Polish Women`s Strike over strict abortion law

[pjotr]

The sitting of the Seym is in progress. Behind us, a heated discussion related to with the judgment of the Constitutional Tribunal on abortion. Today, the Sejm is also to consider the motion of the KO to express no confidence in the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zbigniew Ziobro. We invite you to live broadcast on the Onet home page.

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[jeanne]

Often, the U.S. press will ignore what is going on in Poland, but even they have taken notice of these protests and are reporting on them. The scope and magnitude of these protests are hard for anyone on the planet to ignore.

[pjotr]

October 2020 Polish protests



Protests started in Poland on 22 October 2020 against the rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal, consisting mainly of judges rightfully appointed by the ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), which effectively tightened the law on abortion in Poland, making abortion illegal in almost all cases, including severe and irreversible disability or incurable and life threatening disease of foetus. A wave of mass protests of people opposing the ruling and supporting more abortion rights began on the afternoon of the same day.

The protests opposed the intermixing of the Church with politics in Poland, and opposed the judiciary, executive and legislative powers held by PiS.

Protests



Street protests started on Thursday 22 October 2020 following the ruling and continued throughout the weekend. Street protests took place in 60 Polish towns on the night of 23 October, and again on 24 October, in the town centres, in front of PiS offices, and in front of the office of religious administrations.[4] On 25 October, protesters staged sit-ins in Catholic churches, disrupting Sunday Mass in several cities, including Katowice and Poznań[5] and churches across the country were vandalized.

On 26 October, women and men in 150 Polish towns and cities participated.


Female demonstrator faces Female Police officer in Warsaw

On 27 October 2020, Ogólnopolski Strajk Kobiet [pl] (All-Polish Women's Strike) presented a list of demands (fixing the situations of the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court and the Ombudsman, amending the budget – with more funds for health protection and assistance for entrepreneurs, full women's rights – legal abortion, sex education, contraception, stopping the financing of the Catholic Church from the state budget, the end of religious instruction in schools and the resignation of the government) and announced the creation of a Consultative Council – to be modelled on the Belarusian Coordination Council – a platform for dialogue to resolve the sociopolitical situation in Poland.

On 28 October 2020, there was a nationwide women's strike under the slogan 'Nie idę do roboty' (I'm not going to work), many workplaces and offices allowed their employees to take part in the protest. Some universities and independents media and companies i.a. Newsweek Poland, Gazeta.pl, Gazeta Wyborcza, NaTemat.pl, mBank also took part in the protest.

International protests



International demonstrations were organised in Amsterdam, Athens, Berlin, Bochum, Bristol, Budapest, Chicago, Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Göteborg, Hamburg, Helsinki, Kyiv, Leeds, Leipzig, Lisbon, London, Luxembourg, Malmö, Manchester, Mexico City, Munich, Nottingham, Paris, Porto, Prague, Reykjavík, Sheffield, Sydney, Stockholm, Tartu, and Vienna.



Jarosław Kaczyński statement



Jarosław Kaczyński, who is considered Poland's de facto leader (formally he is holding the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and president of PiS), issued on 27 October a several-minute statement. In the statement he called for the "defence of the churches, Poland and patriotism", stated that "the authorities have the full right to oppose these protests" and called "all PiS members and our supporters" to "defend [the churches] at all costs" (Polish: Musimy ich bronić za każdą cenę.). Kaczyński's speech was compared to Wojciech Jaruzelski's address declaring martial law in 1981. Many commentators and journalists interpreted the speech as a call for civil war and a declaration of war on society, based on Kaczyński's expression "at all costs".



Relations with the Catholic Church



Slogans in the protests included swear words opposing the Catholic Church, physical disruption of church services by holding up banners in the churches, and painting of graffiti on church and cathedral walls throughout Poland. The New York Times described the protests as breaking a "longstanding taboo against challenging the [Catholic] church".

During the October protests, enquiries regarding the procedure for apostasy (deregistering from the Polish Catholic Church), which requires a personal visit to a parish priest who is obliged to try to persuade the apostasy candidate to change his/her mind, increased in popularity. Web search engine queries showed high frequencies for "apostasy" (Polish: apostazja) and "how to do apostasy" (Polish: jak dokonać apostazji), and a Facebook event titled "Quit the church at [Christmas]" was followed by 5000 people.


A women's rights activist with a poster of the Women's Strike action protests in Warsaw, Poland, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2020 against recent tightening of Poland's restrictive abortion law. Massive nationwide protests have been held ever since a top court ruled Thursday that abortions due to fetal congenital defects are unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

www.bu.edu/articles/2008/why-poland-is-afraid-of-feminism/

For Polish readers you have this Polish wikipedia section with the same subject: pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protesty_przeciwko_zaostrzeniu_przepis%C3%B3w_dotycz%C4%85cych_aborcji_w_Polsce

[pjotr]

[Bonobo]

Oct 28, 2020 20:08:02 GMT 1 jeanne said:

Often, the U.S. press will ignore what is going on in Poland, but even they have taken notice of these protests and are reporting on them. The scope and magnitude of these protests are hard for anyone on the planet to ignore.

The protests prove that tightening the abortion laws, namely forcing women to give birth to terminally malformed fetuses which will die soon after the birth isn`t too popular in Poland, even among rightwingers. Only 15% of polled people accept the stricter law. Let`s be honest - it is cruel and inhumane to force women to deliver such babies.

Rightist rulers finally abolished the compromise which had existed since 1990s - there was no abortion on request but women could have it due to criminal conception, life risk or fetal defects.

Apart from JP2 generation, there is a parallel generation of lay young people who reject any limitations on their personal freedoms and also reject the guidance of the Church which has been undergoing heavy criticism for its suspicious handling of pedophilia cases, close involvement in politics and other sins. The Church is slowly ceasing to be an authority among young people and nobody and nothing can stop it.

