Voices for Peace
Nonviolent Strategies for Change
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Gregorz Surdy - Poland

Change Through Information Campaigns

Picture

I distributed flyers in my dorm. It was one of the biggest distribution points. We knew that we could not hand out flyers directly. We threw them from the roofs of buildings. They fell at the feet of the people who were walking past. They could pick them up and read. We had to carry out such action in rush hours so that a lot of people could come across our flyers. We came up with the idea to hide flyers in a kerchief. We tied a lace to its corners and lit the fuse. When it burnt off the corners were released and flyers fell out. The lace burnt very slowly so we had enough time to go down. We sat on a bench and watched the militia running to stop flyers from spreading. I remember that I hung such a kerchief near “Ochota” Theatre. It was to open after 10 minutes but I miscalculated and it opened after 45 minutes. I wanted to go up and check why it wouldn’t open but I was afraid that I would be up when it opened and I would be caught red-handed. My friends built catapults from springs and shot the package full of flyers at a distance of a few dozen meters. It opened in the air and flyers got out. They floated in the air and then fell slowly down. People reacted differently to such actions. Some ran away, others collected flyers. Officers of the militia were confused not knowing what to  do - collect flyers or chase people who collected them. I remember that in April we managed to spread a few thousand flyers. We waged our war with Communism and we did our share. 

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