Indicator history

Racist and any-migrant speech is rather rare in official public life but it occurs from time to time. For instance, in 2009 a deputy appeal by the Head of the Office for Foreigners Affairs to shut down the refugee centre in Łomża. Citing supposed opinions of residents, deputy Kołakowski attempted to prove that the refugee centre caused numerous problems and was a financial drain on the city. Shortly after two Chechens were attacked in the city of Łomża - the victims linked this attack with this appeal.
Hate speech is present in the Internet. In 2010-2011 Wiedza Lokalna Association conducted project aimed to scan Internet content with regard to hate speech. It focused on verbal aggression against ethnic, sexual, religious and other minorities. In April 2011, nearly 10 million entries were examined on the message boards (forums) of the three largest portals: Onet.pl, Wp.pl and Gazeta.pl, of which more than 85,500 were classified as hostile language or hate speech. The most hostile entries related to Jews – 21,251, Russians – 17,871, homosexuals – 12,092, Germans – 9,911 and Muslims – 8,943. The following places were occupied by Africans – 3,438 entries, the Roma – 3,405 and Arabs – 2,920. In the entries concerning minorities, percentage-wise the most hostile contents were included in those that relate to Russians and Muslims (about 70% for each) and Chechens (68%).

Sources:
Fundacja Wiedza Lokalna, Minority report, http://www.raportmniejszosci.pl/
Agnieszka Mikulska, Rasizm w Polsce. Raport z badań wśród osób, które doświadczyły przemocy ze względu na swoje pochodzenie etniczne,  rasowe lub narodowe, Helsińska Fundacja Praw Człowieka, Warszawa 2010.
 

The situation has not changed much since 2011. Hate speech is still present on the Internet. For instance, a Border Guard officer on the Internet message boards (forums) regularly offended Chechens calling them „scum“, „Caucasian layabouts”, „a group of aggressive parasites”.

In 2012, Wiedza Lokalna Foundation continued the project aimed to scan Internet content with regard to hate speech. It focused on verbal aggression against ethnic, sexual, religious and other minorities. In September 2012, another scan of the Internet users' statements was made. Among 4230 statements referring to minorities, 1525 contained negative emotions (approximately 36%). The majority of them – approximately 48% – was related to Jews. Next, they referred to Muslims (20%), Russians (17%) and Germans (14%). The texts bearing traits of violent language or hate speech featured the most negative emotions in reference to Muslims and Jews. Representatives of these minorities were most often victimized with hate speech, that is the highest level of intensity of negative emotions, including incitement to action (Muslims 64%; Jews 32%).

Source:

• Fundacja Wiedza Lokalna, Raport Mniejszości (Minority Report), http://www.raportmniejszosci.pl/web/s/dotychczasowe-wyniki, Accessed on 12.12.2012.