Performing Paganism 109 I from elsewhere in this volume, this movement attempted to gain political influence in Poland in the late 1990s. Instead, however, it was met with public indignation, and, as described in the Resistance report also with increased countermeasures by the police and state security, especially in the run-up to Poland joining the European Union. As a result, some of their supporters focussed rather on metapolitical activities from this point onwards instead of openly engaging in politics.6 In a right-wing context, the term “metapolitics” refers to a cultural struggle (Kulturkampf) designed to influence the social consciousness from below in order to lay the ground for the radical right’s expansion of political power.7 Even if the focus is often placed on recent history and other areas of culture, the early Middle Ages are of particular relevance as well. Statements by actors involved in the radicalised Polish Neopagan scene made it clear, that the popularisation of history and the embracing of indigenous Pagan religion and Pagan-related music were regarded as metapolitical fields of action (see below). This suggests that this interplay between Pagan spirituality, warrior reenactments and mediaevalising music would seem to hold a certain appeal for right-wing extremists. As shown in this volume, this phenomenon can be observed in several countries, although Poland lends itself particularly well to a description of its development and current situation. Here, this triad of reenactment, Paganism and music scene, with its core discourse on nativeness and primordiality – whether deliberately pursuing a political aim or not – inherently connects to radical-right ethnicist and anti- modernist patterns of thought and thus might, even unwillingly, produce metapolitical effects for extremeright-wing agendas. In all three of these areas, groups engage with the early Middle Ages through performance, and the broad extent to which these three scenes overlap can be seen in certain places, especially festivals such as Wolin, where mediaeval battles and the mediaeval lifestyle are reenacted, Neopagan rituals are practised, and folk bands play music (fig. 1 and 2). Many participants are active in all three fields at the same time: many modern Pagans are also historical reenactors, reenactors are fans or even members of folk or metal bands, and there are musicians who also perform rituals as żercy, as the Slavic priests are called. The three fields are also united by a specific look in terms of their clothing, gear, symbols and jewellery flitting between mediaeval markets and black metal concerts, and even the names of the various groups reference a common pool of myths and legendary figures. Though a tendency towards right-wing extremism has been observed in parts of this specific milieu since the 1990s, it is difficult to assess how intense or how marginal this tendency is today, since the relationship with right-wing extremism has undergone a shift from radicalisation to an apparent de-radicalisation or de-politicisation. Nevertheless, elements in the appropriation of history that are compatible with right-wing ideologies remain and continue to attract right-wing extremists to this scene. From national romanticism to turn-of-the-millennium rightwing extremism Some ideas about pre-Christian Slavic societies have followed a longer trajectory in Poland, stretching back to the national romanticism and Slavophilia of the 19th century, when, especially during the time of partition, an intensifying interest in ethnogenesis and national roots had led people to explore folk traditions and attempt to trace them far back into premodern times.8 According to Agnieszka Gajda, this – coupled with the reception of Johann Gottfried Herder’s works – cemented “the perception that the Slavs represented a single people who were only temporarily kept apart”.9 A number of ethnographers, writers and artists, such as Adam Czarnowski alias Zorian Dołęga-Chodakowski, Bronisław Trentowski, Juliusz Słowacki, Stanisław Wyspiański, Ryszard Berwiński or Marian Wawrzeniecki, were inspired by these ideas and became precursors and founding figures of a romanticised concept of Slavic Paganism set against Christianity, which was presented as a foreign denomination causing fragmentation and deterioration from a primordial ideal and a united community.10 Although the Slavic spirit had grown in Poland during the 19th century, its currents did not give rise to any broader movements or organisations. The first groups in which Slavophile adherents of Pagan spirituality and heritage gathered did not emerge until the early 20th century and, even then, remained fairly loose associations and networks without any formal structures.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTMyNjA1