At the invitation of the Polish paper Club in Nowy Sącz, the leader of the National Federation of Unpartisans and Local Governmentists hosted Marek Woch in our town. The gathering which we organised and which was led by president Tomasz Baliczek met with large interest.
The Federation, led by Marek Woch on its website, is presented in this way: “We are the National Federation of associations, foundations, organisations and entrepreneurs working for civic activity and independence. We believe that citizens can effectively influence public life by building social movements based on values and ideas that represent us all.
Our precedence is to act independently – we are financing our run exclusively by private means, without public subsidies. We focus on reasonableness, normality and dialog based on cognition and experience that we have gained in everyday working life."
Marek Woch himself became more acquainted with Poles last year as a candidate for the office of president of Poland. Participation in the presidential election ended in the 1st circular with a score of 0.09% of the votes, taking the last place among 13 candidates. In the second circular he supported the current president of Poland Karol Nawrocki.
Currently, the Federation is actively expanding its structures with a view to taking off in the parliamentary elections, which are planned for the fall of 2027, while its leader Marek Woch is intensively travelling in Poland and
presents its views and viewpoint on Polish matters. And he's doing it in a very convincing way. He has very good contact with people, aptly, in a very clear way he diagnoses problems affecting Poles and our political scene. The suggestions he gives, though at times different from the standards we are utilized to, lead to thinking.
The meeting, planned for 1.5 hours, lasted twice as long and if it were not for Mark Woch's waiting night journey to Warsaw the gathering and talks could last for a long time...
Will Marek Woch and his Federation play any crucial function in next year's parliamentary elections? With this dynamic action of the leader and his background, this cannot be excluded. There's only one, actually two, but... Firstly, the Polish political scene has been "betoned" for years by large players who put quite a few effort into ensuring that no "smaller" grows up besides much. And secondly, more importantly, by observing Donald Tusk's current actions and his government acolytes and the expanding aggression that they drive towards opposition parties, you may have very serious concerns about the correct and democratic course of next year's elections to the Sejm and Senate. “We will never give the power erstwhile gained!” – these words spoken by communist Władysław Gomółka in 1945, erstwhile he and his comrades from the Polish Workers' Party, with the aid of the Red Army, enslaved Poland, seem to come back present with a louder, ominous echo...
The gathering was held at the guest threshold of the pieroszki.pl restaurant.
Text, photograph – Sylvester Adamczyk
