Poland

Highlights the organisation and impact of the October 19, 2016 Strike in Argentina - the first women’s strike in the history of the country (and Latin America), which alone mobilised 250,000 people in Buenos Aires. The strike inspired by the same initiative taken by Polish women, which extended to many countries in the world thanks to the coordination of groups activities, petitions sent to the UN and manifestos.

Account up to mid-1981 by British journalist familiar with Eastern Europe, with text of Gdansk and Szeczecin Agreements between strikers and government and postscript on December 1981.

Falk assesses the nature of the 1989 revolutions, which she delineates as the collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe in a context of commitment to nonviolence by key players (with the exception of Romania) and of restraint by both Gorbachev in the USSR and western leaders. Year 1989 appeared to usher in a new concept of peaceful revolution, which could be applied to challenge other repressive regimes. But, Falk argues, these attempts, as in the '2009 Green Revolution' in Iran and the 'Arab Spring' in 2011 in Egypt and elsewhere, have resulted in defeat.  The author also notes other factors, which militate against successful nonviolent revolution. These include the greater ruthlessness (compared with the East European Communist regimes of the 1980s) of many of today's dictatorships, the declining respect for the US and for liberal democracy as an ideal, a rise in barbaric violence (represented by ISIS) and the complex role of today's communication technologies, which can mobilize protest but promote lack of leadership capable of formulating negotiable demands. The article references a number of other interesting recent perspectives on revolution today.   

Flam draws on newly available archives and over 100 interviews with Communist officials, dissidents and ‘bystanders’. (See also Flam, Anger in Repressive Regimes: A Footnote to Domination and the Arts of Resistance by James Scott (A. 1.c. Small Scale, Hidden, Indirect and 'Everyday' Resistance) ).

Covers women’s political rights across all major regions of the world, focusing both on women’s right to vote and women’s right to run for political office. The countries explored are Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.

(Published in New York by Random House as The Magic Lantern).

The election of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) in 2015, and its growing authoritarianism, has politicized thousands of Poles and stimulated large-scale protests. Women have been at the forefront, linking the demand for reproductive rights with the wider resistance to the ruling party. In particular, the proposal to restrict the abortion law sparked mass mobilization in 2016. These Black Protests became a formative experience for many previously inactive. This article examines this latest wave of feminist activism in Poland and its methods, from a generational perspective. It scrutinises in detail the narrative of a “new generation of activists,” who claim they are making Polish feminism more inclusive, creative and bolder.

On the 23rd March 2018, tens of thousands of Polish citizens demonstrated against the right-wing populist government’s renewed attempt (after its defeat in 2016) to make the existing abortion laws even more restrictive. In what has become known as the #BlackProtest movement, people dressed in black to show their opposition to attempts to restrict abortion. This paper explores the laws, regulations and policies related to abortion in Poland within a wider global context.

Youthful personal impressions combined with later historical research on Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Slovenia. Especially strong on the playful resistance of groups such as the Orange Alternative in Wroclaw.

This paper discusses the events of the 2016 mobilization against a proposed total abortion ban proposal through a lens of reproductive justice, and explains the context of the struggle. The authors examine the Strike as a ‘tumultuous act of women’s solidarity’, while simultaneously assessing its implications for RJ issues. They also discuss the aftermath and the social unwillingness to acknowledge the complexities of women’s lives and reproductive choices. They also provide arguments for applying the RJ framework to illuminate the concept of ideal citizens, and to explore gendered social control in Poland. This study has a global relevance, reflecting the impact of worldwide trends in women’s rights activism, and the relevance of RJ in the context of resurfacing nationalisms and populism.

Covers developments in 1956, especially the June and October public protests.

Influential intellectual oppositionist in Poland from the 1960s to the 1980s argues for adhering to nonviolent methods for moral and political as well as pragmatic reasons (i.e. threat of Soviet military response to a violent uprising).

This book has become a key reference on the subject of nonviolent action, and notably was circulated clandestinely in Poland after 1981. It has been translated in Italian, Spanish, Polish, Croatian and Arabic.

