The Political Climate in Poland

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Poland has been good to me. Kasia and I live a good life here and we are quite privileged and fortunate but not all is ok in Poland. There are scary things happening here which makes me second guess my new home.

Meet PiS, the Law and Justice party, which has had a majority rule in Poland since 2015. PiS is a national conservative and right-wing populist political party and, frankly speaking, they are frightening. This party first came to be elected through a controversial policy known as 500 plus. Essentially, they promised families 500 Polish Złoty ($CAD 170) per month per child. While it is not a terrible amount of money, for many it represents a significant sum. And this policy worked, as they won %51 of the parlimantary seats in the 2015 election.

PiS is heavily influenced by religious ideologies which has led to following since they took office:

• Judicial reforms to allow the government to control the judicial system.
• The introduction of LGBT-free zones where municipalities can explicitly state that they are unwelcoming of LGBT individuals and ideology. As of June 2020, around 100 municipalities have introduced these zones, accounting for nearly a third of the country.
• The rejection of calls for EU member states to help relocate Syrian, Afghani, and Iraqi refugees during the European Migrant Crisis.
• The creation of the most restrictive law to access abortion in Europe.

These points clearly illustrate the true colours of this government. This is a government focused on hate and fear. It's certainly not representative of my beliefs nor Kasia's. But the last point is why I am writing this post.

On Thursday, October 22, Poland’s constitutional court, which is controlled by PiS, moved to make access to abortion even more difficult. Previously, aborition was allowed in three cases: 1) rape, 2) if the mother's health was in jeopordy, and 3) if there were known fetal defects. This recent ruling now makes aborition illegal in cases of known fetal defects too.

Such draconian laws lead to tens of thousands of Polish women travelling aborad for abortions every year. This is wrong. The government has no right to be involved in such personal matters but with its religious motivations, PiS has gone and made yet another move to signal its intention of turning Poland into an ultra-conversative country. It's just one more sign of the trouble brewing in Poland.

But I have faith when I see the swift response from women across this country to standup to this tyranny. Over the weekend, thousands upon thousands of Polish women took to the streets to protest this decision. I am inspired by these women. To see their strength and courage to strongly reject this ruling gives me hope that the future in Poland will be bright even if it is dark now.

Polska górą!