Protests and Pessimism: Poland’s New Politics

In January, Poland was rocked by protests when President Andrzej Duda signed a media bill that ended the terms of the management and supervision boards of state news agencies. The bill asserted that they needed to be more “impartial,” as reported by Radio Poland. In response, the Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD), a social activist group, led protests all over the country, expressing fears that public news would become a soapbox for a government “moving in the direction of dictatorship.” Further tensions emerged later in the month over a new surveillance law and police bill that would give the Polish government greater powers to investigate criminal suspects by monitoring Internet data and wiretapping. The bills were passed by the newly-elected Law and Justice Party (PiS), which has led Poland since the general elections at the end of last year.

Mateusz Kijowski, the leader of the KOD, organized protests in more than 40 Polish cities, stating that the new bills were “yet another form of violating our freedom.”

However, civil unrest has not arisen only in response to domestic worries. In early February, thousands took to the streets of Warsaw to protest the government’s intention to take in 400 refugees, a number far below the 7,000 that the previous administration had negotiated with the EU.

This trend of protests over domestic and foreign issues underscores a growing sense of fear and insecurity among the Polish people, visible across the political spectrum. According to a survey by TNS Poland, a research and marketing agency, 51% of Poles believe the country is “headed in the wrong direction” and less than a third regard the current situation in a positive light. While still in its early stages, the PiS government must either find a way to assuage public fears or conform to the will of the people if it seeks to increase internal stability in the future.