Community action in Poland

An interesting article in todays' Guardian, detailing case studies where Polish inhabitants are joining the fight with their local councillors, and getting actively involved in town planning for the future and empowering their communities..

"People are realising that they are free, and that means they have the right to take part in the decision making process, and to object to poor planning decisions", says a social campaigner in the 10,000 population town of Mielec, in the South East.

theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/30/poland-democratic-spring-fightback-citizens

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nah, dude it a spin. They divide all grass roots activists on the correct ones (i.e. those leftist agenda supports) and taboo ones, bad ones (patriotic).

They are creating a false dichotomy on one side s called grass roots democratic activist (our lefties) on the other populist far right wing conservatives radicals (all the rest).

No examination of the exciting currents in the society - waste of time.

Nothing to do with reality just typical lefties baby food and Dougie swallow it like a baby.

Did you actually take the time to read the article and digest it Ironside? Mmmm..... I think not. From experience, it is easy to spot when the student is cutting his homework:)

These community groups have had to battle local dictatorships, general apathy, and scavenging "businessmen" dressed up as local figures,for years. Now people are realising that they can complain, can organise and deliver petitions, can set up fundraising, and have a real voice on some of the action delivery that affects them, the local ratepayer. Most countries have constant public hearings, where the local populace fill the town hall to debate - but only 80 years ago people were being herded into the same and the building set alight. Only now are the new generation realising there is real power in community action - and you want to blather about a "supposed "smoke-screen"? Easy for you to be negative, as per - when you contribute nothing yourself to your self-professed homeland"

. Of course, the local mayor needs to be a good egg too.We only have to travel to towns such as Bielsko and Gdansk, to see that one of the two is doing it right - and the other has major economic and social problems.

This is good. Poland has among the lowest level of volunteering in Europe; I'm pleased things are changing. The concept of being community-minded is very hard to explain in PL.

Things are definitely changing. I've noticed that more and more informal groups are starting up. I believe it was similar in the PRL - when people discovered in the 70's that they could just start their own groups outside of the "structures", the communists got very upset and worried, even if they existed solely to pick up trash. They couldn't control the groups, yet even by their standards, there was no way to lock up people for picking up rubbish.

PiS obviously hate such structures, because it goes against the idea of such things being decided in Warsaw.

Yeah that I true. However I disagree with Guardian spin on this story. Lots of informal groups, grass roots are into national movement or patriotic moments they are also other group and so on but If you read that article (Dugie is right I have only skimmed it) you will not find that info. They present those groups as if they all were in to the so called conservative gov. Sure some of them are but not all and not all for the same reason.

They manipulate that picture by painting black and white dichotomy - liberal (leftist) grass roots groups versus conservative (far right gov). That is a false dichotomy and a pictures of lies/. That is my point.

On the other hand Polish people are away more open and liberal then your standard prejudiced view of the eastern Europe has it.

There was a lot more community involvement then, except for the bods who went into 'internal exile'.


They loathe it. Look at their hostility to WOŚP, despite its popularity.