Poles flocked to city centers across the country Sunday to defend a U.S.-owned television network that is being targeted by the country's right-wing government and to protect media freedoms in a European Union nation where democratic norms are eroding.
Among the protesters were older Poles who decades ago resisted the country's communist regime. They fear that the democracy that they helped usher in is now being lost to them. They believe Poland's populist right-wing government is turning the country away from the West and adopting an authoritarian model closer to that of Turkey or Russia with attempts to exert political control over the courts and silence critical media.
The protests, led by opposition groups, were called after the parliament on Friday unexpectedly passed a bill that would force Discovery Inc. to sell its controlling share of TVN, Poland's largest television network.
TVN operates an all-news channel TVN24 and its main channel, TVN, has a nightly evening news program viewed by millions that offers critical reporting of the government.
The fate of the bill now lies with President Andrzej Duda. The main protest on Sunday took place in front of the presidential palace in Warsaw, with demonstrators demanding that the president veto the bill.
Government leaders have defended the legislation by arguing that it is important for national security to ensure that no company outside of Europe can control companies that help form public opinion.
But a string of speakers on Sunday accused them of carrying out an attack on the country's democratic foundations.
Jarosław Kurski, deputy editor of the Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal newspaper that is critical of the government, accused the ruling party of seeking to silence free media in order to steal the next elections in Poland, which are scheduled in 2023.
"The mafia has taken over the country. They want to master all elements of public life," Kurski said.
The United States, a close ally of Warsaw, even urged the government not to pass the law, viewing it as a hostile act towards a U.S. company.
Civil rights groups call on major corporations to stick with DEI programs
A broad group of civil rights organizations called on the CEOs and board members of major companies Thursday to maintain their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have come under attack online and in lawsuits.
An open letter signed by 19 organizations and directed at the leaders of Fortune 1000 companies said companies that abandon their DEI programs are shirking their fiduciary responsibility to employees, consumers and shareholders.
The civil rights groups included the NAACP, the National Organization for Women, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
"Diversity, equity and inclusion programs, policies, and practices make business-sense and they're broadly popular among the public, consumers, and employees," their statement read. "But a small, well-funded, and extreme group of right-wing activists is attempting to pressure companies into abandoning their DEI programs."
Companies such as Ford, Lowes, John Deere, Molson Coors and Harley-Davidson recently announced they would pull back on their diversity, equity and inclusion policies after facing pressure from conservative activists who were emboldened by recent victories in the courtroom.
Many major corporations have been examining their diversity programs in the wake of a Supreme Court decision last year that declared race-based affirmative action programs in college admissions unconstitutional. Dozens of cases have been filed making similar arguments about employers. Critics of DEI programs say the initiatives provide benefits to people of one race or sexual orientation while excluding others.
In their letter, the civil rights organizations, which also included... Read More