In an exclusive interview with the prestigious British newspaper, Tokarczuk was quoted as saying this week that “the Polish opposition seeking to topple the country’s rightwing populist government needs to start spelling out its commitment to progressive causes.”
'Democracy, Europeanism and freedom'
“We as citizens will need to be assured that a new government would have faith in democracy, Europeanism and freedom guaranteed by law,” Tokarczuk told The Guardian.
The interview, headlined “Nobel laureate urges Polish opposition to commit to progressive causes,” was published in the run-up to Poland’s general election and ahead of the Nobel Prize announcement in Literature due on Thursday.
“If the government changes in Poland, then I hope – regardless of what kind of coalition emerges after the vote – that above all it will put a stop to the anti-progressive, anti-civic activities we have been dealing with in recent years, and which have been intensifying from one month to the next,” the Polish Nobel Prize winner also said in the interview, which was posted on the theguardian.com website on Tuesday.
'Avid supporter of women’s rights'
The Guardian noted that the Polish writer is an “avid supporter of women’s rights and attender of marches against Poland’s restrictive abortion laws," and that she "has long been criticised over her supposedly 'anti-Polish' views by nationalists and conservatives.”
Tokarczuk won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Literature for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life."
The 2018 award was postponed and announced in 2019 due to controversy within the Nobel committee.
Poles will head to the ballot box on October 15 to elect 460 new MPs and 100 senators for a four-year term.
Poland’s governing conservatives are seeking a third consecutive term in power, maintaining a clear lead over the opposition in most recent surveys.
(mo/gs)
Source: theguardian.com
