#ItDependsOnUs „Poland 2060”

Poland, where children’s dreams and needs drive modern education, no longer needs industrial animal husbandry and killing. The intergenerational contract defines an ongoing fair transition to mitigate climate change impacts; government provides services to LGBT+ individuals and families; society upholds feminist ideals in that it fosters caring and solidarity as it has fostered individual success. This is a joint project of civil society organisations who believe the vision to be plausible and controlled by all of us.

How can Poland change in the coming decades? What positive social change can we expect? Answers are offered by civil society organisations that focus on LGBT+ rights (Campaign Against Homophobia), climate (ClientEarth Foundation), animal rights (Open Cages Association), education (School with Class) and gender equality (Feminist Fund).

Developed by the “Civic organisations. It works!” campaign, the #ItDependsOnUs „Poland 2060” project does not engage in debates about the monuments of the past and how they can be used to make important statements in the heated contemporary disputes within society. Instead, it has designed new monuments. Contributing authors include Bartek Arobal Kociemba (LGBT+ rights), Beata Sosnowska (gender equality), Katarzyna Oleśkiewicz (animal rights), Luiza Kwiatkowska (climate) i Jarek Kubicki (education).

The monuments that might potentially appear in Polish cities in the arbitrarily selected year of 2060 illustrate the history of which we are all part and were displayed in the form of projections on buildings in the cityscape of Warsaw on 4 December 2020. The objective of the project is to inspire imagination, unveil a new and promising perspective and encourage dialogue about the future and the history we are all making today.

The artists have built their projects on the visions of the future developed by civil society organisations.

According to Schools with Class, the Polish education system will change fundamentally in forty years. In 2060, the school can be a relationship-based community of the faculty and pupils/students, cherished and enjoyed by all, a direct opposite of the existing model that promotes individualism and rivalry. The new school positions teachers in the role of guides rather than supervisors — they will be there for their pupils and students and they will share learning as part of a community, no longer solely defined by the knowledge-based curriculum. Values and competences will be put at the heart of the process to develop informed citizens who make their own independent judgment and have a sense of ownership of policy both locally and globally, says Vice-President, Marta Puciłowska.

The Open Cages Association’s plausible vision of the future includes a decision of the Polish society to abandon industrial animal husbandry and killing. An ideal world, an ideal Poland is where society becomes proactive and informed rather than reactive and underinformed. So many of us still fail to understand the day-to-day realities of industrial animal farming. I strongly believe that a vast majority of us would rather not be part of this. I am dreaming of a world in which we take responsibility for our daily consumer choices and challenge the accepted standards, i.e. we come to realise they have been shaped by humans for generations, says Katarzyna Oleśkiewicz, an Open Cages activist.

According to Client Earth, Poland could achieve carbon neutrality as soon as in 2050 by using the European Green Deal funds to develop progressive energy technologies, support Polish scientists’ inventions and help mainstream them and move Poland to the climate and biosphere protection leadership position in the global arena.

The Campaign Against Homophobia is hoping for media coverage of gay and lesbian celebrity weddings to be feasible or for the Parliament building to be habitually lit with a rainbow on the Day Against Homo-, Bi- and Transphobia Day in forty years. Each cinema or café would feature gender-neutral toilets for transgender individuals to use without fear.

The Feminist Fund portrays its vision of the future where feminist ideals may alter our society. Feminist movements have fought for the dignity, freedom and security of us all, including women, transgender on non-binary individuals. They have often promoted a holistic vision of change encompassing the fight for fundamental human rights, animal welfare and the good of the planet, the fight to stop the global neoliberal exploitation and introduce a new model of social development. It is a community movement fuelled by relationships, courage, solidarity and mutual care, says Marta Rawłuszko, the co-founder of FemFund.

The visions we present in the framework of the #ItDependsOnUs „Poland 2060” project have been designed by civil society organisations and experienced experts. They are positive yet realistic scenarios that offer guidance to all. It will be up to us to decide whether we want to be part of this change, says Dorota Setniewska, co-ordinator of the „Civic organizations. It works!” campaign. Politicians do not have the monopoly for making the future. Activists have the same, if not a bigger, right to forge scenarios of the future of Poland we will all want to live in, of the world we want for our children and of the community we want to develop, with the help of more organisations, communities and individuals, she adds.

The project partner is the Nowy Teatr theatre and TOK FM radio is the media patron.

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The #ItDependsOnUs „Poland 2060” project is funded by the 2020 Aid Fund for Non-governmental Organisations and Civil Society initiatives programme launched by the Polish American Freedom Foundation and implemented by the Education for Democracy Foundation and the Civitates Fund.