Global Voices » Polish

Poland: The ‘Web Kids' Manifesto'

Claudia Parra — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:21:04 +0000

Originally written by the Polish photographer and poet Piotr Czerski [pl] (see Wikipedia for his biography in Polish), the ‘Web Kids’ Manifesto‘ is now appearing on the web in many other languages since its publication on February 11, 2012, in the Polish regional newspaper, Dziennik Baltycki.

The manifesto expresses the sense of community of a whole generation born alongside the arrival of the networks and Internet. It also proclaims the affinity of young people around the world with the emergence of an original global culture and the desire to participate in the circulation of cultural goods, beyond the legal or geographical frontiers arbitrarily imposed.

According to Czerski, the manifesto is evidence of this generation’s desire to distance itself from the power relations inherited from the established authorities [pl]:

Piotr Czerski, author of 'Web Kids" Manifesto'. Photo from his blog, under licence CC 3.

Nie ma w nas tej wynikającej z onieśmielenia pokornej akceptacji, jaka cechowała naszych rodziców – przekonanych o nadzwyczajnej wadze spraw urzędowych i odświętnym charakterze interakcji z państwem. Nie czujemy tego respektu, który brał się z odległości między samotnym obywatelem, a majestatycznymi szczytami „władzy”, majaczącymi gdzieś pośród mgieł.

There is not a trace in us of that humble acceptance displayed by our parents, who were convinced that administrative issues were of utmost importance and who considered interaction with the state as something to be celebrated. We do not feel that respect, rooted in the distance between the lonely citizen and the majestic heights where the ruling class reside, barely visible through the clouds.

This generation opposes private interest groups’ institutional regulations and the control these groups exert over personal information and common cultural goods. It also expresses its need for transparency, freedom, and a “true and real democracy” [pl]:

Być może nie nazwaliśmy tego dotąd, być może jeszcze sami nie zdajemy sobie z tego sprawy – ale tym, czego chcemy, jest chyba po prostu prawdziwa, realna demokracja. Demokracja, o której być może nie śniło się nawet waszym publicystom.

Perhaps we have not yet given it a name, perhaps we are not yet fully aware of it, but I guess what we want is real, genuine democracy. Democracy that, perhaps, is more than is dreamt of in your journalism.

It is a demand more current than ever within the context of the opposition to the ACTA agreement, where the risk of curtailing freedoms is intensely perceived, especially in Eastern Europe [fr].

The manifesto’s original version in Polish: ‘Mi dzieci sieci‘
English: ‘We, the Web Kids‘
French: ‘Nous les enfants du Web‘
German: ‘Wir, die Netz-Kinder‘
Spanish: ‘Nosotros, los hijos de la Web‘
Estonian: ‘Meie, võrgulapsed‘
Swedish: ‘Vi, nätbarnen‘
Czech: ‘My, děti Sítě‘

This manifesto and the reactions it has sparked off everywhere in the world in such a short time, are proof of the desire for freedom, democracy, and transparency that deeply questions our societies. This desire is expressed by those who, from now on, are the willing protagonists of globalization, and who will be the critical citizens of the web over the next decades. The tide has turned, no doubt about it.

Poland: Gossip Portal Accuses Mainstream Media of ACTA Ignorance

Kasia Odrozek — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:32:58 +0000

In what kind of country are we living and how pathetic are the media here, if an article like this had to be written by an Internet portal with a poodle in their logo?

With these humble words a popular Polish gossip portal, Pudelek, decided [pl] to join the ACTA discussion with a post on February 10, 2012, accusing the Polish mainstream media and local celebrities of missing the point and of ignorance in the debate about the controversial legislation.

Meanwhile, on February 11, ACTA protesters took the streets in many European countries, including Poland.

It has been almost three weeks since January 24, when Polish netizens started their protest - which soon turned Europe-wide - against the international agreement that, according to them, presents a threat to Internet freedom. Numerous Internet initiatives [pl] and massive live protests on the streets of many Polish cities induced a debate [pl] about the “generation acta” and their motivations.

While major information services published political analyses and focused on the events that shaped the debate (e.g., Anonymous attacks [pl] and deputies of a certain party wearing [pl] Guy Fawkes masks in the parliament), the most popular Polish gossip portal decided to speak up [pl] on the “real motives of the raging young people” in an article called, “ACTA: How celebrities lost contact with reality”:

The biggest Polish gossip portal decided to speak up for young people. Screenshot of http://pudelek.pl

So let's write about what is not being spoken out - about what is the real reason for the protest and anger that suddenly surprises everybody now: the Internet “piracy” for private use is today the only way for millions of young Poles to live at least a bit like their collegues from Western Europe. To have access to culture, entertainment, to be able to watch a movie on the computer with the girlfriend. This is actually not only a Polish problem. This is a problem of the whole young population in Europe that doesn't have any chance to do a career like their parents did and buy the same apartments they once bought. Everyone who went lately to Italy, Spain, Portugal or even France or Great Britain and took a look at something more than monuments, knows that. In Poland, where almost everything is more expensive than in the West and salaries are three times lower, it is especially visible, like looking through a magnifying glass. But for some people it is apparently not clear enough, even after massive demonstrations with -10°C cold.

The portal criticises some celebrities for their statements about the protests and for defending radical copyright and calling file-sharing a “theft” - while being so well off with money. The authors also ask [pl] why the media coverage of the movement isn't big enough considering such a massive scale of the protests:

Why aren't TV stations shouting about it? 30,000 people chanting, jumping on frost in Krakow! What happened in the last years that, according to them, was more important than this?

The portal recalls [pl] a couple of YouTube videos showing the recent protests, stressing that these are just a few examples out of many, many more. Here is an example showing 30,000 protesters in Krakow, uploaded on YouTube by skitowiec on January 26:

These are just a couple of videos. Do they make you reflect? If somebody doesn't appreciate this, belittles it, it means that he's completely not up-to-date and doesn't understand what actually happened here. What does this civilisation offer to young people if it takes cheap culture and entertainment away from them? Does it offer a good job? Perspectives? You got to be kidding me.

The reaction to the post was enormous: the article has reached nearly 7,000 supporting comments and 8,000 shares on Facebook. The compelling post caused also an immediate reaction from the mainstream media. A journalist from Gazeta.pl [pl], Pawel Wronski, published a mocking article titled, “On the barricades with a poodle” [pl], in which he stressed the tabloid character of the medium and its attempt to comment on a serious matter. The reaction of the readers in the newspaper's forum was devastating [pl] for the journalist.

