The picturesque squares of Poland, practically empty just a few months ago due to the growing threat of COVID-19, were set ablaze in impassioned protest. The colours on the street were red white and black, with a scattering of lightning bolts thrown in for good measure. Days earlier the constitutional court, under the watchful gaze of Jarosław Kaczynski, chairman of ruling party Law and Justice (PiS) and Poland’s de facto leader, had moved to tighten anti-abortion laws in a country already compromised with some of the harshest restrictions in the European Union.
Strajk Kobiet (Women’s Strike), the women’s rights movement spearheading the resistance has been gaining momentum ever since. Support has come not only from those who have long been disenchanted with Poland’s gradual slide into autocracy, but also amongst more traditionally conservative circles, with farmers, coal miners and taxi drivers all joining in on the side of the protestors.
Ever defiant under fire, Kaczynski’s response was a call to arms, as he urged patriotic Poles to fight back against the ‘nihilistic' protests and defend the country’s Catholic churches at all costs. In the days that followed, clashes erupted between Strajk Kobiet participants and nationalist groups, who were apparently heeding Kaczynski’s call.
