29.
10.
2020.
Others
Others
Rector of the Lodz Film School, Milenia Fiedler, made a statement addressed to the school community in the face of the current social and political situation in Poland.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Lecturers, students, PhD students and employees of the Lodz Film School!
The verdict of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 20, 2020 arouses enormous social resistance and many of us feel the need to express our own position and actively protest. As Rector, I treat this with full understanding and acceptance. The school as an institution must be faithful to the principle of ideological and political neutrality. This does not mean indifference. This means that, as a community, we recognize that everyone has the right to be guided in life by a professed system of values, to openly express their own beliefs and defend them if they are threatened. This guiding principle includes the personal right of everyone to self-determination, so that no one makes decisions and speaks on behalf of her or him. This is especially important when the dispute concerns issues so strongly related to the worldview and professed values, affecting a sensitive intimate sphere and personal, difficult experiences.
I, as the Rector of the Lodz Film School, will refrain from taking a public position on this matter, because such a statement could be considered a voice expressed on behalf of the entire school community and each of you, and not my personal one. I have no right to do so! However, I fully recognize and I will defend the right of every lecturer, student, PhD student and employee of the Lodz Film School to self-determination and public speaking, to openly express their thoughts and views and choices made in accordance with the values believed in.
On behalf of the entire Lodz Film School community, I can and would like to express my concern about dismantling the basic democratic mechanisms, violating the principle of respecting the dignity of citizens and the authorities' reaction to the attitude of people exercising their constitutional and civic right to freedom of expression. The principle of respecting diversity and freedom of belief, professed by our community, applies even more to the sphere of public debate and norms of law-making.
Milenia Fiedler
Lodz Film School Rector
Lecturers, students, PhD students and employees of the Lodz Film School!
The verdict of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 20, 2020 arouses enormous social resistance and many of us feel the need to express our own position and actively protest. As Rector, I treat this with full understanding and acceptance. The school as an institution must be faithful to the principle of ideological and political neutrality. This does not mean indifference. This means that, as a community, we recognize that everyone has the right to be guided in life by a professed system of values, to openly express their own beliefs and defend them if they are threatened. This guiding principle includes the personal right of everyone to self-determination, so that no one makes decisions and speaks on behalf of her or him. This is especially important when the dispute concerns issues so strongly related to the worldview and professed values, affecting a sensitive intimate sphere and personal, difficult experiences.
I, as the Rector of the Lodz Film School, will refrain from taking a public position on this matter, because such a statement could be considered a voice expressed on behalf of the entire school community and each of you, and not my personal one. I have no right to do so! However, I fully recognize and I will defend the right of every lecturer, student, PhD student and employee of the Lodz Film School to self-determination and public speaking, to openly express their thoughts and views and choices made in accordance with the values believed in.
On behalf of the entire Lodz Film School community, I can and would like to express my concern about dismantling the basic democratic mechanisms, violating the principle of respecting the dignity of citizens and the authorities' reaction to the attitude of people exercising their constitutional and civic right to freedom of expression. The principle of respecting diversity and freedom of belief, professed by our community, applies even more to the sphere of public debate and norms of law-making.
Milenia Fiedler
Lodz Film School Rector