The City Is Ours Explained

The City Is Ours
Native Name:Miasto Jest Nasze
Abbr:MJN
Chairperson:Eryk Baczyński[1]
Foundation:30 December 2014
Headquarters:Boudena 4, Warsaw
Position:Left-wing
National:The Left (2024 Warsaw local elections)
Colours: Yellow
Seats1 Title:Warsaw City Council
Seats2 Title:Warsaw district councils[2]
Country:Poland

The City Is Ours (Polish: Miasto Jest Nasze, MJN) is an independent citizen platform launched in 2013 in Warsaw, as of 2014 registered as a non-profit civic association. Miasto Jest Nasze is considered to be one of the major urban movements in Poland. In 2018 Polish local elections coalition formed by Miasto Jest Nasze took 22 seats in Warsaw district councils.

Organization

Miasto Jest Nasze counts more than 250 members (February 2023) and is led by board headed by Barbara Jędrzejczyk. The association is present in 12 of 18 Warsaw districts.[3]

Activity

Since its beginning, Miasto Jest Nasze focuses on exposing and publicizing malfunctions of Warsaw authorities. It supports transparency across all city functions as well as civic participation through participatory budgets and public consultations. As part of its activity, it monitors the work of politicians and city officials by publicizing irregularities in Warsaw's management and pressing on the importance of accountability. MJN uses tools typical to bottom-up organization (e.g. throwing up a street dance party)[4] [5] political party (e.g. running in elections) and think tanks (organizing conferences[6] and publishing expert reports presenting alternative solutions[7]).

Among its scope of interests are such issues as: sustainable transport in the city, community rights, environment (especially smog and preserving green areas in the city), land management,[8] reprivatisation of Warsaw properties,[9] participatory democracy.[10]

Miasto Jest Nasze activity has been focusing on identifying and addressing critical issues, inter alia including the following:

Over the past years the activity of Miasto Jest Nasze has also been commented on in various foreign non-English press articles (including Frankfurter Rundschau,[19] Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk,[20] Le Monde,[21] as well as Czech[22] [23] or Slovak[24] [25] media).

Warsaw municipal elections

2014

In 2014 local elections MJN won 7 seats in three Warsaw district councils (4 seats in Śródmieście, 2 in Praga-Północ, and 1 in Żoliborz).[26] [27]

2018

2018 local elections the coalition of local urban movements led by MJN received 5,72% of votes, winning 22 seats in 7 district councils (Mokotów, Ochota, Rembertów, Wawer, Wesoła, Wola, Żoliborz). Justyna Glusman, MJN candidate for mayor of Warsaw, received 2,32% of votes.[28] After the election she became member of the Warsaw mayor board as the Warsaw City Hall coordinator responsible for sustainable development, green area management and fighting smog.[29]

In the local elections of 2018, Miasto Jest Nasza launched an informative campaign to encourage EU citizens living in Warsaw to register and vote in the elections. The site allowed to generate a fast and user-friendly registration application, an innovative solution aiming at promoting the participation of the wide group of foreigners living in the capital.[30]

2024

Upon the 2024 local elections MJN signed an electoral agreement with the Left Together on 29 January 2024,[31] [32] [33] and run from The Left electoral lists.[34] [35] They gained three seats in the Warsaw City Council and twelve seats in Warsaw district councils.[36] [37]

International cooperation

Miasto jest Nasze is a member of the federation "Urban Movement Congress", which groups 40 organizations from around 20 Polish cities.[38]

In June 2017 Miasto Jest Nasze members participated in the Fearless Cities Summit in Barcelona, organized by Barcelona en Comú within the global municipalist movement “Fearless Cities network”.[39] In July 2018, Miasto Jest Nasze hosted the Fearless Cities CEE International Municipalist Summit in Warsaw. The first such conference to be held, it was a platform to exchange experiences on urban activism in the region, regrouping more than a hundred participants from Central and Eastern European municipalist movement organizations (including Spasi Sofia from Sofia,[40] Ne Davimo Beograd from Belgrade, Praha sobě from Prague and Iare Pekhit from Tbilisi).[41]

