This petition is run by Dariusz Bobak, Michał Dadlez, Katarzyna Grabowska, Marta Połtowicz-Bobak, Rafał R. Suszek, Jarosław A. Wiśniewski

Why is this important?

We strongly believe that it is our duty as Europeans or, quite simply, as civilised human beings to stand up against such anti-liberal and anti-intellectual currents of counterenlightenment in the politics of the post-truth era as represented by Mr. Czarnek and his ideological environment. We recognise in these currents markers of extremely dangerous mechanisms of injustice, exclusion, debasement, oppression and harm that seek to negate and undermine the fundamental principles and values upon which the international community has been built after the many grave mistakes of the past. We support those numerous members of the Polish society, and in particular members of the academia, teachers, students, pupils and their parents, who actively oppose the scandalous nomination.

The true nature and scale of the negative social ramifications of Mr. Czarnek’s appointment are readily inferred from a recent article in the Associated Press News, reprinted by the Washington Post and many other reliable newspapers around the world. From it, a portrait emerges of a right-wing moral crusader and a ruthless party apparatchik with very clear-cut views on such issues as

• the social status and the equality of civil rights of non-heteronormative persons (whom he has openly described as “deviants” “not equal to normal people”),
• the social standing and the ‘rôle’ of women in the modern society (which he sees as effectively reduced to their reproductive function) and

• the universality, inalienability and indivisibility of human rights sensu largo (that he has referred to succinctly in the words “idiocy about some human rights and some equality”).

The above, in conjunction with servility towards his political and ideological camp make him an eager executor and an emblematic figure of the process of a fundamental revision of the civilisational paradigm undertaken by the pro-authoritarian populists currently in power in Poland. Mr. Czarnek’s unreserved endorsement of the ideas of radical nationalism, antisemitism and Ukrainophobia, and his complicity in historical revisionism and negationism complete the vile dossier of his anti-cultural ‘achievements’, which we attach to this letter for the sake of reference. His first enunciations and actions as a minister summarised therein leave no doubt as to his plans of turning education into indoctrination and humanities into a vehicle of the rightist propaganda.

Numerous petitions have been sent to the Polish Prime Minister and President after the nomination with the demand that Mr. Czarnek be removed from the ministerial post - to no avail. Moreover, a strong internal voice of dissent and rejection on the part of the Polish academic and teachers’ communities with regard to Mr. Czarnek’s nomination was articulated publicly in October 2020. A statement of non-recognition of the nominee, strengthened by a declaration of administrative disobedience and a call to boycott Mr. Czarnek in his official capacity, has been signed and backed up by almost 3000 members of the Polish society, mainly members of the academic and teachers’ communities, students, pupils and their parents. Among them, we see many names of prominent figures of the Polish and global academic, cultural and civic life such as Prof. Andrzej Białynicki-Birula, Prof. Iwo Białynicki-Birula, Prof. Marek Demiański, Prof. Jan Hertrich-Woleński, Agnieszka Holland, Krystyna Janda and Prof. Piotr Węgleński. We also encounter names of former dissidents from the communist times such as Małgorzata Bielecka-Hołda, Konstanty Gebert, Prof. Stanisław Krajewski, Danuta Kuroń and Paula Sawicka. We must not be deaf to their dramatic call: “Before our eyes, a symbolic rape of Polish education and science is taking place”. We must not be indifferent to their diagnosis: “Przemysław Czarnek is a personified opposite of what education and science should be”. We must not abandon them in their distress: “The nomination indicates the beginning of a final takeover of education of children and youth by the nominee’s party and of solving the issue of troublesome dissenters among teachers and scientists”. After all, it is about human dignity and human rights, and these know one kind of limits only - the limits of decency.

It is time to demonstrate our decency and determination to actively and efficiently defend human dignity and rationalism in our common European home where it matters quite uniquely - in the domain of education and science. It is time to reenact Solidarity with those who have always shared the values that we hold dear and filled the Word with its true meaning many a time in their recent history. It is time to boycott Mr. Czarnek and the forces of cultural regress that he so blatantly and shamelessly represents.

