Mniejszości bez polityki wielokulturowości. Krytycznie o Ustawie o mniejszościach z 2005 roku
Minorities beyond multiculturalism: a critical analysis of the 2005 Minorities Act

Summary/Abstract: The twentieth anniversary of the Act of 6 January 2005 on national and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages is an opportunity to critically analyze its influences on the policy of the Polish state. The aim of the article is to attempt to answer the question: What is the political possibility of the Minorities Act to (re)construct a conscious multicultural policy? The article consists of three parts. The first is a reconstruction of the socio-political context that determined the form of the Minorities Act. My work is based on selected elements of Donald Tusk's theory of diversity and freedom, and Ulrich Beck's risk society theory. In the second part, two EU legal acts are referred to: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. I briefly describe the achievements of Polish education in the field of multicultural, intercultural and regional education, which were developed up to the moment of the adoption of the Act on Minorities. This is an important achievement, yet the Minorities Act breaks with this political base. In the last part, the problematic question returns and, through Jerzy Nikitorowicz's concept of ethnocentrism, I will reflect on it.

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