Counter-populist performances of (in)security: Feminist resistance in the face of right-wing populism in Poland

Abstract

IR scholarship has recently seen a burgeoning interest in the right-wing populist politics of security, showing that it tends to align with the international ultraconservative mobilisation against ‘gender ideology’. In contrast, this article investigates how local feminist actors can resist right-wing populist constructions of (in)security by introducing counter-populist discourses and aesthetics of security. I analyse the case of Poland, which presents two competing populist performances of (in)security: the Independence March organised by right-wing groups on Poland's Independence Day and the Women's Strike protests against the near-total ban on abortion. The article draws on Judith Butler's theory of the performative politics of public assembly, which elucidates how the political subject of ‘the people’ can emerge as bodies come together to make security demands through both verbal and non-verbal acts. I argue that the feminist movement used the vehicle of populist performance to subvert the exclusionary constructions of (in)security by right-wing populists. In the process, it introduced a different conception of security in the struggle for a ‘livable life’. The study expands the understanding of the relationship between populism, security and feminism in IR by exploring how the populist politics of security is differently enacted by everyday agents in local contexts.

Ontological security, myth, and existentialism

“…As detailed in a recent study in this journal by Bohdana Kurylo, feminist resistance formed the basis of a 'bodies coming together' counter-populist 'performance' for reproductive rights that challenged an exclusionary understanding of security espoused in counter-right-wing populism in Poland in the early part of this decade. 140 Such performances involved dramatic visual displays, including the 'symbolic use of metal hangers' . As Kurylo observes, 'these dramatic visual representations used simplified and emotionally charged motifs to elicit immediate reactions from popular audiences' .…”

Looping Arts, Research, and the Streets in Recent Polish Protests

“…[11] Kurylo (2021) briefly discusses the change of these 2020/21 protests to a more vulgar aesthetic, as compared to the earlier Black Protests, in her text.…”

“Unholy Alliance”: Identification and prevention of ideological and religious frames between right-wing populism and christianity in Poland

“…Since the United Right (Zjednoczona Prawica), led by the socially conservative Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość; PiS) party, 1 took power in Poland in 2015, scientific interest in the problem of right-wing populism 2 in this country (e.g., Beylin 2015;Fomina and Kucharczyk 2016;Stępińska et al 2017;Koszykowska 2018;Kotwas and Kubik 2019;Stanley and Cześnik 2019;Rogalewski 2020;Gwiazda 2021;Kurylo 2022) and its relationship with Christianity, and more precisely with the Catholic Church (e.g., Stanley 2016;Krotofil and Motak 2018;Modrzejewski 2017;Herbert 2019;Turska-Kawa and Wojtasik 2020;Szelewa 2021;Sitarz 2021;Chrostowski 2022b), has increased significantly. This situation is primarily related to the fact that PiS leaders have effectively built, and continue to increase, their political potential around the populist discourse associated with the "unholy alliance" with Christianity (Steinmetz-Jenkins and Jäger 2019; Chrostowski 2021b), whose primary task is to defend the religion and teaching of the Catholic Church, Christian tradition and culture, the Catholic family and conservative values, Polishness and patriotism (Kowalczyk 2015a, b).…”