No smoke without fire
His appearance, like the newspaper he edits, creates a modest stir. After all, here comes a man who has copyrighted one of the best known appearances in Poland. Jerzy Urban arrives promptly at 9:52 in a chauffeured dark green Jaguar, parked among carefully manicured surrounds of a peach-coloured villa in suburban Mokotów. It looks like the corporate headquarters of a discrete corporation. Theres just the prominent Nie-logo flag flapping in the breeze to give the game away. Such good taste among what some, confound their souls, consider bad taste. Blasphemy even. King of the castle is the spokesman of the last communist (well, military-communist) government.
The interior speaks of money spent on assembling a fabulous collection of modern Polish abstract art. There are many who say the Urbans have cornered the market. Some works knock the Last Spokesman himself. Others are not for the prudish. Personally, I always think the prudish miss out on a lot. John Paul is there, curled up reading Nie. Under the bed are his (red) furry slippers and (ahem) the night-time convenience. Elsewhere Wałęsa is a simpering mannequin. For an exhibition at the National Gallery, thered be queues around the block for this stuff. Urban is clearly having fun with the political establishment, the church and diverse other useful targets, including anyone foolish enough to exhibit symptoms of infallibility.
I am graciously escorted to a spacious upstairs suite, wooden, comfortable and welcoming. Theres room enough here to walk to one end, mix few drinks from the elegant bar, and be well out of earshot of guests on the cosy couches at the other end, who will be discussing Pan Urbans art collection.
The puckish face, Dumbo ears and ten-dollar cigar demand attention, as much as his words and ideas in print. As the commander-in-chief of Nie, he directs a powerful satirical weekly on the lines of Frances Le Canard Enchaine. It first rolled off the presses in 1990 to unanimous disapproval which has prevailed ever since, along with equally robust sales. Censorship was down but not quite out, the corpse of communism still warm. But, now as then, the paper is merely responding, according to Urban, to the mood of the majority of society. It was even a struggle to have this sharp, post-communist newspaper against Wałęsa, Solidarnoć and the church on sale in kiosks.
Nie is there to be hated or adored, but never ignored. The paper sizzles. It lands plenty of punches on the government, including veterans of the last Jaruzelski administration such as Superman Leszek Miller, for whom Urban had been the official spokesman.
I criticise the Left since they won the election, Urban says. I try for Nie to represent the views of the electorate of the Left, not the government of the Left. In practice these views delight and cheer up many activists of the Left: those who are not in government or those who do not like the Prime Minister.
He describes SLD as a party of job seekers, lacking a coherent ideological structure. There are always some differences in views and interests within the ruling elite, he says. But there are huge differences in views between the Prime Minister and the President and various quiet rivalries and competitions. When I criticise the Prime Minister, the President is pleased. Urban beams, contentedly.
The small stout figure leans forward, and before opening his box of choice Dominican cigars, he politely asks if he may smoke. He coughs slightly at first puff, disappears momentarily in smoke, then reappears to relish the problems the contemporary regime has with the European Union and the referendum.
He lauds the SLD for playing a propaganda game, one Urban knows very well, with the public. But, on the other hand, there is a lack of material discussion on this, he says. On topics like: who will gain and who will lose and on what timescale, on the future of the Union and what it should actually become.
The Polish position is a mixture of inability and cowardice. Cowardice is in the fact that the government, which decided its main objective is to bring Poland to the EU, is afraid of too material, substantial discussion.
The government is anxious that by providing open debate, itll upset the voters who, having no entirely fixed opinion yet, might shudder at loss of sovereignty or just the sheer strangeness of the proposition to which they are bidden to consent.
Cowardice has also deeper expressions, he continues. The government argues that joining the EU will limit the sovereignty of Poland only to a minimal extent because the traditional Polish mentality considers Polish sovereignty as something crucial.
By promoting this perception of Euroland the Miller government is blinding Poles to the fine print: The government or the elites do not take up a discussion that such an understanding of the sovereignty of Poland or a state in general, is an anachronism in Europe, Urban says. That nationalism and priority of the national state was a source of huge disasters in the twentieth century in Europe.
Inevitably, however, he warns, irrespective of the referendum, the binding decision on membership will fall to Parliament. The Poles will say yes, but the question is whether enough of them will say yes to make it valid.
At least 50% of those eligible to vote must participate in the referendum or, no matter the outcome, the Parliament decides.
My prognosis is that there will not be enough people voting because of lack of opinion, or they think it is not important, or they will be against their interest, but will not vote against because it is not politically correct, Urban says. A huge number of people never vote already; they do not feel the need to.
I fished for a prediction on the degree of apathy. Hes close to emanations from others who detect the silent majority, the ones who never vote, will prevail.
All those factors will play a role and cause the turnup to be 45%-47%, Urban says. It will not mean a disaster because then the Parliament will vote it through. But some political and psychological impact will remain.
