A fundamentalist ally indeed
Dr. Tomasz Kamusella works at the John W Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
The Polish have a bitter memory of the U.S. and the U.K. betraying their fatherland at the Yalta conference (1945), having "sold" it to Stalin's sphere of dominance. But the Polish people quickly absolved their beloved Ameryka. The communist propaganda directed against the west only fortified the average Pole's Americanophilism (love of the U.S.). The U.S. supported the anti-communist Solidarity movement. Following the 1981 imposition of martial law, Washington tightened the screw on the ravaged state. Predictably, people blamed Warsaw and Moscow and cheered Reagan's aggressive stance.
Since regaining full sovereignty, the Polish state itself has begun to act in a very pro-American manner. Prior to Desert Storm, Polish security forces evacuated American undercover agents from Iraq and Warsaw waived the visa requirement for U.S. citizens. Along with the U.K., Poland has proved to be the most pro-American Nato ally in Europe. The Polish government did not take into account Franco-German concerns about the Polish military's decision to purchase U.S. F-16s, instead of supporting the EU weapon industry.
Poland's distinctive Americanophilism earned it the slur of being the "U.S. Trojan horse in Europe." Such dubious fame does not help the process of the country's accession to the EU. Some claim that if the EU continues giving such a cold shoulder to Warsaw, Poland must join NAFTA. But that is another of Poland's geopolitically absurd dreams. The pro-U.S. stance clearly endangers Polish political and economic interests in the EU, scheduled to enlarge in 2004. Apart from London, Western EU members can hardly comprehend this pro-American fundamentalism.
In its idealism, it is in line with the thought of the fathers of the American Republic, but not with the pragmatism of today's U.S. Washington employs the rhetoric of Polish-American friendship so as to satisfy the yearnings of Poland's Americanophilism, while the exigencies of day-to-day politics prevent the U.S. administration from implementing the rhetoric's messages. For the time being this is enough. But a younger generation of Poles, with no direct knowledge of communist oppression, are in position to (and they shall) test time and again what is the real extent of Washington's declared Polish-American friendship.
Hopefully, they will not find out that it may be similar to the officially approved and supported "Polish-Soviet friendship" of the communist years. Then Poles were not allowed to enter the Soviet Union and they feared the intervention of "big brother". Obviously there is no such a danger in U.S.-Polish relations, however, the U.S. visa regime for Polish citizens seems like a throwback to the very depth of the Cold War times.
The tragedy of September 11 only fortified Polish Americanophilism. Millions lit candles in honor of the dead as well as sending condolences to U.S. diplomatic missions, but new security measures affected them too. The time of ten-year-long multiple visas is over. The usual visa issued to a Polish citizen is valid for three years only. As in the past, it is not a visa in the European meaning of the word, but a mere promise that the holder of the document may be allowed to step onto American soil. Around 40 percent of applicants are refused visas because they are considered potential economic immigrants, as if the U.S. has not grown big on this kind of immigration. And then, in reciprocation for the waiving of the requirement of a Polish visa for U.S. citizens traveling to Poland, the U.S. visa is free for Poles. Only theoretically speaking, however. The administrative fee tailored to cover the cost of paperwork involved is $100. But it is collected in Polish złoties calculated at zł.400. Surprisingly, according to the current exchange rate this sum equals $115-120. Also, an applicant has to contact the consulate via a special pay-phone service to schedule a meeting with a consul. The cost of one minute is zł.5, which is $1.25. Even more expensive than calling the U.S. from Poland! The usual length of such a call is around twenty minutes to half an hour, which means an additional $30, which together with the administrative fee results in the lump sum of $150. Quite a hefty ransom compared to the Polish average monthly salary of $300.
I wonder for how long U.S. citizens would believe in American-Polish friendship if, for admittance to democratic Poland, they had to pay an administrative fee equal to half of their monthly earnings, let's say $2000?
There is no option for the applicant to mail his papers to a U.S. consulate, as is the norm in Northern America. He has to talk to the consul in person. If he dares travel with his family, he must even bring along his babies to present them to the U.S. official for approval. The special telephone service, which I mentioned above, gives the applicant the date and specific hour when the meeting will be held. It entails traveling to Warsaw or Kraków from places that are possibly located 400 or 500 kilometers away. That does not sound far in the U.S. terms, but the relative costs and difficulties of such a journey can be better understood under Northern American conditions if one multiplies this figure by four or five. The covering of the distance of 2000 miles does not sound appealing.
When one eventually reaches the U.S. Consulate in Kraków, the first thing the applicant learns is that the hour of the meeting was a phoney piece of information intended to spread the crowd. Should an applicant come at 11am, he stands a strong chance of not entering the consulate, which closes its doors at 12am. This necessitates repeated travel and further loss of money.
The queue of around 100 to 200 applicants winds in front of the consulate under the open skies, hail, storm, snow or sunshine. Applicants are herded into several queues. At the first, the consulate's Polish employees check if the forms are filled in correctly. Usually, one returns to the end of this first queue two or three times. Then, there is another line when those who passed the first stage are color-coded into groups. These groups are called upon to present themselves at the door so as to be herded through the metal detector gate. Next, the applicant rushes across the courtyard to the stairs that lead to the second floor - where the consulate's reception is located. After having submitted his papers with the receptionist, they are processed. On the return of these documents, the applicant enters the last queue to the four bullet-proof windows - from behind which consuls administer at most one-minute-long meetings. They never ask your kids about anything and hardly have a look at them.
Finally, the decision comes. The successful applicant has to collect his visa in person or it can be mailed to him via courier mail, obviously not courtesy of the consulate.
These tribulations would not surprise one if they were directed at inhabitants of a state that is known to harbor fundamentalist organizations or sympathies. And Poland, indeed, is a state guilty of fundamentalism, this is, of its blind Americanophilism. The situation described above ought not to surprise Polish citizens as Washington has declared a war on fundamentalisms of any provenances, perhaps, including excessive love of America too.
Time and again Poland and the Poles have proven that they are a trustworthy ally of the U.S. It would be unwise for Washington to lose this political capital. Why not reciprocate? Why not scrap visas for Polish citizens? They are staunchly pro-American and on May 1, 2004 Poland will accede to the EU. Certainly, due to the myth of the American dream, many a compatriot of mine has decided to overstay the legal period of tourist sojourn in the U.S. and tried to find a job here. Yes, but the U.S. has thrived on immigrants and such hard-working individuals who love the American way of life. On top of that, with the steady development of the Polish economy and with Poland's membership of the EU, most prospective immigrants will rather choose the simpler way of settling down in the U.K., Ireland, Scandinavia or the Netherlands - no visas or work permits required.
Would it then not be possible for the U.S. to suffer gladly a little surge in Polish immigration rather than condemn the tradition of Polish Americanophilia to oblivion?
