Lithuanian ‘white power’ band’s anti-Polish lyrics cause outrage

Dariusz Narkiewicz, an MP for the Election Action for Poles in Lithuania (AWPL) party says the song Salcininku Rajonas (Salcininkai Region) - referring to an area of Lithuania with a large ethnic Polish community - by ‘white power’ metal band Diktatura, expresses hatred for Poles, Jews and Russians.

One verse of the song says: “The last hour has struck for Poles; all Poles are already hanged; Russians lie under the fence; hung Jews are already burning in the furnaces; only true Lithuanians are still alive.”

The band has long tried to shock audiences with aggressively nationalist and offensive lyrics since its formation in the mid-1990s, often blended with a ‘celebration’ of Lithuania's pagan past.

MP Narkiewicz calls the song, “insulting, degrading, sneering” and “an incitement to hatred, discrimination and physical confrontations with persons of other nationalities.”

The MP adds that “recently there have been frequent cases of intolerance against minorities, but this song breaks all boundaries.”

The rights of ethnic Poles in Lithuania are currently a highly emotive subject with the Polish community - which makes up around 4 percent of the country’s 10 million population - campaigning for the right to use Polish spelling in their names on official documents.

A new education law that threatens Polish language teaching in Lithuania has caused further anger.

Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said earlier that he will not set foot in Lithuania until progress has been made in Polish minority rights. (pg/nh)