Pudelek itself answered [pl] with another post:

It's hard to accept the truth, especially when it comes from a pink gossip portal. But what does it have to do with anything? It's just about millions of people who can read it now. Because it's not our own opinions we wrote down here. We wrote down what you [readers] have been sending to us in thousands of emails. […] The problem is that we wrote the very thing that you [the media] were afraid to write […]. How can you be sure that you're expressing somebody's voice, that you can look down on millions of our readers with distaste and that you are an authority for anybody? Do you think that smart people don't read gossip?

Aleksandra Jabloonska supports [pl] Pudelek's post on Facebook and talks about her experience:

I'm impressed that somebody finally had the courage to write it - it's just a pity (no offense) that it had to be the editors of “Pudelek” and not “the free TV and facts for people.” I will give a real-life example: I'm studiyng film and theater. We are required to know all the film history. If I had to watch legally all these movies that they need me to know, I would have to spend [too much money]. But that's not a problem for the state or the university as long as I have internet access - because they assume that I can afford it. I wonder how they imagine such education after implementing ACTA, if the university is not able to make these materials available and the state doesn't give a damn. It's sad, really sad.

Young Poles protest against ACTA but also against the everyday reality. Image by Alexey Sidorenko, used with permission.

Karolina, for whom the article was the first she read on a gossip portal, comments [pl] under the post:

For the first time I've read an article on “Pudelek.” A wise and balanced text. A text describing the world of celebrities whose only contact with poverty is limited to attending a charity gala. It's a weird country, Poland.

Martyna Tina comments [pl] on Facebook:

I was very happy to see that you took our opinions under consideration and wrote about the ACTA problem. Because although this doesn't concern only young people, the older didn't make the effort to read even a bit. They watch TV and there of course the cameramen film in a way to show the least people (seriously!) and they don't say: Poles went on the streets - but they say: somehow not so many people showed up for the protest. They marginalise the problem, labelling it to youth, to the internet, to pirates, to thieves. Thieves are the big corporations, bankers and dishonest politicians.

Blogger niekontent doesn't believe in charitable intentions of the gossip portal and reminds [pl] them that the mainsteram media actually provided a pretty big coverage on ACTA:

Here is the news: with all my respect for the talented editors, but “Pudelek” doesn't touch upon such topics as ACTA unless they become relevant (meaning “interesting,” meaning “clickable”) for the street. This is the logic behind a service that achieved a huge success based on this simple mechanism.

A truth hard to deny, but still, the immense reaction to the post on a portal that normally writes about movie stars' break-ups and best Grammy outfits, should make the media reflect on their overall condition. Are they mirroring the voice of the young generation, are they able to listen? To some extent, young Poles consider the protest an occassion to express their anger against the political elites and the reality they have to live in day by day.

Blogger niekontent finds [pl] the discussion somewhat sad:

It's sad how much Gazeta Wyborcza, one of the most important representatives of the so-called “old media,” stopped to understand the young generations of Poles, those who grew up with the internet. What is worse, sometimes I'm afraid that Gazeta Wyborcza (generally speaking, not individual people) stopped to understand what internet is about. […] It's sad that one of the most aggresive and uncompromising tabloids, which “Pudelek” is, became an authority for a mass of young Poles. […] What is also sad is that the voice of “Pudelek” in this debate sounds just stronger, more honest.

Poland: Government Will Sign ACTA Despite Massive Protest

Kasia Odrozek — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:30:10 +0000

“The Acta agreement in no way changes Polish laws or the rights of internet users and internet usage” - despite a massive Internet protest and controversies around the secret manner of negotiations, the Polish Minister of Administration and Digitisation, Michal Boni, admitted after a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk that the government would sign the anti-piracy agreement ACTA on January 26, as planned.

In an interview with a radio station, Boni said [pl] that it was impossible not to sign the agreement, because it was too late: Poland joined the negotiation process in 2008 and all the other European countries have already signed it. He added that Poland “should attach a clause to the treaty that would show how we interpret these articles”.

Boni had promised [pl] broad public consultations during the European ratification process. Several Polish NGOshave expressed [pl] their disappointment with the government's stance on ACTA and appealed to change the decision.

Since January 21, online hackers calling themselves Anonymous have been attacking and shuting down government websites almost constantly, in a chaotic protest against the plans to sign the international treaty on Thursday.

User @Anonymouswiki owns up to the web attacks on the websites of the prime minister, the parliament and other government entities. Screenshot: Twitter @Anonymouswiki

Although the hackers still enjoy strong support among netizens, and the attacks were one of the reasons the mainstream media picked up the topic of ACTA, the group also faces criticism from key Polish tech-bloggers.

Maciej Gajewski from Spidersweb calls them [pl] “crying kids worried for their mp3″ and regrets that they became the face of the protest giving the government officials an argument against the movement:

Critics, mistrust and suspicion is one thing, but panic, mumbling and spreading disinformation is another thing. Looking at some finds on the biggest Polish social news platforms, looking at the comments of some readers, I get the impression that the lion's share of the protesters have no idea what ACTA is about. They've made up fantastic stories and are passing them on. The mass is getting crazy “Impale PM”, “Let's burn the Minister on the stake!”, “They will all lock us down in prisons!”. And then also Anonymous, who just make the whole protest look ridiculous in the eyes of mature older voters.

900+ Polish websites go dark on January 24

"This is what the Internet might look like very soon. NO to ACTA" - over 900 Polish websites decided to go dark on January 24 in protest against the treaty. Screenshot: http://spidersweb.pl

As opposed to the web attacks on government websites, Antyweb called [pl] on his blog on January 23 for a protest “in a cultured way, namely, a blackout” and provided a script and an instruction on how to do it. In response, more than 900 websites decided to “go dark” and display an anti-ACTA message.

Allegro, the Polish equivalent of Ebay, placed an “anti-ACTA” banner next to the company's logo. The list of the websites taking part in the protest is available here.

The opposition party, the Democratic Left Alliance, also said the government should not sign the agreement and blacked out its website [pl] in solidarity.

While the global media, with a few exceptions, keep silent about the Polish protest, national information services race to publish dozens of opinions, analyses and the latest reports on the ACTA case. In the meantime, the protest movement seems to be getting bigger and bigger: the anti-ACTA protest event on Facebook Nie dla ACTA has reached over 400,000 fans.

A real-life protest in Warsaw gathered [pl] over 1,000 people on Tuesday, and another one is being planned for Wednesday, January 25.

"Screw corporations, long live the people": many Polish protesters went on the streets on January 24. Photo by Alexey Sidorenko, used with permission.

Vagla, a popular Polish digital rights blogger, shared this hope [pl] on Twitter on January 24:

I guess that slowly people start to understand that this is not a discussion about “piracy” and “thieves” but about the direction in which our civilisation is heading.