Rightists are shocked coz it seems they weren`t aware of such moods in contemporary Poland, so now they are learning about them the hard way. By abolishing the compromise, they did a huge disservice to themselves and aborted babies - now, protesters are so radical they exclude the return to the old laws, they demand free abortion on request. The issue is going to haunt Polish politics for years now, and sooner or later Poland will go the Irish way, where abortion is granted on request. It is the rightists which let that genie out of the bottle. Thank you, PiS.

Another factor which contributed to protests is the pandemic - it is mostly women who lose jobs when a lockdown is imposed. It is mostly women who have to help kids with online learning. It is women who worry and care about their elderly parents and inlaws. No wonder women are enormously frustrated and the rightist Court ruling was only a spark that ignited the explosion.

I fully support their fight for their rights although personally I am against abortion - but it is a democratic country - if they don`t want abortions, it is their choice and they don` t do it - but other people may have a different view and forcing them to give it up is a violation of human rights.

[Bonobo]

The symbol of the protest is the red lightning. A similar one was used by Assault Groups in Grey Ranks, the underground scout organisation during WW2. Those adult scouts assassinated German torturers and oppressors in occupied Warsaw and then took part in Warsaw Rising.



WW2 symbol


The most popular slogan is Wypierdalać! Get the fekk out of here!

[jeanne]

Nov 1, 2020 9:28:49 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Apart from JP2 generation, there is a parallel generation of lay young people who reject any limitations on their personal freedoms and also reject the guidance of the Church which has been undergoing heavy criticism for its suspicious handling of pedophilia cases, close involvement in politics and other sins. The Church is slowly ceasing to be an authority among young people and nobody and nothing can stop it.

It appears that the Catholic Church in Poland, which is accustomed to being unopposed, must now learn the lesson which has been learned by the pro-life movement and the Church in the U.S. The lesson is that morality cannot be legislated. This lesson was learned in the U.S. during pre-Civil War times when those of opposing views were arguing over the morality of slavery. Eventually, the anti-slavery proponents prevailed, but only as hearts began to be changed.

While the U.S. is far from perfect and still struggles with racial issues stemming from its past practice of enslaving human beings, we have come a long way and hopefully will continue to steadily inch forward.

This lesson can apply to the issue of abortion as well... that in order for women to not choose abortions, first hearts must be changed. The Church and the pro-life movement in Poland better get started, they have a lot of work ahead of them to achieve their goals. Hopefully, the idea that unborn humans would be killed in the womb will in the future become as abhorrent to a moral civilized world as the idea of human slavery has become.

[Bonobo]

Nov 1, 2020 22:16:09 GMT 1 jeanne said:

The lesson is that morality cannot be legislated.

Hopefully, the idea that unborn humans would be killed in the womb will in the future become as abhorrent to a moral civilized world as the idea of human slavery has become.

Yes, one can`t impose things on people, they need to be made aware by wise persuasion. Unfortunately, the top leaders of Chuch and rightists in the government imagine they are noble knight defenders of faith on a crusade. And they are, indeed. You remember the context of the crusades - slaughtering Muslims by thousands in order to retrieve the Holy Land. That`s what today`s defenders are going to do - slaughter their opponents (metaphorically, of course) and enforce strict laws on the survivors.

That is why I am a pessimist when it comes to enlightened Christian-based instruction about killing unborn children - Poland will witness a lot of turmoil and anger over the issue for the next years until emotions gradually die down.

[Bonobo]

Oct 27, 2020 19:44:18 GMT 1 pjotr said:

What is happening there. Can you understand what they are shouting and saying Bonobo?

They are walking through the city centre, passing the buildings associated with the Church or rulers. I understand 50%, e.g, Get out, coward! or We shall not agree! or Our government bothers us.

When I look at banners which protesters carry all over Poland, I see an amazing ingenuity in them - most are rhymed, based on famous quotes from literature or general culture.

E..g, Maanam`s line from their lyrics was modified: I am waiting for the wind which will blow the Drake and other morons away . Another version - which will blow the dictatorship of rodents.



Some are obscenely funny: Let your cat shyt in your bed! hahaha

Or - you are worse than English bread

[Bonobo]

Nov 2, 2020 11:45:09 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

That`s what today`s defenders are going to do - slaughter their opponents (metaphorically, of course) and enforce strict laws on the survivors.

E..g, an advisory to Minister of Education claimed in an interview that protesters have to be punished severely coz it would fill them with God`s grace. etc He also added they are not Poles.

kobieta.onet.pl/doradca-czarnka-protestujacy-to-nie-polacy-potrzeba-im-surowej-kary/wm2cx5r

So, you can see, there is no intention to run a reasonable discussion on the part of rightists. Crusade at all cost!!!


Frustration and anger

[Bonobo]

Students and protests

During an online chemistry lesson in a high school in Gdańsk, some students displayed avatars with the lightning sign. The teacher, a female, ordered to take them down immediately, Students refused and left the lesson.




There were a few more cases of teachers critical about students` choises of symbolic avatars.

In one high school they even held the Round Table talks to discuss the issue and the initial ban on avatars was lifted. The photo below.



Local Boards of Education, urged by fanatic PiS Minister of Edu, demand principals to snitch on teachers and students who support the protests.

However, it seems that most school principals refuse to obey or they even openly defend students`s right to express their views.

One principal from Warsaw shared his reply to the Board: He generally says what I said earlier: that he is so proud of his students.

ofeminin.pl/swiat-kobiet/to-dla-nas-wazne/strajk-kobiet-i-men-dyrektor-odpowiada-kuratorium-beda-wyrazy-uznania/2t6grgv