Mateusz Kijowski
Life and activism
Life and activism
-----------------

Born in [Warsaw](/wiki/Warsaw "Warsaw"), Poland, Kijowski studied mathematics at the [University of Warsaw](/wiki/University_of_Warsaw "University of Warsaw"). He transferred to Faculty of Family Sciences () at the [Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw](/wiki/Cardinal_Stefan_Wyszy%C5%84ski_University_in_Warsaw "Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw") (former Warsaw Theological Academy). After one year he transferred yet again, this time, to study Journalism. He dropped out from university and started working at a clothing company, designing outdoor recreation gear. In 1991, he started working in the IT Department of the Polish daily [Gazeta Wyborcza](/wiki/Gazeta_Wyborcza "Gazeta Wyborcza"). At the end of 1993 he was hired by Computer Education Center (), where he was training network administrators. In year 2000 he graduated from College of Management () at the  with a degree in business information management. He wrote his thesis on [stochastic volume oscillators](/wiki/Stochastic_oscillator "Stochastic oscillator").

He started his activist efforts in a tourism organization at his parish. He was active in the father’s rights movement, he was one of organizers of the campaign “stopstopnop” polemicizing with opponents of mandatory vaccinations for newborn children. He was the co\-founder of an organization, Stop Rape ().

At the onset of the [Polish constitutional crisis, 2015](/wiki/Polish_constitutional_crisis%2C_2015 "Polish constitutional crisis, 2015") he started a [Facebook](/wiki/Facebook "Facebook") group [Committee for the Defense of Democracy](/wiki/Democracy_Defence_Committee "Democracy Defence Committee") (, also known as KOD), within three days after 20 November 2015 there were over thirty thousand members. On 2 December 2015, in Warsaw, the first founding meeting of the Association Committee for the Defense of Democracy (KOD) took place. A new statute was approved and a temporary management group was formed with Kijowski in it. During the process of forming the Association, several threats toward Kijowski surfaced and the police started protecting him.

On 3 December 2015 he organised a picket in support of the [Constitutional Tribunal](/wiki/Constitutional_Tribunal_%28Poland%29 "Constitutional Tribunal (Poland)")’s actions to ensure the rule of law in Poland. Subsequent protests took place on 12 December in Warsaw and on 19 December in more than 20 Polish cities and several European capitals.
On 23 December he presented the outline of a compromise “exit strategy” at a press conference in Warsaw.

In December 2015 he was awarded the "Freedom Prize" by *Towarzystwo Dziennikarskie* in recognition of his civic activity, in particular for the swift organization of peaceful protests in defence of democracy and civil rights in Poland.

Mateusz Kijowski is son of [Jerzy Kijowski](/wiki/Jerzy_Juliusz_Kijowski "Jerzy Juliusz Kijowski"), he has four children and was married twice.


What job did Mateusz Kijowski have in 1991?