Odzyskać Noc.: Feminist Protests against Gender-Based Violence in Poland in the Late 1990s and Early 2000s

Authors

  • Barbara Dynda

Keywords:

anarcho-feminism, Poland, political transformation, protest, violence

Abstract

The article analyzes the Polish anarcho-feminist idea of protest against gender-based violence during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Examining the oral history interviews with activists and grassroots cultural productions dating from the period of political transformation, such as zines, leaflets, and graphic images, the article focuses on various strategies and concepts of a feminist strike. These different historical sources emphasize multiple inspirations for the protest strategies employed by the analyzed collectives, including the tradition of women’s strikes during the socialist era, youth demonstrations of the 1960s, and Anglo-American feminism. They also enable revisiting the emotional dynamics and meanings of violence that emerged from the anarcho-feminist archival materials and memories of individual activists.

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Author Biography

Barbara Dynda

Barbara Dynda is a PhD researcher at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw. She holds an inter-area MA in humanities and social sciences. Her current work explores the history of feminist zines and the anarchist feminist-queer movement in post-1989 Poland and was awarded by the National Science Center in Poland, the University of Warsaw, and Duke University, among others. Her academic interests include Polish feminist history, feminist studies, and queer theories.

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Published

2023-12-20