The city authorities are not protesting, while local restaurateur Bogusław Nowak, who will perform at the opening of the 31st Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival (BŚC), does not hide his alarming sympathies online.

His social-media profile contains a video promoting the Ceramic Festival and many false claims that the restaurateur reposts from various, often bizarre sources. Nowak publishes antisemitic and homophobic videos, anti-Ukrainian statements by unknown individuals, and pseudo-lectures by people supporting an anti-EU narrative (although this does not prevent his company Ambasada Nowak from applying for more than PLN 391,000 from the National Recovery Plan).

When some fake news is removed from his account, Nowak strongly objects.

And this is how society is manipulated, fuck them all .... “controversial material???” It showed an African engineer with a knife between his teeth fatally stabbing an Englishman in the neck ... Why do the mainstream media ignore such information? Why do the bonjour media keep silent???

Nowak’s original statement under the false information removed by Facebook

We asked mayor Piotr Roman, organizer of the Ceramic Festival Kornel Filipowicz and elder of the ceramic brotherhood Jarosław Rutyna whether they accept Bogusław Nowak promoting the Ceramic Festival on his official profile alongside his own views, dominated by Islamophobia, anti-Ukrainian messaging, homophobia and antisemitism.

As is known, Bogusław Nowak was invited by organizer Kornel Filipowicz to the opening of the 31st BŚC. He will perform during the official handover of the keys to the Ceramic Brotherhood and the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Bolesławiec’s partnership with the French town of Nogent-sur-Marne.

We asked about choosing such a person for a key moment of the Ceramic Festival in the context of the open letter from the Ceramic Brotherhood, which included calls to exclude social groups from participating in the Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival because they wanted to “promote their own views”:

“(...) This is a cultural event of particular social importance to the residents of Bolesławiec, and attempts to use it for promoting one’s own views are not only unethical and immoral, but directly harm the businesses of local ceramic makers. (...).”

Jarosław Rutyna of the Ceramic Brotherhood

Filipowicz, Roman and Rutyna are creating a “free clay zone”

Below, we reproduce the response in its original wording that we received to our inquiry sent to the city spokesperson Agnieszka Gergont, BOK–MCC director Kornel Filipowicz and elder of the Ceramic Brotherhood Jarosław Rutyna.

Good morning,

allow me to draw your attention to the fact that the organizer’s motivations do not constitute public information. We also do not comment on the beliefs or views of private individuals.

We are creating a free clay zone,

Yes, yes, very much so. We want our festival to be a unique manifesto of the passion for creating, pride in our Bolesławiec treasure—ceramics—a joyful expression of our residents’ activity, and above all a time for calm reflection on the future of Bolesławiec in its ceramic nature, in an atmosphere of safety, peace and focus on celebrating TOGETHER: “It is pleasant to go wild when the time is right,” and not otherwise—let us add. For manifesting your views, ideologies, politics, doctrines and beliefs, dear activists of every kind, find another venue and another time. Let us make use of this beautiful and natural clay bond and be one Bolesławiec community on those August days, because “the Bolesławiec heart is made of clay.”

Kornel Filipowicz Best regards

The text refers to creating a “free clay zone.” Unfortunately, the response formulated by the BOK–MCC director is incomprehensible and inconsistent because of the accumulation of platitudes and empty words.

Is creating a “free clay zone” the new formula for the Ceramic Festival that Mayor Piotr Roman announced a year ago? And does it mean the barbarization (primitivization, decline) of the festival by manifesting the worldview identified with by Bogusław Nowak, who will appear at the opening with his face painted with clay slip? Alongside invitations to the Bolesławiec Ceramic Festival, Nowak posts material about leaving the European Union, denying the legitimacy of supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, and promoting men from Bąkiewicz’s circle who attack migrants.

Let us ask directly, in light of last year’s attacks by Roman, Filipowicz and Rutyna on the LGBTQ+ community that took part in the ceramic parade: instead of a rainbow flag bearing the slogan “We are all made of the same clay” flying over Bolesławiec during the festival, will a brown flag be waving?