On 10 May this year. Polish thought Club in Łódź, with the support of the R. Dmowski Club and the Chorobry way channel, organized a gathering with a well-known Łódź activist, organizer of many social campaigns – Rafał Górski. It is worth noting that Rafał Górski, who is presently president of the Institute of civilian Affairs, ran for the office of president of the city of Łódź in 2018 and obtained the 3rd consecutive election result. It should besides be stressed that the civilian Affairs Institute has been campaigning for respective years to defend cash money under the slogan – “You have cash – you have a choice”.
The talker made it clear that attempts to reduce and yet eliminating cash were not a fresh thought but a planned and systematic process. This action has an global dimension and is supported by the banking lobby, large corporations and companies that make money on digitization and automation of the flow of funds. At the same time, this process gained the support of the planet of politics and media. Gradual elimination of cash occurs under the pretext “Combating terrorismor ‘fight against the grey zoneIt’s okay. ” Among another things, the European Parliament has introduced a cash payment limit of up to EUR 10 000 in the countries of the European Union, for traders trading in goods or providing services. Restrictions in cash trade besides apply in national regulations, which supply for a limit of PLN 15,000 in commercial transactions. Among another things, the run to defend cash carried out by the civilian Affairs Institute did not extend these restrictions to consumers. Another form of promoting non-cash payments was the amendment of the Labour Code, introducing as a basic form the payment of staff salaries – a transfer to a bank account. The non-cash transaction is being distributed under the supervision of the foundation “No-cash Poland”, established in an agreement between the Union of Polish Banks, the Ministry of Development, the Ministry of Finance and corporations issuing payment cards.
Regardless of these activities, the media and the net spread stereotypes that cash money is simply a relic of the past, it is not a safe means of payment (stealing), or that it is... unhygienic (a motive from the COVID-19 pandemic). This affects the awareness of the wide public, which is reflected in the massive usage of payment cards. What is more – more and more often, in the shops even sellers propose card payments. Another problem is the simplification of the number of ATMs (the establishment of "bank-bank-bank-sales" in many places) or the inability to pay cash in any cases (e.g. tickets or parking lots where only a cashless payment is possible).
Rafał Górski stressed that citizens should be able to choose the form of payment, and actions to destruct cash – in the long term, can lead to full control and surveillance of citizens by state apparatus or large corporations. specified actions are a form of discrimination against parts of society as well as a threat to civilian rights and freedoms. However, as the talker stated, it is comforting that nearly 80% of citizens do not want to liquidate their cash.
Michał Radzikowski
