The culture wars that never existed

The year 2013 in Poland was marked by a series of unrest-inspiring events that curtailed the liberty of artists and frequently verged on censorship. It may seem as though we are witnessing culture wars between the so-called right-wing, conservative, catholic representatives and the so-called left-wing, more liberal, progressive segment of Polish society. In fact, what creates the real division in contemporary Poland is not a series of ideological issues but the direct consensus-defying consequences of the post-1989 transition and the yawning gap between the haves and the have-nots in Poland. Ideological squabble is thus actually more of a smoke screen, a type of pressure valve in these times of accelerating socioeconomic and symbolic inequality.