Ewa Majda, member of the Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland, talks about her activity in conversation with Agnieszka Zdanowicz.

Agnieszka Zdanowicz: Ewa, have you always felt the need to be socially engaged?

Ewa Majda: Yes, that urge has always been in me. I’ve had periods of increased and reduced activity – I’ve been active in school parent councils, I help animal shelters, I support social organizations focused on helping weaker and excluded people. The large number of miseries that surround us, whether concerning people or nature, always affect me and I try to remedy the problems that arise as much as I can. When I moved to a suburban village, I felt the peace that came from that place and that need to help was dormant in me a bit. But I wanted to work for the benefit of my neighbourhood, to influence its appearance, to preserve the idyllic character of our village.

How did your actions evolve into citizen scrutiny?

My adventure with citizen scrutiny began with a train trip to the mysterious city of Leszno. And to get on the train, which I sincerely dislike, I was forced by an event in April 2019. After several years of living peacefully in the village, building good relationships with our neighbours, something happened that agitated us all and forced us to speak out. I started looking on the Internet for knowledge on how to contact and control the actions of the municipality, because none of us had any idea how to go about it, even though we knew we had to do something. Then I came across the workshop “Tools for influencing public administration”. It perfectly responded to my need to learn about the law in this area. But it turned out that knowledge is not everything, because I also met people there who had similar problems as us, and that was equally important. The trip itself was amazing and constituted a milestone in our local actions and in my civil life. Those two days spent with other watchdogs led me to set up a meeting with my neighbours immediately upon my return and say “listen, we can do anything!” The meeting gave me a sense of strength and self-confidence, and encouraged me to go to the municipality and submit the first of many documents. Previously I had a problem with this, because I grew up in a country where one had to feel fear towards the majesty of the office, and citizens were used to invisible but thick walls between them and the authorities. It was only in Leszno that Szymon Osowski, who hosted the meeting, convinced me that human rights and the Constitution of the Republic of Poland give us the right to ask questions about what the authorities are doing.

And what did you and your neighbours want to know from the authorities? I understand it was related to the events of April 2019?

In my village there is a huge forested plot adjacent to the river, which has always belonged to a private owner, but in the local spatial development plan it has the status of LZ, which indicates source zone afforestation. It is a catchment area – it brings rainwater into the river. Initially, the municipality was supposed to buy it and organise a recreation area for inhabitants there, but this did not happen. Over the years, my village has expanded a lot due to its proximity to a large agglomeration. At some point, probably due to the increased attractiveness of these areas, the plot was bought out by an investor and from April 2019 things started happening there that kept us up at night. Trees were cut down (in April, a month that is under protection for birds), the habitat of the partially protected edible snail was destroyed, the place where roe deer graze was blocked, demolition waste was brought in, soil was brought to cover the waste, the area was levelled so that it did not go down to the river so much, and a dike was built to stop water flowing. Right now, the area is draining and degrading biologically. What is the purpose of all of this? Soon the spatial development plan will be changed and there is a possibility that the environmental inspectorate will issue an environmental decision that this area is no longer suitable as a source zone, so it can be turned into a building area.

Did you know earlier that these things were going to happen or was it the noise of bulldozers destroying trees that revealed the investor’s plans?

We didn’t expect anything like this. We found out about many things over time, because discovering the information and collecting it was a process. We had to link what was happening intensively on the plot with what was in the municipality’s documents – resolutions, plans. We collected 2 binders of papers. It turned out that some time before the investor bought the plot (in July 2017), at a session of the municipal council, a motion to abolish the protective zone in this area was suddenly voted through, without prior announcement. This disgraceful voting has determined the fate of the areas situated along the river in the context of planned changes to the local spatial development plan. It was the period of intensive expansion of our village – within 5-7 years the number of residents doubled and it is now 6500 people. At that time, however, nothing had changed on the plot itself – the same trees grew there and many animals lived there. So, it is hard to understand why this area should have ceased to be protected. However, this only became apparent later and we could no longer have an impact on it. But the moment we heard and saw the bulldozers, we started oppose such a beastly destruction of the area, which should be protected, if only because of its retention purposes. It also seemed strange to us that the investor was destroying his own area, as if he was preparing it for development, for which there was no legal possibility. We wanted to make that clear.

What steps have you taken in relation to this?

We fought most actively from April 2019 to February 2020, as the investor took more and more actions then – he levelled the area, brought in demolition waste, surrounded the plot with a fence that went into the river, and built a dike. We sent lots of letters to the Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOŚ), the Voivodeship Environmental Protection Inspectorate (WIOŚ), the General Directorate for Environmental Protection (GDOŚ), the Polish Waters organisation (Wody Polskie), Construction Supervision Inspectorates, but we also notified the police and the municipal police, asking them to intervene immediately at the tree felling, we requested a geodetic research documenting the change of the area, and we reported the lack of archaeological research, which is required. Several illegal actions by the investor have been straightened out. However, the most important point is still before us, namely the session of the Municipal Council where the new local spatial development plan will be voted through. We are afraid that after this total destruction of the plot, the councillors will come to the conclusion that there is no point in preserving the area as a retention area, as it is better suited to be used as a building area at the moment. But we will fight. Probably without our involvement the case would have passed through council very easily, as new building plots mean new residents and taxpayers.

And did you contact the municipality and the councillors in this process?

