Polish Racism & Taxes

An interview with a Belarus-born global citizen semi-settled in Poland.

Europe is a “Russian” doll. Its endless layers become deeper every time you meet someone new or revisit a place. So, for the past three months, I’ve asked locals the same questions to understand what makes their cities or towns unique.

But what does “their” mean?

To populists in Europe, this often means white people who embody the general customs of the country as far back as they’d like to remember. In times of fear and anxiety, populists thrive because people cling to a false sense of security, forgetting that change is the only constant in life.

Human migration has been the most basic feature of humankind for millions of years. Arguments against it in favour of “strong borders” are thinly veiled racism and ahistorical thinking.

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Nishant Jain

Fortunately, the people I met and interviewed were global citizens. That’s why you got proud yet critical insight from Andrea Baggio in “Turin’s Cuisine, Parks, and Divinity” and uncensored critique from my host (who needs to remain nameless for obvious reasons) in “A Local's Guide to Krakow, Poland.”

Both Andrea and my Polish host were born in their cities. That doesn’t mean they are any more from those cities as people who moved to those cities. In fact, a person who chooses a place can know it even better than those born there and never left because they have the added benefit of looking from the outside in, not just the inside out—that’s strictly the perspective I got from a friend I met in Tricity, Poland.

My friend was born in Belarus, and those aware of the political climate understand why she needs to remain nameless. Using her name would put her friends and family at risk. Just for following someone who is anti-Russian, the police will come to your home and break your legs—and that’s if you’re lucky.

Although my friend was born in Belarus, she has spent 19 years (over half her life) in Poland and has citizenship there. She also lived in Mexico, Spain, and Sri Lanka, giving her a global perspective like many of you in the Born Without Borders community.

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