At the beginning of the twentieth century, anarchist anti-State ideals were most widely felt in what were then the western regions of the Russian Empire. This reflected both their proximity to the fast-changing social conflicts of Europe and the presence of significant national and cultural tensions within the occupied territories. Of great importance, in particular,
Tag: Poland
Poland: Stop Bzdurom, Queer struggle and the events of yesterday in Warsaw
Dozens of people were arrested in Warsaw yesterday following the police executing a court order granting two-month pre-trial detention of a member of Stop Bzdurom (Stop Bullshit) queer collective Małgorzata Szutowicz (Margot)* concerning a direct action involving alleged damage to a truck driving around Warsaw blasting homophobic hate speech (or indeed, bullshit) from its loudspeakers.
Queer without fear: repression fund in solidarity with LGBTQ+ people in Poland
As some of you may have heard, there were presidential elections in Poland on 12th July. They were narrowly won by the current president Andrzej Duda. Duda is a representative of Poland’s far right ruling party Prawo I Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice, PiS). Previously Freedom reported on Andrzej Duda when, together with Polish PM, he
Syndicalist unions and Covid-era resistance: A CIT roundup
The anarcho-syndicalist international, founded in 2018, looks at workplace struggle in its branches worldwide and calls for the building of new forms of solidarity amid the lockdowns. With the corona crisis, the world has suddenly entered a new phase of intense class struggle. This is impressively documented by a map of (for the most part) wildcat strikes
Poland: feminists occupy Tomosławice Coal Mine
As part of the International Women’s Day celebrations, at early hours of today a group of women occupied the coal mine in Tomoslawice, central Poland. The ongoing occupation begun at 5.30am and so far the women are successfully blocking the mine from operating. The occupation is going smoothly and has met with little to no
Poland criminalises hunt sabotage
The Polish parliament had voted through a new law effectively criminalising hunt sabotage. The law still needs to be approved by Poland’s president, who is unlikely to veto it. According to the new bill, people found “intentionally obstructing a hunt” will be a subject to a punishment of up to one-year imprisonment. The punishment for
Noj Giter-Granatsztajn: Belchatow’s anarchist tailor
Noj Giter-Granatsztajn (aka Sznajder, or Noj Noj Lodzer) was born in 1886 in the central Polish town of Bełchatów. The son of a poor Jewish tailor, from a young age he became involved in labour organising and was an insurgent presence in the then Russian-occupied region. It’s likely that Noj’s father died when he was
Poland: as government’s anti-LGBTQ+ campaign intensifies, homophobes bring bomb to Pride March
CW: bigotry According to media reports and the police, the Gay Pride march in Polish city Lublin could have potentially been a victim of a homemade bomb attack. Lublin city, located some 170 km southeast of Poland’s capital Warsaw, saw The Gay Pride march for the second consecutive year last Saturday. Around 1500 people took
Poland: court orders investigation into police torture of anarchists
CW: torture, police brutality A court in Warsaw heard an appeal against the prosecutor’s decision to discontinue the investigation regarding two police officers suspected of abuse of power, mistreatment and inhuman treatment of three anarchists following their arrest in May 2016. The court ruled that the case, previously dropped twice by the prosecution, must be
Poland: police use tear gas against Climate Camp protesters
Police have used teargas and arrested 8 people during a protest against the expansion of Krzyszkowice open cast coal mine in southern Poland this morning. The protest is a part of the Obóz dla Klimatu/Climate Camp held between 16th and 21st July in the vicinity of a complex of open cast mines and power stations.