil liberties by the Law and Justice authorities is the indictment by the government prosecutor’s office and the conviction by the District Court of Pastor Paweł Chojecki, for, inter alia, criticizing President Andrzej Duda and the Catholic Church (eg for calling Duda “a coward”, and the Fatima revelations “a ghost”). The pastor was sentenced to 8 months of restriction of liberty in the form of forced community service and the payment of over 20,000 PLN of litigation costs. The judgment is not final. Three appeals have already been filed with the appellate court, as the legal community is outraged by the conviction of a pastor and a journalist for words. Paweł Chojecki is waiting for the appeal hearing.
However, the fight between Law and Justice government and the free media began much earlier. First, efforts were made to silence the smaller stations by probing whether the society and the journalistic community would express solidarity with the small media that were persecuted, and then cracked down on larger entities.
“This is not about our editor-in-chief or our television. It is about every Pole – not only colleagues of journalists. In the 21st century Poland, will we be able to look at the authorities, criticize them when it’s needed, and even ridicule them, show their hypocrisy – or will we go back to the People’s Republic of Poland and again welcome the Central Office of Press Control and censorship? In 21st century Poland, as members of minority denominations, will we have the right to believe what we want and discuss with other denominations, or will we go back to the Middle Ages and the state court will play a holy inquisition game, condemning those who dared to criticize dogmas, bishops, and popes? It is worth remembering that every dictatorship begins with a slow limitation of the freedom of an individual, inciting one another and discriminating first against minorities, only to subordinate everyone after some time, commented the journalists of the Against the Tide TV. “They came for us, they will come for you. Or they castrate you and then leave you alone. Do you want such a Poland?”, they add.
“Polish pastor and troublemaker. Within a quarter of a century, he had built a church and a media company. (…) On June 10, he was sentenced to 200 hours of community service by the Polish court, which found him guilty of insulting the religious feelings of Catholics and the Polish President,” this is what Herman Veenhof, a journalist for the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, wrote in an extensive article about pastor Paweł Chojecki. Is this the beginning of an international scandal ridiculing the Polish criminal justice system?
“A Polish pastor Paweł Chojecki sentenced in June, appeals against the sentence,” says the beginning of the article, which appeared in a Dutch newspaper, both on paper and online.
“This applies to Polish President Andrzej Duda, who was called a sleeping agent by Chojecki. Chojecki called Roman Catholic dogmas idiocy, said that Catholics mindlessly pray with the rosary like a monkey, and the revelation in Fatima is a ghost,” a journalist reports for a Christian newspaper in the Netherlands, which has a daily print run is almost 24,000 copies.
“Chojecki belonged to an Independent Students Association and was an active activist in the Light-Life Movement of Fr. Blachnicki,” the article says. The author presents pastor Chojecki and his way of life.
Before publication, the journalist contacted Paweł Chojecki and spoke to him for a long time, asking about the details of his private life and public activities. The text contains extensive quotes from this conversation. The pastor described his conversion to Jesus and the moment he left the Roman Catholic Church: “I read the Bible and concluded that Jesus and the Catholic Church do not have much in common, so I left this church.”
“Chojecki and his wife Marzena have a son Timothy – doctor of mathematics, daughter Eunika – journalist and Cornelia – psychologist. Within a quarter of a century, he had built a church and a media company,” the article says.
“BIKE ACTION. Chojecki is not alone. In recent weeks, Pastor Paweł Machała has been cycling around Poland with a giant banner “I support Paweł Chojecki” [action #SupportPastorChojecki] as part of the #TourDeWolność [TourDeFreedom] campaign”, Herman Veenhof reports.
— Against the Tide (Idź Pod Prąd) TV (@AgainstTideTV) June 28, 2021
“The newspaper and the TV channel are called “Against the Tide”, which reflects how they work (…). The Megachurch project refers to the pre-Catholic Counter-Reformation, that is, the 16th century. – Poland needs a return to its Protestant roots. I am not a right-wing extremist or a nationalist. Jesus died for all of us, but Acts 17 speaks of nations. Therefore, it is not a bad thing that there are Polish Protestant churches in Poland, which will refer to the Golden Age, Jagiellonians and reformers such as Jan Łaski, who preceded Calvin,” Pastor Chojecki explained to a Dutch journalist.