Update:

Later on January 24, PM Tusk confirmed officially [pl] at a press conference that Poland will sign ACTA on January 26. At the same time, he stressed that the government will not give in to blackmail, meaning the earlier web attacks. Poland strives for Internet freedom, said Tusk.

Poland: Netizens Protest Government's Plan to Sign ACTA Next Week

Kasia Odrozek — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:05:06 +0000

With the world still talking about the aftermath of the SOPA/PIPA Blackout Day, Polish netizens are confronted with another backstabbing development in the fight for free Internet.

On January 19, 2012, during a meeting with NGOs and business representatives, the Polish government announced [pl] that it would sign the controversial anti-piracy agreement ACTA on January 26. While the governement calls it a success [pl] of the Polish EU Presidency, netizens are outraged with the arbitrary decision and are calling to take action against the proposal.

ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is a proposed plurilateral agreement for the purpose of establishing international standards on intellectual property rights enforcement. According to La Quadrature du Net and other globally active digital rights organisations, such as Electronic Frontier Foundation or European Digital Rights, ACTA would impose new criminal sanctions forcing Internet actors to monitor and censor online communications. Creating legal uncertainty for Internet companies, ACTA would become a major threat to freedom of expression online and another assault against the culture of sharing on the Internet.

Image by flickr user PateandoPiedrasweb under the CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 licence.

The decision of the Polish government [pdf, pl] to sign the “European SOPA” worries [pl] blogger Maciej Gajewski from the tech website Spiderweb.pl:

Lately, one talks a lot about SOPA and PIPA bills and this is very good: in my opinion, these are the reprehensible bills and I think that the goal should never justify the means. For the Polish netizens the consequences of these two bills are negligible. If they were adopted, they would concern us only regarding the possibility to block our website for people in the USA. And that's actually it. But meanwhile, just in one week, our country, as a country subordinated to the European Union, will join the ACTA agreement. And this can hurt us. Very much.

An agreement negotiated behind the people's backs

But it's not only the content of the agreement proposal that upsets the netizens. The very secret character of the international ACTA negotiations and a stunning lack of public consultations and transparency in the negotiating process are clearly pointing to a democracy failure, according to [pl] Antyweb, a popular Polish tech-blogger:

They promised debates - nothing. They promised openness - nothing. Democracy is being destroyed, the deputies don't know what they are signing, and all this will lead to a situation when bloggers, scientists and entrepreneurs will be qualified as criminals. And if not, they will anyway walk on thin ice, paying attention not to step on a patent spot with an additinal R letter in a circle on the right side.

The digital rights blog Prawo.vagla.pl criticises [pl] the scandalous ignorance of the Polish government:

We found out that, of course, it's no longer possible to withdraw the decision about the signature of a Polish representative on the ACTA document, that this signature will be put and it will open the way to the ratification procedure. I asked the representatives of these ministries if they had any plan in case the European or the Polish Parliament would not not agree to the ratification. I heard that “it would put us to shame.” I wonder what is a bigger shame, and if it's not maybe the way of working on this kind of an international agreement where the public opinion couldn't get the public information it deserves.

In reaction to the netizens' protest, the Polish Minister of Administration and Digitalisation, Michal Boni [pl], asked [pl] the PM Donald Tusk to re-discuss the agreement before signing it. The meeting [pl] will take place on January 24.

ACTA has to be stopped

In the meantime the Polish Internet is fuming with anger. Facebook pages, such as Poland against ACTA & SOPA and NIE dla ACTA w Polsce, spring up like mushrooms and gather hundreds of thousands of netizens around the protest. On the wall of the Facebook event Nie dla ACTA, Rafal Mirski writes [pl]:

I am in favor of intellectual property protection but not with these methods! This is throwing the baby out with the bath water. You can't allow to subordinate the whole Internet to any group of interest. ACTA is forcing Internet providers to censorship! And it is in fact puzzling how fast, without any public debate, one tries to dictate some solutions. We definitely have to stop it!

Maciej Gajewski from Spiderweb doesn't like [pl] the perspective of being monitored all the time:

First of all: although I don't share anything illegal on the net, I don't feel comfortable knowing that somebody is registering my every step on the Internet. Even if it's an automatic machine. Secondly, these will cause huge costs for the providers. Our activity has to be monitored and archived. Let's prepare for a big raise of Internet prices.

Polish digital rights organisations sent an appeal [pdf, pl] to the PM, drawing his attention to the risks of ACTA. On Wykop, a Polish version of Digg, user katius posted a protest letter [pl] to the Members of the Parliament, encouraging other users to address their representatives with the issue. A series of live protest events [pl] in the biggest Polish cities are planned to take place.

A Polish blackout?

Encouraged by the SOPA/PIPA protest success in the United States, blogger Antyweb calls on his blog [pl] for a Polish blackout:

We have to arrange a specific date (pretty fast) and switch off in the Polish web whatever we can while displaying information about ACTA and about damaging democracy. We need to draw peoples' attention to the fact that this is not the way to take decisions in a modern democratic state. Americans could make it, Poles can do it as well - especially the “internet”-ones. What about Monday, [January 23]? But which of the Polish websites will give up money in the name of defending democracy and free Internet?

Also, the Polish Wikipedia community is considering a blackout [pl] and is in the process of editing an anti-ACTA manifest [pl].

Last hope: European Parliament's veto right

The whole situation looks a bit less dramatic once we consider that the Polish signature alone doesn't change anything yet. The agreement needs to be ratified by the European Parliament. Antyweb writes [pl]:

If we want to fight ACTA, then we need to do it on the European Parliament level - it is there where ACTA will have its “to be or not to be.” The EP can dismiss ACTA completely and then the bill lands in trash. Amen. But it doesn't change the fact that it is worthy to take action on January 26.

As promising as it sounds, isn't it quite dissapointing that instead of counting on one's own government to protect civil and digital rights of its citizens, one has to rely on the reason of EU politicians? Twitter user @PrzemoBrozek sums it up [pl]:

On January 26 Poland will sign ACTA. According to the agreement, Internet providers will have to monitor all users' activities. 1984 MODE ON.

Update:

On January 21, around 7 PM, Anonymous hackers have blocked access to the websites of the Sejm, the lower Chamber of the Polish Parliament, the Chancellery of the PM, the President, and the Ministry of Culture. At the time of writing this article, the websites are still offline.

COP17: Young Trackers Share Final Thoughts on Climate Change Talks

Andrea Arzaba — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:24:04 +0000

Adopt a Negotiator Project trackers updated their blogs daily during the two weeks of climate change talks at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, COP17, held from November 28 to December 9, 2011, in South Africa. Trackers followed negotiations from their regional perspectives, writing in languages like Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, French, Polish and English.

