Poland’s Political Drama

From Our Own Correspondent

BBC

News, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2023

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kate Adie presents stories from Poland, CAR, Hong Kong, Armenia and Tunisia

This week the former Polish PM Donald Tusk returned to power marking a clear break from the right-wing, populist government that has been in office for the last eight years. Voters filled cinemas screening the parliamentary proceedings, as the country was gripped by the political drama. Sarah Rainsford was in Warsaw.

In the Central African Republic, the Wagner Group is wielding significant political, economic and cultural influence. Yemisi Adegoke visited the capital Bangui and spoke to the President about his reliance on Russian mercenary group, despite allegations of abuse and extra judicial killings.

The introduction of the Beijing-imposed national security law in 2020 led to an immediate crackdown on anti-government protests in Hong Kong. Several people were arrested under the new law, including the billionaire media mogul Jimmy Lai, whose trial is due to start on Monday - and there are many others. Danny Vincent spoke to another activist currently on remand.

In Armenia, Julia Paul speaks to journalists who fled the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in September, along with more than 100,000 others after the takeover by Azerbaijan. They tell her about the lives they left behind.

And the latest round of climate talks in the UAE, looked to end in disappointment as leaders failed to incorporate any reference to the phasing out of fossil fuels in the conference’s initial draft agreement. But in a dramatic turnaround, nations finally announced a ‘transition away’ from coal, oil, and gas. Justin Rowlatt was behind the scenes of the talks in Dubai.

Series Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Coordinator: Gemma Ashman

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio podcasts.
0:05.0	Today we hear how the Wagner Group is still making its presence felt around the world
0:11.0	in the corridors of power of the Central African Republic.
0:15.0	Ahead of the trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai, we hear from political activists who've been detained in Hong Kong under Beijing's
0:24.3	national security law. More than two months after Azerbaijan's takeover of
0:30.5	Nagorno-Karabakh, we hear from journalists now living in the Armenian capital.
0:37.3	And it was set to be a washout, but how did the world finally come to agreement at the recent cop climate talks. But first they dubbed it
0:46.7	same flicks such was the demand this week to watch events unfold in Poland's
0:51.8	parliament the same as Donald Tusk was given a mandate to form a new government.
0:57.0	His return to office marks the end of eight years of a nationalist right-wing government which has seen the politicization of the judiciary,
1:06.8	a clampdown on LGBT rights and the tightening of abortion laws. In the end his centrist pro-EU coalition won the vote of
1:16.4	confidence. With cinemas across Poland live streaming the political drama,
1:21.8	Sarah Rainsford was there to watch it unfold.
1:26.0	When Donald Tusk addressed Poland's parliament this week, a young crowd was settling
1:30.3	into red velvet seats in a Warsaw cinema, buckets of popcorn in hand, ready for politics
1:36.9	to hit the big screen. Democracy is in demand here right now, and the audience for the first speech by a new Prime Minister went
1:44.6	far beyond the MPs in the chamber. Across the country university students, even
1:50.1	school children, paused classes too to watch the proceedings live on
1:54.2	YouTube. Sessions of Parliament have been racking up well over a million views on
1:59.0	the platform and there is plenty of drama.
2:02.6	After Mr Tusk's speech, the head of the outgoing party took to the podium to call him a German agent, his favorite slur.
2:11.0	When the new coalition won the confidence vote, the new opposition refused to join
	...

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