From Plague to War

It has been 5 years since the first cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported, giving emergence to the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem was of course of a global nature and dimension, but the strategies to combat the pandemic in terms of the medical and legal solutions adopted were different from 1 country to another. In Poland, solutions were adopted, which can be described as draconian, or at least grossly inadequate to the threat scale. This was peculiarly the case in the first period of the pandemic. And these are not exaggerated statements if we remember the collective psychosis consciously and deliberately fueled by politicians and the media.

Do we remember the drastic limitations on civilian rights during the pandemic, which were allegedly motivated by the pursuit of protection and safety of citizens? For some, the illegality and absurdity of the government was apparent at the time, but the majority of the society was subjected to crazed restrictions and restrictions. This was partially due to the real fear of the illness and partially in the name of “holy peace” and to avoiding severe administrative penalties. Many citizens, not even agreeing to deprive them of their constitutional rights, did not believe in the effectiveness of protests and gave up without a fight. Of course, the oppressive strategy utilized it. On these dreary days, the worst features of politicians and public officials (even low-level) appeared, who, under the pretext of protecting citizens, violated their freedom and stripped them of their dignity. It turns out that under certain circumstances, even in a nominally democratic state, officials are highly easy breaking the law and showing their psychopathic tendencies without the slightest scruples.

The most apparent example of the violation of the law during the pandemic was the regulation of civilian rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution by means of legislative acts of the nature of regulations. Administrative penalties were besides imposed in a defective manner for failing to comply with the wellness government introduced. In many cases, the courts subsequently waived penalties as unfounded and without legal basis. And the laws introduced were very curiosistic and absurd. Examples include: a ban on leaving the home for another purposes than essential (go to work, shop, doctor/aptetics), a ban on leaving the home of people under the age of 18 without adult care, a ban on entering the forest and the usage of parks, boulevards, beaches and promenades. The work to keep a minimum distance of 2 metres between the pedestrians was besides peculiar, and it besides active spouses and loved ones. I don't think many remember that the work to wear masks was besides a substance of cyclists... As far as the masks themselves are concerned, the most astonishing was the belief in the effectiveness of this kind of “security”. Not only did the sellers refuse to service people without masks, but the customers themselves besides called incorruptible “to order”, threatening to call the police. In addition to all its absurdity, the existing rules were besides inconsistent. Theoretically, in a area locked in the workplace 1 could not wear a mask (this was decided by the employer in the regulations), and in the open air, where the danger of infection was purely theoretical – specified a work existed. It is besides worth mentioning 1 of the most outrageous decisions of the pandemic period – the introduction of an absolute ban on visiting cemeteries on All Saints (Feasts of the Dead) in 2020, under strict administrative penalties. This was not only a violation of centuries-old tradition (for most citizens sanctioned religiously), but besides an overt mockery of the regulation of law. Well, a fewer days before the cemeteries closed, there were mass rallies and manifestations connected with the celebrated “women's strike”. Strangely, in this case the authorities did not intervene and did not consider it appropriate to enforce the existing ban on public gatherings. As you can see during the “women's strike” the coronavirus just wasn't...

Interestingly, the then Ombudsman, Adam Bodnar, in an analysis for Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the creation of the law in an epidemic state of 4 June 2020, stated that: “Regulations issued in an epidemic and an epidemic state, in a gross way violate the fundamental rights of individuals specified as individual freedom, freedom of movement, freedom of expression of religion, freedom of assembly, individual information autonomy, freedom of business. The substance of these rights and freedoms is governed by regulations exceeding statutory authorisations, without adequate guidance in those authorisations and without maintaining the discrimination required by the Constitution between statutory substance and the substance of the implementing act. any provisions in the regulations besides violated the essence of constitutional freedoms and human rights, although this is only possible in the event of an emergency – which has not happened. The violation of specified orders, prohibitions and restrictions is due to administrative penalties imposed by the State Sanitary Inspectorate. An crucial part of these penalties, ranging from PLN 5 000 to PLN 30 000, is imposed in violation of fundamental rights and constitutional freedoms. This state of affairs is the direct consequence of non-respecting the basic rules of lawmaking described in the Constitution.’ (source: Bulletin of Public Information RPO – https: bip.brpo.gov.pl). A public question can be raised: why have they, in principle, not suffered any punishment for the widespread violation of the law during the pandemic. The question is all the more justified as the Ombudsman is now the Minister of Justice.

It is worth noting that the sanitary tightening of the pandemic period not only restricted the rights and freedoms of citizens, but led to many dramas and human tragedies. Their number is hard to estimate. How can we find the number of people who have died of diseases another than COVID-19 as a consequence of hard access to medical facilities and the actual deprivation of patients during the pandemic? In addition to emergency medical consultations were conducted only by telephone. How do we find the number of people who have been refused medical assistance, which has led to wellness problems and frequently to death? How can we find the number of people who are incapable to survey preventive measures that can halt the improvement of serious diseases? How many surgeries and surgeries have been postponed? Similarly, it is hard to find the number of people forced to close or suspend their business and the scale of the financial losses involved. Even a comparatively short period of downtime can lead to bankruptcy. From this perspective, it is indeed heartwarming to complain about the lawlessness in Poland during the period of martial law and how many people died at the time. So let's compare this to the scale of breaking law, limiting freedom and the number of victims in a pandemic.

So, were there no request for sanitary exacerbations of the pandemic period? Certain restrictions must surely be introduced, but in a manner consistent with the Constitution and appropriate to the scale of the threat. Most sanitary bans had no medical justification and were simply a expression of restrictions not to say repression of citizens. Alexander Fredro has already written: “Know the proportion, my lord”... For stealing an apple, you don't punish yourself with prison, you don't shoot a sparrow with a cannon. Unfortunately, the ruling elites (and this is not just about the elites exercising power in Poland) utilized the pandemic to brutally choke human rights. This was a kind of test to test the resilience of societies and to find how much the authorities could afford to restrict citizens' rights.

The most astonishing phenomenon, however, was the abrupt withdrawal of the pandemic, which by a unusual chance coincided with the start of a full-sized war in Ukraine. Almost all day, the erstwhile sanitary warnings disappeared. Authorities, which have made contact with their loved ones hard for citizens, abruptly began to call for the admission to Polish houses which were massively crossing Ukrainian borders. And no 1 asked if the visitors were vaccinated. As early as May 2022, the outbreak was abolished, and despite the continued threat of the epidemic, all sanitary exacerbations were practically discontinued. The threat that had been raised to monstrous proportions before abruptly lost its right to be. Was the war in Ukraine so effective as a remedy for a deadly virus? Or is it another phase wisdom and another field to show for psychopaths and manipulatives, striving for the full training of citizens? Currently, the main enemy is not the coronavirus, but Vladimir Putin, who is expected to be a deadly threat to Poland and Poles. In the name of this threat, it may be essential to deprive citizens of their rights and freedoms again. Or he may even send them to the front and let them die “in the glory of their homeland”, as many sick people were sent to that world, who in conditions of covid madness did not receive medical help. I hope this is only a black scenario, but the example of the COVID-19 pandemic clearly shows that in the name of doctrine, sick ambition and peculiar interests, power will not go back to anything.

Michał Radzikowski