From the beginning of its activity, the founders of Bolec.Info fought against the system and the authority imposed on them by adults. They wrote about themselves that they were a non-commercial and independent civic initiative, operating out of passion, not for money. The portal’s logo depicted a broken town hall tower. For this very young community, the internet was a space free from adult authority; at the time, it was also incomprehensible and difficult for adults to penetrate. On the elite forum, initially available only to logged-in users, the young rebels could create their autonomous world without the supervision of the “old people” and criticize and stigmatize adults, their institutions and their authority.
A gang of imbeciles pedaling bicycles
The struggle on Bolec always took the form of defamation and witch hunts on the forum. In 2006, the “partisans” of Bolec famously attacked a female municipal police officer. The portal began a discussion about the work of municipal police officers (to this day, the fight against the Police remains active, and on the Bolec forum users can post in the “Municipal police should be abolished” section). In addition to accusations concerning the officers’ effectiveness, there were anonymous posts containing vulgar epithets. The officers were called “a gang of imbeciles pedaling bicycles,” and one of the female officers received a barrage of abusive sexual propositions.
Several people posted comments from an internet café, while one fighter waged his battle by writing at home. The administrators read every anonymous insult and then published it on the site (in the past, all anonymous statements on Bolec were subject to moderation). At the time, Bolec.Info was criticized by journalists from the “system media”: Słowo Polskie Gazeta Wrocławska, Boleslawiec.org, Azart-Sat television and Jelonka.com. Bolec was also criticized by the president’s spokesperson. The Police Commander reported the case to the prosecutor’s office. The person who posted the abusive comments from a home computer was convicted.
Traitors prevail
In the same year that Bolec.Info began operating, Krzysztof Gwizdała opened the commercial news portal Boleslawiec.org (today Istotne.pl). For the Bolec community, Gwizdała’s portal had always been part of the evil system. To the rebels, Gwizdała was a traitor. A peer and colleague of Bolec.Info’s founders, he launched a commercial portal, made money from it and, in the eyes of this community, collaborated with the system. The rebel community rejected the commercial portal. Until it grew up…
In 2008, Bolec’s creators admitted that they could no longer financially maintain the community platform. Many of them began working full-time and starting families. Running the site for free became inconvenient. The community then took the helm and agreed to all the things it had fought against.
Commercial advertisements appeared on Bolec. Then help came from the father of one of the portal’s founders, Kazimierz Marczewski. He was an adult, and this portal had once been created in opposition to adults. Kazimierz Marczewski had once been director of Surmin-Kaolin and president of the Bolesławiec Economic Association. In 2006, he ran for mayor of Nowogrodziec. He lost to Robert Relich.
The Bolecnauci decided to use the system and make money from it. All the goods, the administrators claim, are distributed among the community. During BolecParty events (organized every year), Bolecnauci receive beer, juice, a piece of cake and a free party. There are also mugs and lanyards. The rest of the advertising money (no one knows how much) is supposedly used to maintain the portal.
The materials are created mainly by Kazimierz Marczewski (interviews and columns), Angelika Krzemińska (including BolecMama columns) and others. However, the names of everyone except Marczewski are kept secret. The volunteers’ materials are not checked either substantively or formally. They are published anonymously and signed with the portal’s name. After all, everything belongs to the community. No one is responsible for inaccuracies. And it is not known whether the authors receive anything for their trouble.
Teasing the Lion in Its Cage
What does Bolec’s authority and its struggle look like? There are plenty of fireworks and no effectiveness. Perhaps the greatest failure was a debate with candidates for parliament organized by the portal, which no Bolec protester attended. Although Bolec trumpeted its success because… the candidates had come.
During the pre-election period, the entire local establishment, headed by the president, attended BolecParty. But the president was then visiting the Day Care Center for seniors much more often and appeared in many other places as well. Still, by hosting him at their event, the Marczewskis and the Bolec community could feel that they mattered and had influence over the authorities.
Bolec’s unsuccessful but extremely spectacular intervention was its campaign against Henryk Jasiński (the head of WOŚP), launched by Kazimierz Marczewski at the beginning of this year. Marczewski published on Bolec every piece of information about the head of the headquarters that he heard. He accused the president of wrongdoing committed by Jasiński and attacked BOK-MCC, where the Finale was held. His interventions changed nothing. They only triggered a witch hunt against Jasiński, which Marczewski authorized through his articles. The matter of the head of the headquarters opening collection cans was not resolved. The debate between the volunteers, Jasiński and the president, which Marczewski attempted to organize, did not take place. When the matter lost momentum, Marczewski abandoned the topic. This happens often. If an issue becomes boring or uncomfortable because it exposes the weakness of Bolec and Kazimierz Marczewski, no one from Bolec.Info returns to it. If it is a failure, it is all the more thoroughly “buried” under other information and erased from memory.
If Bolec.info had remained an island of rebels and an enclave for people who think contrary to the “political line,” it would undoubtedly have been a great asset. Unfortunately, its value system failed. For those creating Bolec.Info today, what proved valuable was not so much remaining faithful to ideals as possessing power and building capital from it.
During elections, the protesters’ portal becomes an election Christmas tree. After elections, Marczewski’s interviews with mayors and commune heads never end, all under the guise of holding those in power to account.
When the Bolecnauci fool themselves into believing that the point is to tease the system like a lion in a cage, they fail to notice that the lion is outside, while those teasing it are sitting in the cage.
(information: Grażyna Hanaf)