After 1989, a new authority emerged on the basis of the Solidarity movement. Seemingly independent and autonomous. Alongside new people—let us call them people from the People—people from the old authorities also came to power. The new politicians, full of enthusiasm, genuinely wanted to do something for the Country. The reforms introduced made sense, and power passed into the hands of ordinary people.
The new “elites” after 1989
The new reforms, especially the local-government reform, were almost ideal and, insofar as possible, protected against corruption and the waste of public funds. Soon, however, the new “elites” from the people realized that being in power could bring not only honors but also wealth. If that was the case, the system had to be improved in a way that would allow them to hold on to power and grow rich safely. In order to remain in power and increase their wealth rather than lose power, they only needed to introduce changes to the regulations gradually, so subtly and with such precise propaganda that society itself would demand and accept those changes.
One does not need years of study or academic titles to see what happened and how. The new local-government officials gained experience and learned the obstacles and opportunities, as well as the scope of the necessary changes to the law enabling calm and completely unrestricted action for their own benefit. Experienced local-government officials began taking seats in parliament and creating laws.
Unfavorable laws for the people
Laws not necessarily favorable to society. First, in a very broad sense, the Polish economy disappeared. Extremely wealthy Poles appeared out of nowhere, and they took over the remnants of Polish companies, which were quickly closed, opening the Polish market to foreign products. Part of the wealth passed into politicians’ hands in various forms. Work began on the Electoral Ordinance and Local-Government Acts. The revised Ordinance allowed the same people to remain in power and made it an elite domain for wealthy, influential people—their own people. “THEIR OWN” is a key phrase. After catastrophic changes to local-government laws were introduced, society’s influence over local politicians and economic development fell to zero. The positions of village head, mayor or city president became reserved only for “their own”; councillors became mere extras.
The police, prosecutor’s office and courts
The state oversight bodies remained to be brought under control: the police, prosecutor’s office and courts. They had to be brought under control somehow. For this purpose, various strange (supposedly important) commissions were created, consisting of prosecutors, judges and police officers. A process of integration began, with all its baggage. Impartiality disappeared, and the ordinary person was left without a chance in a confrontation with the public administration. The pathology was completed by creating the possibility of financing law-enforcement bodies with equipment or renovation funds; from then on, it was enough to reduce funding for these services, and their heads had to “whimper” to the village head, mayor or city president for purchases. I call this legal corruption and the dwarfing of the law. What should one call state bodies that are informally dependent on local governments? It has not yet been named … but it should be.
Next, former officials or their trusted associates set up companies whose business profiles matched the needs of local-government investments. All that remained was, under the pretext of the rule of law, to create a provision ensuring that these companies would find employment on local-government investments—and there it was. This is called the Public Procurement Act. It is so complicated that it can be freely adapted to the needs of the ruling teams. There are Long-Term Investment Plans and others in which virtually everything can be calmly planned. Interest groups emerge: cliques. Hermetic, untouchable, now wealthy and influential. Whoever comes close with criticism faces Article 212 of the Penal Code, which turns ordinary people into criminals by stigmatizing them while simultaneously discouraging others from criticizing those in power and investigating matters. In addition, every “centimeter” of our lives has been criminalized, causing the system created in this way to silence the defiant.
The law protects the bad more than the good
We have reached a point where the law protects the bad more than the good. The state is oppressive and dangerous. By depriving society of the ability to use local government, it has become merely a façade of a Democratic State. Politicians and officials can harass anyone over anything. The chances of defending oneself before our ordinary courts are slim and costly. Lies and slander are in common use, while the lack of official accountability is standard. This state of the law places us among the so-called Third World countries.
The system operates through constant emotions and divisions; for this purpose, recurring topics are created to keep tensions simmering. Communism, abortion, healthcare, the Church, emigrants, etc. As for “communism,” it is one of the most despicable ways of stigmatizing people already mutilated by the Soviet occupation (I remind you that it was the Americans and the English who sold us to Soviet Russia in Tehran). Even so, my generation and our parents’ generation left a fully developed economy to the post-Solidarity authorities. The generations from the Soviet occupation have nothing to apologize for; on the contrary, they deserve respect for the effort they put into Poland (this is a separate painful subject).
The abortion ban deprives women of rights and respect
As for abortion, it is another example of depriving part of society—women—of respect, human rights, civil rights, dignity and the right to life. Under the guise of religiosity and protecting conceived life, women are degraded and reduced to the role of incubators and servants. This must divide society, and it does. Healthcare … is a profitable venture for a calculating group among those in power. The lion’s share of healthcare funds goes where it should not. The National Health Fund, or NFZ, was created as a holding facility for their own people and a sponge for public funds. Administration and companies consume the money. No matter how much is added, it makes no difference. The state of healthcare will remain the same, but it effectively divides society.
Emigrants… scaring people with the “bogeyman” works.
Keeping society in constant fear of everything
Creating and maintaining divisions effectively keeps society occupied, allowing those in power to avoid applying real solutions to social problems while also avoiding questions about … money. Maintaining constant divisions and leaving society in constant fear of everything, blaming society for everything, including the new “religion”—ecology—effectively makes it possible to burden ordinary people with invented costs. The more fees there are, the more effort is required to maintain a minimal standard of living, which effectively cools society’s desire to protest and ask questions. The Church … that is another subject.