One of the major results of the conference was the second commitment of the Kyoto Protocol, the only legally binding international treaty to reduce green house emissions. However, the commitment was weak, as major polluters like Canada, US, Japan, Russia, Australia and New Zealand refused to sign into this second period.

Climate activists and organizations of civil society were disappointed about the outcomes of the conference, especially because countries agreed to a new legal instrument that will replace the Kyoto Protocol by 2020, when urgent action is needed.

Here are were some of the most relevant conclusions written by the trackers:

South Africa tracker Alex Lenferna reports on the final events in the post “An Interim Disappointment at COP 17″:

I should be on a bus home now; instead I’m sitting in the ICC waiting for the proverbial white smoke to emerge as ministers try to bring COP17 to a close. Last night was supposed to be the closing night for COP 17, but there has been much disagreement among the global community around some very problematic texts that are being discussed around long-term cooperative action and the Kyoto Protocol…

Farrukh Zaman, following Pakistan, writes in “Decisions at COP17: Delayed or Derailed?”:

So while the delay has happened at COP17, let’s hope the negotiations don’t get derailed by postponing them till next year. But just one thing of caution, even though time has and is running out, we don’t need haste decisions; rather we want fair, ambitious and balanced package out of Durban. If that can’t happen here, then COP bis can be our last resort.

France tracker Sébastien Duyck in “Endless conference towards an agreement on never ending negotiations” concludes:

Regarding negotiations for a comprehensive agreement that would include legally binding targets for emissions reduction, the Presidency proposes yet another extension of the discussions. This approach convinces few among the observers still in the conference venue. It appears that we keep relaying on the same solutions (creating a new ad-hoc working group…), despite the fact that they have already been tested repeatedly in the past and have not delivered any successful outcome since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997.

Daily Trackers meeting - COP17, Durban. Photo by Andrea Arzaba

In “Do białego rana. Noc kobiet” (”Until dawn. Women's Night”), Milosz Hordun, Poland's tracker, says:

Ta noc należy do kobiet. Po pierwsze jest Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, przewodnicząca obradom. Zdecydowanie zmęczona ostatnimi dwoma tygodniami. Stara się skutecznie prowadzić strony do celu, udowadniając że afrykański COP może być skuteczny i przełomowy. Często jednak się gubi w procedurach, musi prosić o wsparcie sekretariatu. Jest Conni Hedegaard, unijna komisarz. Także na jej twarzy maluje się zmęczenie. Widać, że trudno jest jej znosić ogromną presję psychiczną, związaną z rozbratem między oczekiwaniami wielu Europejczyków oraz środowisk ekologicznych na całym świecie a możliwościami negocjacyjnymi.

This night is a women's night. First of all, there is Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who chairs the session. She is definitively tired from the last two weeks. She does her best to lead the two sides towards a common goal, proving that the African COP may be successful and become a turning point. However, she gets lost in the proceedings quite often; she has to ask the secretary for help. There is also Connie Hedegaard - European Commissioner [for Climate Action]. Though tiredness is written all over her face, too. You can see how difficult it is for her to handle this enormous pressure as there is a gap between what many Europeans and environmentalist through the globe hope for and negotiating possibilities.

Priti Rajagopalan, from India, summarized the conference's accomplishments in the post “COP17-This is what happened“:

5.18am, International Convention Center, Durban

The verdict is out. What was accomplished at Durban.

1) Something called the Durban railtrack or trackroad ..oh, wait…platform.
2) Empty second commitment period
3) Empty green climate fund
4) Sleepy people most of whom had left by the time the final verdict was given.
5) How manipulative, apparently transparent democratic , multilateral process works.
6) People are looking for CBDR and Bali. If someone finds it, please return it.
7) Unclear mitigation target.
8) Massive failure of a peaceful kind.

To read other final posts of trackers following the United States, Mexico, Australia, China, Canada and New Zealand, among many others, visit Adopt a Negotiator Project webpage.

Andrea Arzaba participated in COP17 as a Young Tracker for Mexico [es].

Thanks to Krzysztof Pawliszak for translating Milosz Hordun's quote.

Poland: Change to Drug Law, Change in Policy?

Anna Gotowska — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 23:49:52 +0000

On December 9, 2011, an important change [pl] was introduced to the Polish drug policy: an amendment to the law on illegal drug possession came into force, which would allow prosecutors to abandon initiation of the criminal procedure against those in possesion of drugs. It is to be possible under three conditions: when defendant is in possesion of only a small amount of drugs, when the drug is for personal use only, and when punishing a person in question would be pointless, due to harmless nature of the crime.

The Polish drug law is considered to be one of the most severe in Europe. Possesion of drugs still remains illegal, but from now on it is for a prosecutor in a specific case to decide, whether it is to be treated as an offence or as a misdemeanour. One of the parts of the new amendment, which is surely to be questioned, is the lack of a definition of what “a small amount of drugs” is.

Even though the change in law is small and its influence depends entirely on the prosecutor's interpretation of it, it is a step in the direction recommended by many influential politicians and experts around the world.

In June 2011, a report by the Global Commission on Drug Policy called for the legalisation of some drugs and an end to the criminalisation of drug users. According to the report, anti-drug policy has failed to achieve its main goal - putting an end to or limiting organised crime. It has costed taxpayers millions of dollars and caused many people to die. In the report, the UN estimates are cited, which state that drug consumption increases every year.

The new law, passed by the parliment in March 2011, caused a heated debate, with 258 deputees in favour of the act and 159 opposing it. The blogosphere was also very fragmented in its evaluation of the parliment's decision.

Blogger mutant12 writes [pl]:

We shouldn't create a myth, claiming that all drugs are similarly dangerous. Decriminalising possesion of marijuana, or even legalising it, won't cause the Polish society to collapse. It won't cause widespread drug addiction. Possibly, more people would dare to use it, but would do so occasionally. I am against legalisation of drugs other than marijuana, though I strongly believe that drug-users should be offered health and treatment services insted of being sent to jail.

Blogger gugulskim doesn't approve of the new act, and being a supporter of the opposition party, blames the ruling one for passing it [pl]:

It all began in the [Sejm], in no time [the Senate ] will join in, and then the President would be given a chance as well [to overrule the act]. Less than a year after [the tragedy in Smolensk], thanks to the elimination of the threat of a veto from the late president [Lech Kaczyński], supporters of the drugs legalisation achieved their first big victory. Which MPs voted for the act, supporting the legalisation of the so-called “light drugs”? […] 100 percent of the opposition voted against it!

On the bangladeszcz blog, where news on the Polish drug policy are published, the editor writes [pl]:

A step towards normalcy! Sejm moderates the drug law!

The most heated debates took place among those who commented on the official online news.

