Ima Polonia

In Hebrew, there’s a determine often called the ima Polonia – the “Polish mom” – a girl who presents love that feels extra like emotional leverage than care. Her affection crosses boundaries, induces guilt, and facilities her personal wants, leaving you confused about her intentions. Ima Polonia is a frequent hero of bitter jokes, informed as a way to grapple with the expertise.

Poland’s current politics have mirrored this dynamic. Between 2015 and 2023, beneath the alt-right Zjednoczona Prawica (ZP) authorities, the picture of the lady, be it as decide, activist, or politician, was usually instrumentalised to undermine progressive, pro-democratic causes. In these instances, the federal government framed its actions as caring somewhat than punishing (similar to ima Polonia), utilizing girls to not promote their rights however to help anti-feminist adjustments. Though democratic forces received the 2023 parliamentary elections, this technique persists and – albeit in a modified kind – continues to be being employed by would-be autocrats. It additionally continues to be reliant on the instrumentalization of the feminist worth of care. As in Poland anti-democrats are now not in energy, this technique primarily goals to draw voters and mobilize help inside their political base.

Abusive feminism

A method the place anti-feminist, would-be autocrats appear to endorse some feminist concepts and varieties to advance their anti-feminist, anti-democratic undertaking is what Rosalind Dixon calls abusive feminism. Whereas undermining the very substance of feminism’s minimal core, authoritarian actors abduct the language of gender equality and help a descriptive illustration, putting girls in management roles, however solely to boost the centrally deliberate politics. Feminism’s minimal core is outlined as a shared dedication to equal freedom and dignity for all girls, and a crucial inquiry into the extent to which present authorized, political, financial, and social buildings promote (or hinder) entry to such freedom and dignity. On this means, Dixon locations herself within the wealthy feminist dialogue near up to date feminists equivalent to Amia Srinivasan, who claims that feminism is a political observe, and farther from some second-wave authors who claimed that feminism is a undertaking open for any interpretation.

Why deploy this technique? As a result of authoritarian regimes more and more want to talk to each feminist and anti-feminist constituencies. Abusive feminism turns into a double-coded sign, permitting the regime to look progressive to some and protecting of custom to others.

Abusive feminism à la Polonaise

To correctly analyse abusive feminism in Poland, you will need to differentiate between 4 phases. The anti-democratic authorities of Zjednoczona Prawica (2015-2023) (part I) gives classical examples of abusive feminism, that are properly coated in Dixon’s article. The three remaining phases reveal an prolonged type of abusive feminism: the post-2023 panorama, formed by the victory of the pro-democratic coalition (II); the EU parliamentary election and the observe on this establishment (2024) (III); and the presidential election (2025) (IV). This prolonged type of abusive feminism ought to be understood as a method the place some anti-feminist, would-be autocrats appear to endorse no less than some feminist concepts and varieties to advance the anti-feminist, anti-democratic undertaking beneath the situation of being within the minority within the parliament with an lively hope to win again energy. Moreover, every half displays a distinct configuration of how gendered narratives are mobilized – to not advance equality, however to both consolidate energy or entice political help.

In her article, Rosalind Dixon presents a wealthy account of abusive feminism’s techniques, together with how they’ve performed out in Poland’s judiciary and political sphere between 2015 and 2023. Solely certainly one of them can be talked about right here to introduce the principle actors across the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling that led to nearly full ban on the abortion in Poland. The primary actor is Julia Przyłębska, the President of the Constitutional Tribunal, who in 2020 joined the vast majority of judges in a choice that additional restricted an already extreme abortion regulation. Symbolically, she gave a feminine face to the anti-feminist ruling, the ruling that led later to the dying of no less than six girls after medical doctors didn’t terminate their pregnancies. Anti-democratic politicians framed the judgment as an act of look after the fetus, somewhat than as a punitive measure in opposition to girls.

Though the appliance to the Tribunal was formally submitted by a gaggle of 119 members of the decrease chamber of Parliament, the broader anti-abortion marketing campaign was led by activist Kaja Godek and her organisation. Godek, the second actor right here, framed her advocacy as a defence of girls’s and youngsters’s rights – a telling occasion of how feminist language could be repurposed to advance anti-democratic goals.

The post-2023 political panorama

The Constitutional Tribunal’s resolution and its implementation led to the most important protests within the final 30 years of Polish historical past and closely supported the mobilisation of the voters within the parliamentary election of 2023 for the pro-democratic coalition. Nonetheless, the traces of abusive feminism didn’t disappear along with the previous authorities (part II). Julia Przyłębska served because the president of the Constitutional Tribunal till November 2024. Even after the top of her time period, the Tribunal stays captured.

