photo by Michał M. MajewskiThe PiS's winning election run in 2015 began with a march. The March in the defence of Democracy and Media Freedom of 13 December 2014 spread a imagination of a better, more democratic state. It was a fundamental PiS election promise that was not kept. Comparison of that march, with the events of 4 June give 1 conclusion – we will win these elections
March 4 June in Warsaw was a strong beginning of the 2023 election campaign. The citizens showed with their presence that they did not care. I returned from my march home and began to wonder what the beginning of the PiS election run looked like before the 2015 election. At the time there was besides a march – March in the defence of Democracy and Media Freedom, which on 13 December 2014 began a double election run of 2015, presidential and parliamentary. Comparison of these 2 events is interesting and gives quite a few optimism before the 2023 elections.
Both marches were for their participants in very akin matters – in the defence of democracy and in the interests of fair elections. The symbolic side of the 2 marches is interesting. It shows how different the PiS and democratic opposition are.
Time
March 13 December was held on the anniversary of the introduction of martial law, the day the authoritarian power destroyed (as they thought) the civic movement, which was the first Solidarity. March 4 June celebrated the anniversary of the first election, where the civic movement under the name of the Citizens' Committee Solidarity won with authoritarian power. The PiS March commemorated the anniversary of civic defeat. March of the Democratic opposition anniversary of civilian victory.
On 4 June 2023 the sun was shining over the participants of the march. On 13 December 2014, nightfall fell over the participants of the march. This is an apparent difference between the march held in December and June, but for the thought of democracy in Poland it is simply a combination of light and darkness.
Place
Every march has its beginning and its end, and these places usually have their symbolism. For marches that start election campaigns, where the march goes is simply a symbol of where we are today. The place where the march ends symbolizes the goal we want to accomplish after winning the election.
In 2014 March on 13 December, he departed from the Square of the 3 Crosses, and ended at the Piłsudski monument at Belvedere. Kaczyński spoke at the beginning at the monument of Witos, and at the end of the march at the monument of Piłsudski. Witos was Prime Minister of the democratically elected government in May 1926. Piłsudski conducted a coup in May 1926, which the government overturned and in subsequent years moved Poland towards authoritarian rule.
In 2023 March, on 4 June, he left the square at the Rozdroj and ended in Castle Square. Tusk first spoke in a place where many roads meet, at the end of the Royal Castle, where the Sejm had previously sat and the Constitution of 3 May was passed.
Participants
In both marches they took people demanding change. However, the scale of commitment was incomparable. 3 Crosses Square is not 1 of the largest squares in Warsaw. On December 13, 2014, at the beginning of the demonstration it was filled with people about half-way. Most estimates indicate the number of participants in that demonstration at 30,000. On 4 June 2023, I was in the Square of the 3 Crosses at around 12.30, walking towards the Square of the Crossroad. This square was filled with people comparable to what can be seen in photos from the 2014 PiS manifestation, only it was not the place where the march began. The square at the crossroads is simply a kilometer distant and the full space between these squares was filled with people. If the PiS claims that there were 30,000 people on the march in 2014 who fit in half of the Square of the 3 Crosses, it must recognise that there were 15-20 times more people on the march on 4 June, or 450 – 600 thousand.
There were not many banners in the December 2014 PiS manifestation, but any of those that carried people could execute again on the 4 June 2023 march. They read “In a average country, average elections”, “Here is Poland”, “Freedom, Solidarity, Independence”, “We request compliance of laws with Articles 8, 37 and 188 of the Constitution”. The provisions of the Constitution shall apply straight unless the Constitution provides otherwise. He who is under the authority of the Republic of Poland benefits from the freedom and rights provided by the Constitution. Article 188 lists in which cases the Constitutional Court decides.]
2014 speech – imagination of a better country
The speeches read and delivered at the end of the march in 2014 were interesting due to the fact that they besides sound very current in many passages.
Jan Olszewski: – A universal civic protest must make everyone aware that, unlike the Polish People's Republic of Poland, the people in power are not the owners of the country they rule, due to the fact that the Republic of Poland is the common good of all citizens.
Andrzej Stara: – I hope that, despite the failure of assurance in the elections, in the future elections we will be able to guarantee the integrity of these choices and respond to how people chosen by us behave. If we can't do that, we have a collective way out on the streets, which I want to do – and to everyone – to avoid.
Jarosław Kaczyński: – Today's march is the derivative of those who want to defend the right to elect power in free elections, justice power and revoke power.
They want to take the election card out of our hands due to the fact that they fear the possible of triumph for those who want a fair and just authority.
Zbigniew Sulatycki [representative of Radio Maryja – ed.]: – Why are all these media that fool us so? due to the fact that they have money. They get from the state, from your taxes, immense millions. (...) There is opposition in all parliaments of the world. It is not that the opposition is making a concrete task and this task is immediately thrown into the basket by the rulers. What about us? What the Law and Justice study is immediately rejected at first reading
I do not know what Mr Sulatyski thinks about the current parliamentary practice of the Law and Justice that opposition projects do not even have a chance in the Sejm to read first.
The most interesting of all speakers for me was Ryszard Czarnecki, who gave the most pro-European speech I heard in his performance: – 13 December we show that the current authorities do not decision Poland east. Poles want the West, not the East. We deserve a appropriate power, not a loser, a mess that's going east.
Czarnecki then called on the crowd to answer questions jointly:
– Do we have power present that respects democratic standards?
– Do we have power that respects democracy?
– Do we have the power to perceive to a ballot card?
The crowd answered all questions “No!”
Czarnecki continued: – We, free Poles will not let this government and this president to exclude us from the community of Western states. We Poles in the west are at home. Here a single but loud answer “No!” came from the crowd. Apparently, this Europeanism for listeners, who, judging by the banners, were many from the Polish paper Clubs, was already besides much.
Conclusions for election 2023
March in the defence of Democracy and Media Freedom, organized by the Law and Justice in 2014 and March 4 June 2023, organized by the Civic Coalition, served to number off at the start of the campaign. The PiS March in December 2014 turned out poorly. There could have been 30,000 people on it. On June 4, hundreds of thousands of us were on the streets of Warsaw. The people on the opposition march in 2023 were 15 – 20 times more than on the PiS march in 2014. Both Kaczyński and the SS staff know that. They remember for specified a mediocre turnout from their march, they managed to build a winning election run in 2015. They realize that the 2023 elections have already lost.
The PiS March in banner slogans and speeches announced the construction of a more democratic state after the 2015 election, where there is free media and power is limited by people. It is not crucial how much we had problems with democratic mechanisms or media freedom in Poland in 2014, it is crucial that voters who did not decide about this communicative of the Law and Justice organization bought it. After 8 years of PiS rule, it can be said that this is the most crucial failed electoral promise. Now, the same voters should look in the mirror and say, "It's hard, we got fooled by the Law and Justice, we won't be able to repeat this mistake today."
These are crucial conclusions for the coming weeks and months. Let us not waste time and nerves trying to convince staunch PiS voters, but convincing undecided and unvoted voters is the function of civilian society as a whole.
Often specified people can hear that the Law and Justice is what it is, but it keeps its electoral promises. That's a lie to be told all day. In 2014, the PiS presented a systemic electoral promise of a better, more democratic state. After 8 years of government, you can see that this election promise has been completely reversed. alternatively of the promised better democracy, we live in an authoritarian country, where the Constitution is no longer in operation, and power turns off all the political limiting elements of the ruling.
Does the Law and Justice fulfill election promises? He can tell them well, we can give them back, but he can't fill them. Building a better democratic state is against its nature.