Lech from Boston, USA, writes:

Once again the [Civic Platform-Polish People's Party] coalition shows that it only undertakes legislative actions to harm Poland and the Poles. Don't you see, those back in the country, what these people are doing?!?! These are not innocent children!!! These are people who consequently destroy the Polish sovereignty with unbelievable speed!

Mandark replies [pl]:

This is the best change in the legislation that the ruling party has ever introduced. Unfortunately, we have to admit that those changes are really small. Depenalisation of drug users (as opposed to drug dealers) should be obligatory. A huge mistake was made by turning down the amendment proposed by MP Marek Balicki, which suggested establishing actual limits for the amount of a drug considered as “for personal use.”

LGPhantom adds [pl]:

This amendment doesn't change the situation at all, it doesn't change the Polish drug policy.

Many Twitter users, like @Liroy or @bartoszc, recommended [pl] a YouTube video, where a Harvard economy professor explains why some of the drugs should be decriminalised:

@MamyWas wrote:

[Law and Justice] says that drugs should be illegal, but what is more addictive - marijuana or Law and Justice membership?

It is more than certain that the debate would last for a long time, for the new law is unclear and leaves a lot of space for personal interpretation. But with a loss of about 80 milion zlotych a year [pl] (approx. $23 million; as calculated by the Institute of Public Affairs) on repressions against drug users, and faced with the global crisis, further changes in policy may be just around the corner.

Poland: Netizens Debate Proposal to Re-Introduce Death Penalty

Anna Gotowska — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 01:13:39 +0000

In late November 2011, Jaroslaw Kaczyński, the leader of Poland's largest opposition party Law and Justice, announced that he favored the re-introduction of the death penalty for “the gravest crimes.” The amendment to the penal code is to be presented to the parliment later this year, he said.

Kaczyński is currently facing a serious schism in his own party [pl], and although a mere announcement of such a view on capital punishment may be treated as a way to win over some voters, a huge debate concerning the subject has started nevertheless.

Being part of the European Union, it is highly unlikely that Poland would change the 1997 law that banned death penalty, but - as it turns out - a large part of the Polish society agrees with Mr. Kaczyński. After his statement, many among Polish right-wing politicians announced [pl] that they privately supported the capital punishment, although they accepted the Polish law, which marked it as illegal.

A survey on the subject, conducted in May by CBOS (Center for Public Opinion Reaserch), stated that 61 percent of the Polish population thought that “the death penalty should be used as a punishment in case of the most serious crimes,” and 34 percent of the respondents opposed it. The latest survey, conducted by the website of the most popular Polish daily newspaper, gazeta.pl [pl], after the debate had started, also shows that the majority consider re-establishment of the capital punishment a good idea.

According to the latest online survey, 51 percent of the respondents favor re-establishment of the death penalty for the gravest crimes.

As the public debate developed, the blogosphere also didn't remain silent for too long. Blogger remigiuszmielczarek [pl], who claims to be “Kaczyński's opposition in all other cases,” writes:

I am 100% sure that death as a punishment for a proved murder case, a premeditated killing, is positively deserved and justified. That is my perception of justice – when punishment is equal to the deed commited. When [Hammurabi] cut off hands of a thief he wasn't just, because his punishment was too severe. But it really boggles my mind that a brutal murderer is to be enjoying his life, even if imprisoned for life. Is it really just? In my opinion - it is not.

[…] These days it seems awkward to publicly admit to be a death penalty supporter – even though it is said that most of the people privately do support it. […] One thing is certain: in this case the whole idea of a democratic majority doesn't seem to work…

Another blogger, michal1000, who posts on one of Poland's largest blog portals, salon24, writes [pl]:

I don't fear death penalty […] because a judgement like that doesn't have to be passed, not one execution has to be performed. If no one murders another person with exceptional brutality, rapes and strangles a victim, beats to death an innocent child, a sentence like that won't come into existence. Not one of the above actions is obligatory in Poland, all of them are committed as an act of free will. You can either be innocent of those crimes and not fear the capital punishment, or commit them and face the consequences.

Blogger mojapolskadomowa speaks out [pl] against the death penalty:

The brutal fight for the approval of the right-wing electorate results in yet another competition between two groups originated from “Law and Justice” - Kaczyński's supporters and [Ziobro's]. Jarosław Kaczyński announced during the press conference that he would take steps to make the penal code more severe. Among other changes, he wants to re-establish the death penalty. Does Kaczyński want to steal the appearance of a sheriff away from Ziobro? […] This type of punishment brings neither relief, nor atonement. No to the death penalty.

Another blogger, nocri, claims to be a death penalty supporter, but doesn't approve of Kaczyński's actions [pl]:

Yes, my dear readers, I personally don't have anything against death penalty. […] But… I live in Poland. I accepted the decision that my country would become part of the EU. And by that I accepted the legal restrictions, forcing my country to abolish this kind of quite cruel repay. And because I did that, I have to accept the fact that re-establishing death penalty in Poland is legally impossible. That is the result of a compromise, which I have accepted.

That is why I cannot understand why some politicians are still trying to gain something by playing the “death penalty card.” I guess this is because it's quite easy to play with people's emotions. But this kind of a political game deserves only to be condemned. It is unrealistic, it is populism. I am ashamed of you, Mr. Kaczyński, not for the first time.

According to the social media research conducted by Social Media Kompas, most of the posts on the subject were submitted by Twitter users [pl]. One of them, @gkaczmarek, stated:

Just a few years ago more than 70% of the Poles were death penalty supporters, so today's 51% doesn't surprise me at all.

Another one, @nmaliszewski, wrote [pl]:

And to sum up - no wonder support for Law and Justice declines, Poles strive to earn a living and all Kaczyński thinks about is death penalty and marches

Comparing Kaczyński's statements on death penalty, @gregorius74 finds some of them contradictory [pl]:

Law and Justice is for death penalty, but only in Poland. When it comes to Belarus, it's no longer true. So patriotic :))

Although Pope Benedict XVI has clearly stated that the Church opposes death penalty and described it as cruel and unnecessary, Kaczyński, who considers himself a believer, doesn't see any conflict, mentioning “the long history of the Church's approval for the death penalty.” A few days ago, in reaction to Kaczyński's statement, Cardinal Archbishop of Warsaw Kazimierz Nycz noted that “only God may take one's life” [pl].

Blogger mylilefeluke comments on the situation [pl]:

It seems that lately some of the Catholics have gone nuts, they want the re-establishment of death penalty - in the name of Christ - as they say. They are all the first ones to yell “don't kill, each life is sacred,” they want to protect life, and then that bunch of hypocrites wants to bring back capital punishment. This type of thinking goes way back, and although it is from another era, it will always be here because people always make the same mistakes, they don't learn from the past.

