Dual Citizenship

Polonia Today tnie niczym WP:

POLONIA TODAY ONLINE

NEWS BRIEFS - HIGHLIGHTS

Prepared and Distributed by the Polonia Media
Network

MOSKAL COMPLAINT RESULTS IN
POLISH LAW CHANGE

Chicago (PMN)--A letter to Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek from Edward J.
Moskal, President of the Polish National Alliance (PNA) and Polish American
Congress (PAC), drew brickbats from Moskal's usual group of detractors, but
actually resulted in the correction of a Polish citizenship law that many
Polonians considered odious. Among other things, the law, first promulgated
under the communists, refused to recognize dual citizenship, which was seen as
particularly problematic to emigrant Poles. Under such provisions, a former
Pole--and perhaps his or her children, as well--had to travel to their homeland
under a Polish passport, paying Polish fees to boot. There were also questions
about the duty to serve in the Polish Army and the difficulties involved in
renouncing previous Polish citizenship to be officially recognized as an
American.

Moskal's
letter was seen by Polonian dissidents as primarily attacking former cabinet
member Wladyslaw Bartosewski, but Polish authorities quickly recognized it as a
rebuff to them for failing to be honest with the PNA-PAC President about the
dual citizenship law.

The upshot of the controversy was that the Polish Senate, openly sensitive to
Moskal's position, took speedy action to correct the legal flaw and adopt a new
law recognizing dual citizenship. It was a clear affirmation of Moskal's
position and a thinly veiled rebuff of his enemies, who became suddenly silent
upon the rapid change in circumstances.

Poland's "Gazeta Wyborcza" had also taken another opportunity to
take a slap at Moskal with a headline claiming that the Polish government would
not speak to Moskal, apparently unaware that Polish politicians were in touch
with Moskal's office in regard to the legal conflict at that very time. Adam
Michnik, the newspaper's editor, has been criticized by persons close to Moskal
on numerous prior occasions and the newspaper seems to retaliate when it
perceives that possible. A prior article written by an American professor,
Stanislaus Blejwas, utilized a headline that compared the PAC to the Ku Klax
Klan.

John Radzilowski, a dissident in Minnesota, whose writings are carried by
several Polonian publications, apparently unaware of the real issues addressed
in Moskal's letter, issued a biting denunciation of Moskal. He criticized one of
those newspapers for allegedly delivering a copy of his complaints to Moskal
prior to publication. He also attacked the editor of Polonia Today for
support of the PAC and Moskal, repeating out-of-context phrases and unrelated
Internet conversations, a method he has employed in prior argumentation.
Radzilowski characterized Moskal's support of Polish American causes as a
"Jewish offensive" and a distraction from more serious matters.

 

RETURN TO HOME PAGE

"