As of January 1 of this year, Poland has become the European front line in the war on the environment, and, particularly, on plant life. On that day, the so-called Szyszko's Law, named after Polish Minister of Environment Jan Szyszko, came into effect. According to the provisions of this law, owners need not inform the authorities if they plan to cut down trees growing on their privately held lands, nor are they required to do any replanting to offset tree felling.
The new provisions have been subject to heated contestation and protest both from the European Union and from diverse groups within Polish civil society. Most emblematically, a group of women under the leadership of Cecylia Malik took the initiative to create Mothers on Tree Stumps, whose members breastfeed their children while sitting on recently felled trees. The photographs of their collective actions are posted on social media and show a near-apocalyptic atmosphere with stark contrast between infants, representing hope for the future, and the scenes of devastation unfolding around them.
Yet it seems that Szyszko's law has not entirely satisfied the forestry industry in Poland. Currently, the state itself is engaged in a massive logging programme at the Unesco-protected Bialowieza ecosystem, considered to be Europe's last primaeval forest. Nearly 10,000 acres of Bialowieza is earmarked for logging. Here, too, protests have abounded; earlier this month, hundreds of writers and artists sent an open letter to the Polish authorities imploring them to stop the assault on Bialowieza. [...]
Does the rhetoric of those in power in Poland not reiterate the long-standing mantra of the sacrifices to be accepted for our own good? "To protect the forest, we need to chop it down" translates seamlessly into "To protect our democracy, it is imperative to give up basic democratic rights". Political management reverberates, as though in an echo chamber, with forest management.
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