Chosen statements and actions by Mr. Czarnek

By decision of the Consiglio di Presidenza the call is supported by the Accademia delle Scienze di Torino, legally represented by Professor Massimo Mori, President

The call has been signed by  the following  scientists  (173)

Ahmed Abbes, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette

Antonio Acin, ICREA Professor and Group Leader at Institute of Photonic Sciences, Castelldefels

Hamideh Afsarmanesh, Professor Emeritus at Universiteit van Amsterdam

Monika Aidelsburger, Professor at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich

Keith Allan, Professor Emeritus at Monash University, Melbourne

Klaus Altmann, Professor at Freie Universität Berlin

Marco Andreatta, Professor at Università degli Studi di Trento, Director of Centro Internazionale per la Ricerca Matematica, Fondazione Bruno Kessler

Krzysztof Apt, Professor Emeritus at Universiteit van Amsterdam, Fellow at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, Member of Academia Europaea

Farhad Arbab, Professor Emeritus at Universiteit van Leiden

Viviane Baladi, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Sorbonne Université, Paris, Member of Academia Europaea

Sebastien Balibar, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at École Normale Supérieure, Paris, Member of Académie des sciences

Alexandru Baltag, Professor at Universiteit van Amsterdam

Arnaud Beauville, Professor Emeritus at Université Côte d'Azur, Nice, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, Fomer Member of Bourbaki

Vincent Beck, Maître de Conférences at Université d'Orléans

Damir Bećirević, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Université Paris-Saclay

Alexander Beilinson, David and Mary Green University Professor at University of Chicago, Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American National Academy of Sciences and Academia Europea

Cristina Del Biaggio, Assistant Professor at Université Grenoble Alpes

Agata Bielik-Robson, Professor at University of Nottingham, Instytut Filozofii i Socjologii PAN, Collegium Civitas, Warszawa and Uniwersytet Warszawski, Member of Collegium Invisibile

Jérémy Blanc, Professor at Universität Basel

Andrzej Jacek Blikle, Professor Emeritus at Instytut Podstaw Informatyki PAN, Member of Academia Europaea

Alexander Bond, Senior Curator in Charge at Natural History Museum, London, Adjunct Researcher at University of Tasmania, Hobart and Research Associate at North Highland College, University of the Highlands and Islands, Inverness

Michel Brion, Professor at Université Grenoble Alpes, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Institut Fourier, Grenoble

Ewa Brocławik, Professor Emeritus at Polska Akademia Nauk

Leonora Bużańska, Professor at Instytut Medycyny Doświadczalnej i Klinicznej PAN, Warszawa

Francesca Calegari, Professor at Universität Hamburg, Head of Attosecond Science Group and Leader of Center for Free-Electron Laser Science at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY)

Jadwiga Chroboczek, Professor Emerita at Université Grenoble Alpes, Directeur de recherche au CNRS

Marek Cieplak, Professor at Instytut Fizyki PAN, Warszawa

Pierre Colmez, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Sorbonne Université, Paris, Member of Academia Europaea

John Connelly, Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor at University of California, Berkeley

Alessio Corti, Professor at Imperial College London, Director of London School of Geometry and Number Theory

Przemysław Czapliński, Professor at Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań

Julita Czarkowska-Bauch, Profesor Emeritus at Instytut Biologii Doświadczalnej im. Marcelego Nenckiego

Ewa Dabek-Zlotorzynska, Senior Research Scientist and Head of Research and Method Development Unit at Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa; Fellow of the Council of Independent Colleges of Canada

Dorota M. Dabrowska, Professor at University of California, Los Angeles

Michał Dadlez, Professor at Instytut Biochemii i Biofizyki PAN

David S. Danaher, Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Sacha Davidson, Directeur de Recherches au CNRS at Université de Montpellier

