Young Poles – Young Populist? The March of Independence in 2018

Since 2011 the extreme right-wing movements gathered around association called March of Independence organize annually march to commemorate the independence of Poland gained on 11th of November 1918. The marches were bringing the manifestation of nationalistic, anti-European and xenophobic views, slogans of which were presented on banners and chanted by the participants. Despite the various groups being present there, the most visible were those of football fans and other nationalistic groupings for whom the March was an occasion for the violent and discriminatory behaviors. The election of 2015 has brought to power a populist national-conservative government of Law and Justice (PiS) who has supported the marches and for whom those taking part in them epitomized the real patriots. In turn, the marches became a manifestation of support for the current government and therefore being non-violent as it happened in previous years. The march of 2018 was supposed to be a unifying experience all Poles, under the auspices of the Polish government, who could march hand in hand to commemorate 100 years of Polish independence. However, as it has been in previous years, it attracted in majority right-wing groupings, nationalists, football fans but also those supporting PiS government and questioning principals of liberal democracy. The majority of those marching are usually young people; therefore it has been a unique possibility to talk to them. Over 20 semi-structured interviews were conducted on the spot, before the start of the march. With the observable nationalistic and anti-liberal attitude of young people, the aim was to find out about not only their motivation for participation in the March but more importantly to talk about their views on current politics, leaders, and direction of changes on the political and social level. Interviews have allowed observing the scale of questioning the legitimacy of a system based on compliance with constitutional rules, and reference to authorities based on tradition, symbols, and charisma.