In October 2023, Poland saw a change in government: the populist coalition of conservative-right-wing parties was replaced by a centrist-liberal one, described as a “chance to repair democracy.” Unfortunately, despite promised legislative changes to liberalize the abortion law, as well as the criticism of the previous government’s violence undertaken on the Polish-Belarusian border (refugees’ pushbacks, criminalization of activism), there has been no change to improve the situation within these two areas. In our analysis, we will elaborate on the feminist struggles for intersectional coalitions within Polish activist movements in the context of this political shift. Focusing on two case studies: activists’ fight for (1) reproductive justice and (2) refugees’ rights, we will explore how coalitions formed across these fields become practices through which intersectionality is enacted. We will focus particularly on factors that enhance or facilitate intersectional solidarity, and those that hinder it, limiting intersectional ideas and the inclusion of diverse groups and interests in feminist struggles. Among the enabling factors, we will pay special attention to queer and trans feminist perspectives, support for people on the move, and connections to climate justice. The hindering factors will include whiteness and ability privilege, racism, transphobia, queerphobia, as well as forms of liberal feminism that reproduce elitism and exclusion. We understand coalition-building not only as strategic collaboration but also as an everyday, relational practice that shapes how activists imagine solidarity and act collectively. To this end, we will pay particular attention to the tensions and nuances that emerge within these movements, especially the gaps between how intersectionality is understood theoretically and how it is negotiated, adapted, or limited in practice. Our conclusions will be based on an analysis of 19 interviews with individual activists and five focus group interviews conducted with 23 activists as part of the CCINDLE Europe Horizon project.
