Poland's Dystopian Nightmare Could Soon Be Our Own. Have a Wonderful Day!
PoliticsThe Washington Post published a chilling dispatch on Monday from Poland’s nationalist takeover, one year in. As Warsaw simmers with protests over opposition accusations that the ruling (and ironically named) Law and Justice party illegally passed next year’s budget by moving the vote outside of the main chamber of parliament, the Post’s Anthony Faiola reports on rapid changes in a country that’s starting to look a bit like The Handmaid’s Tale. Why not begin your week on a deeply upsetting note?
From the Post:
In the land of Law and Justice, anti-intellectualism is king. Polish scientists are aghast at proposed curriculum changes in a new education bill that would downplay evolution theory and climate change and add hours for “patriotic” history lessons. In a Facebook chat, a top equal rights official mused that Polish hotels should not be forced to provide service to black or gay customers. After the official stepped down for unrelated reasons, his successor rejected an international convention to combat violence against women because it appeared to argue against traditional gender roles.
The new government, which took power last fall and remains the most popular political party in Poland, has defunded public assistance for in vitro fertilization treatments and hired a woman who says contraceptives are “wicked” and cause “sex addiction” (and that condoms cause cancer in women) to advise the government on sex education classes in schools. Poland, whose population is mostly Catholic, already has some of the strictest abortion restrictions in Europe, only allowing the procedure in cases of severe and irreversible damage to the fetus, rape, incest, or a serious risk to the mother’s health; after thousands of women protested nationwide in October, the government withdrew support for a bill that would have made virtually all abortions illegal.