Strajk Kobiet’s Postulates

Strajk Kobiet delivered their postulates during a conference held on October 27, 2020. Online sources, including OKO.press (an investigative journalism website), provided a transcription of the postulates. The first two points reference Judge Julia Przyłębska, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal who was appointed by President Andrzej Duda in December 2016. It is common among the opponents of the right wing to present Julia Przyłębska as acting in service of the governing party Law and Justice and its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński. In their postulates, Strajk Kobiet leaders also criticized the Constitutional Tribunal, the Supreme Court, and the function of the Ombudsperson which had all been subdued by Law and Justice.

1. Get the fuck out with Przyłębska’s ruling.

2. Get the fuck out with Przyłębska.

3. We demand a real TK [Constitutional Tribunal].

4. We demand a real and complete SN [Supreme Court].

5. We demand a real Ombudsperson.

6. We demand an amendment to the budget – money for health care, help for workers, entrepreneurs, and culture, and real support for persons with disabilities.

7. We demand full women’s rights, legal abortion, sex education, contraception.

8. We demand full human rights.

9. We demand a secular country, which includes putting a stop to financing the Church from the state’s budget – and get the fuck out with religion in schools.

10. We demand the government’s deposition.

We will create a Consultative Council like in Belarus to figure out how to clean up the mess that PiS [Law and Justice] has made.

What do the signs say? The one on the left translates to: “I am not a Smurf, so I won’t be scared of an old guy with a cat.” The one on the right says: “Kaczor, you bastard, give us back the moon and our rights.” Both allude to the right-wing politician Jarosław Kaczyński, known, among other things, for his fondness for cats and his episodic adventure with acting when back in 1962 he and his twin brother, Lech, both 13-years-old at the time, starred in a children’s movie The Two Who Stole the Moon. In 2010, after President Lech Kaczyński’s death in a tragic plane crash that ended the lives of 95 other Polish state officials, it was Jarosław Kaczyński who led the conservative party Law and Justice to its victory in the 2015 and 2019 elections. Idolized by some and demonized by others, Deputy and (since 2020) Vice-Minister Kaczyński has been targeted personally by the protesters on numerous occasions, and the 2020 protests were no different. The protesters’ rage was ignited even more when Jarosław Kaczyński delivered a speech in which he called the right wing and their supporters to protect the churches and the Polish state from the protesters.

The smaller sign on the right is in English. It says: “Godek was the Impostor.” Kaja Godek is the ultra-conservative activist and the most recognizable face of the pro-life moment in Poland, known also for her homophobic agenda. In the online multiplayer game Among Us, the Impostor is the player whose aim is to sabotage missions, eliminate other players, and create unresolvable disasters.