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4.1.2.2 Possible Structural Causes for the Diversity of Perspectives
Major differences in the use and the interpretation of the term hate crime have been discussed above. However, in addition to overt declarations by the leaders/ representatives of NGOs interviewed, one can assume that a number of »structural« factors affect the specific approaches taken. Many of these factors can be inferred from contradictions in statements from leaders/representatives and the actual situation of the communities they serve, e.g. a pronounced contrast between a firm denial of discrimination or hate crimes and the conflicts that particular communities experience (e.g. undocumented legal status, prevalence of negative stereotypes and prejudice about a group in the society; reality of institutional discrimination etc.).
These factors can roughly be grouped as follows:
1. Positive factors in the use and acceptance of the term »hate crime«: forms of social and cultural capital (knowledge, professional competence, experience etc.) that allow for or enable groups to address the problem of hate crimes:
• organization’s profile or professional experience
• international contacts with experienced organizations or institutions dealing with hate crimes
• community’s relatively stable legal situation—it mainly concerns those ethnic or national minorities in Poland that can use their officially recognized and registered legal status as minority groups within the Polish state as a framework for anti-discrimination work or anti-racist campaigns.
2. Negative factors in the use and the acceptance the term »hate crime«: the ambivalent situation where oppressive social/political conditions are countered within a particular context of recognition, where the latter can be understood as:
• relatively widespread (or growing) public recognition of suffering experienced by certain minority communities during their long history in Poland
• refugee and migrant aid institutions, organizations or programs that provide a context for tackling the unstable legal and social situation of refugees and migrants in Poland.
3. Positive factors that create an environment in which a community is not preoccupied with hate crimes but can focus on other issues instead (e.g. the promotion of its own culture):
• relatively low level of discrimination in Poland
• relatively stable socio-economic situation in Poland
• relatively minor differences in group/community (or its individual members) in comparison to Polish society (especially in terms of physical difference, symbols used in daily life etc.)
• the organization’s scope of work.
4. »Negative« factors for rejecting or silencing the problem of hate crime:
•community’s unstable legal situation in Poland (especially the necessity of keeping a »low profile« due to undocumented residence and work status) instability of a community’s daily life or cultural situation in Poland,
• especially with regard to the intensity of racist threats and other harsh forms of discrimination, as well as lack of linguistic skills, cultural competence and relationships with local people (shortage or lack of »legitimate« forms of cultural and social capital)
•difficult and unstable political situation, including broader geopolitical context of stigmatization of certain groups.
(OPP)
