Eastern European Politics Special: the new political party is named exactly like its leader


  • Banned

    There's a cute new tradition in recent years in Polish politics: every new political party has its leader's name appended to its official name. Janusz Palikot started "Palikot's Movement". Jarosław Gowin started "Jarosław Gowin's Poland Together". Janusz Korwin started "Janusz Korwin's Congress of New Right".

    That last folk had funny incident few weeks ago - Korwin's party commission decided to let go of Korwin and chose a new leader. Soon after, Korwin left the party - however, the folks still there haven't changed the name of party, so it's still Korwin's Congress despite Korwin not being in it. Moreover, Korwin decided to start a new party. He named it "Koalicja Obrony Rzeczypospolitej Wolność i Nadzieja". In short, KORWiN. Whole Poland is "ICWATUDIDTHAR" right now.

    Bonus fun: "członek" (member), aside meaning "part of some organization", is also a slang term for penis. I can't wait for the two upcoming political campaigns and seeing "member of KORWiN" under people's names in national TV.



  • @Gaska said:

    I can't wait for the two upcoming political campaigns and seeing "member of KORWiN" under people's names in national TV.

    +1. The grammar will kinda ruin the joke though.

    @Gaska said:

    That last folk had funny incident few weeks ago - Korwin's party commission decided to let go of Korwin and chose a new leader.

    And the gossip is it's because he just had children out of wedlock (a no-no in a rather conservative party). The guy is fucking 72.


  • Banned

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    +1. The grammar will kinda ruin the joke though.

    Nope. Even their official website decline KORWiN like a person.

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    The guy is fucking 72.

    No, he's fucking a 29. While he is 72.



  • You correctly said Eastern European—happens in Czechia¹ too. It was funny when the current president made the party of his sidekicks stop using his name in the party name after the party totally failed at elections.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Gaska said:

    There's a cute new tradition in recent years in Polish politics: every new political party has its leader's name appended to its official name. Janusz Palikot started "Palikot's Movement". Jarosław Gowin started "Jarosław Gowin's Poland Together". Janusz Korwin started "Janusz Korwin's Congress of New Right".

    Um - the three you cite have it prepended.... (I know - ESL, but still...)

    @Gaska said:

    Bonus fun: "członek" (member), aside meaning "part of some organization", is also a slang term for penis.

    'Member' has similar connotations in English.


    @Maciejasjmj said:

    And the gossip is it's because he just had children out of wedlock (a no-no in a rather conservative party). The guy is fucking 72.

    72.. what?



  • @PJH said:

    72.. what?

    Years old?


  • kills Dumbledore

    @PJH said:

    72.. what?

    virgins?


  • Banned

    @PJH said:

    Um - the three you cite have it prepended.... (I know - ESL, but still...)

    Only in translation - in original form, they're "Ruch Palikota", "Polska Razem Jarosława Gowina" and "Kongres Nowej Prawicy Janusza Korwin-Mikke" respectively.

    @PJH said:

    'Member' has similar connotations in English.

    Everything on Urban Dictionary has similar connotations.



  • @Gaska said:

    Everything on Urban Dictionary has similar connotations.

    Everything's a penis if you look hard enough.


    Filed under: paging dr. freud


  • kills Dumbledore



  • @PJH said:

    'Member' has similar connotations in English.

    In Spanish too. Maybe this is a natural language thing.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Jaloopa said:

    @PJH said:
    72.. what?

    virgins?

    Not any more.


  • BINNED

    @Eldelshell said:

    In Spanish too. Maybe this is a natural language thing.

    Not in southern Slavic variants I'm familiar with. Though I think we have enough slang terms to last us a while anyway.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Gaska said:

    Bonus fun: "członek" (member), aside meaning "part of some organization", is also a slang term for penis.

    That's interesting, etymologically speaking.

    Also, Google translates the party name as "Coalition of Defence[1] of the Republic of Freedom and Hope". If that's an accurate translation, this dude deserves kudos for producing a good name to back his acronym.

    [1] SRSLY?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    The grammar will kinda ruin the joke though.

    In English, "KORWiN's member", the grammatically correct way to be funny, doesn't make sense in the context of "member of x party", unfortunately. I assume the same holds for Polish.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @PJH said:

    Um - the three you cite have it prepended

    Except that in Polish the name does come at the end: Wikipedia says "full name of party - Polska Razem Jarosława Gowina"


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @PJH said:

    'Member' has similar connotations in English.

    That cannot possibly be a coincidence. I bet the Polish word borrows the connotation from the English one.

    @Eldelshell said:

    In Spanish too. Maybe this is a natural language thing.

    Or maybe not.


