Reminders of Hard-Earned Freedoms

Grzegorz Zielinski in Warsaw, 41

Psychotherapist

It makes me remember the Communist era. Government saying that everything is right, when thousands on the streets and experts say the opposite. For the first time since 26 years of freedom, I and my friends are worried about our democracy.

Michal Madey in Chorzow, 33

Operations manager for Cisco



I voted for PiS because I believe that Poland is still in the process of transforming from Communism and they are the ones who can finish this process. Eighty percent of our law is written in Brussels. We are being lectured on “democracy” by unelected commissars from the E.U. Polish people value liberty above all, and we want to decide on our own. PiS is far from perfect, but the best option yet. Foreign governments will not accept our democratic choices as they affect the interests of many foreign corporations who invest in Poland.

Bikes and Vegetarians

Tomasz Surdykowski in Krakow, 32

Translator and Ph.D. student in French literature



As a translator working with E.U. documents and someone who has to care much about words, I feel oppressed by the sheer stupidity of the statements of our current government. Our minister of transport is deeply concerned about chemtrails. Our minister of foreign affairs considers riding a bike and being vegetarian as Marxist. And to add insult to injury, there is also the unbelievable insolence. A former Communist prosecutor is leading the efforts to dismantle the Constitutional Court. A guy involved in the financial schemes now presides the Finance Commission in the Senate. I have stopped listening to the radio and reading newspapers.

Maria Pawlikowska in Krakow, 30

Copywriter in a communications studio

I feel completely alone. I’m a vegan, a cyclist and an atheist. There is no place for me here anymore. I can’t watch my favorite TV station anymore, the budget in my city is lost due to World Youth Day. We want more bike paths and an Erasmus program! They steal our rights and a diversity rooted in Polish history.

A New Public Media

Monika Wolosz in Gdynia, 23

Masters student in English Philology at the University of Gdansk

I am afraid that soon public media will be exclusively conservative and any other point of view will be treated as an action against the law. I was born in 1993 and have lived my whole life in a free, democratic country, and I want it to stay this way.