Words that become actions. On the brutalization of public life

Least of all, it seems, contrary to Niedzielski's own suggestions, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, which was supposed to strip him of his protection. Minister Marcin Kierwinski was quick to clarify that Niedzielski could - in view of the threats he had received - have applied for such protection, but he did not, and the one he was entitled to simply expired a few months after his resignation. No minister, no prime minister, is automatically protected "for life."

It is also difficult to reduce the event to an act of hooliganism, even taking into account that the perpetrators were not only under the influence of alcohol, but simply - drunk. The shouts that Adam Niedzielski was said to have heard ("death to traitors to the fatherland") are deceptively reminiscent of one of the election slogans that resounded during the last presidential campaign: - Death to the enemies of the fatherland. These words were shouted, for example, by Grzegorz Braun outside the headquarters of the medical chamber in Wroclaw, where doctors who questioned government policy and the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccinations during the pandemic stood trial in the spring.

The attack on the former health minister, about which to write "controversial" is far too little, is yet another proof that we have a huge (and growing) problem with the brutalization of life in the public space. Physical violence, motivated by views or inculcated (nomen omen) fake news, spread with great participation of some politicians, can affect anyone. Those at risk are public figures and also those who, although not holding any office, speak out in public. For example, on the issue of vaccinations.

At a recent conference organized by the District Medical Chamber in Warsaw, dedicated to the problem of violence, the president of the Supreme Medical Council, Lukasz Jankowski, addressed, among other things, the problem of doctors being invaded in their places of residence, actively involved in vaccination education, by anti-vaccine activists. And even if this is "only" limited to distributing leaflets or writing unflattering slogans, the message is clear: - We know where you live, be careful.

Verbal violence usually precedes the physical one. Online heckling easily spills over into the real world (although, of course, not everyone posting a negative, even a hectoring, comment is able to move on to action, thankfully). That's why words must not be ignored, passed over, just as Gregory Braun's statement in the autumn of 2021, directed from the parliamentary stand at the incumbent health minister ("You will be hanged"), was passed over by the judiciary, after several months discontinuing the case, which - here the lawyers had no doubts - should have ended with the Confederation's deputy having his immunity revoked and a conviction.

State organs must not demoralize citizens. And the decision of the prosecutor's office, which is subordinate to the Minister of Justice, meant exactly that. Condoning aggression, condoning violence, condoning threats.