WARSAW, Poland -- The blossoming of democracy in Poland has produced a proliferation of political parties -- 100 registered at last count. And while many have a traditional liberal, centrist or right-wing orientation, a few are more original.
Take, for instance, the Party of the Friends of Beer and the Erotic Party.
The Friends of Beer was registered on Dec. 28, 1990, and today counts 10,000 members.Its goal is to get rid of the Polish custom of drinking vodka.
It's a goal with a serious purpose. Poland ranks in the top five countries in the world in per capita consumption of hard liquor. Compared with food, alcohol is very cheap in Poland and is often used as a means to escape the hardships of life.
'Why vodka?' asks party President Janusz Rewinski, an actor, singer and comedian and long-time beer lover. 'Let's take a cold beer, served in a nice special glass in a pub like in Germany, Czechoslovakia, England or Australia. We can discuss politics in a quiet, elegant atmosphere.'
So far members have opened three pubs where some 18 kinds of beer are served. Two are on the Baltic coast, and a third -- Der Elefant -- was opened recently in Warsaw by a 22-year-old marketing student, Hrtur Jarczynski, who also works for the German company Alt Berlinger.
Party members are talking with a Bavarian company about the production of light beer in Poland, and may be involved with production of a new brand called Sphinx in Warsaw.
The party sees itself not as a political force of its own, but rather as a catalyst between the government and the opposition.
'We don't know about nationalism, anti-Semitism or lack of tolerance,' said Rewinski. 'We simply like the world and its people.'
For that reason, he said, the Friends of Beer have another major goal: ecology. Together with executives from the Polish-American joint venture computer company Bonair, the party is trying to get leaded gasoline eliminated from Poland, as is being done in Western Europe.
Members recently organized a protest campaign against the production in Poland of the Italian Fiat Cinque Cento, which is not equipped with a catalytic converter.
'We are helping the party because they have an ambitious ecological program,' Andrzej Wach, the Polish chief executive of Bonair, said in an interview.
Party members also are tackling the problem of cans and bottles in Poland. They have made contact with Sweden from which they hope to receive can crushers to promote their idea in Poland.
The idea of the Erotic Party was created in a sauna last February by a group of Polish men. Its leader is Sylwester Marczak, a controversial nursery school teacher from the north of Poland who has been promoting nudism in Poland for 15 years.
'God created man without clothing, so nature is the best for a man,' Marczak says.
The party, which plans to register shortly, supports emotional engagement, a warm atmosphere and love between two free partners. It also promotes the right of a woman to abortion, and has an educational p3owram 'which teaches people about the thousands of possibilities of expressing love,' Marczak said.
Their last 'congress' was a weeklong lay-in on the beach of the Swider, a small river near Warsaw.
'I am not a Polish Cicciolina,' Marczak said, referring to the Italian member of parliament famous for baring her breasts. 'This is a regular political party, with a regular membership system, seminars and meetings.'
He acknowledged that at most of the meetings the members are stark naked, but insisted that membership is open to anybody -- except perhaps former Communist government spokesman Jerzy Urban, now facing pornography charges in connection with his popular satiric and erotic magazine 'Nie.'
'We are liberal erotic lovers, not porno fans,' explained Marczak.
It seems even eroticism has its limits.NEWLN:
