The Dialectic of Neoliberal Exploitation and Cultural-Sexual Exclusion: From Special Economic Zones to LGBT-Free Zones in Poland

This article analyses the process of spatial segregation in Poland: the transition from economic deprivation and the neoliberal logic initiated in the 1990s, which can be symbolised by special economic zones, to the atmosphere of cultural exclusion manifested by LGBT-free zones created at the level of municipalities, cities and regions in Poland in 2019 and 2020. The authors defend the thesis that events in Poland have confirmed that not only the state can be authoritarian, but that local and regional authorities can also reproduce an authoritarian and excluder vision of social order. The article also shows similarities between the arguments of the modern populist right, which demanded the establishment of LGBT-free zones, and anti-Semitic slogans of the pre-war (1918-1939) right, which demanded the creation of ghettos for Jews. In conclusion, the authors call for avoiding the mistake of separating economic exclusion from cultural discrimination and treating these challenges separately.