Since 2023, politicians of the previously ruling ZP have abused the worth of care as a way to goal the brand new authorities, undermine its efforts to revive the rule of regulation and take care of the potential crimes dedicated by members of ZP. A superb instance as an instance these efforts is the marketing campaign launched by the wives of former Polish Inside Minister Mariusz Kamiński and his deputy Maciej Wąsik. In December 2023, Kamiński and Wąsik have been sentenced to 2 years in jail for abuse of energy throughout their tenure on the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau (CBA) in 2007. Their convictions stemmed from orchestrating a sting operation often called the “land scandal”, which concerned utilizing entrapment techniques in opposition to political opponents.

Following their imprisonment, their wives, Barbara Kamińska and Romualda Wąsik, launched a public marketing campaign advocating for his or her launch. Each girls, with backgrounds in regulation and public service, actively participated in protests and media engagements. They framed their husbands’ incarceration as unjust and politically motivated, interesting to feelings and household values to garner public help. Their efforts included attending parliamentary periods and assembly with President Andrzej Duda, who subsequently initiated pardon proceedings for the 2 males. For his or her public appearances, each girls put on black, the color worn up to now to precise the sensation of nationwide mourning through the time of the partitions. Utilizing trend to precise political affiliation and patriotic sentiment stays a robust instrument in Polish public discourse and was additionally utilized by the pro-abortion black protests. As Ewa Korolczuk underlines:

“within the case of Black Protest it was the selection of the colour that carried deep cultural significance, referencing the custom of Polish girls publicly sporting black to mourn the lack of the nation’s independence through the XIX century, when Poland misplaced its independence.”

Wąsik and Kamińska, through the use of the colour of black protest and narratives of care and safety, aimed to problem authorized choices and undermine the rule of regulation.

The European Parliament campaigns 2024

The marketing campaign for the European Parliament in 2024 and its aftermath additionally present prolonged abusive feminism (part III). This time it served to win the workplace for excessive candidates. Throughout their European Parliament campaigns, Anna Bryłka and Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik of the Confederation occasion (the occasion that’s extra right-wing in views than Zjednoczona Prawica) emphasised nationwide sovereignty and opposition to EU migration insurance policies. Bryłka criticised the EU’s migration framework, highlighting the low enforcement price of return choices for unlawful migrants and advocating for stricter deportation insurance policies. Zajączkowska-Hernik targeted on defending Poland’s sovereignty in opposition to exterior EU influences, criticising the EU’s Inexperienced Deal and migration pact.

MEP Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik has publicly linked migration insurance policies to threats in opposition to girls. In a speech on the European Parliament in July 2024, she addressed European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen, stating:

“I handle you as a girl to a girl, as a mom to a mom: how are you going to not be ashamed to advertise the migration pact, which ends up in thousands and thousands of girls and youngsters in Europe feeling threatened on the streets of their very own cities?”

She additional asserted that von der Leyen bears accountability for each assault and tragedy ensuing from unlawful migration, accusing her of inviting such people into Europe. Zajączkowska-Hernik concluded by suggesting that von der Leyen ought to be imprisoned somewhat than serving as the top of the European Fee.

The presidential marketing campaign 2025

The current presidential marketing campaign in Poland additionally follows some techniques of abusive feminism. The necessity to attraction to feminine voters was nice, as in response to stories, girls have been extra within the presidential marketing campaign than males. Despite the fact that the anti-democratic events didn’t current feminine candidates, their want to point out the help of girls for his or her candidates led to even fabricating it. In March 2025, {a photograph} started circulating on social media purporting to point out a gaggle of smiling younger girls wearing pastel clothes and holding parasols, enthusiastically supporting Karol Nawrocki’s presidential marketing campaign (the candidate of Legislation and Justice (PiS) occasion). Shared by PiS politicians equivalent to Agnieszka Soin beneath captions like “Polish ladies for @Nawrocki2025”, the picture rapidly went viral, garnering hundreds of reactions and feedback praising the ladies’s patriotism, magnificence, and political consciousness.

Nevertheless, in response to totally different media stories, the picture was fully fabricated and generated by synthetic intelligence. The incident not solely revealed the benefit with which AI-generated visuals can be utilized for political manipulation but in addition how gendered imagery continues to be weaponised to sign ethical legitimacy and emotional attraction, particularly inside populist narratives.

Conclusions

Despite the fact that jokes concerning the ima Polonia – the mom who loves by suffocating and abusing – will help make sense of emotional entanglement via comedian reduction, Poland’s abusive feminism is not any laughing matter. The instrumentalisation of feminine figures, care-driven language, and gendered symbolism to melt or defend intolerant practices has develop into a persistent characteristic of the political panorama. From judges and activists to wives and artificially generated supporters, the anti-democrats supply to “mom” residents – to not empower them, however to disarm critique and consolidate management. There may be pressing work to be carried out to make this performative and manipulative type of political mothering much less palatable, much less persuasive, and, most significantly, much less efficient on the poll field.