Poland: Bloggers reactions to Tomasz Lis' announcement of “Polish Huffington Post”

Jakub Górnicki — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:54:36 +0000

Tomasz Lis, editor-in-chief of one of Poland's biggest weekly magazines, “Wprost”, and a host of a political talk show, announced the upcoming launch of a new journalistic platform in 2012 - unofficially called the “Polish Huffington Post” [pl]. His presentation generated lots of reactions, especially on Polish tech blogs, which criticized the idea. Among the critics are Maciej Budzich [pl] and Radek Zaleski [pl]. Lis suprised everyone by addressing allegations almost personally and publishing special answers to both Budzich [pl] and Zaleski [pl].

Poland: Bloggers React to the Death of Popular TV Show Character

Jakub Górnicki — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 23:44:08 +0000

Kominek [pl] summarizes bloggers' reactions to the death of Hanka Mostowiak [pl], a fictional character of one of the biggest TV hits ever in Poland, a soap opera called “M jak Miłość” (”L for Love”) [en]. In episode 862, Hanka dies in a car accident (as the actress who played her - Małgorzata Kożuchowska - had decided to leave the TV production). In the past months, the tabloid press has made quite an event out of Hanka's fate, leading bloggers to record one-minute videos called “A minute of silence for Hanka Mostowiak” to show that too much attention was given to this fictional event.

Poland: Open Government Data Camp 2011 and the Future of Open Data

Jakub Górnicki — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 00:15:52 +0000

On November 4, 2011, Anna Kuliberda of NetSquared posted a summary of the Open Government Data Camp 2011, which took place in Warsaw, Poland, on October 21-22:

On 21-22 of October the capital of Poland hosted the biggest Open Government Data (OGD) event in the world this year. It was organized by the Open Knowledge Foundation with the cooperation of Centrum Cyfrowe Projekt Polska (link Polish only). There were more than 250 people from 41 countries. You could talk to techies, members of transparency-oriented NGOs, journalists, social activists, government officials, EU Commission representatives and so on. During two days of the main conference and almost a week of satellite events, there was a lot of time to review different approaches to open government data, especially in terms of new trends and the future of the movement. […]

Open Government Data Camp venue: 'Panorama of the former M25 underground electronica club in Warsaw industrial area, during the OGD Camp. Funky cyberpunk feeling.' (Photo by Flickr user RealIvanSanchez; CC BY-SA 2.0).

The previous Open Government Data Camp event was held in London last year, and, as Ramine Tinati pointed out:

The beginning of the day started with a certain level of surrealism. The location and setting of the conference building was different, very different. It was once a factory, but now transformed into a nightclub. Dark and cold was the order of the morning, with a kick off time of 9:45 (ish). Rufus Pollock opened Open Government Data Camp 2011 with a great keynote, giving a quick introduction into the progress of Open Data, then delivered a few key points which seemed to trend throughout the day:

• Data is useless without communities and tools
• Tools need to be open source
• The Open Data communities need to grow

David Eaves, in his blog post “The State of Open Data 2011,” named the successes of the past year:

[…] One of the things that has been amazing to witness in 2011 is the veritable explosion of Open Data portals around the world. Today there are well over 50 government data catalogs with more and more being added. The most notable of these was probably the Kenyan Open Data catalog which shows how far, and wide, the open data movement has grown. […]

He also wrote about the current state and challenges of the open data movement:

[…] I'm impressed by the hundreds and hundreds of people here at the Open Data Camp in Warsaw. It is fun to be able to recognize so many of the faces here, the problem is that I can recognize too many of them. We need to grow this movement. There is a risk that we will become complacent, that we'll enjoy the movement we've created and, more importantly, our roles within it. If that happens we are in trouble. Despite our successes we are far from reaching critical mass. […]

Open Knowledge Foundation published a series of videos from the event on Vimeo.com.

More coverage can be found here and on Twitter.

Czech Republic: Open Source Initiative to Visualize State Budget

Jakub Górnicki — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 20:47:47 +0000

KohoVolit's Michal Škop and Centrum Cyfrowe [pl] from Poland announced that the open source application Raw Salad [pl] used to hack the Polish state budget will also be used in the Czech Republic. Besides publishing the budget data using this new way, Czechs will also create a dedicated portal with visualisations of the selected data.

Poland: Election Results Signal Imminent Generation Shift

Kasia Odrozek — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 21:42:09 +0000

No Budapest in Warsaw

On October 9, 2011, the results of Poland's parliamentiary election seemed to be a relief to many and a surprise to everybody. The current Prime Minister (PM) Donald Tusk has become the first Polish prime minister since 1989 to be elected to a consecutive term, but the real dark horse of the election is the anticlerical and libertarian Janusz Palikot, whose party has gained 10 percent of the votes.

With 39 percent of the votes, the centre-right Civic Platform won over the biggest opposition party, the national-conservative Law and Justice, which took 30 percent of the votes. Its leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski commented on the election outcome, saying that “the day will come when Warsaw will be like Budapest,” referring to [pl] the current Hungarian conservative PM Victor Orban.

Donald Tusk is the first Polish leader to be re-elected in a consecutive term. Photo by Flickr user PlatformaRP (CC BY-ND 2.0)

One election, two winners

The biggest surprise, however, was the result of the party “Ruch Palikota” (”Palikot's Movement”), which became the third power in the parliament, even though it was registered only four months ago by a philisophy graduate and entrepreneur Janusz Palikot. In his time as a member of the Civic Platform, Palikot was branded as a political clown and provocateur. His eccentric ways once showed during the infamous press conference, at which he waved a toy gun and a vibrator [pl] in order to draw attention to the case of a young woman who had been sexually abused at a police station. Another time, he brought a bleeding pig's head [pl] to a TV show, calling it a “mafia gift.”

Now, just a few years later, Palikot is not afraid to campaign for sensitive subjects, such as a secular state, civil unions for gay men and lesbians, legalisation of abortion and a more liberal drug policy. With this programme [pdf, pl], he has won the hearts of many young people across the country, especially those who felt that their demands weren't represented by any other party on the political scene.

Twitter user @szwalowski commented [pl] on October 9:

The voice of Palikot is an expression of the same emotions that make people in Madrid or Tel Aviv go to the streets #wyborcza | Not really #wybory [election]

The same day another Twitter user @pawelbielecki tried to find [pl] the reason for Palikot's succes somewhere else:

Was it a good PR or maybe the voters' disgust with the Polish political scene that translated into such a good result for Palikot's Movement #wybory

Mateusz Drulis wrote [pl] on the Movement's Facebook wall:

I hope that I will live till these beautiful times when politicians understand that it's no longer about ignoring just one man, Janusz Palikot, but also 1.5 million young Poles who support him and his postulates.