“Provoking is a pastor’s tactic. If he didn’t do it, no one would listen to him. We hope that as a result of this move, people will open the Bible themselves and get to know Jesus”, the journalist quotes Przemysław Jankowski, an engineer living in the Netherlands, one of the members of the New Covenant Church in Lublin founded by Paweł Chojecki.
The editor quotes further statements by Pastor Chojecki: “We are theologically conservative and this separates us somewhat from most Protestant churches in Poland. They make up only half a percent of Polish society.”
“Mateusz Wichary (45 years old) is the leader of Polish Baptists (…). Pastor Chojecki, however, thinks he is too ecumenical. – Almost all of the Protestant movement in Poland has been taken over during the Cold War by the Communists, [Pastor Chojecki] says.”
The article ends with a quote from Pastor Chojecki: “Communism still exists. (…) That is why the trial against me is both political and religious. I supported Trump, I support a free Hong Kong, I recognize Taiwan and I want a Polish embassy in Jerusalem. This does not appeal to Chinese investors who have a lot to say in Poland.”
Watch the video about the life of pastor Paweł Chojecki:
“I hereby announce that the appeal on the conviction for the words of Pastor Paweł Chojecki was drawn up, printed, and signed,” wrote pastor Chojecki’s defense lawyer, Andrzej Turczyn, on Twitter. “Today it will be sent. I cannot agree with the judgment of the District Court in Lublin in any way,” the lawyer added. What’s next? About this more tomorrow on Against the Tide TV.
June 10, the District Court in Lublin issued a judgment in the case of Pastor Paweł Chojecki, editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV, who has been tried for, inter alia, insulting the religious feelings of Catholics and insulting President Andrzej Duda. The pastor was sentenced to eight months of restriction of freedom in the form of 20 hours per month of community work and reimbursement of the costs of the trial – more than $20,000.
Today, Andrzej Turczyn filed an appeal against the verdict in the Court of Appeal in Lublin:
Zawiadamiam, że apelacja w sprawie skazującego wyroku za słowa @PawelChojecki została sporządzona, wydrukowana i podpisana. Dzisiaj zostanie wysłana.
Also, Adam Wróblewski, a Cracow-based legal adviser, filed an appeal against the verdict yesterday:
W sprawie skazanego za słowa pastora @PawelChojecki, apelację złożył w dniu 22.07.2021 r. na korzyść skazanego również radca prawny z kancelarii z Krakowa.
“@3!? %*! The world has gone mad! Riots, disasters, China threatening the world with war… Conspiracy theories, freemasons, and f*ck knows what else. How am I supposed to figure this whole shit out? And where the hell is God?! The catholic church is collapsing. Cardinals are pedophiles. Damn it!” – you can hear these words at the beginning of the animation “The Time of Apocalypse”, based on the comic book by Andrzej Patalon. The animation premiered on July 9 on Against the Tide TV.
The story takes place mainly during the time of the Apocalypse. In the new production of Against the Tide TV, we follow the fate of a man – a typical representative of the young generation, witnessing forced chipping of people, total surveillance, and terror on the part of the authorities. He also meets the Antichrist, a global political leader who heads the world government. After a while, the man is captured… Watch the video on the Against the Tide TV channel on YouTube and Facebook.
Pastor Paweł Chojecki was today convicted for, inter-alia, insulting the religious feelings of Catholics, and insulting President Duda. The verdict is eight months of restriction of freedom in the form of community work. The judgment is not legally valid. Today, in the program Against the Tide LIVE, pastor Chojecki announced an appeal against the verdict. – The greatest harm that this judgment does is that it has already gone out to the public. I have been humiliated and stigmatized in front of the whole of Poland. The biggest victim of the verdict is the Polish nation, not me. It is our freedom that has been harmed! – said the editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV.
Eunika Chojecka: What was your first reaction to today’s judgment?
