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General women's strike in Poland to protest abortion veto

2020-10-28T19:41:47.720Z


A feminist organization has called this Wednesday a halt in activity to press for the Constitutional Court ruling to restrict the interruption of pregnancy as much as possible


The fury does not stop in Poland.

This Wednesday, the organization Strajk Kobiat, the feminist association that leads the protests against the veto of abortion in the country, has called a general strike of women to show its indignation and total rejection of the Constitutional Court's ruling to restrict the interruption to the maximum of pregnancy.

His motto: "This is a war."

Its symbol: a red lightning bolt with a black background.

Many girls paint it on their faces;

others draw it on banners.

Her fight: to recover women's rights in a country where important steps are being taken backwards in terms of equality.

It is not yet known how many women have supported the strike.

It was a personal initiative without the endorsement of any union.

But what is quantified is that for the seventh consecutive day, and despite the threat of the growing number of infections by covid-19, thousands of Polish citizens (and also citizens) have protested again in the streets of the main cities of the country against the Constitutional ruling.

A ruling that declares abortion due to fetal malformation unconstitutional, which affects 97% of pregnancy terminations in Poland.

"I know it is dangerous, that we can get coronavirus, but I have never felt so unprotected in my own country, I cannot stay at home," explains Kinga Kowalksa, 30, by phone as she heads out this afternoon with a group of friends to the organized demonstration in front of the

Sejm

building

(the Parliament of Poland).

Kowalska did not fill her position today at the children's publishing house where she works in Warsaw.

Neither she nor the rest of her companions.

"Our bosses told us on Monday that they were going on strike and we have all supported them," he says.

In his editorial there are 20 employees, only five men.

“But they are with us.

It is a historic moment.

We cannot put up with this authoritarian government that wants to impose its ultra-Catholic ideology on us ”.

The mayors of several cities, including the capital Warsaw and Krakow, have also supported Strajk Kobiet's initiative.

Hanna Zdanowska, the mayor of Lodz (with over 700,000 residents), has joined the protests and posted a photo on Twitter of an empty office seat.

His counterpart in the city of Poznan (with around half a million inhabitants) also spread his support for women who went on strike on Tuesday on the same social network.

The two politicians belong to the main opposition party, the moderate right-wing formation Civic Platform.

Poza biurem #StrajkKobiet #lodz pic.twitter.com/UgCXFJd7A7

- Hanna Zdanowska (@HannaZdanowska) October 28, 2020

Part of the anger of the protesters has been reflected these days against the Catholic Church in the Slavic country.

“They have been influencing the Kaczynski Executive [leader of the ruling party and current deputy prime minister] for years.

They have become a political institution.

His speech against the LGTBI collective and also his traditional rhetoric connects with the thinking of many middle and young women ", explains Elżbieta Korolczuk, a sociologist at the University of Warsaw." We have also witnessed years of impunity while many cases were uncovered of pedophilia within the Catholic Church.

People have already exploded ”, he adds.

In the protests last Sunday, scenes were hardly imaginable in a country with a fervent Catholic tradition.

Some demonstrations were called in front of the cathedrals of Katowice, Krakow.

Several activists broke into a church in Poznan during mass.

This Tuesday the ultra-Catholic leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, considered the man with the most power in the Government of Poland, further exacerbated the spirits by calling on citizens to "defend the churches" against the "hostilities" of the protesters.

The Interior Ministry has published a statement warning on Wednesday that the police will take measures against "new acts of aggression and desecration", to guarantee public order and the safety of all citizens.

In the succession of protests that has been spreading this Wednesday through the capital, thousands of people have concentrated this morning also at the doors of the headquarters of the ultra-conservative organization Ordo Iuris to show their outrage at the influence that they claim has this association in the Government, having further radicalized the policies of the Law and Justice party (PiS).

Speaking to this newspaper last week, Rafal Dorosinski, one of its members, expressed his satisfaction with the decision of the Polish Constitutional Court to limit abortion as much as possible.

“It is a guarantee of protection of human rights, and of the lives of all children.

This is an example for the rest of the countries ”.

The thousands of women who demonstrate every day in the country do not think the same.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-10-28

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