Global Voices » Poland

Slovakia: Stop ACTA Protest

Tibor Blazko — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:07:22 +0000

An anti-ACTA rally took place in Bratislava on Feb. 4. On the protest's Facebook page [sk], nearly 7,500 people wrote they would attend, and over 3,800 wrote they'd “maybe” attend. The weather was cold and windy; the recent news from Poland, which has postponed the ratification of ACTA, was good; and it's unlikely that anything will be approved before the Slovak early elections in March. As a result, only 500 people or so showed up for the rally [sk; photos; video]. This week, a number of Slovak and Czech politicians announced they were in favor of postponing the ratification of the controversial treaty.

Poland: Government Will Sign ACTA Despite Massive Protest

Katarzyna 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

Katarzyna 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.

Poland: Martial Law 30 Years On

Vilhelm Konnander — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 08:12:47 +0000

Polandian writes about the 30th anniversary of the introduction of martial law in Poland 1981, and argues that repression became a positive trigger for the popular movement against communist rule.

Poland: Prosecutor Suicide Attempt

Vilhelm Konnander — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:22:34 +0000

Michael Dembinski of W-wa Jeziorki tries but fails to understand a suicide attempt by a military prosecutor involved in investigations of the 2010 Smolensk aircrash killing Poland's president Lech Kaczynski, and causing a plethora of conspiracy theories.

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.

CEE: “Spotted by Locals”

Veronica Khokhlova — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 01:08:32 +0000

Spotted by Locals: Experience cities like a local features a few dozen locations, including CEE cities of Belgrade, Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, Ljubljana, Prague, Riga, Sofia, Tallinn, Vilnius, Warsaw, and Zagreb. A random sample post from Zagreb, Croatia: Hrelić Flea Market – The Aleph of Zagreb; from Bucharest, Romania: The Haunted House – Armenian Neighbourhood; from Sofia, Bulgaria: Nissim – A True Old-School Bookstore.

CEE: A “Safe House” and an Igloo

Veronica Khokhlova — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:01:48 +0000

Polandian writes about the so-called “Safe House” near Warsaw, Poland. On Cold United, Bolot of eYakutiaposts a video tutorial on how to build an igloo.

Macedonia, Poland: Remembering Solidarność

Filip Stojanovski — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 03:25:45 +0000

Macedonian blogger Zoriv reminisced about the fall of socialism by publishing original photos [mk] he made during the 1981 protests in Warsaw, Poland, organized by Solidarity Trade Union.

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.

Belarus-Poland: Ex Presidential Candidate Arrested in Warzaw

Vilhelm Konnander — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 19:55:50 +0000

According to LJ user artem_ablozhei [ru], former Belarus presidential candidate Ales Michalevic earlier today was arrested at Warzaw airport by Polish police acting on an extradition request by Belarus authorities.

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.