"Equal rights are equal obligations". Conversation with Jacob Chabik

This discussion concerns Donald Tusk's message during the session of the Sejm held on 7 March that year. Then the Prime Minister said:

"Works are underway to prepare large-scale military training for all adult man in Poland. So that the reserve is adequate for possible risks. By the end of the year, we want a ready model."

What approach do you gotta the Prime Minister's words?

– These words are further dividing Poles into better and worse. Men are brought back to conventional stereotypical roles – this time defenders. To the already existing forms of discrimination – unequal retirement age, unequal wellness and safety standards, unequal parental benefits, unequal treatment in education or courts – 1 more thing is to add: unequal defence obligations. Meanwhile, women successfully service in all kinds of weapons and are excellent in the military. Modern battlefields are not only trenches and rifles, where in fact the physical advantages of men are important, but besides logistics, intelligence, cyberspace, drone piloting or critical infrastructure protection. These are issues where women can work as well as men. Poland will be strong not with “gun meat” but with the resilience of the full country. Above all, the sense of community flowing from the fact that there are no better and worse ones, those with greater responsibilities and those from the work of being released. Equal rights are equal obligations. We live in troubled times and care for common good must be an overriding goal. But by deepening existing and building fresh divisions, we weaken alternatively than strengthen the state. So if the work of defence is the same for all. Depending on the needs of the military and individual predispositions, not on gender, it should depend on the form of its implementation.

– Donald Tusk's behaviour is all the more unusual that he later, during a gathering with journalists, clarified his words a small more. At the time, he stated that he did not want to return to basic military service, but to 1 of respective planet models. He mentioned the Swiss model, where exercises are not compulsory, and are based on incentives. However, he inactive spoke only of them in the context of men. Does that change things?

– It's hard for us to mention to a model we don't know the details of. Countries that reconstruct military work – Norway or Denmark – reconstruct it for both sexes. akin discussions take place in Germany. We see no reason for it to be in Poland. Returning to what I said earlier, the battlefield of the 21st century is not just trenches and shooting, but many another activities where the physical advantage of men is of no importance. Logistics, intelligence, cyberspace protection, critical infrastructure, drone piloting – these are all things that number for features another than growth, physical strength or heart function. The Polish Army is arrogant of its soldiers, who are over 17 1000 and who defend Polish safety all day and night, already today, doing great.

– How do you think the 2 declarations of the Prime Minister so different from each another are by any chance an effort to examine the ground? Trying to see how far you can go in specified declarations so you don't exposure yourself to discrimination charges?

– We don't want to speculate about the Prime Minister's intentions. surely a priori, by varying responsibilities in terms of gender, has caused more divisions than a sense of community. In order to defend the common good, citizens request to feel that they are equal and subject. The reactions we see indicate that sex discrimination does not service this feeling. Men will surely look very, very carefully at the hands of legislators and fish out all those places where duties are imposed on them while denying equal rights.

– Thus, it seems that specified statements can affect the decisions of male voters.

– Definitely. Clearly, a certain critical mass was exceeded; something broke in the consciousness of men. They feel that they are treated as an object alternatively than a public policy entity. Not only in Poland – in the US it was the disregard of the male electorate that determined the defeat of Kamala Harris and Democrats. It is besides incorrect for those who think that men only want to return to (as understood) "the good old days." Before our eyes, there is emancipation of men – gentlemen no longer want to fulfil stereotypical roles, want to decide themselves – and request equality, subjectivity and voice in public matters.

– Which of the current presidential candidates seems to favour men most erstwhile it comes to combating discrimination against them?

– We've sent out a survey and we're waiting for answers. We hope that to the legislature of Men (April 26) everyone will be able to find the questions we have asked them.