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    Freedom Revolution: Tomasz Sakiewicz on the Significance of Farmers’ Protest

    “When I asked Mateusz Morawiecki at the beginning of his tenure how he would name the changes introduced by his team, previously by Beata Szydło, after some thought he said it was a revolution of dignity,” writes Tomasz Sakiewicz in “Gazeta Polska.”

    It was about a significant part of Poles from small towns, the unemployed, large families, as well as retirees, etc., being given a chance to emerge from economic hardship. Stimulating their activity provided an additional boost to the economy. It must be acknowledged that this element of the PiS (Law and Justice Party – ed.) program was best implemented. Millions of people improved their lives; furthermore, they returned to professional activity and, to the dismay of the elites of the Third Polish Republic, began to enjoy luxuries such as vacations by the Polish seaside. This was the reason for PiS’s re-election victory in 2019 and provided capital for the following years. However, liberal-left forces began to oppose the demand for dignity with an equally strong, if not stronger, demand for the fight for freedom. The first spark for this was supposed to be the abortion issue, when women began to be threatened with the vision of an oppressive state interfering in the intimate lives of individuals. Additionally, authoritarian government interference in culture, education, and media was being established. Many of the examples circulated in the media had nothing to do with reality but fit the narrative.

    Fear of losing freedom became the cause of extraordinary mobilization, especially among young people, on October 15th last year, and the takeover of power by the coalition on December 13th.

    However, over the past few months, the new government has convinced Poles, or at least a significant part of them, that it itself is a huge threat to freedom.

    Evidence is provided almost daily. The first major action by Donald Tusk’s team showed that there is a serious problem here. They began with a brutal and completely unlawful attack on public media. Perhaps this did not make a bad impression on the hardcore electorate of the Civic Platform, but the conservative part of society felt robbed of their media. To dispel any doubts about the government’s intentions, Lieutenant Colonel Bartłomiej Sienkiewicz, designated to pacify the public media, later began an attack on Republika TV. It is therefore not surprising that at demonstrations in defence of freedom of speech, but also of farmers, the slogan “Republika, Republika…!” is one of the most frequently repeated.

    The farmers’ rebellion, of course, has a direct economic subtext; it is about defending against the liquidation of the entire sphere of the economy or relegating it to a completely subordinate role. But in addition to the economic sphere, there is a very strong motivation here regarding the defence of freedom. Left-wing ideologies want to impose on Europeans a lifestyle where someone decides for us what we should eat, how we should work, what we should travel with, and even how we should dress. EU actions and its compliant authority strike at the free market, personal freedoms, and even the sphere of views. It is therefore not surprising that despite the vague promises of the government to soften its stance, a revolution is growing – a revolution of freedom. People do not want someone else to decide their lives in the name of obsessive ideologies that have nothing to do with reality for the majority. This revolution will soon engulf the majority of social spheres and turn millions of voters away from power.

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