The Orange Alternative is a Polish anti-communist underground movement, started in Wrocław, a city in south-west Poland and led by Waldemar Fydrych, commonly known as Major in the 1980s. Its main purpose was to offer a wider group of citizens an alternative way of opposition against the authoritarian regime by means of a peaceful protest that used absurd and nonsensical elements.
A protest is a public expression of objection, disapproval, or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass political demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to enact desired changes themselves. When protests are part of a systematic and peaceful nonviolent campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.
Martial law in Poland existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an attempt to counter political opposition, in particular the Solidarity movement.
The protests of 1968 comprised a worldwide escalation of social conflicts, which were predominantly characterized by the rise of left-wing politics, anti-war sentiment, civil rights urgency, youth counterculture within the silent and baby boomer generations, and popular rebellions against state militaries and bureaucracies.
Solidarity, a Polish non-governmental trade union, was founded on August 14, 1980, at the Lenin Shipyards by Lech Wałęsa and others. In the early 1980s, it became the first independent labor union in a Soviet-bloc country. Solidarity gave rise to a broad, non-violent, anti-Communist social movement that, at its height, claimed some 9.4 million members. It is considered to have contributed greatly to the Fall of Communism.
In one scholarly conception, the history of feminism in Poland can be divided into seven periods, beginning with 19th-century first-wave feminism. The first four early periods coincided with the foreign partitions of Poland, which resulted in an eclipse of a sovereign Poland for 123 years.
Agnieszka Graff-Osser is a Polish writer, translator, commentator, feminist and women's and human rights activist. She studied at Oxford University, Amherst College and graduated from School of Social Sciences at Polish Academy of Sciences. She completed her PhD in English literature in 1999. In 2001, she published World without women, which was nominated to Nike Award in 2002. She works at the Warsaw University's Institute of the Americas and Europe and gives lectures on gender studies.
Abortion in Poland is illegal except in cases where the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act or when the woman's life or health is in danger. The last change in the Act on Pregnancy Planning of the Republic of Poland took place on 27 January 2021, when publication of the judgment of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal in the Dziennik Ustaw RP took place.
The 1988 Polish strikes were a massive wave of workers' strikes which broke out from 21 April 1988 in the Polish People's Republic. The strikes, as well as street demonstrations, continued throughout spring and summer, ending in early September 1988. These actions shook the Communist regime of the country to such an extent that it was forced to begin talking about recognising Solidarity. As a result, later that year, the regime decided to negotiate with the opposition, which opened way for the 1989 Round Table Agreement. The second, much bigger wave of strikes surprised both the government, and top leaders of Solidarity, who were not expecting actions of such intensity. These strikes were mostly organized by local activists, who had no idea that their leaders from Warsaw had already started secret negotiations with the Communists.
The character of Polish women is shaped by Poland's history, culture, and politics. Poland has a long history of feminist activism, and was one of the first nations in Europe to enact women's suffrage. It is also strongly influenced by the conservative social views of the Catholic Church.
Barbara Anna Nowacka is a Polish politician who has served as Minister of National Education since December 2023. In October 2015 she became leader of the United Left coalition for the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, bringing together Labour Union, Your Movement, the Democratic Left Alliance, the Greens, and the Polish Socialist Party. Nowacka is the daughter of the late Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Policy Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka. Since 2016 she has been the leader of the Polish Initiative.
Greetings from Jerusalem Avenue is a site-specific artwork in the form of a life-size artificial date palm. It was designed by Polish artist Joanna Rajkowska, and is located on the Charles de Gaulle Roundabout, where Aleje Jerozolimskie intersects with Nowy Świat street in the Polish capital of Warsaw. It was erected on December 12, 2002.
The International Women's Strike, also known as Paro Internacional de Mujeres, is a global movement coordinated across over 50 countries on International Women's Day, that started in 2017 and 2018. The United Nations announced the theme of "Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030", calling for gender equality around the globe. In the United States, the strike was branded as "Day Without a Woman".
Wanda Hanna Nowicka is a Polish activist and politician, Member of Parliament of Poland during 7th (2011–2015) and 9th terms (2019–2023). She served as the Deputy Marshal of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland from 8 November 2011 to 11 November 2015.
The first Bialystok equality march took place on 20 July 2019 in Białystok. Approximately a thousand pride marchers were opposed by thousands of members of far-right groups, ultra football fans, and others who violently attacked the marchers. Following the attack, solidarity events were held in Poland.
Katarzyna Dominika Bratkowska is a Polish literary critic, feminist, and socialist activist.
My body, my choice is a feminist slogan used in several countries, most often surrounding issues of bodily autonomy and abortion.
Equality marches or equality parades are the Polish equivalent of pride parades, which aim to improve LGBT rights in Poland. They have been held in various Polish cities and towns since 2001.
On 7 August 2020, a protest against the arrest of LGBT activist Margot led to a confrontation with police in central Warsaw, Poland, which resulted in the arrest of 47 others, some of whom were protesting, and others who were bystanders. The event was called Tęczowa Noc – translated as Rainbow Night – and was dubbed "Polish Stonewall" by some outlets, in an analogy to the 1969 Stonewall riots.
The 2020–2021 women's strike protests in Poland, commonly called the Women's Strike, were anti-government demonstrations and protests in Poland that began on 22 October 2020, in reaction to a ruling of the Constitutional Tribunal, mainly consisting of judges who were appointed by the ruling Law and Justice dominated United Right, which tightened the law on abortion in Poland. The ruling made almost all cases of abortion illegal, including those cases in which the foetus had a severe and permanent disability, or an incurable and life-threatening disease. All-Poland Women's Strike was charged by the authorities for having illegally organised the protests.