Frank de Boer, Professor at Universiteit van Leiden, Senior Researcher at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica

Dominique Delande, Directeur de Recherches au CNRS at Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel, Paris

Marek Demiański, Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski

Zbigniew Dominski, Research Professor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Gabriel Dospinescu, Chargé de Recherche CNRS à l'Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon

Adrien Dubouloz, Chargé de Recherches au CNRS at Université de Bourgogne

Aleksander Edelman, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Institut Necker-Enfants Malades, Paris

Ulle Endriss, Professor at Universiteit van Amsterdam

Hélène Esnault, Albert Einstein Professor at Freie Universität Berlin, Member of Academia Europaea, Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and Europäische Akademie Nordhein-Westfalen

Maria J. Esteban, Directrice de Recherche au CNRS at Université Paris-Dauphine, Former President of the International Council for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Member of Zientzia, Arte eta Letren Akademia, Academia Europaea and European Academy of Sciences

Sandro Etalle, Professor at Technische Universiteit Eindhoven

Svjetlana Fajfer, Professor at Univerza v Ljubljani

Małgorzata Fidelis, Associate Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago

Halina Filipowicz, Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison

Mathieu Florence, Maître de Conférences at Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris Rive Gauche

Helene Frankowski, Professor at Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris Rive Gauche and Sorbonne Université, Paris

Jean-Marie Frère, Professor, Directeur de Recherches au FNRS and Director of Service de Physique Théorique at Université Libre de Bruxelles

Javier Fresán, Hadamard Professor at École Polytechnique, Paris

Michele Frigerio, Chargé de recherche au CNRS at Laboratoire Charles Coulomb, Montpellier

Mariusz Gajda, Professor at Instytut Fizyki PAN

Justyna Galant, Assistant Professor at Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin, Secretary of Utopian Studies Society Europe

Krzysztof Gawędzki, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS émérite at École Normale Supérieure de Lyon

Lucyna Gebert, Professor at Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"

Adam Głaz, Professor at Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin

Martin Gorbahn, Reader at University of Liverpool

Katarzyna Grabowska, Assistant Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski

Jan Grabowski, Professor at University of Ottawa, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

Jules Grucker, Assistant Professor, Sorbonne Université, Paris

Irena Grudzińska-Gross, Associate Research Scholar at Princeton University, Visiting Professor at Instytut Slawistyki PAN, Fomer Director of the Boston University Institute of Humanities, Member of Polskie Towarzystwo Naukowe na Obczyźnie

Thomas Hambye, Professor at Université Libre de Bruxelles

Michael Harris, Professor at Columbia University and Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris Rive Gauche

Tomasz Hueckel, Professor at Duke University, Durham

Stanisław Jarecki, Professor at University of California, Irvine

Lucile Julien, Professeure émérite at Sorbonne Université, Paris

Perła Kacman, Professor at Instytut Fizyki PAN

Jernej F. Kamenik, Professor and Head of Department of Department for Theoretical Physics at Institut "Jožef Stefan", Ljubljana

Stanley N. Katz, Professor Emeritus and Director of Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies at Princeton University

Tyler Kelly, Lecturer at Birmingham University

Jerzy Kijowski, Professor at Centrum Fizyki Teoretycznej PAN, Warszawa

Tomasz Kitliński, Assistant Professor at Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin

Bruno Klingler, Professor at Humboldt Universitaet Berlin

Benoît R. Kloeckner, Pofessor at Laboratoire d'Analyse et Mathématiques Appliquées, Université Paris Est, Créteil-Val de Marne

Jan Willem Klop, Professor Emeritus at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Member of Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Member of Academia Europaea

Mikołaj Korzyński, Associate Professor at Centrum Fizyki Teoretycznej PAN, Warszawa

Ireneusz Krzemiński, Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski and Head of Pracownia Teorii Zmiany Społecznej, Centrum Badań Solidarności i Ruchów Społecznych, Warszawa