  • Banned

    @FrostCat said:

    "Coalition of Defence[1] of the Republic of Freedom and Hope"

    I've just noticed I've typo'd there - it's not "Obrony" (defence), it's "Odnowy" (renewal, rebuild, restitution). Also, in Polish, "Rzeczpospolita" means "the Republic", but only if specifically talking about Republic of Poland - for other republics we have word "republika". Also, "Wolność i Nadzieja" is a foundation led by KORWiN's vice-president and co-founder Przemysław Wipler, formerly the only KNP's congressman up to date. So the name isn't totally out of blue.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @FrostCat said:

    That cannot possibly be a coincidence. I bet the Polish word borrows the connotation from the English one.

    It wouldn't surprise me if it was the other way round...

    The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.



  • @PJH said:

    It wouldn't surprise me if it was the other way round...

    Nonsense. Who wants to borrow anything from a Pole?

    Also, it seems both languages have used the word to generally mean "a part of the body" in ye olde times. That there's only one of them worth mentioning is not a hard conclusion to draw.


  • Grade A Premium Asshole

    @Gaska said:

    No, he's fucking a 29. While he is 72.

    I can't speak for anyone else, but that would make me want to vote for him. Good on him. The grim reaper is closing in, may as well enjoy yourself.


  • kills Dumbledore

    Worked for Berlusconi


  • 🚽 Regular

    @Eldelshell said:

    In Spanish too. Maybe this is a natural language thing.
    AFAICT it's of Latin origin, from the word membrum.

    These words are used to refer to an animal's limbs (or other protrusions...), as well as a general part of an organ or organism.

    Edit: damn, Hanzo'd by only two days.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    And the gossip is it's because he just had children out of wedlock (a no-no in a rather conservative party). The guy is fucking 72.

    The gossip is false. He was let go, because after getting into EU parliament he had too little time to take care of the party (according to those who kicked him out, that is).



  • @Gaska said:

    "Wolność i Nadzieja"

    It is also an “antonym” of the name of the other party “Prawo i Sprawiedliwość” (Law and Justice), isn't it?



  • @MrL said:

    The gossip is false.

    That's why it's called a "gossip". Though I don't think anybody denied him actually having those children, only that it was the reason for being kicked out. So still kudos.


  • Banned

    @MrL said:

    The gossip is false. He was let go, because after getting into EU parliament he had too little time to take care of the party (according to those who kicked him out, that is).

    This is what the new leader of KNP says. Which doesn't sound very convincing after listening to Korwin himself, who said in an interview something like "well, the conventicle decided to let me go, for reasons, and the statute says they can do it, so it's all OK".

    @Bulb said:

    It is also an “antonym” of the name of the other party “Prawo i Sprawiedliwość” (Law and Justice), isn't it?

    No, not really. Not intended at least. Actually, "Law and Justice" would be a great name for Korwin's party if it wasn't already taken by some unlawful and unjust group of people.



  • @Gaska said:

    There's a cute new tradition in recent years in Polish politics: every new political party has its leader's name appended to its official name. Janusz Palikot started "Palikot's Movement". Jarosław Gowin started "Jarosław Gowin's Poland Together". Janusz Korwin started "Janusz Korwin's Congress of New Right".

    To refer to the OP: does nowhere else do this? We just had state elections and the minor parties included "Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party" "Palmer United Party" "Katter's Australian Party"

    But then it is funny to talk about members' members.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @Zemm said:

    minor parties

    You mean like quinciñeras?


  • Banned

    @Zemm said:

    does nowhere else do this?

    I don't know about the rest of world, but they didn't do it in Poland before 2011. Though we had a few funny party names before, like Polish Party of Beer Friends (Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa).



  • @Gaska said:

    Polish Party of Beer Friends (Polska Partia Przyjaciół Piwa).

    A few years ago I had the opportunity to vote for the Party Party Party Party. So many minor parties, the ballot paper was like a tablecloth.



  • @boomzilla said:

    You mean like quinciñeras?

    No, quinceañeras1 are definitely major parties in the culture(s) that celebrate them.

    1 Note the correct spelling. For those who may not know what they are: Quince = 15. Año = year. Quinceañera = 15th birthday party.


  • Banned

    @another_sam said:

    So many minor parties, the ballot paper was like a tablecloth.

    Funny you mention that - the switch from tablecloth-like voting cards to book-like voting cards was allegedly the major reason why invalid votes count in recent Polish elections was twice bigger than four years ago.



  • We solved the problem a different way. The proliferation of tiny parties was a partially successful attempt to game the preference voting system. None of the parties expected a seat in parliament, but set up their ticket voting preferences for a specific slightly-less-minor party, who ended up with a seat in the state parliament.

