Freedom, Equality, Democracy

Fabio Coriolano
Jul 20, 2017 · 3 min read
“Free Tribunals”

On Monday both the water dispensers in the office are out of service, and I try to joke with the cleaning lady: “Water is not working! Democracy is not working! Nothing is working here!”. Instead of laughing she gets upset and replies “sorry, where democracy is not working?”.

Damn, she voted for the PiS…

The Polish parliament just approved a radical reform putting the judiciary system under the control of the ruling party Prawa i Sprawiedliwości (PiS). The oppositions underlined that this law would grant to the Government a disproportionate amount of control over the country’s tribunals and started to pressure the President of the Republic, Mr Adrzej Duda, not to sign the bill.

Mr. Duda is a member of the PiS and his critics claim that he follows the instruction of the party’s puppet master, Mr. Jaroslaw Kaczynski. In the popular show Ucho Prezesa, the actor impersonating Mr Duda, waits outside Mr Kaczynski’s office room and is neglected or mocked by the other characters.

On Sunday the 16th, I joined a protest in front of the Parliament. There I could easily recognise the members of KOD, the most notorious opposition group, as well as representatives of the LGBT movement and Razem, the young leftist organisation. Equally recognisable were the flags of the Platforma Obywatelska (PO), the second biggest party in Poland and the main rival of the PiS. A lot of people arrived, and it became quite difficult to swim through the crowd.

Trying to catch a quite touching moment, I recorded the protesters singing the national anthem:

The day after, I came back in front of the Parliament where I started to talk with G: “You know”, I said trying to make a good impression. “I used to cooperate with the KOD”.
“Well, personally I don’t like KOD.”
“ah…well, ok”.

G. told me that he is part of the Obywatele Solidarnie w Akcji (OSA, that means wasp) and that OSA split from another group called Obywatele RP. “Obywatele RP are more into action; we are focusing instead on organisational and logistical issues”.
“Anyway, we are all united in this moment”.

On Tuesday I went to Nowi Swiat to check the situation in front of the Presidential Palace, where the protesters gathered with candles the previous evening. I saw a lot of police, some television and a small stand of the PSL, the party of the peasants. I started to chat with them and they informed me that President Duda had just decided not to sign the bill, proposing instead a 3/5 majority clause. The peasants were quite satisfied, and I returned to the front of the Parliament.

G was not there because he joined the protests in Kraków. I began to talk with U, who, unlike the peasants, was quite unhappy about the latest developments. “It’s not enough! the legislative control of the judiciary is still unconstitutional and we keep protesting”. Again I introduced myself -that time avoiding to mention the KOD- and suddenly I started to notice weird people walking around us. “They are undercover policemen,” she said “they are here since this morning trying to catch what we say. I just laugh at them.”

The next day I am there again. I see G carrying bottles of water and I initiated my ritual chat, this time with J and W. J was especially happy because more people had been joining the protest. “The youngsters are here! It’s difficult to explain to them what does it mean living in a country without freedom. When I tell my children how hard it was during Communism, they don’t believe me!”.

G is quite exhausted. He came back from Kraków at 2 am, and he fell asleep on the tram. “Everybody is helping each other: it’s enough to go to the microphone and say that you need five people to do something and five volunteers suddenly appear.”

Eventually, the Parliament approved a new law that would extend the control of the Executive on the Supreme Court. The number of policemen increased every day, and now they form a stable blue line facing the protest. “We are afraid that they are going to remove us,” U says.

Meanwhile, people refrain the major slogan of the protest: Wolność, Równość, Demokracja. Freedom, Equality, Democracy.

The Strix

An online international review of politics and culture. We aim to challenge, not comfort.

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Fabio Coriolano

Written by

Italian living in Warsaw, studying in Gdansk, interested about Middle-East, writing about the things he tries to understand.

The Strix

The Strix

An online international review of politics and culture. We aim to challenge, not comfort.

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