The conflict over the route of the Augustów bypass through the protected marshes is not the first and only great ecological conflict in Poland. An earlier example would be the defence of the landscape park at St. Anna’s Mount before building the motorway in 1999, the blockade of building a nuclear power station in Żarnowiec, or a dam on Dunajec in Czorsztyn. Between who and what is the conflict (which culmination is still to come) over the Rospuda Valley about? What, if anything, differs it from those from the past? Was it unavoidable? Can such conflicts be avoided at all? Is it a conflict between men and nature or between people? If between people: is it a conflict between different societies and the government, or rather between different social units with themselves – the local community of Augustów with the national en masse of environmental defenders? Should we expect a series of ecological-social conflicts in Poland which come from constant contradictions between civilisational needs of progress (progress of transport and industry), necessity of protection of the environment and important needs and interests of local communities? Does the conflict over the Rospuda Valley mark a turning point in the character of such conflicts (arguments and reasons, power, law or the authority of the government alone are not enough to solve the conflict)...? To what extent and are we, Poles, at all a pro-ecological society? To what extent is democratic order and a strong society important in solving similar problems (a deadlock?) and to what extent an authoritarian order – coercion of optimal solution (ecological or modernizational dictatorship)? Should ecological movements in the name of the protection of ecology support local communities in their unfair fight with officials?

March 27th, 6 pm

Teatr Ósmego Dnia, ul. Ratajczaka 44 (II p.), Poznań, tel. (0 61) 855 20 86, e-mail:  teatr@osmego.art.pl

www.osmego.art.pl