Ave! Ave! Christus Rex!: Report from the Culture War in Poland

CentroCentro - Auditorio

26 OCTOBER, 2017, 16PM-16:30PM

Igor Stokfiszewski

Igor Stokfiszewski

Please, express your support for Polish people under the far right pressure, please join us in a struggle for defending the fundamental right to culture.

On May 27th, 2017 far right activists supported by religious groups had sparked riots in front of Powszechny Theatre in Warsaw – a municipal, public, cultural institution. They have also broken into the building and spread gas injuring one person who was taken to hospital with poisoning symptoms.

The attack was launched against presentations of performance directed by Croatian artist Oliver Frljić entitled “The Curse” which – according to the rightists – offends their religious feelings and is a disgrace against Polish nation. It has been another episode of culture war, run by far right in Poland since at least twenty years, against freedom of artistic expression, freedom of speech, autonomy of cultural institutions and the right to culture.

I arrive in Madrid to TRANSEUROPA as a messenger. I want to share experiences of doing culture under far right pressure in conditions of so called “illiberal democracy” and to encourage acts of solidarity I could share with people of culture in Poland.