#Poland - The War for Equality is On

The LGBTI-movement is in the frontline of the ideological and cultural war between East and West. Last week, I was in Poland's capital Warsaw to evaluate the presidential election campaign. Poland's president Andrzej Duda called the LGBTI-movement more harmful than communism and said he will constitutionally ban adoption by same-sex couples. Immediately after the election, the anti-LGBTI campaign by the government continued.  An LGBTI-activist was detained at her home in the early morning. And prominent politicians called to declare the whole of Poland an 'LGBTI Free Zone'. Poland's prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki gave a press conference where he announced that he will start the procedure to establish an international convention to defend traditional family values, after Poland announced they will leave the Istanbul Convention.  Poland receives international support for their bigotry war from various international partners. It ranges from American evangelicals to Russian intelligence organisations. The main anti-LGBTI NGO in Poland, Ordo Iuris, receives direct support from Kremlin-linked oligarchs like Konstantin Malofeev and Vladimir Yakunin.  The fight against LGBTI-rights in Europe resembles the geopolitical war between liberalism and illiberalism, between West and East, between Europe and Russia.  My Analysis of the Poland's Hate War As published by several international media & institutions VICE NEWS: "I fear for the future" I told Vice News: "The only thing they want to establish is a more autocratic, less democratic state, like what Viktor Orbán has been doing in Hungary, and to some extent what Vladimir Putin has been doing in Russia for 15 years. That’s the kind of people they are looking to for their state model." RUSI: Current European fight between liberalism and illiberalism   The world's oldest and one of the most prestigious defence and security think-tanks, the Royal United Services Institute, asked me to analyse the Polish presidential elections. I linked the fight against the LGBTI-movement in Poland to the broader regional fight against liberalism and democracy.  Non-English International Media   Dutch media: I was a guest at NPO Radio 1. Comments for ZiZo-magazine and VRT NWS.  French media: Libération on the Polish presidential elections. Swedish media: QX magazine. Italian media: Gay.it on the detention of an LGBTI-activist in Poland. Book Rémy for your Conference, Lecture, Rally or Webinar E-mail Rémy Bonny or WhatsApp +32 (0)495 81 91 14