Mohair berets - a tongue-in-cheek expression that stands for people who support the views expressed by Polish conservative Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 movement with its main representative being the media strictly connected with Father Tadeusz Rydzyk

Tadeusz Rydzyk

Tadeusz Rydzyk , born May 3, 1945 in Olkusz, Poland, is a Roman Catholic priest and Redemptorist, creator and head of the conservative and controversial Radio Maryja radio station, rector and doctor of the University of Social and Medial Culture in Toruń....

. This expression originated from the characteristic headgear worn by the stereotyped representatives of this circle. The term “mohair berets” alludes to the colloquial names for such military units as special forces or Green Berets

Green Berets

A green beret was the headgear of the British Commandos of World War II. Certain military organisations still wear green berets because they have regimental or unit histories that form a connection with the British Commandos of World War II....

 (called “red and green beret

Green beret

The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos of World War II. It is still worn with pride by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course and any member of the British Military who has passed the All Arms Commando Course.There are certain other military...

s” in Polish).

History

The expression “mohair berets” was used for the first time in 2004 and it referred to the people who were regularly attending masses in Gdańsk

Gdansk

Gdańsk is a Polish city on the Baltic coast, at the centre of the country's fourth-largest metropolitan area.The city lies on the southern edge of Gdańsk Bay , in a conurbation with the city of Gdynia, spa town of Sopot, and suburban communities, which together form a metropolitan area called the...

 celebrated by Henryk Jankowski

Henryk Jankowski

Father Henryk Jankowski was a Polish Roman Catholic priest. Member of Solidarity movement and one of the leading priests supporting that movement in opposition to the communist government in the 1980s, he was also a long serving provost of St. Bridget's church in Gdańsk...

, the parish priest. When he was dismissed from his post the same parishioners staged demonstrations in his defence. A beret made of mohair or its imitation and often handmade one is commonly associated with its typical wearers, mostly poor elderly ladies. That is the exact social environment of many Jankowski’s followers who were shown on television. Probably the first article which introduced the expression “mohair berets” to the Polish press was the one published in the daily Rzeczpospolita

Rzeczpospolita

Rzeczpospolita is a traditional name of the Polish State, usually referred to as Rzeczpospolita Polska . It comes from the words: "rzecz" and "pospolita" , literally, a "common thing". It comes from latin word "respublica", meaning simply "republic"...

 from 23 October 2004 titled “Labyrinths of the parish priest” It reads as follows: “Old ladies have their eyes fixed on Father Jankowski and they hang on every his word. Rumour has it that the prelate has his own legion of mohair berets in Gdańsk.”
The expression has spread over the journalism and discussions on Internet forums and started to be used when referring to broader social groups, mostly active listeners of the Catholic radio station Radio Maryja

Radio Maryja

Radio Maryja is a Polish religious, conservative, anti-post-Communist and pro-life Roman Catholic radio station and media group, describing itself as patriotic. It was founded in Toruń, Poland, on December 9, 1991 and has been run since its inception by the Redemptorist rector doctor Tadeusz...

. The term “mohair berets” became commonly used after Robert Górecki, a photojournalist of Gazeta Wyborcza published the photograph on the Internet which depicted the 14th anniversary of Radio Maryja in December 2005. The picture showed numerous listeners of the radio with berets on their heads. Then the term entered the language of politics and became partly associated with the supporters of those parties which were given a plenty of broadcast time on Radio Maryja during the election campaign in 2005, especially the electorate of the League of Polish Families (the LPR

League of Polish Families

The League of Polish Families is a right-wing political party in Poland. It was represented in the Polish parliament, forming part of the cabinet of Jarosław Kaczyński, until the latter dissolved in September 2007....

) and Law and Justice (PiS

PIS

Pis or PIS may refer to:* Prawo i Sprawiedliwość , Polish political party* Manneken Pis, a sculpture of a urinating boy, a Brussels landmark* Poitiers - Biard Airport in France...

).

The mohair coalition

The phrase “mohair berets” gained a widespread popularity in colloquial language, particularly in some political skirmishes. The example of such a reference is the term “mohair coalition” used by Donald Tusk

Donald Tusk

Donald Franciszek Tusk is a Polish politician who has been Prime Minister of Poland since 2007. He was a co-founder and is chairman of the Civic Platform party....

 during the debate in Sejm on the inaugural address of a newly designated Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz

Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from October 31, 2005 to July 14, 2006...

 on 10 November 2005. “Poland deserves more than what is currently known as a mohair coalition,” said Donald Tusk. The PO leader used such an expression to describe an unofficial parliamentary coalition of, the and Self-Defence. He also suggested that the coalition existed even though PiS persisted in denying it. Donald Tusk officially apologised to the indignant pensioner Julita Kon for his statement when confronted with her in Olsztyn

Olsztyn

Olsztyn is a city in northeastern Poland, on the Łyna River. Olsztyn has been the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in the Olsztyn Voivodeship...

 on 30 November 2005, the day when he was on his way to meet with the members of the housing cooperative Domator in Olsztyn who kept demanding to call the general meeting of the cooperative for almost two weeks.
The coalition described by Tusk was observed in many votes in Sejm and it was officially sealed later by so-called “stabilisation pact”(an agreement between PiS, the LPR and Self-Defence on their cooperation in the parliament ) followed by forming a coalition by those parties.

Parodies

The mohair berets are a leitmotiv of the satirical song Mohair berets recorded by Big Cyc

Big Cyc

Big Cyc is a Polish rock band formed in 1988.The band is well known in Poland for their controversial behaviour. The cover of their first album, Z partyjnym pozdrowieniem , was an image of Vladimir Lenin with a Mohawk hairstyle...

 which was released in April 2006 on the album of the same title. The photographs promoting the album showed the band members wearing mohair berets. As soon as in May of the same year Cabaret OT.TO presented the parody of the hip hop song titled Mohair neighbours. The phenomenon of mohair berets is also a key theme of skits (called Mohair programme) performed by cabaret Neo-Nówka from Wrocław as well as the song Mohair ninja from the album Gra? recorded by a rock band El Doopa.

Statistics

The social group called “mohair berets” came under close scrutiny conducted by one of the companies dealing with personal data processing. Its analyses showed that mohair berets accounts for 3.1 per cent of the overall Polish population, the typical representatives of the group analysed being mostly married couple over 50 years old, whose children have already left the nest. As much as 80 per cent of them have only elementary or elementary plus vocational education

Vocational education

Vocational education or vocational education and training is an education that prepares trainees for jobs that are based on manual or practical activities, traditionally non-academic, and totally related to a specific trade, occupation, or vocation...

, 36 per cent of the group are blue collar workers. According to the analyses those people avoid modern technologies (over 50 per cent have not opened a bank account and only one out of four people use mobile phones). The analysis proves that due to the low incomes the group members have to make sure that their bills do not exceed 100 PLN per month so they do their shopping in small shops or cheap discount shops. They usually spend their free time on an allotment (gardening plots are widespread in Poland for dwellers of high-rise flats), solve crosswords and puzzles or go fishing. A minority of those surveyed never go on holidays, 73 per cent spend their time off at home.