Now its time to bring out the subject of the church for an airing. Urban visibly quickens. He doesnt smile upon the Polish church, at least the establishment thereof. I needle him with a recent interview in the Business Journal, in which Archbishop Glemp (who, by the most perverse of ironies, resembles him) vacillated on the churchs role in politics.
They say that the church is neutral in elections, but in all the churches people are told they should vote for good Christians, and it is obvious here who is not a good Christian, Urban says. And when a bishop publishes a political statement, the church says that the bishop did it as a citizen, since he has all rights of a citizen, so he does not represent the church.
He puffs, expansively, Dominican smoke.
But church pews are filled on Sundays, I plead. Nie can surely not preach the majority opinion in this matter. Indeed it does, he replies.
Since the beginning, the majority of people are decisively against this political role of the church, he argues. One must admit that this is not without results, because at the beginning of the 1990s the church had much more political ambitions than now, and it had ambitions to rule almost directly to the extent that it wanted to fill in the role played previously by the communist party. It delegated its people to the public institutions, it approved, supported some candidates for the public offices. But because of decreasing public support for those activities, these ambitions to make Poland a religious state were limited.
Setting aside the clear parallel with office-stuffing by the SLD, which usefully filled my mind at this juncture, I wondered what the role of the church should be. Now he eases back into one of these exceedingly absorbent chairs, tapping off expensive ash cremated to a perfect shade of grey. Only the tips of exquisite black shoes touch the floor.
Purely religious, in my opinion, Urban says. The church may influence public opinion in various matters, which concern the church, but it should not use the organs of the state authority to impose its doctrine. A classic example is a ban on abortions. No one used to force women to use abortion. Every woman, who thought it was sinful, could not use this route. And there are many other issues like it.
Urban, born in Łód in 1933, began professional journalism in the 1950s for Po Prostu. He was quickly unfrocked from the profession for slighting the communist party, and after rehabilitation, rejoined the writing community at Polityka. Finally, in 1981, he was considered a safe enough pair of hands to be appointed government spokesman. He was there through martial law, the near disappearance then return of the party, the rise of Solidarnoć, the imprisonment of Wałęsa, the Round Table. There were many who at the time thought he was the only man in the party in possession of a brain. At many a dinner party, that subversive thought persists, with respect to all contemporary politicians.
My newspaper enjoys a deserved opinion of the most independent, which can express critical opinions about people and institutions that other newspapers or publications may not be able to criticise because of the system of dependencies: political, business, including advertising, Urban says.
He explained how he positions the newspaper. Some publications are left-wing-oriented - and Nie belongs to that category - but unlike us are dependent on the SLD being currently in government, Urban says. He pauses, choosing phrases elegantly, as he has done throughout the interview. There are certain dependencies on the sources of information, and directly, because the leader of the party may appoint the editor or make an appointment difficult, he continues. But the most important is that supplying the newspaper with money depends on the connections of the party activists.
My newspaper is profitable, he declares. It almost does not print advertising, and it lives from our readers. And this he says, with expansive satisfaction, is the papers economic base for independence.
He is also protected by having no political aspirations.
In a political sense I am independent because I do not seek any positions; I do not wish to be voted into the Parliament he pauses for well-judged effect and nor do I seek a position for any of my relatives or friends.
It hardly seems, however, that all this independence matters given that very few people read newspapers in this country. They may not have the influence, which the press has elsewhere. There are no Sunday newspapers; mighty Warsaw does not have an evening newspaper, and they have disappeared in the provinces too.
It makes a role for Nie. It is true that readership of newspapers in Poland is very poor, Urban says. It is ascribed to the impact of TV: that the man after work does not buy a newspaper, but he goes home to stare at TV. Newspapers are the easiest item to cross out of the budget. But it does not mean lack of influence of the press.
The influence of Nie is well understood in political circles. Circulation is at least a quarter of Gazeta Wyborczas. It is found in banks and vestries, in ministerial sanctuaries, in boardrooms. Our publications really get through the governing elite, Urban says. For example, when I publish the article that this government will collapse because of corruption and I point to examples or criticise the model of the ruling party, it becomes a hot issue when Michniks Wyborcza re-prints the story.
Urban and Miller, old comrades from the last days of the United Polish Workers Party. Comrades still? There are periods when I see him very often, Urban says. This is when we have disputes. He grins mischievously, like the goblin he knows he resembles. And I mean real meetings, face to face, because we see each other on various social occasions.
So whats coming our way in Nie? Polish diplomats in Africa, shudder. You are going to be fingered for having a high old time at the taxpayers expense. And Father Director Rydzyk over there at Radio Maryja, Urban has found out where you are really getting your money from. I leave with the feeling rather more people would like to know that than exactly what it is Poland is going to get from the EU. But thats show business for you. Cool.
