Silesian Autonomy Movement

Silesian Autonomy Movement
Ruch Autonomii Śląska
Ruch Autōnōmije Ślōnska
AbbreviationRAŚ[1]
LeaderJerzy Gorzelik
FoundedJanuary 1990 (organisation)
27 June 2001 (voluntary association)
HeadquartersPlac Wolności 7, 44-200 Rybnik
Membership (2010)~7,000[2]
IdeologyEconomic progressivism[3]
Silesian autonomism[4]
Silesian regionalism[4]
Left-wing populism[5]
Pro-Europeanism[6]
Political positionLeft-wing[3][7]
ReligionRoman Catholic[8]
National affiliationCivic Coalition (2019)
Regional affiliationSilesian Regional Party
European affiliationEuropean Free Alliance
International affiliationEuropean Free Alliance
Colours  Cerulean Blue
  Gold
Silesian Regional Assembly
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Opole Regional Assembly
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Party flag
Website
http://autonomia.pl


Old logo of the party from 2018.[9]

The Silesian Autonomy Movement (Silesian: Ruch Autōnōmije Ślōnska, Polish: Ruch Autonomii Śląska, German: Bewegung für die Autonomie Schlesiens[10][dead link]), abbreviated as RAŚ, is a movement officially declaring its support for the autonomy of Silesia as part of a unified Europe. The association was founded in January 1990 by Rudolf Kołodziejczyk and is based in the Polish part of Upper Silesia. RAŚ sees the Silesians as a "separate nation" rather than primarily as Poles, Germans or Czechs.

On 17 October 2009, the Silesian Autonomy Movement signed a cooperation agreement with its German sister organisation, Initiative der Autonomie Schlesiens (IAS), based in Würzburg, and the UK-based Silesian Autonomy Movement.

In 2002, RAŚ became a member of the European Free Alliance.

In 2007, RAŚ activists reestablished football club 1. FC Katowice. Also, since 2007 RAŚ has organized annual "Autonomy Marches" in Poland (pl, szl).

Nationally, the party is affiliated with Civic Coalition. In 2019, the RAŚ signed an agreement with the Civic Coalition for elections to the Sejm and Senate, in which both parties ran on a joint list in Upper Silesia.[11] The two parties continued to cooperate afterwards, and the secretary of RAŚ, Jacek Tomaszewski, is also a member of the Civic Coalition.[12]

  1. ^ Allen, Irma Kinga (2021). Dirty Coal: Industrial Populism as Purification in Poland’s Mining Heartland. History of Science, Technology and Environment. Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of Technology. p. 100. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.27689.67687. ISBN 978-91-7873-964-6. As a result movements, such as the Silesian Autonomy Movement, or Ruch Autonomii Sląska, RAŚ, emerged with some success.
  2. ^ Kawęcki, Krzysztof (2012). "Idea autonomii w koncepcjach Ruchu Autonomii Śląska". Społeczeństwo i Edukacja (in Polish). 1. Międzynarodowe Studia Humanistyczne: 417–425.
  3. ^ a b Newth, George (2021). "Populism and nativism in contemporary regionalist and nationalist politics: A minimalist framework for ideologically opposed parties". Politics. 44 (1). SagePub: 6. doi:10.1177/0263395721995016. Masetti (2020) has examined 'neither left nor right' and 'left wing regionalist populism' of Plaid Cymru and the SNP, Solska (2020) has opted for the term 'progressive regionalist populism' to examine of the left-wing Silesian Autonomy Movement.
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Politologica was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Allen, Irma Kinga (2021). Dirty Coal: Industrial Populism as Purification in Poland’s Mining Heartland. History of Science, Technology and Environment. Stockholm: KTH Royal Institute of Technology. p. 102. doi:10.13140/RG.2.2.27689.67687. ISBN 978-91-7873-964-6. Magdalena Solska (2020) outlines how two kinds of populism exist in Silesia – a left-wing progressive regionalist variant, and a right-wing national conservative kind (echoing the historic division between the 'chadecja' and 'sanacja' narratives of Silesia mentioned earlier) – the type this thesis is concerned with. While the former is represented by the Silesian Autonomy Movement, the latter is represented by PiS's style of politics.
  6. ^ Heinisch, Reinhard [in German]; Massetti, Emanuele; Mazzoleni, Oscar (2020). The People and the Nation: Populism and Ethno-Territorial Politics in Europe (1st ed.). Exeter: Routledge. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-351-26556-0. On the value axis, RAŚ and ŚPR have adopted a more pro-European and cosmopolitan approach, although this does not involve abandoning their promotion of the traditional values of the region.
  7. ^ Heinisch, Reinhard [in German]; Massetti, Emanuele; Mazzoleni, Oscar (2020). The People and the Nation: Populism and Ethno-Territorial Politics in Europe (1st ed.). Exeter: Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-351-26556-0. The case of the Silesian Autonomy Movement (RAŚ) in Poland, and its offshoot, the recently created Silesian Regional Party (ŚPR), is analyzed by Magdalena Solska. (...) The latter are all regionalist and mainstream leftwing parties (Plaid, SNP, ERC, RAŚ).
  8. ^ "Takie były początki organizacji autonomistów..." enowiny.pl (in Polish). 26 February 2015.
  9. ^ Gehring, Kai; Schneider, Stephan A. (November 2018). "Regional Resources and Democratic Secessionism" (PDF). CESifo Working Papers (7336). Munich Society for the Promotion of Economic Research ‐ CESifo GmbH: 34. ISSN 2364-1428.
  10. ^ "Account Suspended". www.raslaska.aremedia.net. Retrieved 17 July 2018.[dead link]
  11. ^ "Śląskie Porozumienie Wyborcze nawiązuje współpracę z Koalicją Obywatelską. Śląski wyborca musi mieć pewność, że głos na regionalistów nie będzie głosem zmarnowanym" (in Polish). 8 October 2019.
  12. ^ Jedlecki, Przemysław (5 November 2021). "Sekretarz RAŚ zapisał się do PO. Czy to już koniec śląskich autonomistów?" (in Polish).

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