Month: June 2020

“The coronavirus is an excuse for, rather than a cause of, hateful behaviour – It is a fuse that activates pre-existing prejudices and stereotypes. Many people have decided that they can now manifest them with impunity. Before our eyes, the social norms are changing – what is allowed, what is acceptable”  notes Prof. Rafał Pankowski, a Polish sociologist and political scientist.

There have been reports of a rise in hate crime in Poland against people of Asian origin, following Covid-19, as there have been in the UK. However, in addition, other minority groups including refugees, Muslims and LGBTQ+ communities have also been targeted. Cases of discrimination were collected by “Never Again”, an NGO which combats hate speech in their new report “Virus of Hate: the Brown Book of the Time of Epidemic” which can be read in full here: the_virus_of_hate

As Gazeta Wyborcza reported in April, “Wiadomości” TVP aired a news piece blaming refugees for spreading coronavirus. “In the Greek refugee camp, Coronavirus was detected. As many as 20 immigrants from the Middle East are infected. The residents are full of fear, because there is no shortage of escapes.” – said the creator of the material Maciej Sawicki. The Berlin correspondent of TVP Cezary Gmyz, in turn, re-posted on Twitter a comment by the far-right AfD party accusing Muslims in Berlin of deliberately spreading coronavirus (because they were supposed to gather in front of the mosque).

In Wrocław, Salesian priest Leonard Wilczyński stated in his sermon that the coronavirus epidemic is “God’s punishment for living in sin: for homosexuality”. Warsaw priest Sławomir Abramowski wrote on Facebook that “the biological bomb that spread the plague in Madrid was a demonstration by many thousands of genderists”.

As Professor Pankowski explains the pandemic has resulted in a  “global crisis of social trust and values, disorientation, anxiety. In these conditions not only xenophobia but also conspiracy theories are developing dangerously.”

In the UK a survey by psychologists at the University of Oxford showed that nearly half of people in England believe in conspiracy theories related to Covid-19. The results showed that one fifth of English people blamed Jews or Muslims for Covid-19.  The research suggested that people who believe in Covid-19 conspiracy theories are less likely to comply with government guidelines on social distancing rules, thereby “contributing to the spread of the disease.”  The full report can be read here.

The rise in Covid-19 conspiracy theories, both on and off the internet, is dangerous.  We all need to be aware that hate crime will increase as a result of this, and there will be a need to challenge it. At the end of the pandemic, confidence in social trust and values must be re-evaluated, and worked on.