The 'Anti-Border Conference' [en] | [pl] took place June 26-29 and covered issues such as 'Freedom of Information/Freedom of Movement', 'Racism and Sexism in Trafficking in Women', 'The law in Belarus. On the side of the dictatorship since 1994' and many others. June 27-30 the 'International Anarchist Meeting Eastern Europe' [en] | [pl] gave a lot of room to topics such as 'Eastern European Networking', '100 years of Anarchism in Poland', Anti-sexism: Theory and Practice' and others. Several people were arrested during mondays Anti Border Demonstration. Many of the several hundred participants of both conferences went on to the 'No Border Camp' on the Polish/Belarussian/Ukrainian border in Krynki.
On June 21 the Dutch group Women on Waves [en] | [pl] has arrived with their ship Langenoort in the harbour of the Polish city Wladyslawowo, near Gdansk. The ship carries a mobile abortion clinic and intents to help women to have save abortions in countries where this is illegal, such as Poland. The ship left Poland on July 4 after many hostile actions as well as warm greetings by many Polish Women. Chronolgy | Report [en]
Thursday afternoon, the boat left Poland for the first time to drive into international waters. There were 11 Polish women on board. A Polish anti-abortion group announced in the Polish parlament that they would sent a boat to the Netherlands for a counter-offensive strike.
After the first tour, the Polish authorities questioned the crew and 12 Polish women, because the considered 12 abortion pills "missing". The dissemination of the pills in Poland can be prosecuted with 2 years imprisonment. Once in international waters however, Dutch laws apply because the ship runs under the Dutch flag, where abortion is legal during the first 45 days of pregnancy. On Saturday, 28 June, the boat left for second time, and planned to go out for a third trip before returning to the Netherlands: more [nl]
Last saturday in Warsaw a demonstration in support of the women on the ship asked for the right to free abortions. The extremely conservative ministry of education refused to accept a petition with lots of signatures. Report [pl] | pics
IMC Netherlands | IMC Poland | Aborcja.Net -- AnNa - 02 Jul 2003
