Committee for the Defence of Democracy

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Komitet Obrony Demokracji, KOD
KOD logo
The KOD logo
Abbreviation KOD
Formation 2015
Legal status Association
Headquarters Warsaw
Region served
Country-wide
Website komitetobronydemokracji.pl committeedefencedemocracy.org
A KOD demonstration in Warsaw, on 19 December 2015.
A KOD demonstration in Gdańsk on 19 December 2015.

The Committee for the Defence of Democracy (Polish: Komitet Obrony Demokracji, KOD) is a Polish civic organization founded in November 2015 as a result of and triggered by the Polish constitutional crisis, 2015. In February 2016 it has declared that it has no intention to transform into a political party.[1] The organization is formally independent of all parties, but is closely tied to the liberal opposition led by Nowoczesna (Modern) and Civic Platform (PO) parties.[2] It is opposed to the government led by the Law and Justice (PiS) party.[3]

Mateusz Kijowski is the founder of the organization.

Background

Lua error in Module:Details at line 30: attempt to call field '_formatLink' (a nil value). KOD was formed in opposition to actions taken by the governing party, Law and Justice (Polish: Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, PiS),[3] which in October 2015 became the first party in post-communist Polish history to control an absolute majority of the seats in the Polish Parliament; and it also is in the control of the Presidency at the same time.[4] While the protest movement has taken issue with a number of PiS-sponsored initiatives, the primary impetus for the formation of KOD was the Parliament’s enactment of a law on November 26, 2015 purporting to invalidate the prior Government’s appointment of five judges to the Polish Constitutional Court and the nomination of new PiS-affiliated judges to replace them.[5][6]

Activity

On November 26, 2015, the members of KOD wrote an open letter entitled “A Letter of the Citizens of the Constitutional State to Andrzej Duda, the President of Poland” asking him to swear in three of the five judges to the Constitutional Court. KOD argued that those three, although not the other two, were duly elected by the previous parliament.[7]

As the disagreements between the governing party and the Constitutional Court continued, KOD called for protests against what it perceives as a breach of the Constitution in violation of democratic norms and the constitutional separation of powers between the legislature, executive branch, and judiciary.[6]

  • Demonstration, which was estimated by “Der Spiegel” and “Le Monde” to include 50,000 demonstrators,[8][9] and at between 17,000 to 20,000 people by the police,[10] took place in front of the headquarters of the Constitutional Court in Warsaw on December 12, 2015. Parallel demonstrations were also held in other major Polish cities, including: Poznań (over 2,000 people), Szczecin (over 2,000 people), Wrocław (approx. 2,000 people), Lublin (500), and Bielsko-Biała (200).
  • On December 13, 2015, over 3,000 people demonstrated in Gdańsk.[citation needed].
  • On 9 January there were demonstrations on the "Free Media" in 20 cities in Poland.[citation needed]
  • On January 23, 40 cities and towns in Poland saw protests about "Defense of Your freedom".[citation needed]
  • A demonstration with 70,000 people was held in Warsaw on 27 February; it was called "We, the People".[citation needed]

Supporters

The Committee's actions were supported by several artists and intellectuals, including Agnieszka Holland, Andrzej Wajda, Marek Kondrat, Krystyna Janda, Daniel Olbrychski, Maja Ostaszewska, Robert Więckiewicz, Maja Komorowska, Bronisław Maj, Ewa Lipska, Jan Woleński, Jerzy Zdrada, Karol Modzelewski, Jerzy Vetulani and Jan Hartman.[citation needed]

Footnotes

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External links