Abortion in Poland was legal under Communism and became illegal (with a few exceptions) after the political shift to multi-party democracy. Feminists opposing the abortion law had little impact. This changed in 2016, when hundreds of thousands of Poles across the country took to the streets in the Czarny Protest, or Black Protest. They opposed a bill that would remove some of the exceptions in the existing legislation and impose criminal sanctions on abortion. The scale of the protest meant that the proposal was stalled, despite the newly elected right-wing populist government. It was a surprising victory for the feminist movement, especially after a similar proposal in 2011 received almost no public attention and failed to mobilise resistance even among feminists. This paper looks back at the pro-choice movement before the mass mobilisation in 2016. It draws on interviews and focus groups conducted with pro-choice activists in Poland between 2011 and 2012, when the feminist movement was predominantly active online rather than on the streets. The paper concludes with questions about the success of the mass mobilisation that took place five years later in 2016, which was largely mobilised from online platforms. It asks whether there has been a shift within the pro-choice feminist movement or a sudden interest in feminist politics among the Polish public or whether the 2016 protest reflected a broader dissatisfaction with the current regime. If the third exploration is correct, what are the implications for feminist activism in Poland and the wider resistance to right-wing politics?

Explores how women's reproductive rights and needs are reflected in pro-life and pro-choice public debate in Poland.

Includes reflections by leading participants in revolutions from Hungary, Poland, East Germany and Czechoslovakia, a journalist’s view of ‘Why Romania could not avoid bloodshed’, and an essay by J.K. Galbraith on dangers of the triumph of a simplistic economic ideology, and a comparative chronology of 1988-1990.

This book, edited by the international coordinator of Ecologistas en Accion, covers 15 varied struggles against fracking around the world, and is intended to be a source of inspiration for continued resistance. Many are first person accounts, by those involved. Chapters cover personal opposition fracking in the courts or at the municipal level, resistance by local farmers to corporations backed by the government, as in Poland and Romania and the campaign for 'frack free' municipalities in the Basque territory of Spain. There are also accounts of resistance from Argentina, Algeria, South Africa, Australia, the UK (against drilling in Sussex) and Northern Ireland, and on the role of ATTA C in France. Includes a timeline and 'some snapshots' of the resistance, as well as some conclusions drawn by the editor.  

Looks back at the 1975 Iceland women's strike at the start of the UN Decade for Women; the 8 March 2000 Global Women's Strike, the 2016 Polish women's strike to resist successfully anti-abortion legislation, the 2017 Argentina women's mass demonstration against the rape and murder of women, and the cooperation between women in Poland and Argentina in 2017 to coordinate the International Women's Strike.

This work comprises almost 100 interviews with local coordinators of Polish Women’s Strike (OSK) groups throughout the country designed to reveal the people behind a countrywide network that organized the successful 2016 protests against attempts to tighten the already restrictive abortion law. The authors also explore what drove them to activism and how they understood the concept of an ‘ordinary woman’.

The book notes the long history of pro-choice activism, and explores new limits on abortion in the United States under the Trump/Pence Administration, as well as the global impact of US policy. The author then charts the pro-choice movements led by women in Canada, Ireland, and Poland; the interconnection between diversity and abortion; and the fight against abortion stigma. It also includes testimonies of women who have had abortions.

Examines the main traits of Nazi occupation of Europe, the complexities of non-cooperation, and the role of social cohesion and public opinion in mounting effective opposition. Chapter on civilian resistance to genocide considers why the Final Solution was hampered, or even prevented, in certain countries.

Examines contribution of environmental activism to ‘an immanent civil society’. Chapters on Hungary, Poland, Romania and Russia.

Leading theorist of social movements explores research into opinions of ordinary members of Solidarity, and examines strategic decisions.

The disintegration of the Soviet bloc led to different kinds of peaceful transformation in Central Eastern Europe at the end of the 1980s.  In spite of many differences, common tendencies became apparent. Leading experts elaborate on similarities and differences in the GDR, Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

Walker analyzes how the protesters in Belarus in 2020 used the 'Nexta Live' channel (run by a young Belarusian man in Warsaw) on the Telegram messaging app. The app combines easy availability of information and advice - allowing rapid dissemination of instructions to protesters and advance organizing - with privacy. Governments have great difficulty in blocking channels on the app. Whilst focusing on the Belarus context, Walker also notes that the app is used by protesters in Hong Kong, in Russia and by Extinction Rebellion. It has also been used by Isis fighters - though Telegram has begun to try to prevent this. The creator of the app is a Russian now living abroad.

Includes interesting material on Solidarity’s underground period after December 1981.