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"We must put a stop to further degradation that is leading Poland towards authoritarianism:" Nobel laureate urges Polish opposition to commit to progressive causes (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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"We as citizens will need to be assured that a new government would have faith in democracy, Europeanism and freedom guaranteed by law,” Olga Tokarczuk’s says two weeks before Poland goes to the polls in a potentially pivotal election on 15 October.

"We need assurances that such a government would listen to us and respond to our needs, and not, like the present one, subordinate the majority of citizens to anachronistic ‘traditional values’ adhered to only by a 30% minority,”

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[+] [email protected] -40 points 1 year ago (17 children)

To me, 30% of voters does not at all seem a "minority". This is democracy, the majority decides and elects their leaders, it does not matter if not everybody feels at ease with them. Traditional values represent a country's identity, historical legacy and in the case of Poland, it is what allowed them to survive across multiple foreign invasions and dominations.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

As much as I agree, I think that this does not have to be exclusive with policies allowing people to live the lives they want, and guaranteeing a safe future which is difficult under my current government. You can uphold family values with abortion legalised. You can transform the energy sector into a greener one without disenfranchising coal miners. All this is being held back by populist agendas of my leading government officials, who do not wish to even uphold the status quo, but to dig in their heels deeper, while telling their voters who are hurt by this that it's good for them.

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