The Images of Solidarity (Part 2)

Abstract

The sociological and political situation in Poland since the end of 2015, especially around the Constitutional Court, inspired me to compare two solidarity manifestations which happened at the same place but in very different points of the history of Poland. The first one took place on May 3^rd 1981 and the second one on December 19^th 2015. The place is the Old Market Square in a historical city of Torun situated half way from Warsaw to Gdansk.

The manifestation in 1981 gathered people in solidarity with farmers who wanted to have similar Independent SOLIDARITY Trade Union organization as workers already had. It was the largest independent demonstration in the city during communism time 1945 – 1989

In December 2015 people of Torun gathered in the Old Market Square because of the new political situation after the Parliament Election on October that year.  They came to manifest their solidarity with the Constitutional Court, to support its independence.

The photo report I made in 1981 is in black and white as colour photography was not available in Poland at that time. The 2015^th photos are in colour and were taken with a modern, digital camera.