All-Poland Women's Strike
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The All-Poland Women's Strike or Polish Women's Strike (, OSK) is a
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
social movement in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
, established in September 2016. It was set up in protest against the rejection by the
Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
of the
Polish Parliament The parliament of Poland is the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Poland. It is composed of an upper house (the Senate of Poland, Senate) and a lower house (the Sejm). Both houses are accommodated in the Sejm and Senate Complex of Poland, S ...
of the bill "Save Women", which was considered by the Sejm in parallel to the project "Stop Abortion". The movement was responsible for the organization of Black Monday, a protest action, involving various forms of strike, that took place simultaneously in 147 Polish cities, towns and villages.


Structure and key people

In October 2017, Marta Lempart was head of All-Poland Women's Strike. While OSK was a key organiser of the September 2016 Black Protests, the protests themselves were decentralised. The writer Klementyna Suchanow was one of OSK's leaders who proposed the 26 October 2020 "walk" to the house of ''de facto'' leader of Poland
Jarosław Kaczyński Jarosław Aleksander Kaczyński (born 18 June 1949) is a Polish politician. He co-founded the Law and Justice (PiS) party in 2001 with his twin brother, Lech Kaczyński, and has served as its leader since 2003. He served as Prime Minister of Pola ...
, which turned into a 10,000-person protest. Suchanow described the tactics for the continuation of the protests as decentralised, up to grassroots initiatives and creativity. In October 2020, Suchanow stated that the OSK is not a political party, but that some members aimed at becoming members of the
Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
, and that Katarzyna Kotula of the OSK Szczecin was already a
Deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...
.


Coordination Council

On 1 November 2020, in response to the widespread demands of the October 2020 protests that extended beyond anger against an abortion-related ruling, OSK established the Consultative Council inspired by the Belarusian Coordination Council that had earlier been created in August 2020, during the 2020 Belarusian protests.


History


2016–2017: Creation and early protests

All-Poland Women's Strike was created as one of the groups organising the protests which took place in September and October 2016 Black Protests against proposed legislation that would have tightened abortion law. The protests brought together 100,000 protesters who marched in 143 villages, towns and cities in Poland. Together with Argentinian women's rights activists, among others from
Ni Una Menos Ni una menos (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Not one
oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...
less") is a Latin American Fourth-wave feminism, fourth-wave grassroots feminist movement, which started in Argentina and has spread across several Latin American countries, that camp ...
, the OSK launched the International Women's Strike with women from 28 other countries in 2017. Suchanow said in an interview to
Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...
that the initiative comes from Poland, "In Poland we know how to make revolutions" ("En Pologne, nous savons comment faire les révolutions"). A few years later, in 2020, Suchanow published a book, ''This is War'', in which she describes the origins of the OSK and the International Women's Strike, known in Spanish as Paro Internacional de Mujeres.


2017–present: Repression and continued protests

On 4 October 2017, following protests organised by OSK, police raided the offices of the ''Women's Rights Centre'' and ''Baba'' in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...
,
Łódź Łódź is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located south-west of Warsaw. Łódź has a population of 655,279, making it the country's List of cities and towns in Polan ...
and
Zielona Góra Zielona Góra (; ''Green Mountain''; ) is the largest city in Lubusz Voivodeship, located in western Poland, with 140,403 inhabitants (). The region is closely associated with vineyards and holds an annual Zielona Góra Wine Fest, Wine Fest. Zie ...
. The raids were interpreted as intimidation. Marta Lempart, head of OSK, described the raids as "abuse of power" that disrupted the women's work by the confiscation of computers and documents. The police spent nine hours in the office of Baba removing files. In July 2020, the Polish government considered withdrawal from the
Istanbul Convention The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence, better known as the Istanbul Convention, is a International human rights instruments, human rights treaty of the Council of Europe oppos ...
that aims to prevent
violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence (GBV) or sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), violent, violence primarily committed by Man, men or boys against woman, women or girls. Such violence is often considered hat ...
and
domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...
. Two thousand women protested in front of the ''
Ordo Iuris Ordo Iuris (full official name: Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture; ) is an ultra-conservative Polish Catholic legal organization and think tank. Aims The organisation declares that it aims to "''research the legal culture and spiritual ...
'' headquarters. Marta Lempart described the government's attitude to women's rights, stating, "This government has been laughing in the faces of victims of gender violence for years."


