Barbara Nowacka Explained

Barbara Nowacka
Nationality:Polish
Office:Minister of National Education
Term Start:13 December 2023
Primeminister:Donald Tusk
Predecessor:Krzysztof Szczucki
Office1:Member of the Sejm
Term Start1:12 November 2019
Constituency1:Słupsk
Office2:Leader of Polish Initiative
Term Start2:20 February 2016
Predecessor2:office established
Birth Date:10 May 1975
Birth Place:Warsaw, Poland
Party:Polish Initiative (2016–present)
Your Movement (2014–2016)
Union of the Left (2005–2006)
Labour Union (2001–2005)
Otherparty:Civic Coalition (2019–present)
United Left (2015–2016)
Europa Plus (2013–2014)
Parents:Jerzy Paweł Nowacki
Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka
Partner:Maciej
Children:2

Barbara Anna Nowacka (born 10 May 1975) is a Polish politician who has served as Minister of National Education since December 2023. In October 2015 she became leader of the United Left coalition for the 2015 Polish parliamentary election, bringing together Labour Union, Your Movement, the Democratic Left Alliance, the Greens, and the Polish Socialist Party. Nowacka is the daughter of the late Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Policy Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka. Since 2016 she has been the leader of the Polish Initiative.

Biography

Born in Warsaw, the daughter of Jerzy Nowacki, a rector at the Polish-Japanese Academy of Information Technology, and Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, a former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Social Policy under Marek Belka's Cabinet. Her mother was listed on the flight manifest[1] [2] of the Tupolev Tu-154 of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying the President of Poland Lech Kaczyński which crashed near Smolensk-North airport near Pechersk near Smolensk, Russia, on 10 April 2010, killing all aboard.

Nowacka was educated at the University of Warsaw, where she was active as a feminist in the Federation for Women and Family Planning. From 1997 to 2006, she was a member of the youth wing of Labour United and then of the party itself. In 2014 she stood unsuccessfully in the European elections in Lublin for Europa Plus, supported by Aleksander Kwaśniewski. She went on from that defeat to join Janusz Palikot's Your Movement, becoming a joint leader, and helped to create the United Left, a broad coalition. On 4 October 2015 she was named as its candidate for prime minister if it won the election,[3] and on 17 October she presented the coalition's programme at a conference in Katowice.[4] However, in the elections on 25 October the United Left failed to reach the 8 per cent threshold for obtaining parliamentary representation under Poland's system of election, while Nowacka herself failed to be elected in the Warsaw I parliamentary constituency.

The Polish elections of 2015 were unusual in that most of the major parties contesting them were led by women. While Nowacka was the leader of the United Left, Ewa Kopacz of the governing Civic Platform party was the incumbent prime minister, and Beata Szydło of the opposition Law and Justice party was the main challenger. In the event, Szydło was elected with an overall majority.[5]

In 2016, Foreign Policy magazine included Nowacka, together with Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-Bąk of Razem, on its annual list of the 100 most influential global thinkers for their role in organizing protests against a total ban on abortion in Poland.[6]

In June 2019, Nowacka became leader of the political party Polish Initiative (iPL), which she originally founded as an association in 2016.[7] She is currently standing for election in Constituency № 26 (Słupsk) as a candidate for the Civic Coalition, of which iPL is a member party.

Nowacka has been fiercely critical of the influence that the Catholic Church has in Polish politics. When in October 2020 the Polish parliament considered placing stricter enforcement on abortion, Nowacka claimed that the Catholic bishops of Poland, the majority of whom strongly support such legislation, had "blood on their hands".[8] She later attended a protest against the new abortion restrictions, where she was tear-gassed by a police officer after approaching him and showing her ID card.[9]

On 13 December 2023, she was appointed as the Minister of National Education by Donald Tusk.[10]

Views and positions

Barbara Nowacka declares herself as atheist.[11] Supporter of the right to abortion,as well as state financing in vitro fertilization, also available to single woman.[12] She also focuses on LGBT rights and is in favor of granting same-sex couples the right to adopt children.[13] She sees the causes of racist attitudes and xenophobic prejudices in social inequalities.[14]

Notes and References

  1. http://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/Wiadomosci/1,80269,7752563,Prezydenckim_Tu_154_lecialy_najwazniejsze_osoby_w.html Prezydenckim Tu-154 leciały najważniejsze osoby w państwie (Polish)
  2. http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2010/04/10/gay-rights-advocating-former-polish-deputy-pm-among-dead-in-plane-crash/ Gay rights advocating former Polish Deputy PM among dead in plane crash
  3. http://www.thenews.pl/1/9/Artykul/223624,Polands-United-Left-puts-forward-candidate-for-PM Poland's United Left puts forward candidate for PM
  4. Adam Grabowski, United Left political party election convention in Katowice dated 17 October 2015 at demotic.com
  5. Monika Scislowska, Women dominate Polish election, with 3 vying to lead country, Associated Press, posted 23 October 2015
  6. Web site: Foreign Policy's Annual List of the 100 Top Global Thinkers . Foreign Policy . 2016-12-12.
  7. Web site: Inicjatywa Polska partią polityczną!. ipl.org.pl. 12 June 2019. 2019-07-02. 2019-06-19. https://web.archive.org/web/20190619211245/http://www.ipl.org.pl/blog/inicjatywa-polska-parti%C4%85-polityczn%C4%85. dead.
  8. Web site: Polish court allows stricter abortion law, sparking outcry. 22 October 2020. 22 October 2020. Aljazeera.
  9. Web site: Police call tear-gassed Polish lawmaker a protest threat. 30 November 2020. 30 November 2020. Associated Press News.
  10. Web site: Barbara Nowacka - The Chancellery of the Prime Minister - Gov.pl website . 2023-12-15 . The Chancellery of the Prime Minister . en-GB.
  11. Web site: 2023-12-16 . 23 May 2014 . Barbara Nowacka: Jestem ateistką . racjonalista.tv.
  12. Web site: 2015-06-20 . 10 March 2015 . Barbara Nowacka: in vitro powinno być dostępne dla samotnych kobiet . polskieradio.pl.
  13. Web site: 2015-06-20 . 6 February 2015 . Wisiałam na krzyżu z dolara . rp.pl.
  14. 2016-11-27 . Barbara Nowacka . 2016 . 1428-0884 . Nigdy Więcej . O nierównościach społecznych i rasizmie . nr 22.