A billboard from the press kit on the movement

Young people consider Palikot much more honest than other politicians and feel attracted to his anticlerical courage. A phrase by a TV journalist about the Generation JPII (Pope John Paul II) facing the Generation JP (Janusz Palikot) seemed to hit the point [pl].

Palikot’s party has also won [pl] in the primary election organized among high school students. Nearly 36 percent of the future voters were in favour of his party. Dave Schiemann commented [pl] on it on the Facebook wall of Palikot’s movement on October 14:

I saw this coming. At a certain age, people already have their opinions formed and they won't change it. In addition, they are not that open for other things as young people are. Palikot's Movement is the party of the future, these 10% of support is just a beginning! Or at least I hope so :)

Blogger Nocri considers [pl] Palikot’s success as a sign of a clear need for change in the Polish society:

He became a new and interesting figure on the Polish political scene. The last election proved that there was a need for changes in the political system that has been manipulating us for 20 years already. He [Palikot] became a symbol of embarassment but also of courageous decisions. He became a symbol among young people - it's him who has won most of the votes among the electorate that all the parties were fighting for.

On Twitter on Oct. 9, @pawel_meteo noted [pl] that Palikot's success was a result of a populist game, comparing the politician and his postulate to legalize marijuana to another populist from the past, Andrzej Lepper.

Civil rights activists move into Parliament

Thanks to Palikot's success, the first transsexual MP Anna Grodzka will enter the parliament, as well the first openly homosexual politician Robert Biedron and a feminist activist Wanda Nowicka [pl]. Just before the election day, the future MP Anna Grodzka stressed [pl] on her blog how much the campaign has changed her life:

During this campaign and during last years I've received so much good from people, I've received so much help and support from many friends that I haven't experienced in all my life. We fight together for a modern and just Poland. For Poland of different but equal people, for our good place on earth.

Tomasz Terlikowski, a Polish conservative journalist and a Catholic activist, reacted on his portal in a post [pl] titled “We go to war”:

[…] The Poles have made the third political power in Poland […] a man whose only merits are shameless attacks against the church, and his people include a guy who calls himself a woman, a woman who made a career on preaching about killing children and a man whose only merit is that he likes other men.

Whatever one may say about Poland's new politial reality, one thing is certain - the election has revealed a profound change that the Polish society has undergone in the past years. A change that all the parties except for Palikot's Movement have ignored. Will Palikot fight for the postulates that have brought him this impressive approval from the young Poles - or will he dissapoint his voters?

Tomek Alfik Frontczak expressed [pl] his hope with a happy post on the Movement's Facebook wall on October 10:

Thank you, Janusz! It's super great! Poland finally has a chance for a modern country, I sincerely thank you. I hope you won't dissapoint these Poles who supported your movement. I don't find words to describe our happiness. Take care and good luck!!!

Poland: Facebook Initiative Puts Pressure on Politicians

Kasia Odrozek — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 00:44:14 +0000

“One cannot ignore tens of thousands of votes”

For the past two months, a Facebook initiative called “Appeal to parliamentarians” [pl], with more than 60,000 fans, has been crowdsourcing ideas to improve Polish legislation. Ahead of the upcoming October 9, 2011, parliamentary elections, the organizers presented ideas to political parties and promised to endorse those who would support the most popular of the netizens’ proposals.

The initiative arose from a campaign that the same group of people had started in order to change one of the most restrictive drug laws in the European Union; this has a proper videospot [pl], a celebrity as the campaign face and in the end over 60,000 Facebook fans who do not agree with the perspective of going to jail for three years for smoking one joint.

Eventually, the Polish Parliament adopted the new drug law [pl] and the Facebook initiative celebrated this as its victory, although many netizens described the amendment as irrelevant.

More than 63,000 netizens gathered on Facebook to express their ideas on how to improve the Polish legislation. Image courtesy of the "Appeal to Parliamentarians" organizers.

On the group's Facebook wall, one the the followers, Alex Raczynski, criticized the achievement but noted the relevance of the change as such on May 26:

Born in pain, incomplete, lousy, not changing much. But anyway the content of the articles doesn’t really matter here. What is important is the fact that old parliamentarian geezers bended under the pressure of society. Bravo my dears. Very slowly but consequently we head towards a civil society.

Encouraged by the success of the campaign, the organizers decided to widen their horizons and transform the campaign into a tool for young people to put pressure on politicians. Especially in the context of the upcoming parliamentary election.

They wrote on their Facebook wall:

Just think: which party would ignore at least tens of thousands of potential votes? Let’s invite friends, let’s get media attention and let’s put pressure on the politicias. Maybe they will finally start to listen to us?

“To the blackboard!”

A new campaign and videospot, posted on Sep. 15 by Apelujemy on Vimeo, encouraged Polish netizens to post their ideas in the Facebook group:

In the press release, the organizers stress their political neutrality and describe the action as the voice of young people who feel ignored or betrayed by political parties.

Michal Juda, one of the organizers, says [pl]:

The election is approaching and we don’t have anybody to vote for. We are reading the parties' agendas and we can’t find anything that really interests us. That’s why we have created this initiative, “To the blackboard!”. With the help of Facebook, we want to engage young people and create our own list of postulates. Then we'll show them to the politicians [running in the upcoming election] and ask for their positions on each one of them.

The new project elicited different responses among the fans of the group. On July 15, Pan Kapica encouraged [pl] the organizers to continue with the citizen initiative:

I will support every, even the smallest change of the Polish “anti-drug” law. Appeal to the parliamentarians has become a very strong, concrete citizen initiative – and Poland needs this. If we have achieved something like this, why not go further?

Damazy Podsiadło stressed the importance [pl] of the initiative but was sceptical about its actual impact:

The idea is good, it’s good to remind our deputies that they are representatives chosen by citizens in order to act in the people’s best interest. The mandate to govern comes from us (theoretically, but, more importantly, also legally), so we have the right to do such actions and we should organize them. I personally think that the parliamentarians are so cynical by now that they forgot it. So – it’s good that we have such initiatives but I still have doubts if we are really going to manage to achieve anything in the long term with their help only.

Kamil Fikou expressed [pl] the same concern in a more pointed way on the group's Facebook wall on August 8:

Cool that this initiative is taking place, but the truth is that the government doesn’t give a shit about it.

Iza Forys supported [pl] the initiative on July 17:

I’m for many changes in the Polish law because this country is impossible to live in. And it’s enough to take a short look at other countries to see a diametric difference (and to be perfectly clear, I’m not talking only about the marijuana case). Everyday probably each one of us faces lots of absurdities and we all just shut our eyes to it, one has to function somehow in these conditions. But the question is – do we really have to or is it just because we are lazy? I will support every initiative that unifies people and tries to change something.