October 2020 protests

OSK was one of the coordinators of the
October 2020 Polish protests October is the tenth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. The eighth month in the old calendar of Romulus , October retained its name (from Latin and Greek ''ôctō'' meaning "eight") after January ...
that followed the 22 October 2020 Constitutional Tribunal's ruling banning the most commonly used of the three cases allowing a small number of legal abortions in Poland. On 27 October, on behalf of OSK and proposals from citizens, stated that the aims of the protests included a return to the
rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...
: * full
women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...
: legal elective abortion care,
sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...
, and
contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
that is free of charge at the point of use * interpreting the Constitutional Tribunal's ruling, as stated by the president of the tribunal,
Julia Przyłębska Julia Anna Przyłębska (née Żmudzińska; born 16 November 1959) is a Polish judge, she was President of the Constitutional Tribunal of the Republic of Poland from December 2016 to November 2024, until she resigned. Judicial career In 1982 ...
, as Przyłębska's personal testimony instead of a legal ruling * the return of a "real" (independent) Constitutional Tribunal * the return to a neutral (independent)
Supreme Court of Poland The Supreme Court ( ) is the highest court in the Poland, Republic of Poland. It is located in the Krasiński Square, Warsaw. The legal basis for the competence and activities of the Supreme Court is the Constitution of Poland, Polish Consti ...
that is not controlled by the
Law and Justice Law and Justice ( , PiS) is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist and National conservatism, national-conservative List of political parties in Poland, political party in Poland. The party is a member of European Conservatives and Refo ...
party (PiS) * the appointment of a "real" (independent, not someone from ruling party)
Polish Ombudsman The Commissioner for Human Rights (, RPO) is a Polish ombudsman, an official appointed for a five year term by the Sejm with an approval of the Senate of Poland, Senate (respectively lower and upper houses of Parliament of Poland, Polish legisla ...
, to replace
Adam Bodnar Adam Piotr Bodnar (born 6 January 1977) is a Polish lawyer of Ukrainian descent, educator, Human rights activists, human rights activist and politician who currently serves as Minister of Justice (Poland), Minister of Justice. He was the 7th Poli ...
, who reached the end of his term. On 28 October 2020, Suchanow stated that the initial involvement of OSK in the protests was to defend women's own rights, not to remove the government. She stated that the aims of the protests had expanded based on comments, slogans, and wide discussions with people who had joined the protests. Suchanow, who had been injured by the police during protests in earlier years, leading to a spinal operation, interpreted a speech by Jarosław Kaczyński as a refusal to withdraw the Constitutional Tribunal ruling and an encouragement of escalation of violence. Marta Lempart of OSK addressed Catholics in relation to the protests, stating in a radio interview, "Dear Catholics, you have a chance right now to oppose your church. Right now you are participating in what is happening in the disgusting things done by the church. And it's your last warning, because it's you who should rebel, your community, you, active in the life of the church." During the protests, some Roman Catholic churches across Poland were
graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...
ed and masses (liturgical services) were disrupted. The protesters also blocked streets across several cities. In response to an interviewer's statement that graffiti and mass interruptions were unnecessary, Lempart stated, "Of course that's needed. You should do that which you feel, which you judge is effective, and that which they deserve."


References


External links

* {{Polish rule-of-law crisis 2016 establishments in Poland Abortion-rights movement in Poland Women's rights organizations based in Europe Women's rights in Poland History of women in Poland Organizations established in 2016 Women's strikes Polish constitutional crisis Strikes in Europe