    Our electoral commission took the simple path of raising the requirements to be eligible for the ballot: Make it more expensive and require more voter signatures. I can't remember the exact numbers but they aren't onerous, just more than trivial. If you can't raise that much money or get that many signatures you don't have a hope anyway.



  • @another_sam said:

    A few years ago I had the opportunity to vote for the Party Party Party Party. So many minor parties, the ballot paper was like a tablecloth.

    Except that beer party actually did get enough votes to get a bunch of seats, I believe. And much to their surprise at that.



  • @Maciejasjmj said:

    Except that beer party actually did get enough votes to get a bunch of seats

    Hahaha, that's awesome. Best election ever!


  • Banned

    In 1991, the first free Polish parliamentary election, there were 111 registered electorial committees, 29 of which got seat in the parliament, with largest party having only 61 out of 460 seats. I think this was much better than what we have now, which is five political parties, two of them being elected every time since 1993, another two consequently either winning or second-placing ever since they were created in 2005, and the fifth one made up of people from other four. And the opposition doesn't even vote contrary to ruling party!



  • I assume with so many parties holding seats, no one party has a majority, therefore minority government? That is usually better than a majority government which is what we often end up with because only two major parties.

    @Gaska said:

    And the opposition doesn't even vote contrary to ruling party!

    If you have a minority government, they need the opposition on board to get anything done. Despite the title "Opposition", they don't need to be the "No!" party all the time.


  • Banned

    You don't understand. First, it's actually the majority government because coallitions are made to push the sum over 50%. Second, they would do just fine with a minority because even the part of opposition that's out of coallition votes in favor of ruling party. There are several conspiracy theories that explain this phenomenon, some of which say that the orders for Polish politicians come from the above, so they "can't" say no even if they wanted.



  • Or maybe because all the parties have mostly similar ideologies, especially when it comes to economy, since "we will take from the rich and give to the poor" tends to win you the most votes in a democratic system.

    But natch, Jews and Illuminati.


  • Banned

    @Maciejasjmj said:

    Or maybe because all the parties have mostly similar ideologies, especially when it comes to economy, since "we will take from the rich and give to the poor" tends to win you the most votes in a democratic system.

    Doesn't explain why they're constantly arguing with each other about every little thing.


  • BINNED

    Sorry, are we still talking about Poland or did you guys start watching Croatian TV?



  • @another_sam said:

    minority government? That is usually better than a majority government

    From my understanding of Canadian federal politics over the last decade or so, I strongly agree with this.



  • @Gaska said:

    Doesn't explain why they're constantly arguing with each other about every little thing.

    Emphasis added.


  • Banned

    @Onyx said:

    Sorry, are we still talking about Poland or did you guys start watching Croatian TV?

    Does it matter?

    @tar said:

    Emphasis added.

    About big ones, they don't talk at all. Or they trivialize them to the point they're little things again. Like that time when there was leaked recording of president of national bank agreeing to fund political campaign of ruling party in exchange for letting go of minister of finance and passing one bill that gave him some more power - the independent mainstream media focused on minister of internal affairs inventing a new proverb: "chuj, dupa i kamieni kupa" (describing in what condition Poland is).


  • BINNED

    @Gaska said:

    Does it matter?

    Nah, I just find it entertaining that I could just change a few names and it would be pretty much spot on.



  • @Gaska said:

    About big ones, they don't talk at all. Or they trivialize them to the point they're little things again.

    I suspect this is intentional, and not unique to Polish politics, for that matter.


  • Notification Spam Recipient

    @Gaska said:

    they would do just fine with a minority because even the part of opposition that's out of coallition votes in favor of ruling party. There are several conspiracy theories that explain this phenomenon, some of which say that the orders for Polish politicians come from the above, so they "can't" say no even if they wanted.

    Whoa, that's cool! Except not true.
    Opposition disagrees with the government and votes against it all the time.

    It always amazes me how people believe in things that are evidently false and shown to be false day after day in every news broadcast there is.


  • Banned

    @MrL said:

    It always amazes me how people believe in things that are evidently false and shown to be false day after day in every news broadcast there is.

    Actually, there are more hints for this theory than against. One of them is that many of the most important politicians in the last 25 years have been negotiating with the communist government back in '88 in Magdalenka, and the negotiators from both sides were hand-picked by army general and prime minister Czesław Kiszczak.

    But since I disagree with the independent mainstream media funded by national treasury, you can safely disregard everything I say and call me crazy.


  • ♿ (Parody)

    @HardwareGeek said:

    No, quinceañeras are definitely major parties in the culture(s) that celebrate them.

    And yet still a celebration of a minor.


Log in to reply