Marian J. Krzyżowski, Professor Emeritus and Former Director of Institute for Research on Labor, Employment and the Economy at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Nicolas Laflorencie, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Laboratoire de Physique Théorique and Institute of Research on Complex Atomic and Molecular Systems, Toulouse

Katherine Lebow, Associate Professor at Oxford University and Christ Church College

Włodzimierz Lengauer, Profesor Emeritus and Former Vice-Rector at Uniwersytet Warszawski

Bogdan Lesyng, Professor, Former Member and Secretary of Komitet Biochemii i Biofizyki PAN and of Rada Główna Szkolnictwa Wyższego, Member of Polska Akademia Nauk

Paweł Leszkowicz, Professor at Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań

Carsten Levisen, Professor at Roskilde Universitet

François Loeser, Professor at Sorbonne Université, Paris, Fellow of the American Mathematical Society

Marian H. Lewandowski, Professor at Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków

Maciej Lewenstein, Professor at Institute of Photonic Sciences, Castelldefels and Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, Barcelona

Izabella Łaba, Professor at Department of Mathematics, University of British Columbia

Ulf Magnusson, Professor Emeritus at Luleå tekniska universitet

Marcin Majda, Professor Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley

Laurent Manivel, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS at Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse

Elena Marchiori, Professor at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

Rafał Matuszewski, Asistant Professor at Universität Salzburg

Elżbieta Matynia, Professor and Director of Transregional Center for Democratic Studies at New School for Social Research, New York

Jan Miernowski, Douglas Kelly Professor at University of Wisconsin-Madison and Uniwersytet Warszawski

Christian Miniatura, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS, Director of UMI MajuLab

Giovanna Morigi, Professor at Saarland University, Saarbruecken

Anna Müller, Associate Professor, Frank and Mary Padzieski Endowed Professor and Director of Women in Learning and Leadership at University of Michigan-Dearborn

Hanns-Christoph Nägerl, Professor at University of Innsbruck

Wiesława Nizioł, Directrice de Recherche au CNRS, Professor at Sorbonne Université and at Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu, Paris

Joanna Nowicki, Professor at CY Cergy Paris Université

Kieran O'Grady, Professor at Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza", Socio corrispondente dell'Accademia dei Lincei

Bohdan W. Oppenheim, Professor and Director of Healthcare Systems Engineering Program at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles

Giorgio Ottaviani, Professor at Università degli Studi di Firenze

Anne Otwinowska, Research Assistant at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin

Marko Pajević, Professor at Tartu Ülikool, Honorary Research Fellow Queen Mary University of London

Benjamin Paloff, Associate Professor and Acting Director of Copernicus Center for Polish Studies at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Galina V. Paramei, Professor at Liverpool Hope University

John T. Pawlikowski, O.S.M., Professor Emeritus and Former Director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago; Former Member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council and President of the International Council of Christians and Jews

Anthony Pecqueux, Chargé de Recherche CNRS at Centre Max Weber, Lyon-Saint-Étienne

Marta Petrusewicz, Professor at Università della Calabria

Gregory M. Pflugfelder, Associate Professor at Columbia University, New York

Katharina N. Piechocki, Associate Professor at Harvard University, Cambridge

Krzysztof Pietrzak, Professor at Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg

Monika Płatek, Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski

Krzysztof Podemski, Professor at Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza, Poznań

Marta Połtowicz-Bobak, Professor at Uniwersytet Rzeszowski

Bjorn Poonen, Distinguished Professor in Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Brian Porter-Szücs, Thurnau Professor at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and Head of Committee on Academic Freedom and Advocacy of the Association for Slavic, East European, & Eurasian Studies

Nikolay Prokofiev, Professor at University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Laura Quercioli Mincer, Professor at Università degli Studi di Genova

Christelle Rabier, Professor at École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

