Explaining Poland: Honoring our common ground

Last week I attended the 4th Congress of Polish Women, on the invitation of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the invitation was to allow me to see and experience Poland as a country, as a culture and as a people. And during my seven-day journey to Warsaw, Gdansk and Sopot, I gained significant insights that helped in reshaping the misconceptions I had about this phenomenal nation.
Certainly, the Polish experience of nation building had its challenges of invasions, survival and rising independence ever since its existence back in the 10th century; but for those of us who share the passion of trying to understand the triggers behind successful stories of reform and development, I believe that the recent 23-year-old Polish experience of transforming itself from being a country controlled by a socialist economy to becoming one that is democratic, market-oriented and robust — is an experience worthy of mention.
After several meetings with high profile women leaders, as well as businesswomen and men; and after visiting Gdansk and witnessing its phenomenal rebuilding after it was erased to ground zero in World War II; and after learning of the revolutionary civic movement of “Solidarity” by dock workers and its subsequent impact on the fall of communism; and after having witnessed the atmosphere of collective will during the 4th Congress of Women on women’s empowerment in the country, I finally understood the secret of the successes of the Polish people.
You see, at the core of all Polish success stories lies one common denominator: The Polish character. The Polish people are driven by the indomitable spirit of “solidarity” that transcends the literal meaning of the word, and it is this spirit of solidarity compounded with a strong sense of “purpose” that has enabled the Polish people to rise above all challenges during the course of their entire history.
Building a nation is neither a one-stop shop nor a one-man job, but it is the responsibility of all the people and it can only be carried out through a common-ground collective will. As I reflected on my Polish experience, I understood the importance of common ground and collective will and I realized that good governance does not mean good government but also good citizenship. If we want to reform our society, its economy as well as its infrastructure, we have to take ownership of being part of the solution.
For all social ills there are civic solutions. For the issues of unemployment we can work within our communities to inform our youth on unemployment alternatives such as entrepreneurship. For issues of urban care or environmental protection, we can once again work within our communities to create awareness on the importance of personal initiative. For issues of education we can work with our schools to achieve their objectives as well as ours. Change does not come easily nor does it come fast, but one thing is for sure, if we hold ourselves accountable first then for sure, we will be able to partner with governments to hold them accountable too.
The Polish people learned the importance of initiative and collective ownership early on in their history, and this is clearly illustrated in the spirit of the “Solidarity” that triggered Polish independence 10 years on; it is also clearly illustrated in the initiative the people of Gdansk undertook to rebuild their city — and from their personal donations; it is also illustrated in the credibility the Congress of Women which has now become a powerhouse of policy creation and reforms on women empowerment issues and is membered and attended by the highest authorities in Polish government and other Polish institutions; and last but not least, it is illustrated in the ability of the Polish people to trigger critical economic reforms that have positioned Poland as the sixth largest economy in the EU and as one of the fastest growing economies in Europe in less than 24 years.
-
- Fatin Bundagji is the president of TLC Consultancy.