Crackdown on human rights in Poland. LGBT protests. #LGBT #Poland #PolishStonewall #LGBTprotests #humanrights

I've always loved to write. There's something special about it. You need to get through your thoughts again and again to make it sound good, unlike when you talk and I guess that's why it awakens the desire in me. To write.

I've been thinking for quite some time what to write about, it has to make sense. At least a little. "Having a meaning" is quite interesting concept itself, but I hope to get back to it some other time. I was discussing this case with friends, my boyfriend and I wondered - what could it be? What could be my purpose, the idea? I had a blog before, it was about food & movies. The good ones obviously. I loved it, but after a while it sort of faded... my desire to write. It was too concrete, too particular, I just one day woke up realizing that I'd been watching movies in order to write about them, cooking food not because I really love to do that, but I just needed another post. It lost its meaning at that exact moment, but (following Edith Piaf) non je ne regrette rien. It was fine, natural order of things.

After a month I guess I've come up with an idea (yeah, it took me some time, but it's like jogging, the hardest thing is to make the first step; unless you have a dog - motivator I'd love to have). I wondered why do I write about things? I've been writing for Europe&me magazine and the articles, its topics were my ideas. What made me do this? And it's so simple it sounds a bit silly, but it's feelings. Even my nickname on instagram is about feelings @indulgeinfeelings (I must admit I borrowed it from a movie Breathless by Jean-Luc Godard).

So far, I wrote about being in love. I wrote about being powerless and feeling sorrowful, because of what's happening in my country.

Today, I unfortunately continue the subject, which I'd rather let go. The case is, I could only drop it, if it didn't exist, and that doesn't seem to be happening any soon.

I'm suffering. What's been happening in my country since the election day seems madness and in a way like Monty Python movie, but not in a good way. I cannot laugh. I'm honestly afraid and worry about my friends and family.

I guess it all started with President Andrzej Duda's words: "LGBT is an ideology, not a people", many other politicians of conservative parties replied with similar point of view. What happens, when authorities  support discrimination? And first of all, I would like to point out, it's not like we're talking about having an opinion in here. It's about human rights, treating all people equal. Is that too much to ask for?

On 27th of June, in the center of Warsaw a few people stopped truck of Pro Life (Pro Prawo do Życia) foundation. On the tilt of the car there were "no entry" signs with a rainbow in the center and a list of things that allegedly "LGBT lobby wants to teach children"; for example 4-year-olds would be taught to masturbate. There were also the inscriptions "stop pedophilia" and "see the relationship of pedophilia with sexualization" (radical pro-life circles intentionally and consistently combine the issues of pedophilia and LGBT in their campaigns). The group that stopped the truck, cut the tarpaulin and sprayed it with "stop the nonsense" ("stop bzdurom"), also cut the tires and ripped off the license plates, broke the mirrors. During the action there was a fight with the truck driver who was recording the incident with his phone.

Soon after, a report about the stop of a truck appeared on the Facebook page of the "Stop Bzdurom" collective fighting against homophobia. The collective supposedly distanced itself from the action and condemned the "level of escalation" and "vandalism", but on the other hand, it suggested they did it. Then a photo of Margot and another activist was posted on the profile, with the license plate of the truck. The commentary said: "Hey, Pro Foundation (Fundacja Pro). We have your boards. We found them suddenly in our hands."

Apparently, it is not a crime in Poland to manifest that kind of offensive statements on one's truck. And so polish youtuber Krzysztof Gonciarz came up with happening - truck promoting complete nonsense to show the level of absurdity we reached and also not pointing it at anyone in particular he wanted to weaken social polarization. 

When thinking about it, I wonder how that kind of truck like the one of Pro Life (Pro Prawo do Życia) foundation is not considered a hate crime? It's just hard for me to believe it's legal.

On July 14th Margot was arrested and accused of assaulting a truck. She got released on bail and was under police supervision, so she regularly appeared at the police station. On August 3rd she was picked up from the street and packed into an unmarked car. Along with other activists she got arrested for taking part in a campaign that covered monuments in Warsaw with rainbow flag. Accusation regards to insulting religious feelings and insulting Warsaw monuments. After questioning they got released.

