“Get the fuck out!” — this is the main slogan of the protests. Short and concrete. There is no room for dialogue, compromise or agreement here. “Get the fuck out” means get the fuck out, not “let’s talk”. The protesters believe — and rightly so — that there is no one to talk to and nothing to discuss. The authorities have shown that all they can do is to harm
On Tuesday, 27 October, at a press conference Marta Lempart presented “civic demands collected from people” on behalf of the Women’s Strike [editor’s note: the organisation coordinating the protests]. They did not only concern abortion (“We want full women’s rights, legal abortion, sexual education and contraception”), but also the restoration of the rule of law:
“First of all, we want Mrs. Przyłębska’s statement to be treated as a statement by Mrs. Przyłębska, and not as a ruling.
Secondly, we want a real Constitutional Tribunal, and not something with unauthorised people involved.
Thirdly, we want a Supreme Court, free from Law and Justice party officers who do what the chairman tells them to.
And fourthly, we want a real Ombudsman who will continue to fight for our rights.”
PiS destroyed the state
For the five years of the Law and Justice (PiS) government, the state has been going through destruction. The pandemic only revealed this, and the ruling of the Tribunal led by Julia Przyłębska showed what this destruction leads to [editor’s note: the ruling effectively making abortion based on embryopathological grounds illegal].
The authorities do not take responsibility for anything, they use incompetent judges, prosecutors and officials, so that the blame can be shifted onto them. They are unable to govern.
The government is not even capable of doing things as simple as the lawful introduction of anti-covid restrictions, such as wearing masks or banning assemblies. They establish them through ordinances, or even orders, as was the case with the restriction of electoral rights and the introduction of a general obligation to vote by correspondence [editor’s note: during the past presidential elections].
This inability to act legally is a reason why people stop listening to the authorities. I will not even mention trust.
There is no one to talk to and there is nothing to talk about
“Get the fuck out!” — this is the main slogan of the protests. Short and concrete. There is no room for dialogue, compromise or agreement here. “Get the fuck out” means get the fuck out, not “let’s talk”. The protesters believe — and rightly so — that there is no one to talk to and nothing to discuss. The authorities have shown that all they can do is harm.
This is similar to the situation in Belarus: Lukashenko must go and that’s it. Although the protesters in Minsk are more polite and don’t ask him to “get the fuck out” yet. But they don’t want to talk either.
If there is no reason to talk to the authorities, then who are the demands presented by Marta Lempart addressed to? Like she said, to the protesters:
It’s a proposal for the protesters to restore the rule of law. Defining the roles this way implies that the protesters treat themselves as a REVOLUTION. Only a revolution has the power to legislate over those in power.
Thus, the revolution would invalidate the ruling of the Przyłębska’s Tribunal. How? Well, in the simplest way possible: by announcing what everyone knows, including the authorities ie that the Przyłębska’s Tribunal is not a Constitutional Tribunal, but a flawed body serving the ruling party. Therefore, its rulings have no legal force.
All rulings, not only the anti-abortion one. There is no alternative. It is not possible to claim that only the latter does not deserve to be published in the “Journal of Laws”. It would mean the same lawlessness that the Law and Justice had practised for almost three years by not publishing the rulings of the Constitutional Tribunal issued before Przyłębska took it over.
This war is turning into a revolution
Rejection of the legality of the Przyłębska’s Tribunal undermines all its rulings authorising Law and Justice lawlessness concerning the so-called new National Council of the Judiciary or Supreme Court. As well as the ruling that is being prepared, which will de facto eliminate the office of the Ombudsman by depriving him of the possibility to act after the end of the Adam Bodnar’s term.
“This is war,” shout the protesters. But after the war, a peace treaty is signed — with some conditions. If a war turns into a revolution, you don’t have to sign an agreement. The revolution forces the rights. The right to the law. And to abort the Law and Justice because of embryopathological reasons.
This article was originally published in OKO.press on 10/28/2020 and translated by Forum.eu.
