Twardoch’s entry caused a storm. “What about these 1231412 ends of democracy?”

“Ladies and gentlemen, while rejoicing in the election results, I would like to ask what about the 1,231,412 ends of democracy that you, the leaders of Polish intellectual life, have been announcing since 2015 at every opportunity, on average three times a month?” – Szczepan Twardoch asked on the X website (formerly Twitter). “This democracy looks pretty good for something that has supposedly ended so many times,” said the writer.

“What about the PiS dictatorship ‘which will never give up power’? She just lost the election and is giving up power? It doesn’t make sense logically,” Twardoch continued. “So maybe there was never a dictatorship, we still lived in a democracy, only a party we didn’t like was in power, and you are just unbearable hysterics? But is this too daring a concept?” – he concluded.

Outrage after Twardoch’s entry

Over a thousand people commented on the entry. Some Internet users said that Twardoch’s thoughts were “on point”, but there were also voices of indignation. One Internet user asked if the writer would like to talk face-to-face with “women beaten and gassed in the streets.” “Please do not check how the French or German police behave, because it will turn out that there is no democracy anywhere in Europe!” – replied Twardoch.

Dorota Brejza, lawyer, private wife of Krzysztof Brejza, also reacted to the entry. In her comment, she referred to the Pegasus case and asked what the name of the state system in which “special services carry out political orders from the ruling party” and “surveillance of the opposition with cyber weapons.” “What do you call the system of a country in which the courts are politically ‘frozen’, the system of drawing judges is manipulated, and the promotion of judges is determined or destroyed by a specific decision?” – she continued. And she suggested Twardoch to read the constitution.

Twardoch and Brejza clash

“What do you think about a situation in which the incumbent president orders a wiretapping at the headquarters of his rival in order to use it in the upcoming election campaign? As you know, this is exactly what happened in the USA in the early 1970s. Did this mean that democracy ended in the USA and dictatorship took over?” – replied Twardoch. “Now please compare the consequences of the Watergate scandal in the USA and the reaction of the authorities with the consequences of revealing the Pegasus case in Poland (2019 – 2021) and the reaction of the authorities. I think we can go our separate ways,” Brejza said.

Former Minister of Education Krystyna Szumilas agreed that Twardoch’s concept was “too daring.” “Democracy means not only recognizing the election results, but also respecting the established principles of a democratic state. These are media freedom, independence of courts, equality before the law for everyone and common decency,” she said.