The notification to the prosecutor's office was made by Deputy Minister of Justice Sebastian Kaleta, who stated that "a group of LGBT militants profaned a number of monuments" and that "LGBT groups represent a certain ideology that has set patriotic and Christian values as its target."

On August 7th, the District Court in Warsaw decided to detain Margot for two months. According to many lawyers who have spoken out publicly on the case, the use of pre-trial detention on the charges Margot has heard is surprising.

From afternoon until late at night, there were protests in the streets of the capital, first against the planned and later implemented arrests. Many people came to protest simply against the government's attacks on LGBT people.

In Krakowskie Przedmieście - where Margot was arrested - there were scuffles with the police. Officers brutally overpowered and arrested the participants of the protests, as well as completely random people. According to a spokesman for the Warsaw Police Headquarters, 48 people were arrested. The photographs I've seen are just awful. In one picture I saw young person with police officer's boot on his head and what came to my mind was George Floyd case. 

Police aggression and unjustified detentions were condemned by opposition politicians. Several MPs became involved in the action to help the detained. Dunja Mijatović, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights wrote on her twitter: "I call for immediate release of LGBT activist Margot from Stop Bzdurom detained yesterday for blocking an anti-LGBT hate van & putting rainbow flags on Warsaw monuments. Order to detain her for 2 months sends very chilling signal for freedom Of Speech & LGBT rights in Poland."

The detainees did not have access to their lawyers and by Saturday noon not all of them were located. Another alarming signal is the conditions and treatment of arrested people, which are currently being examined by specialists from the National Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture.

The detained people had no information as to where they would be transported. Many of them were conveyed from one command to another, and the time between arrest and imprisonment was up to 12 hours. Some of them were interrogated at night. They complained that some rooms had hard bunks, they slept without a blanket and mattress. They were not given food or water. The policemen's approach to detainees was very different. Among the opinions, there were officers, who professionally performed their tasks and even expressed shame that they had to undertake such activities. But there were also ones, who expressed their transphobic and homophobic conviction with unpleasant, unpalatable comments (only male pronouns were used in the case of trans woman).

Most of the detained persons were subject to personal control. The policemen ordered them to strip naked and do a squat. In the case of a trans woman, the inspection was carried out by a male policeman.

It feels like we have learned nothing from history – the Second World War, which ravaged Poland deeply. Left with scars, which I thought would never be forgotten, yet the same discriminatory rhetoric remains. Only last year, municipalities across Poland stated they were ‘free of LGBTI ideology’ and announced their openly anti-queer stance. And just now the Ministry of Justice will donate 250,000 PLN (about 60 000 euro) Tuchow, who declared himself a commune "free from LGBT ideology". The European Commission deprived the city of EU funding. Ziobro will donate three times as much from the victim fund.

Although Poland is experiencing a rise in new cases of COVID-19, at least 15 solidarity protests, both big and small, took place on Monday in towns and cities across the Poland, as well as in Budapest and London, New York, Paris and Berlin, with more planned. In a nod to the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 in New York City, several users on Twitter started posting #PolishStonewall in tweets about the weekend’s events and subsequent solidarity protests. 

I try to believe there's hope for my country, I do my best to support tolerance and equal human rights for all the citizens. What's been happening, has grown out of all proportion and it's hard to believe. I dream that one day we can all feel safe and comfortable in Poland. I hope I'm not just being naive.

Last, but not least I would like to tell you about the Veterans of the Warsaw Uprising 1944, who spoke on the situation: “We will not be indifferent to the dehumanization of a minority, reminiscent of the worst times in which we lived. We believe that we have a duty to speak out in defense of the weaker people.” 

They quoted Marian Turski, a former prisoner of Auschwitz: „Don’t be indifferent when any minority is discriminated against. – We will not”.

#LGBT #Poland #PolishStonewall #LGBTprotests #humanrights