Of course. At first, I had no idea that we could write directly to the municipality regarding such a case, I felt some respect. But I thought, after all, councillors are in dialogue with the inhabitants and are intermediaries between inhabitants and the office. So, we turned immediately to the councillors, to “our local” councillor to be more precise. This councillor lives not far from the area we are fighting over. We presented the situation to him, invited him to the place, but after a few days there was no reaction from the office, and most of the trees on the plot had already been cut down. We have a lot of doubts as to whether the councillor is really representing us in this dispute. Therefore, I wrote the first four letters to the municipal council, more specifically to the complaints and applications committee. I also started going to council sessions and environment committee meetings where I met other councillors. I counted for a very long time on the help of the council in particular, and fortunately the people from the environment committee proved to be very sensitive to the problems associated with this subject. Seeking allies there was a good lead. We had been concentrating on nature protection and learned that politics still has to be taken into account. Unfortunately, the office itself did not want to cooperate with us. I wrote my first application for information in this case quite late, in July 2019 after the workshop in Leszno, but it’s still good that I got to know the tool, because we had to obtain all the information in this way. Thanks to the workshop, I knew I could write to the office myself and did not have to ask councillors to mediate. And the letters we sent to the municipal council were forwarded to RDOŚ in Gdańsk, the Polish Waters organisation, the mayor, the Poviat Construction Supervision Inspector and to the prosecutor’s office – this was decided by the chairman of the council without informing the other councillors.

Has the prosecutor’s office taken any action on this case?

A month or two after I found out that the council had forwarded our letter to the prosecutor’s office, I decided to go there and talk to the prosecutor in charge of the case. It turned out that there was little the prosecutor’s office could do based solely on the letter it received. We, however, had plenty of material – we collected among our neighbours all the letters, photos and videos we had and submitted them to the prosecutor’s office. But then the COVID-19 pandemic broke out and at this point we don’t know what is going on in the case. A decision was also issued by the Mayor on the necessity to remove the waste, which was appealed to the Self-Government Appeal Court (SKO). We also submitted notices to the SKO on the municipality’s inaction in this matter.

Are you also involved in other aspects of your municipality’s life?

I try to speak up on cases that are important to me – when I feel I’m able to help. This was the case at one of the village meetings when we voted on what to spend the village fund on. A group of committed people showed up and suggested that some of the money should be used for a free-roaming cat shelter – they were well prepared, knew the prices, had enough space, etc. Unfortunately, one of the councillors present at the meeting said, emphasising his position, that this was an impossible idea from the point of view of the office. It looked like the case was going to fail. However, I did not agree that general ignorance could kill such an important initiative of a group of wonderful people sensitive to the fate of cats (with admiration for their actions, great empathy and commitment I’d like to mention the Facebook group “Pomóż Bezdomniakom ze Straszyna” [“Help the homeless cats in Straszyn”]). Moreover, it was a situation so contrary to the idea of the village fund that I just had to react. So, I explained that the purpose of spending this money was decided by the inhabitants, not the office, and that in my opinion it would be the municipality’s own task. The purchase of kennels has been voted through, and taking care of homeless cats unites inhabitants of the village – even in a pet shop there is a box where you can leave food, and people from the group collect that food and donate it to our cats from Straszyn, they also take care of sterilisation, castration and treatment, raising funds, they are active in the local community.

The authorities were also considering liquidation of the village fund. One councillor wrote about it on social media. I decided to make the inhabitants aware that it’s not only about the money, which is more for some villages and less for others, but that the fund plays an engaging and integrating role in the local community, it is supposed to bring people together and provide an opportunity to talk about what they want to do together. In the end, the village fund was preserved.

I speak up for matters regarding animals, trees, as wells as citizens’ rights. I attend municipal council meetings, although I regret that they are now held online. I observe what is happening in the municipality, gather and combine facts and only then I express my opinion. I never put a stick in an anthill and say something just to kick someone. It is very important for me in social activities to work in a group. My dream is that we create a civil society and live in a democratic state where citizens consciously exercise their rights.

Including the right to information?

To me, it is shocking how few people know about this law. I myself only found out about it 2 years ago. People don’t know what their rights are and they are afraid. Now I know that there is a paragraph in the Constitution that gives me the right to information. With this law, citizens can have a greater impact on what happens around them.

And what was your path from that “Tools for influencing authority” workshop to becoming a member of Citizens’ Network Watchdog Poland?

After the workshop in Leszno, Agnieszka [Podgórska] called me with an invitation to the Watchdog School. I needed more knowledge because the situation with the investor in my village was constantly developing. And that’s the knowledge I received. I learned about the idea of watchdogging, and I was most impressed by the training on human rights. The Citizens’ Network does whatever it takes to give people the knowledge and power to act, to do good things, to fight for the truth and democracy. Therefore, it was a great honour and pleasure for me when I received the proposal to become a member of the Association. I feel obligated to turn the knowledge I have thanks to the Network into good deeds.

What would you like to wish the Network on its 18th anniversary?

I wish the Watchdog Poland, especially after Katarzyna [Batko-Tołuć] and Szymon’s [Osowski] live broadcast on the occasion of this year’s International Right to Information Day, that the enthusiasm which was in the Association when it was created 18 years ago would remain in the people who form the Watchdog community. May your commitment to positive change never leave you or us. Nothing should kill the power to give people knowledge and support the development of civil society. I hope the Citizens Network can develop, grow far and wide, so that everyone in Poland who wants to work for democracy knows about the Watchdog’s helping hand. And I hope all watchdogs will be able to rely on sound legislation and fair judicial rulings in their activities.