El Ogurro doesn’t believe [pl] in the power of Internet activism and pleads for real actions:

Or maybe it’s time to realize that the world isn’t changing on Facebook but on the streets with a Molotov in the hand.

And Sebastian Chmura complained about slacktivism:

It’s easy to click on “like” - but then nobody wants to go to vote

Despite scepticism, once the Facebook “blackboard” opened, thousands of people have answered questions and posted ideas about changes in the Polish legislation. The postulates touched upon such topics as employment, family politics and relations with church, and caused many discussions. One of the biggest concerns of the young people remained the drug law – thousands of netizens postulated decriminalisation of marijuana.

The action has received some media coverage [pl], but – more importantly - also some actual reactions from politicians who answered netizens’ questions in short video recordings [pl], available on YouTube (here, here, here and here). The peak of the campaign was the debate [pl] at the University of Warsaw with representatives of most political parties. Among these major parties the only party missing was the national-conservative party Law and Justice, led by Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

On Sunday, October 9, the Polish election day, young netizens can decide who has passed the test and answered the “blackboard” questions correctly - and who has failed their expectations. Is this online debate a beginning of a new quality in the political culture in Poland? Alex Raczynski is optimistic in his September 20 post:

I’m full of hope for a genuine bottom-up citizen debate about real things. Just look at what we’ve achieved starting with the drugs politics. […]

Poland: Parties Not So Eager to Obey New Gender Quota Act

Anna Gotowska — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:53:16 +0000

With the announcement of the date of the Polish parliamentary elections – to be held on October 9, 2011 – a discussion has started on whether the Polish political parties will follow the new rules introduced by the Gender Quota Act, which was passed earlier this year.

According to the new legislation, each party running for parliament should have at least 35 percent of women on its candidate list. Although this is not the most demanding obligation, the parties seem to be finding it surprisingly hard to fulfill their duty.

A research conducted by TOKFM [pl], a popular radio station and Internet portal, reveals the true nature of gender politics in the main Polish parties. The data collected shows that in the parliamentary elections of 2007, out of over 6,000 candidates only 23 percent were women. Of the three parties that had the highest number of women on their tickets, none managed to enter the parliament. Only one out of five Polish MPs is a woman. The most shocking figure shows that out of 107 city mayors only four are women.

At the end of last week, most parties revealed their complete candidate lists. Blogger Goetz, who covers the Polish social and political situation on Lewica.pl, a Polish left-wing portal, wrote this [pl] on August 10:

[…] Today, we have a chance to observe the implementation of the quota act. And what do we see? On the horizon, we can watch the grim fruition of the common saying “A Pole can.” Because it is true that Poles have mastered the art of evading the law, including the quota act that has just joined a bunch of other acts existing only on paper.

It seems to have become a habit for the majority of parties to put women on lower places on the tickets, which practically eliminates their chances to be elected. On the so-called “guaranteed places” women are scarce, no to mention [the top positions on the candidate lists]. Women have become - and we shoud have seen it coming - the ticket's “fillers”, put there only to fulfill the demands of the Quota Act. In some cases they were given higher positions just to pull the wool over our eyes - it was mostly done by the parties that don't stand much of a chance in this year's elections anyway. […]

Another post on Lewica.pl portal, written by prekiel, states [pl]:

The party of Grzegorz Napieralski [SLD, a left-wing party], which was the first to demand the implementation of parities on the tickets, decided to change its mind. And even though we cannot complain about the lack of women on the tickets, it's obvious that they were not given any important positions. Out of 41 tickets composed by SLD, only on four a woman was placed on the first position - which accounts for only 10%. Nepotism seems to be more important than the promises made earlier, not to mention the abilities of women.

Blogger koziolekweb clearly states that he was against the passing of the act from the very beginning. In his post titled “The number of the breasts must be right,” he writes [pl]:

Every day we are getting closer and closer to the parlimentary elections. This time it will be held under the abnormal rule of the Quota Act ensuring 35 percent of the seats for the gender minority. The stupidity of this solution is overwhelming, but after the recent events, it's even more obvious. The parties didn't bother to put any effort into composing of the tickets. Both PiS [Law and Justice, Jaroslaw Kaczynski's right-wing party] and PO [Civic Platform, the ruling party] put breasts on the ticktes. I have to admit that in both of these parties there are female members who are professionals (most of them are members of PiS), but they are not enough to fulfill the obligation of 35 percent. So the parties fill the gaps with ladies whose capacities are more than visible when it comes to the neckline. At least PO is not making a show out of this the way PiS is doing when it is promoting their leader using the breasts of some political tweenie.

As the implementation of the Quota Act isn't going too smoothly, we should perhaps take a closer look at the Act itself, for it has caused a huge debate even before it was passed by the vote. The bill, created by The Congress of Women - “Poland’s largest non-political civic movement, founded in 2009, aiming at equality of rights, opportunities, and potential of women and men in both the private and the public spheres” - even now is a cause for a heated debate.

The logo of the Congress of Women - 'Women for Poland, Poland for Women'

Many Polish bloggers openly oppose the Act and criticize politicians for having implemented it. Blogger Stefanb wrote [pl] two weeks ago:

In this situation it is all about the tickets for the upcoming elections, but when speaking of “gender equality” they [feminists] also speak of “equality in professional career, equal access to promotion” or even of “equal relations in the family.” These are also the spheres where “femi-nazis” and the “politically-correcting” would love to have parity, no matter what. They would love to have parity in washing the dishes, cleaning, taking care of the babies - half of the time a woman would be taking care of this, and the other half - a man. Unfortunately, I fear that this crazy politics would be a 'success', and by that I mean there would be an even bigger mess in this country compared to what we have now.

It's not only men who speak out against the Quota Act. For example, blogger Evcom writes [pl]:

I think that the idea of parity in politics is not at all about administering justice or implementing equality. It's obvious - and we don't need to discuss parities to come to that - that work is more effective when the people in the workplace are diverse. The question is whether women really want to join politics?

Another blogger, krzysztofsiuda, has some doubts on whether such an act could be democratically justifiable, but admits nevertheless:

From many opinions I've heard it follows that for a woman to achieve a rightful place in politics means much more of an effort than for a man, because they come across many more problems. I think there's something to it. Maybe through this “fake law” we would finally be able to achieve normality? If this happens, after a few years we won't need this fake imposition and everything will be in place - everyone will be equally capable of participating in politics, regardless of the gender. We'll see, time will show…

Ukraine: Basic Language Tips

Veronica Khokhlova — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 22:49:33 +0000

The Kalpak shares some Ukrainian language tips that should “help with basic sign reading that a new visitor to Ukraine will need to do in order to navigate around Kyiv.”