Election results

Warsaw mayoral election

ElectionCandidate1st round2nd roundResult
Votes%Votes%
2018Justyna Glusman20,643 2.32 [42]
2024Supported Magdalena Biejat[43] [44] 99,44212.86

Warsaw City Council

ElectionVotes%Seats−/+
201850,0025.72 New[45]
2024102,00913.30 3

Warsaw district councils

ElectionSeats−/+
2014New
2018 15[46]
2024 10

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ludzie — Miasto Jest Nasze . miastojestnasze.org . 22 June 2024.
  2. Web site: Radni MJN — Miasto Jest Nasze . miastojestnasze.org . 30 March 2024.
  3. Web site: Poznaj nas . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230224035340/https://miastojestnasze.org/mjn/ludzie/ . 2023-02-24 . 2023-05-16 . Miasto Jest Nasze . pl.
  4. Web site: Dziękujemy za wspaniałą Żoliborską Potańcówkę!. 26 June 2017. Miasto Jest Nasze.
  5. Web site: Międzypokoleniowa potańcówka na Żoliborzu. 8 June 2015. Miasto Jest Nasze.
  6. Web site: Fearless Cities CEE: 13-15 of July, Warsaw.
  7. Web site:
    1. buspasyDlaWarszawy
    . 5 April 2018. Miasto Jest Nasze.
  8. News: Warsaw mayor in corruption probe: report. 8 February 2017. Radio Poland.
  9. News: In Poland, ‘a Narrow Window to Do Justice’ for Those Robbed by Nazis. Berendt. Joanna. 2018-06-10. The New York Times. 2018-12-03. en.
  10. Web site: In Warsaw, Right to the City Means Clean Air and Affordable Homes. Rushton. Steve. 26 September 2018. Resilience.
  11. Web site: Żegnamy Reklamy!. www.zegnamyreklamy.pl. 2019-02-13.
  12. Web site: Piesza Polska: koalicja – dołącz do nas! – Piesza Masa Krytyczna. pl-PL. 2019-02-13.
  13. News: 'You can taste it in the air': your stories of life in polluted cities. Perry. Francesca. 2017-02-16. The Guardian. 2019-02-13. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  14. Web site: Sklep z papierosami dla dzieci. Już wiadomo, o co chodzi. 2017-02-27. www.fakt.pl. 2019-02-13.
  15. Web site: Controversial anti-smog campaign sparks debate in Poland - Xinhua English.news.cn. www.xinhuanet.com. 2019-02-13.
  16. News: 'They stole the soul of the city': how Warsaw's reprivatisation is causing chaos. Davies. Christian. 2017-12-18. The Guardian. 2019-02-13. en-GB. 0261-3077.
  17. News: Polish activists turn to digital democracy. Wasik. Zosia. 26 September 2017. Financial Times.
  18. Web site: Your house is now ours. Dymek. Jakub. 29 August 2016. Krytyka Polityczna & European Alternatives.
  19. Web site: Chmielna-Fall: Dubiose Eigentümer. Opielka. Jan. 2016-07-25. www.fr.de. de. 2019-02-13.
  20. Web site: Anti-Smog-Kampagne: Zigarettenladen für Kinder MDR.DE. 2017-03-03. www.mdr.de. de. 2019-02-13.
  21. News: La bataille de Varsovie, enjeu-clé des élections locales en Pologne. Iwaniuk. Jakub. 2018-10-19. 2019-02-13. fr.
  22. Web site: Církev si ve Varšavě na nejdražším polském pozemku postaví "dvojčata" – mrakodrapy. Novinky.cz. 2019-02-13.
  23. Web site: Všechny nás neupálíte. A2larm. cs-CZ. 2019-02-13.
