UCL SSEES Press Briefing

The crisis in

Expert briefing 5 November 2020

BACKGROUND The five core features of populism are: Since 1993, Poland has had one of the strictest abortion laws in . With its ruling 1. Vertical polarisation of the people vs. on 22 October 2020, the Polish Constitutional the elite – both imagined as monoliths Tribunal further tightened the conditions for – where the notion of “the people” legal abortion and effectively removed Polish bears a “mystical” form. women’s control over their . 2. Anti-elitism – not only in a political In response, Polish women and men took to sense but also in anti-expert and anti- the streets to protest the decision of the scientific articulations. Tribunal – a body which itself was appointed in 3. A Manichean vision of the world as a a manner that is also seen as controversial by continuous struggle between good many experts and observers. (“us”) and evil (“them”).

4. The supremacy of the popular will This briefing document provides a summary of (Volonté Générale), which essentially a discussion hosted by UCL SSEES on 30 October 2020. Eight experts grouped in three leads to an erosion of liberal thematic panels assessed the ongoing crisis democracy. and provided their views on the 1) political, 2) 5. Horizontal polarisation – that is, the legal, and 3) socio-cultural consequences of delineation of “us” versus “them”. The the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal for definition of “good people” and “bad Polish society. people” remains highly arbitrary and has a “politically-strategic” nature.

POLITICS The remedy is to restore pluralism and de- demonise the idea of the “diversity” of human Professor Jan Kubik, Department of nature, but also of human interests. Political Science, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; and UCL SSEES *

KEY POINT We should see right-wing Professor Richard Mole, UCL SSEES populism as the overall context for what is happening in Poland now. The ruling Law and KEY POINT There has been a significant Justice Party (PiS) embodies all key features politicisation of homophobia in Poland as part of populism. of the government’s broader strategy of

Page 1 of 4 UCL SSEES Press Briefing actively defending traditional understandings LAW of gender roles. Professor Katarzyna Andrejuk, Polish Academy of Sciences, ; and 1. LGBT people are favoured targets of Visiting Scholar at UCL SSEES populists in Poland for a number of reasons. Firstly, they challenge the KEY POINT The politicisation of the government’s “traditional values Constitutional Tribunal (CT) raises three narrative”; and, secondly, homosexuality fundamental issues: firstly, violating the is constructed as a “foreign import”, separation of powers; secondly, substituting linking xenophobic sentiment with anti- legislation with a politicised verdict of the CT; EU narratives. and, thirdly, constitutional bias. 2. The tensions between Poland and the EU concern national sovereignty in that 1. The ongoing politicisation of the CT the government claims the right to goes back to 2015. It is noticeable how oppose LGBT communities, defined as CT appointments have been the focus “disloyal enemies of the state”. of a political power struggle between the government and the opposition. The * resulting appointments are effectively in violation of the separation of powers, Carolin Heilig – Early Stage Researcher, leaving little doubt that the court is FATIGUE programme, UCL SSEES controlled by the Party. 2. MPs have a right to ask the CT for an KEY POINT The current abortion crisis is opinion on constitutional matters. reaching far beyond the issue of gender However, now these opinions hold roles. Protesters are calling out the political rather than legal weight, making government’s politicisation of counter- the CT an instrument for by-passing the majoritarian bodies – something that has legislative process. been happening since 2015 under the Law 3. Finally, the has traditionally and Justice Party. been the subject of a clash between the constitutional “right to life” (broadly 1. The notion of “gender” is interpreted as existing from the moment instrumentalised in the context of “pure of conception), and other essential Polish people”. The role of mothers, and constitutional values such as the of women in general, is framed as of inherent and inalienable dignity of the “nation-bearers” expected to “withstand person, the right to private life, and sacrifices” (martyrisation) for the freedom to make decisions about one’s “motherland”. personal life. 2. Looking back at past developments, PiS 4. This also became apparent in the policies have been aimed at a current crisis, where the judges did not deepening polarisation regarding gender issue the verdict unanimously. Two issues: an attempt to criminalise the judges from the CT’s committee sexual education of minors (the “Stop disagreed with the final opinion on the Paedophilia Law”); extremely divisive abortion ban. anti-LGBT rhetoric during the 2020 presidential campaign; and the * appointment of “male, conservative hard-liners” in key institutions of the Dr Agnieszka Kubal, Lecturer in state, including ministries and Sociology, UCL SSEES Constitutional Tribunal judges. KEY POINT The Constitutional Tribunal’s decision has many implications for human rights.

