Democracy in Action — Poland

‘KORBIELOW!’ This is the place for the brave as we do not shy away from politics. Yes, we have successfuly finished Democracy in Action which took place on December 7 – December 16 25′. To Korbielow, Poland – participants came all the way from Portugual, Romania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Georgia and Poland (ironically the last to arrive) to defend the shared values on democracy which let’s be honest is in danger these days. It was during this project that the Bulgarian government finally collapsed after the long anti-corruption movement so the rest of us had a lot to learn what can happen if we let our rights slip away. 

 

In addition to that, thanks to the preparation of our organizators Wojciech and Maciej we’ve discussed and learned to argument about the things we stand for as a society and as individuals. Whether it’s the right of free movement aka migration, the right of assembly or the right of education. Our national groups have also prepared a workshop of our own, for example my Czech team – we have created a roleplay debate whether a homeless shelter should be built in a small town, consisting of four groups or participants each with a different goal. This way we managed to spread awereness about people who are excluded from society as well as enhancing the skill to argument your stand even if you don’t personally agree with it because this was a roleplay after all.

 

Of course not everything has to be about learning and we used our free time to enjoy ourselves too. We watched several movies in the conference room, one was called The Hater, a critically recognized Polish film that comments on the manipulated hate targeting individuals on social media and the catasthrophic dangers of spreading it. On our “free day” most of the participants went on a hike to the near mountain while others with cars used the oppurtunity to explore the nearest cities or other similar oppurtunities. And I have to mention the pool, we were really lucky to have a pool in our accomondation which we used pretty much every single day there.

 

As it is with every project there are cultural nights. During these we quite literally got a taste of each country (Portugal was my personal favorite), most countries showed their cultural dance moves, we taught how to sing in our langauges, we played really fun games and had small cultural parties.

 

I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re thankful for the oppurtunity to attend Democracy in Action as it really was a sweet and cozy time, perfect way to end the year 2025. Thanks to Wojciech, Maciej, the cooks (obviously), the hosting organization as well as my own for arranging this for us. And with this I will shout for the last time ‘KORBIELOW!’.