Emiliano Ranocchi, Assistant Professor at Università degli Studi di Udine

Miles Reid, Professor at University of Warwick, Fellow of the Royal Society, former Distinguished Professor at Sonsang University and Scholar at Korean Institute of Advanced Studies

Joanna Regulska, Professor, Vice Provost and Dean of Global Affairs at University of California, Davis

Ewa Rogalska, Professor Emerita at Université de Lorraine, Nancy

Marc Rogalski, Professor at Sorbonne Université, Paris and Université de Paris, Honorary Professor of Université de Lille, Member of Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris Rive Gauche and CNRS

Marek Rogalski, Professor Emeritus at Université de Lorraine, Nancy

Jan Rutten, Proffesor Emeritus at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen

Wolfram Saenger, Professor at Freie Universität Berlin

Krzysztof Sacha, Professor at Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków

Takeshi Saito, Professor at the University of Tokyo

Vladimir Salnikov, Chargé de recherche au CNRS at Université La Rochelle

Christophe Salomon, Directeur de Recherche au CNRS and Director of École de Physique des Houches

Peter Scholze, Professor at Universität Bonn und Director at Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik, Bonn, Fields Medalist 2018

Bożena Shallcross, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies at the University of Chicago

Pierre Schapira, Professor Emeritus at Sorbonne Université

Nicholas Shepherd-Barron, Professor at King's College London, Fellow of the Royal Society

Anna Siewierska-Chmaj, Professor at Wyższa Szkoła Europejska im. ks. Józefa Tischnera, Kraków

Sonja Smets, Professor at Universiteit van Amsterdam

Frank Sottile, Professor at Texas A&M University, College Station

Józef Spałek, Professor at Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków

Anders Steinvall, Associate Professor at Umeå universitet

Bernd Sturmfels, Professor at University of California, Berkeley and Director of Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in Sciences in Leipzig

Diana Stypinska, Lecturer at Liverpool Hope University

Piotr Sułkowski, Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski

Rafał R. Suszek, Assistant Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski

Giovanna Tomassucci, Professor at Università di Pisa

Joanna Tokarska-Bakir, Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski and Instytut Nauk Społecznych PAN

Ryszard Tokarski, Professor Emeritus at Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej, Lublin, Corresponding Member of Polska Akademia Umiejętności

Димитър И. Василев (Dimitar I. Vassilev), Associate Professor at Софийският университет „Св. Климент Охридски“ (Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski")

Yde Venema, Professor at Universiteit van Amsterdam

Rineke Verbrugge, Professor at Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

Albert Visser, Professor Emeritus at Universiteit van Utrecht

Angelo Vistoli, Professor at Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa

Jan Wehr, Professor at University of Arizona, Tucson

Andreas Weiler, Professor and Director of the Munich Institute for Particle and Astroparticle Physics at Technische Universität München

Félix Werner, Chargé de recherche au CNRS, Laboratoire Kastler-Brossel, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris

Michael Werner, Directeur d’études École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris

Jarosław Antoni Wiśniewski, Professor at Uniwersytet Warszawski, Corresponding Member of Polska Akademia Nauk

Ronald de Wolf, Professor at Universiteit van Amsterdam, Senior Researcher at Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica

Marc M.S.M. Wösten, Assistant Professor at Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, University of Utrecht

Andrzej Wróbel, Profesor at Wydział Filozofii Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego and Instytut Biologii Eksperymentalnej im Marcelego Nenckiego

Magdalena Zaborowska, Professor at University of Michigan, Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies Program at Department of American Culture and Department of Afroamerican and African Studies and Executive Board at Rackham School of Graduate Studies, Ann Arbor

Katarzyna Zakrzewska, Professor at Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza w Krakowie

Jakub Zakrzewski, Professor at Uniwersytet Jagielloński, Kraków

Piotr Zielenkiewicz, Professor at Instytut Biochemii i Biofizyki PAN, Warszawa

Jordan Zlatev, Professor at Lund universitet