Where is life better for women – in Poland or in Czechia? It is a difficult question. That is because Czech women can terminate pregnancies, but it costs about 200 euro, so not everyone can afford it. On the other hand, in Poland – unlike in the Czech Republic – we have excellent legal provisions around perinatal care, though the reality in hospitals does not always meet the standards. The Czech Republic has a Breastfeeding Committee at the Ministry of Health, while Polish women have been unsuccessfully fighting for a similar one for years. Poland, on the other hand, has ratified the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, while the Czech Senate rejected the draft resolution earlier this year. One could go on at length about the differences, but isn’t it better to focus on the similarities? 

There does not seem to be anything special about the disputed site. It is meadowland overgrown with grass and clumps of hypericum, and daisies as well, in places. Nearby, in the bushes, lives a family of moose. However, a sorting centre could be built here shortly, and that centre will attract HGVs and tankers loaded with chemical waste. Dark clouds are now gathering above the meadows, and a storm is about to break.  I am walking across the wet grass on the disputed site with Jagoda Włoch, who has been a councillor on the Lubartów municipal council for many years. She is talking about a different kind of storm – the one concerning the sorting centre, a row which has been going on for two years. 

– Investment projects are needed because the municipality does not have any money, and in addition there are not too many jobs – she emphasises. – The problem is that the residents were not properly consulted regarding the plan. Today they resent the way they have been treated. 

Healthcare is a very difficult department. Managing the expectations and needs of people from various circles – patients, doctors, medical staff – that’s a very fine line. The result is problems that we have all experienced – a long waiting list to see doctors, services not being performed, information not being provided. Patient organisations try to resolve these issues. Due to this grass roots civic movement organised by patients, the situation as regards treatment in Poland is changing, and is heading in the direction of European standards. 

The quiz show Milionerzy (Who wants to be a millionaire) was held at the sports hall in Dąbrów – a small village near Śrem. The music heightened the tension, the audience, all minors, reacted with a level of enthusiasm matching their age. Damian Romański, a forty-year-old from Książ Wielkopolski, played the part of the host Hubert Urbański, and asked the questions: “Is rainwater…” a) hot chocolate with whipped cream b) water from precipitation c) chicken soup d) a banana cocktail. Another question was: “What would you find in a flower meadow? a) a car park b) a shopping centre c) a swimming pool d) colourful, blossoming, and fragrant plants. This quiz marked the end for the children in the sports hall (there were about one hundred of them) of the Eko-edukator project. This is probably the first project of its kind in Poland, in which people with disabilities teach children in kindergarten and primary schools how to plant plants, filter water, and recycle rubbish.

“I recall a case of a boy who stole two telephones, and beat a dog and cat to death, and whom the judge only convicted for stealing the telephones”.

“Acts of cruelty to animals must be performed in line with the standpoints in case law and views of legal scholars”

The recent elections to the European Parliament in which extreme right parties obtained very good results have shown that societies are becoming radicalized. This tendency is apparent in Europe and in the USA. Also, in Poland, radical views and groups are becoming stronger, and the dialogue between people representing diverse political options is becoming ever more difficult. Can we prevent it and how? A group of Polish non-governmental organisations working for democracy went to look for an answer to the Island of Utøya, where a Norwegian radical committed the biggest crime in the history of contemporary Norway.  

The most difficult thing is to stand up in front of a group of strangers, introduce yourself, and say: “I had a mental breakdown”. On the other hand, sometimes people are curious and pay attention, and other times there is shame and embarrassment. When that happens, it is best to focus on one person who looks interested, and tell your story to them.  

They are sometimes referred to as “people in transit”, although essentially everyone comes into the world somewhere and has to die somewhere – usually in a different place to where they were born. They travel a number of roads in the course of their life, make certain decisions, meet people, part ways with people. Sometimes they come to a perfect place, persistently promoted in American movies, while usually they are continually on the move, and always striving for something. However, it has become customary to call people in transit refugees – people who went to foreign countries, where the reality is entwined with a foreign language, into the great unknown. They cannot all be branded the same, as “migrants”, because each has their own motives for their journey, dealing with their own memories. Due to fate or providence, these people found themselves in Poland, often not even knowing that such a country existed when they set out on their travels. 

Imperium Tour:- nine people, four performances, 2000 km. We set out at nine o’clock in the morning from Warsaw, the director Alicja, people in acting roles Oma, Olia and Łukasz, Alexey the accordionist, and Adrien, responsible for visualisation/video. Maciej and Ola, activists in the Grupa Granica (Border Group), who described the situation on the Poland-Belarus border after each performance. It is precisely the situation of people on the road, the Bialowieza Forest crossing, that is the experience at the core of the play Imperium.

When Anna saw the two lines on the pregnancy test, she immediately set up a gynaecologist appointment. The doctor did an ultrasound and confirmed the pregnancy – sixth week. She told him that her boyfriend had doubts, not being sure if he wanted to become a dad. The physician asked what she was planning to do in that case. She said she wanted to have the baby. She was referred to a midwife who would be the one to care for her during pregnancy. 

In the human kingdom, define or be defined. Self-advocates of marginalised groups – people with disabilities, their parents, minorities – choose the first option. They want to talk about themselves and their needs, in their own words. Not from the standpoint of a victim, but addressing the substantive issues, stressing the things with which society fails to provide them, and making suggestions as to changes to the system that would improve their lives.

Once upon a time, there was only ice here. It had a tight grip on the land here for one hundred thousand years, together with Scandinavia, the British Isles, and part of what is today Germany. It was not until it got warmer that the land ice began to recede from Pomorze towards the north. It shifted idly, at a geological pace, which means for several tens of thousands of years, carving out valleys, forming hills, and filling lakes on the way, creating a unique landscape referred to by scientists as post-glacial.

They live in Sztum, Bochnia, and Warsaw. They work, pay taxes, and bring up their children. Outside working hours, they fight for equality, to counter discrimination in government authorities, for openness in schools, and for kids like themselves not to have to constantly flee to the capital.

Surveys have shown that Poland is the least friendly place for LGBT+ people to live in the entire European Union. Below are three stories of people who are trying to change that.

There is silence, for example, on the other end of the line, somewhere in between phrases like: “Is this the right number?”, “Can I take up some of your time?”, “I don’t really know why I’m calling…”.

Silence can also choke you, for example during therapy, when you have to think back to events that took place a year ago, too terrifying to put into words. Even if the words can be found, silence ensures that they do not find their way out.

Fathers who go on parental leave say that it is the best decision that they could have made – say the women who founded the Share the Care Foundation – surveys prove that this makes a relationship more stable, reduces the divorce and separation rate, and is highly beneficial for the emotional and cognitive development of children. At the same time, it helps women pursue a career and gives them equal opportunities to compete with men on the job market.

Often, young people who are homeless are invisible. They wear fashionable clothes, the girls have make-up on, and are constantly on the phone. An increasing number of them have a home, and even have their own room, but their parents are unable to deal with them. This is truly horrifying, because it reveals the grave state of the family in Poland – says Agnieszka Sikora of the Secondly Foundation.