Page 2 of 4 UCL SSEES Press Briefing

wing parties) is the only parliamentary 1. Poland’s 1993 law on family planning is actor that has extended its full support. very strict on abortion, making the scale The other opposition parties have of legal in Poland much lower expressed some support for the than some other European countries. protests, advocating for the 2. The decision of the CT from 22 October reinstatement of the 1993 abortion law. may limit women’s access to prenatal PiS and the United Right coalition, as well as the far-right Confederation, have tests that would determine a baby’s strongly disapproved of the protests. health. That would be at odds with 3. Public media, which represent the Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and attitude of the ruling party, have been degrading treatment) and Article 8 (right misreporting the event in an attempt to to private or family life) of the European tarnish the protests’ organisers, Convention on Human Rights. supporters, and participants. Various 3. The decision of the Polish Constitutional non-political actors – e.g., universities, Tribunal may result in future applications football fan clubs, and online influencers from women against Poland before the – have expressed their alliance with the European Court of Human Rights. protesters, which may be significant for 4. In deciding these cases, the ECtHR the dynamic. needs to respect the dignity of a woman 4. Recent party support polls show a and the possible trauma she may significant drop for PiS, but it is experience from being denied an impossible to say if this change will last. abortion, and reconcile it with the What is certain is that the protesters’ principle of the Margin of Appreciation demands directly oppose PiS policies, (i.e., that national governments are most meaning that their agenda has competent to dictate their own laws and expanded and the protests are now judge whether there has been a breach being represented by their leaders as of human rights). politically motivated and anti- governmental.

* SOCIETY & CULTURE Marta Kotwas, PhD candidate, UCL SSEES Anna Ratecka, PhD candidate, Institute of Sociology, Jagiellonian University, KEY POINT Political actors in Poland – both Kraków systemic and non-systemic – have played a key role in the organisation of the law itself KEY POINT Poland’s political climate has and the protests. become a lot more stimulated in the last five 1. Even though the decision was taken by years for various reasons, symbolising a shift the Constitutional Tribunal, the Law and to more progressive ideas. Justice Party (PiS) is clearly identified as the political actor responsible for it. 1. Young people have mobilised more – in Other actors who have supported the particular, reaction to the climate crisis cause, or similar initiatives, in the past has helped activate their political are Confederation (a far-right party), the outlooks. , Ordo Iuris (a pro-life 2. Acceptance for the LGBT community organisation), and Kaja Godek (a pro- has grown immensely. life activist). 3. Other political issues have provoked 2. The stances of political parties regarding protests and general public the protests against the CT ruling are dissatisfaction – e.g., teachers and unsurprising. Lewica (a coalition of left-

Page 3 of 4 UCL SSEES Press Briefing

doctors strikes, and the coronavirus party or the Catholic Church. It strongly pandemic. suggests that the younger generation 4. More ruling authority given to the does not have as much respect for the Constitutional Tribunal has given rise to Church as the older generation did. The more capable political actors who can conservatives, however, consider the mobilise people and utilise social media language simply vulgar, corrupting, and more. proof of “leftist fascism”. 5. There has been a rise of feminism, with influential people expressing their progressive stances and empowering women to understand their rights and undermine oppressive powers. POST-EVENT DEVELOPMENTS *

Dr Katarzyna Zechenter, Lecturer, UCL The day of the SSEES debate was marked SSEES by one of the biggest protests against the decision of the Constitutional Tribunal, KEY POINT The language of the protests is where hundreds of thousands of Polish an expression of anger against the Law and citizens took to the streets all over the country Justice Party (PiS) and the Church. In turn, – from major cities like Warsaw and Kraków PiS and the Church attempt to present the to the small town of Zawadzkie. The protesters as immoral and unpatriotic. government delayed the publication of the written ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal in 1. In their attacks on the protests, PiS response to the mass protests. This created employs strategies that have worked well legal uncertainty: if the decision has not for it in the past – for example, in likening formally been published, should it be the protestors to Nazi , which enforced? President Andrzej Duda has put was the same rhetoric PiS used to tarnish forward his own proposal of a new bill, which Donald Tusk’s image in 2005. More allows for abortion in cases when the foetus generally, they have promoted the idea of is terminally ill. This proposal of yet another “us” – Catholic conservatives with good “compromise to a compromise” has been traditional values – versus “them” – criticised by all parties across the political immoral feminists with Western “values” – spectrum. -wing opposition parties to promote the idea that Poland should now openly call for a new law on female unite against the left. reproductive rights and the liberalisation of 2. The Church has adopted a similar abortion in accordance with European discourse, claiming that the movement’s standards; the right-wing parties criticise lightning bolt logo comes from Nazi President Duda for not respecting the ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal. The situation is Germany, despite it being patently untrue. developing rapidly. New protests are to take 3. The language of the protests often place weekly in different parts of Poland. In contains vulgarity (e.g., “the little eight the meantime, Poland is struggling with the stars”) but it is, at the same time, second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic mitigated by humour and biting irony, with nearly 25,000 new cases reported on 4 while emphasising the hypocrisy of the November 2020.

FURTHER Dr Ben Noble | Lecturer in Russian Politics | UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies INFORMATION Email: [email protected]

Page 4 of 4