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No, I don't know who that is (I mean, I do now because I googled but up until now)...he doesn't seem like someone who would interest me.
I would imagine the actual fascists that showed up to this cloaked themselves in a respectable Catholic and reasonably patriotic image. To the average conservative Pole those are attractive ideas and they might show up to something they put on.
Why is Patriotism and ultra-Nationalism in vogue in Poland? Because they haven't really had their own country in almost 200 years. Imperial powers, Fascists and Communists have all tried to suppress or eliminate the Polish identity and people so, understandably, they're pretty proud and happy that they have a country again. The Fascists tried to eliminate them as a people and the Communists tried to destroy their religion so naturally they gravitate to those things.
A better question is why there are fascists in Poland at all? Or Ukraine, or the Baltic states?....how large are they, what are their goals and motivation, etc?
I would say that actual Nazi-style fascist groups in those countries are small. They're mostly young, un-and-underemployed/educated men in underdeveloped regions who are frustrated. There is prosperity and growth in those countries, and much like Brexit and Trump voters, they feel left behind because they aren't getting a part of it. When you already don't have a chair at the table the idea of welcoming more people in to the dining room isn't exactly appealing thus the anti-migrant position. They see the EU as trying to force migration and other liberal policies on their governments and also see the Russian government trying to extend influence in their former satellites.
So these are patriotic, religious, conservative, euro-skeptical and anti-Russian young men who want change so they can get at the table, they also don't want migrants who in this particular case are a different ethnicity and religion than them. It's quite easy to see how they slide in to Nazi or Fascist groups because the ideology checks most of the boxes, remove the anti-slav bits from Nazi thought and it becomes an almost perfect act of rebellion for them, a giant middle finger to the the ideas and people they don't like.
These people, the actual fascists, are not in power and don't wield any real influence. Just like anarchists with liberal movements they hijack conservative rallies or marches and bait-and-switch people that lean their direction.
Their number is over exaggerated by media on either side of them for their own purposes.
Liberals in the EU and America love to play them up and brand all conservatives in Central/Eastern Europe as Nazis for a variety of reasons, partly because I don't think they are knowledgeable enough to tell the difference. "We want God" is not a Nazi or Fascist chant and the Home Army Anchor symbol and armband is not a Nazi device, but to a liberal who wants to see Nazis everywhere they fit the bill. They also want to feel like crusaders against some Nazi monstrosity because it makes them feel better and it's to easier win moderate voters if you paint all conservatives as Nazis.
The Russians also have an interest in labeling Ukrainian and Polish nationalists/conservatives as Nazis because it makes the war in Donbas and some of their subversive acts in Eastern Europe more palatable at home and abroad. They're doing the exact same thing in Syria. Every airstrike they conduct is against ISIS and Al Qaeda no matter who they actually hit because they can sell that better.
Nazis and Fascists are not in power anywhere or even close to it. Those are the people I consider to be far-right. I do not consider euro-skeptics, nationalists, or anti-immigration parties to be far-right. Those are reasonable political positions that reasonable people can hold, definitely right-wing but "far-right" carries a fascist connotation because it so often used to describe those groups. I think we probably differ on our definition of far-right.
I absolutely condemn Nazis and Fascists and do not support them but I do support Poles and other eastern Europeans who want to build up their countries and their people how they see fit. If they don't want migrants or to subordinate themselves to Brussels that's their decision and we should respect it. We owe them that much after leaving World War Two only half fought.
Waving a flag, chanting a nationalist or religious slogan, and not wanting migrants does not make a person a fascist.
I've yet to see a photo or video of Nazi or fascist acts/symbolism from today's events in Poland. I'm sure they exist because we know that those people were out there but if there were really 60,000 of them or even 1000 of them we'd see a lot more of them.
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