The right wing is wrong Why the Confederation party lives on another planet Piotr Miszczuk
‘A free market will liberate us all’, reads a slogan that is almost religiously recanted by the Confederation Liberty and Independence party, a far-right grouping that entered the Polish Parliament three years ago. Although their eleven seats in the lower house are, to say the least, not the power they’re after, their marginal political influence can tip the balance in the tight parliamentary majority, amidst the on-and-off turbulences within the ruling party.
Confederation reach beyond world views, as the grouping is mistaken when it comes to its very foundation – their most cherished economy. Even though most people are at odds with Confederation’s views on abortion, minorities or access to guns, some could be tricked by their populist economic programme. Under the guise of liberal and modern views on the economy, they advocate a state that doesn’t care about the less well-todo ones who were born into poorer families, or those who have found themselves in the throes of life-altering problems, either of which can severely cripple a person’s ‘marketability’.
T h e Co n fe d e r a t i o n party got into Parliament once they finally relegated Formed of several their controversial groupings, including and misogynistic leader, the less obvious Party Janusz Korwin-Mikke, of Drivers, the and started to promote their Confederation party younger and less prone to blunders is far from being activists. Their stronghold has always unanimous within. been the Internet, where they They agree to have been ‘destroying’ the disagree on ‘benighted’ and where whether people their edgy statements should be obliged to have not infrequently been wear face coverings in going viral. Every now and public or what the Polish then, the comments section on judiciary should be like. YouTube abounds in the party’s But they seem to see eye to eye about sympathisers simmering with anger public finance at the show hosts for not asking politicians their outlook on the taxes, the about the economy but focusing on ‘futile’ – the lower better. In t h i s , they’re right, but ideological disputes. only if you s t i l l believe that the And yet, Confederation’s ludicrous s o - c a l l e d ‘invisible hand’, a concept pseudo-scientific views don’t matter to coined as early as 1759 by economics their supporters. Denying the human forefather Adam Smith, still holds true. factor in climate change – the backbone of It doesn’t mean, however, that the market most European right-wing populists – is economy doesn’t work at all. The ‘invisible irrelevant. And so are the abominable antihand’ is a term for all the forces underlying LGBT+ inclinations or the party’s pandering the economic demand-supply interplay. to anti-vaxxers and the pandemic-sceptical. But the trade-offs of those siding with Being part and parcel of the laissez-faire philosophy, it is the idea that self-oriented 18
