Visegrad’s Authoritarians: Back to the Future?

Guest speakers:
 Marianna Szczygielska
 Viktória Radványi
 Rémy Bonny

Moderated by:
Simona Muršec,  Ljubljana Pride Association

“Only one day after the Polish National Electoral Commission announced the incumbent president Andrzej Duda as the winner of the close runoff elections, a queer activist was arrested in Warsaw. According to witnesses, Margot’s arrest looked more like a kidnapping because ununiformed police officers handcuffed her with the use of force and dragged her out of her friend’s flat. She is part of a queer collective “Stop Bzdurom” (Stop the Bullshit) that uses direct action to counter the persistent disinformation campaign targeting the LGBTQ community, sexual education, and reproductive justice. In the past few years, homophobic and transphobic hate speech became a standard political resource in a country that has gained the dishonorable status of the most homophobic in the European Union. Queers have become public enemy number one in Poland.” Marianna Szczygielska

 What does the current Polish anti-LGBT propaganda and systemic violence have to do with Victor Orban’s repression of NGO’s in Hungary and the financial support for Nova24 in Slovenia?

 Why are LGBT topics the fundamental scapegoat and state enemy No.1?

 How does all this impact the lives of the LGBT communities and in particular the activists?

 How do we engage in actions of solidarity to support our sister LGBT movement across the Visegrad Group?