"We as citizens will need to be assured that a new government would have faith in democracy, Europeanism and freedom guaranteed by law,” Olga Tokarczuk’s says two weeks before Poland goes to the polls in a potentially pivotal election on 15 October.

"We need assurances that such a government would listen to us and respond to our needs, and not, like the present one, subordinate the majority of citizens to anachronistic ‘traditional values’ adhered to only by a 30% minority,”

  • DieguiTux8623@feddit.it
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    45
    ·
    1 year ago

    To me, 30% of voters does not at all seem a “minority”. This is democracy, the majority decides and elects their leaders, it does not matter if not everybody feels at ease with them. Traditional values represent a country’s identity, historical legacy and in the case of Poland, it is what allowed them to survive across multiple foreign invasions and dominations.

    • jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      39
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      The problem is that you can’t have a democracy if you allow antidemocratic ideas to be dominant in the political space. What you get in that case is a tyranny of the majority.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      33
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Lmao listen to yourself. 30% of a population is by definition a minority of said population.

      And you can preserve cultural tradition just fine without being a reactionary asshole with your governmental policies.

      • DieguiTux8623@feddit.it
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Unless the system has only 2 parties like US, with three or more parties involved having a consensus of 30% makes quite a relevant share.

    • ProcurementCat@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      24
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      Taking over the judiciary with a clearly anti-democratic intent, and violating democratic standards of both, the EU and polish constitution, is not “democracy” (as you say) anymore.

      No matter how much you want to wank over “traditional values”, an anti-democratic party ruling is not democracy and nobody has to be content with that - in fact, it’s democratic obligation to oppose exactly this.

      • 0x815@feddit.deOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        1 year ago

        Yes, but even if a single party -be it in Poland or anywhere else- held 90% or so of the votes, it must still comply with the basic rules of human rights, dignity and mutual respect, enabling all people in the country to lead a fullfilling life. Otherwise it’sa dictatorship.

    • angrymouse@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      This is not how democracy works, what you described is just a dictatorship of majority (in this case it is literally the minority). Democracy implies that everyone, minority or majority can express opinions and vote freely in ideas that do not harm specific group liberties.

      • DieguiTux8623@feddit.it
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        How can an opinion harm specific group liberties? It’s just an opinion against another opinion in the worst case.

    • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.de
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      yes, who doesnt remember the brave anti LGBT stance Poland took in 1944, so Stalin was like “damn bros, you really hate the gays too, lemme give your country back your independence” I think we even wrote an exam in history class about it…

    • Krydex@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      As much as I agree, I think that this does not have to be exclusive with policies allowing people to live the lives they want, and guaranteeing a safe future which is difficult under my current government. You can uphold family values with abortion legalised. You can transform the energy sector into a greener one without disenfranchising coal miners. All this is being held back by populist agendas of my leading government officials, who do not wish to even uphold the status quo, but to dig in their heels deeper, while telling their voters who are hurt by this that it’s good for them.