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Women have always been at the heart of the battle against the far right
Dr LOUISE RAW explains why the seventh annual Matchwomen’s Festival is proudly anti-fascist
Women taking action against Donald Trump in 2017

IN A chilling phrase, state school teacher Roksana says that, as she helped organise a peaceful protest for women’s reproductive rights in Poland in 2016, she “felt the breath of the government on my back.”

Thousands demonstrated against the attempt by the ruling Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc, PiS) to completely ban abortion.  

When the ban failed, it seemed like a victory. But two years later, women’s rights activists and organisations in Poland remain under direct attack. 

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