  24. Web site: Vyraziť do Poľska na nákupy nemusí byť lacná záležitosť. Vláda zvažuje zavedenie mýta. 2018-04-01. www.noviny.sk. 2019-02-13.
  25. Web site: Ekológovia chystajú sťažnosť na poľskú vládu. Dôvodom je smog. 2017-02-10. Pravda.sk. sk-SK. 2019-02-13.
  26. News: Radni dzielnicowi wybrani. Oficjalne wyniki . 30 March 2024 . . . 24 November 2014.
  27. Web site: Obwieszczenie Komisarza Wyborczego w Warszawie z dnia 22 listopada 2014 r. o wynikach wyborów do rad na obszarze województwa mazowieckiego . warszawa.kbw.gov.pl. National Electoral Office. 22 November 2014 . 30 March 2024.
  28. Web site: Wyniki wyborów Prezydenta i do Rady m.st. Warszawy. 2018. Państwowa Komisja Wyborcza (National Electoral Commission).
  29. Web site: Justyna Glusman w zespole Rafała Trzaskowskiego w ratuszu. www.rp.pl. pl. 2019-02-13.
  30. Web site: Foreigners living in Warsaw encouraged to vote in local elections Polska Agencja Prasowa SA. 2018-10-08. www.pap.pl. 2019-02-13.
  31. News: Pakt „Marzenie o Warszawie” podpisany. Lewica Razem i „Miasto Jest Nasze” wspólnie do wyborów . 30 March 2024 . warszawa.tvp.pl . . 29 January 2024.
  32. News: Lewica Razem i Miasto Jest Nasze łączą siły. Wystartują wspólnie w wyborach samorządowych . 30 March 2024 . . . 29 January 2024.
  33. News: Szyda . Jakub . Lewica Razem i Miasto Jest Nasze łączą siły . 30 March 2024 . rmf24.pl . . 29 January 2024.
  34. Web site: Liderki i liderzy KKW Lewica do Rady Warszawa — Miasto Jest Nasze . miastojestnasze.org . 30 March 2024.
  35. News: Durlik . Mateusz . Wybory samorządowe 2024: Lewica i MJN zatwierdziły listy na Żoliborzu . subscription . 30 March 2024 . Gazeta Żoliborza . 5 March 2024.
  36. Web site: Sukces wyborczy Miasto Jest Nasze — Miasto Jest Nasze . miastojestnasze.org . 11 April 2024.
  37. News: Powrót Lewicy do Rady Warszawy. Jest jedno zaskoczenie . 11 April 2024 . . . 9 April 2024.
  38. Web site: Kongres Ruchów Miejskich (Urban Movement Congress).
  39. Web site: MJN na światowym kongresie ruchów miejskich w Barcelonie. 11 June 2017. Miasto Jest Nasze.
  40. News: "To pozostałości linii tramwajowej". Spasi Sofia odpowiada Jakiemu. 23 August 2018. TVN Warszawa.
  41. Web site: Fearless Cities Municipalist Manual. 2019.
  42. Web site: Wybory samorządowe 2018 . wybory2018.pkw.gov.pl . . 30 March 2024.
  43. News: Kolanko . Michał . Magdalena Biejat kandydatką Lewicy i stowarzyszenia Miasto Jest Nasze w Warszawie . 30 March 2024 . . 14 February 2024.
  44. Web site: Magda Biejat – nasza kandydatka na Prezydentkę Warszawy — Miasto Jest Nasze . miastojestnasze.org . 30 March 2024 . 15 February 2024.
  45. Web site: Wybory samorządowe 2018 . wybory2018.pkw.gov.pl . . 30 March 2024.
  46. Web site: Obwieszczenie Komisarza Wyborczego w Warszawie I z dnia 25 października 2018 r. o wynikach wyborów do rad na obszarze województwa mazowieckiego . warszawa.kbw.gov.pl . . 25 October 2018 . 30 March 2024.

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