Pastor Paweł Chojecki: I was prepared for this, but I accepted it with sadness. This is a very important message for every Pole – not just for me. It may sound strange, but I consider this a privilege. I have been a Christian since the times of communism, I converted [to Christianity] in 1986, (…) I was afraid that I would be prosecuted by the prosecutor, the Ministry of Public Security, or the courts. Thank God this did not happen. Now, in supposedly free Poland, I am not only dragged to the courts but also, I am subject to the court’s verdict. I think Christians know the testimony of the Apostle Paul from Phil. 1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake.”
The fact that the Polish State will punish me for my beliefs and words… I have not experienced something like this in my life. I don’t think any pastor in Poland has been convicted of criticizing the dogmas of another church. Since God has given me the role of the first, I accept that. The judge also sent a clear signal to those who criticize the Catholic Church and the power of Law and Justice to be very careful about the words, because they will share my fate. There will be haters who will stalk your statements, there also will be the prosecutor’s office supervised politically by Minister Ziobro. And, as you see; there will be a verdict. It is also very strange that the judge in the justifications of the sentence said that this punishment is intended to make me think about how my dogmas are presented. As I understand it, the point is that I have to think about my Christian beliefs. I wonder how the Poles will react. Is it really the court’s job to shape the dogmas of the faith of Poles?
This is indeed the day of triumph for my enemies, who have been destroying my person, my family, for years. Some of them I know personally, once they were in my house, I preached the gospel to them. I hope that now they see what harm they have done not only to me but to the harm they have done to Poland – they have muzzled themselves because the restriction of freedom will also affect them. I hope for some in-depth reflection, perhaps their conversion (…)
Even if this judgment is overturned by the court of appeal, it has already been announced to the public. I have been humiliated and stigmatized in front of the whole of Poland. There is no going back from this, even if the court of appeal changes that judgment. The biggest victim of the verdict is the Polish nation, not me. It is our freedom and our state that have been disgraced.
Below, you will find comments on the verdict in the trial of Pastor Paweł Chojecki, made today, in Against the Tide LIVE.
Andrzej Turczyn, defender of Pastor Paweł Chojecki:
This is not a day of triumph, of contentment – it is more of a day of amazement about the content of this judgment. I do not agree with this judgment, I am disappointed, I am sorry and sad. I think that this case will continue, but (…) I believe that I have worked quite a lot on this case, and having listened to the oral arguments made initially by the Judge-Rapporteur, I am disappointed that the Judge did not in any way relate to this hard work, to the arguments that I have put forward myself in, note, I stress, 54 letters submitted to the court, and he has largely confined himself to repeating the arguments put forward in the indictment.
I would like this justification of the verdict, which was delivered today in Lublin, to be made publicly available. For all Poles to be able to get acquainted with what the judge-rapporteur initially said about why he convicts Paweł Chojecki. I think they may be a little shocked by it. This judgment will have an impact on what can be said in Poland. I think Poles should learn that the times are coming, that it will not be possible to say what one thinks.
Michal Hara, Head of the Legislative and System Department at the Ombudsman’s Office:
I think it is too early to talk about the possible effects of the judgment. I am aware of how the pastor receives a conviction, but it must still be remembered that this is an invalid judgment and, under the law, is a pastor, innocent man. Only a final decision of the court, the conviction, will break the presumption of innocence.
Prof. Krzysztof Kilian, Department of Ontology and Theory of Cognition, University of Zielona Góra, author of the counter-opinion to the expert opinion in the trial of Pastor Chojecki:
From what I know about it, in any literature on the subject, religious feelings have not been defined. If they have not been defined, it is difficult to talk about what has been offended, or what has not been offended. (…) There is exactly one definition in our Supreme Court that defines religious feelings as a mental state. The question arises, how can one offend someone else’s mental states? Mental states are physio-chemical processes, so it gets even better. (…) I have hypertension – some physicochemical processes occur and – is it also possible to offend them or not? (…) In fact, everyone can be accused of something like this. This is a very dangerous procedure.
What’s next? Pastor Pawel Chojecki finished the program Against the Tide LIVE saying:
Thank you very much to all those who have been with me during this time. My family, the crew, you as well. After all, the action #SupportPastorChojecki involved a few hundred people, numerous messages. This has been a great experience. I know we’re entering dark times. This is the [government’s] message: keep your trap shut! But the question now is: are Poles free people?
