User:WarsawFellow/sandbox

Black Protests
On 22 September 2016, on the day when the bill to ban abortion was debated in Sejm, the Razem party organized a demonstration called "Czarny Protest" ("Black Protest"), initiated by party member Małgorzata Adamczyk. This was part of a larger campaign, in which people published selfies in black clothing in social media, tagged #czarnyprotest (#blackprotest). In the subsequent days, similar protests were being organized in other Polish cities, such as Wrocław, Łódź and Kraków. Thousands of people took part in the protests in various parts of Poland.[23][24] On 1 October 2016, a large protest also took place near the Sejm building, organized by Barbara Nowacka of Inicjatywa Polska, who had collected signatures under a citizens' bill to liberalize the Polish abortion law.

The protest activities included not only demonstrating in the streets but also (depending on the location) high school students strikes, men’s support events, queer community solidarity events, sending letters, changing profile pictures in the social media, fundraising events, entrepreneurs support, doctoral students’ strike, prenatal testing, collective meditation, a running race, etc.

Umbrella
Specific weather conditions on the 3rd of October 2016 contributed to establishing a symbol of the latest women’s protests in Poland. It was raining during that day but still, thousands of people attended events, bringing their umbrellas to demonstrations to protect themselves from the rain. It also had its symbolic dimension - crowds visually changed into a sea of umbrellas which embodied the purpose of the Black Protest - protecting women from proposed legislation that would restrict their reproductive rights.

Coat hanger
Coat hangers were brought to the demonstrations as a symbol of the simplest and most primitive “instrument” that could be used for conducting abortion. Earlier in 2016 (in April), coat hangers were also sent by citizens to the contemporary Prime MInister of Poland, Beata Szydło, as a protest against her support for the abortion ban.

Social Media
Social media played a pivotal role in the Black Protests in Poland, with hashtags such as #czarnyprotest and #blackprotest being posted internationally. Not only did it provide a platform for protestors to share posters and slogans, it offered a space for women to share their personal experiences, further empowering them.

Attacks on Activists
However, though social media has empowered Polish women, for some it has led to being ostracized by family members or colleagues, and has even cost them their careers. Among the most mediatized instances was that of Ewa Wnorowska’s, an educator in Zabrze who has dedicated her life to helping students at a school for children with disabilities. On the day of the first Black Protest, as the movement in support of women’s rights in Poland became known, she took a photograph with eleven other colleagues, all wearing black, to show solidarity with the cause. Unbeknownst to her at the time of posting, the photograph gained national traction; it was being splashed over Polish newspapers, social media, and debated far and wide. One of her male colleagues reposted the image with inflammatory comments, and lodged a formal complaint in front of the Disciplinary Board of Education against her. Since then, Human Rights Watch published a 75-page report in February 2019 titled “‘The Breath of the Government on My Back’: Attacks on Women’s Rights in Poland,” which has found that government agencies have dragged employees who support women’s rights protests or collaborate with women’s rights groups before disciplinary hearings and threatened their jobs. As the report demonstrates, these are not singular cases. A climate of fear is on the rise in Poland, where cases like Wnorowska’s are being used to show ordinary people that speaking out against the government has consequences.

Protests in Poland
What was especially powerful about the Black Protest was the fact that there were events organized in smaller locations, too. Here’s the list of places, where protests took place: Bełchatów, Będzin, Biała Podlaska, Białystok, Bielsko-Biała, Biłgoraj, Bydgoszcz, Bytom, Chełm, Chojnice, Chrzanów, Ciechanów, Cieszyn, Częstochowa, Dzierżoniów, Dzierzgoń, Elbląg, Ełk, Gdańsk, Gdynia, Gliwice, Głogów, Gniezno, Goleniów, Gorzów Wielkopolski, Grudziądz, Gryfice, Inowrocław, Jastrzębie-Zdrój, Jawor, Jelenia Góra, Kalisz, Katowice, Kędzierzyn-Koźle, Kielce, Kluczbork, Kłodzko, Konin, Kołobrzeg, Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Koszalin, Kraków, Krosno, Kwidzyn, Legionowo, Legnica, Lębork, Leszno, Lidzbark Welski, Lubin, Lublin, Łódź, Malbork, Mielec, Mińsk Mazowiecki Mogilno, Mrągowo, Namysłów, Nowy Sącz, Oborniki Śląskie, Olecko, Olsztyn, Opole, Ostrołęka, Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Ostrów Wielkopolski, Ostrzeszów, Oświęcim, Ozorków, Pabianice, Piaseczno, Piła, Piotrków Trybunalski, Płock, Poznań, Przemyśl, Radom, Radomsko, Rybnik, Rzeszów, Sanok, Siedlce, Siemiatycze, Sieradz, Skierniewice, Słubice, Słupsk, Sochaczew, Sokolniki, Sosnowiec, Starachowice, Starogard Gdańsk, Stargard Szczeciński, Strzelce Krajeńskie, Suwałki, Szczecin, Środa Wielkopolska, Świdnica, Świnoujście, Tarnów, Tomaszów, Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Toruń, Wadowice, Wałbrzych, Warszawa, Wejherowo, Węgrów, Włocławek, Wrocław, Września, Zakopane, Zagłębie, Zawiercie, Zgorzelec, Zielona Góra, Żyrardów,

Protests Internationally
Australia (Canberra), Austria (Vienna), Belgium (Brussels), Bosna and Herzegovina (Sarajevo),  China (Shanghai), Croatia (Zagreb), Czechia (Prague), Denmark (Copenhagen), Finland (Helsinki, Turku), France (Lyon, Paris, Strasbourg), Greece,  Spain (Barcelona, Madrid, Tarifa), the Netherlands, Ireland (Dublin, Limerick), Iceland, Canada (Toronto, Ontario, Vancouver, BC ), Lithuania (Vilnius), Luxembourg, Malta (Valetta), Germany (Berlin, Düsseldorf), Norway (Bergen, Oslo, Stavanger), Portugal (Porto), Romania (Bucharest), Slovakia (Bratislava), Slovenia, Switzerland (Zurich), Sweden (Malmö, Stockholm), USA (New York, Washington, DC), Hungary (Budapest), Great Britain (Bristol, Edinburgh, London,  Newcastle, University of Sheffield), Italy (Bologne)

Outcomes
Although the strikes did not result in a complete reversal of anti-abortion laws in Poland, it brought the conversation of women’s reproductive rights to national attention. Thousands of women wore black in solidarity with the cause. Moreover, the protest succeeded in deterring the government from passing a proposed law that would restrict all abortions.