The academic communities of the President Lech Kaczynski and John Paul II Academic Civic Clubs (AKO) want to express their strong opposition to the assault on the public media currently launched by the new government of Poland. The current scandalous events constitute a  violation of the existing law and trample on the Polish Constitution by bypassing the institutions established in it and ignoring their terms of office. On the model of totalitarian regimes, the new government is breaching the rule of law by illegally denying the right to free expression of opinion and information.

The government’s actions are sadly reminiscent of the dictatorial acts of the martial law era, when Poles had been illegally and brutally deprived of their freedoms and access to independent information and when achievements of the Solidarity Union had been stumped on. In media terms, Poland is now returning to communist years, the time when access to information was strictly controlled by the authorities, whose actions were subject to no public scrutiny or criticism.

The present situation is a brutal violation of the principles of democracy, a real threat to its functioning. In the long run it is detrimental to the moral condition of our citizens and their participation in public life.

This vicious assault on the freedom of speech is largely being made under the banner of the European Union. Therefore, if what we will hear in response is a message of approval for totalitarian methods of government, the question of whether the existence of such a Union makes sense will become more and more pressing.

We appeal to the Polish public to voice their opposition to this situation and take up the fight to restore the media order indispensable in a democracy.

We make a similar appeal to the international public opinion and to all governing bodies of the European Union, apparently so sensitive to the observance of the rule of law in Poland. We ask you to remain consistent and to dissociate yourselves from the breaking of the law by the new government in Warsaw.

Prof. Stanisław Mikołajczak – chairman AKO Poznań
Prof. Grzegorz Kucharczyk – deputy chairman AKO Poznań
Prof. Jan Duda – deputy chairman AKO Kraków
Prof. Artur Świergiel – chairman AKO Warsaw
Prof. Michał Seweryński – chairman AKO Łódź
Prof. Bolesław Pochopień – chairman AKO Katowice
Prof. Andrzej Stepnowski – chairman AKO Gdańsk
Prof. Mirosław Szumiło – chairman AKO Lublin
Prof. Małgorzata Suświłło – chairman AKO Olsztyn
Prof. Jacek Piszczek – chairman AKO Toruń
Prof. Mariusz Orion Jędrysek – chairman AKO Wrocław
Prof. Piotr Briks – chairman AKO Szczecin

Poznań, … Szczecin, 20 Dec. 2023