This is amazing... Right now I am sitting at my computer in our two-room office as a large-scale press meeting is going on behind me. To give you a little background, last night after work my friend Rafal and I went to a restauracje and over pierogies (polish dumplings stuffed with mushrooms and potatoes), zupa (soup) and herbata (tea), he talked to me for four hours about his history. My Spanish is better than his English, and that is not saying much, so he slowly went through the story of his anti-'hipermarket' (Walmart-sized supermarkets) movement.
The key point of the story was that the real estate investor paid Rafal's organization $100,000 USD to not submit papers of dissent to the local government over the hipermarket project because the delay of waiting for the government's response was too much for the contracter, and would compeltely prevent the construction of the hipermarket. The media picked up on it and called it a bribe, but Rafal contests that he is using none of the money personally, and is instead using it to further the Polish environmental movement. That puts my current job of fundraising at an interesting position. So, today's press conference is in regards to Rafal's current actions, which is the publishing of a informational packet on his current campaign "Trucks on Trains" or "Tiry na Tory."
I have made it clear that I see much value in the opposition's motivations, and my comments are greeted with excitement and more animated conversations. What I am the most exhillerated about here is the energy and the fire in my friend's eyes. Many people had warned me that the biggest reason for the sluggish pace of Poland's development, and Eastern Europe in general, was that the people have no familiarity with momentum, activism and "work ethic." Thus far, I have found that to be exactly the opposite case. If anything, the government is slow to act because of its over-complicated buerocracy, but the people have more than enough vision and drive for the size of their country. The most exciting aspect is that they are in a position to actually change things. Their country is developing its basic laws and creating precedence, and they are alive at this moment and can make a difference!
It has a much different feeling than the entrained feeling of pushing against a mountain I have at home. Another difference is that their government is willing to listen and consider their perspective. Of course, this is true only to a point, and as the Polish mentality becomes more and more capitalist, their tendency to ignore the activist groups and listen only to the voice of big business will grow. But at this moment there is hope and a chance to influence policy.
Okay, enough of my ramblings. My news of the day is that I went to the market and purchased all my groceries in Polish without a problem. There's a lovely farmer's market 2 blocks east of the city center, in which stands a large monument to Kosciuszko, a Polish freedom fighter who fought in the American war of Independence then returned home to fight the Russians... Rafal says his hero is a Polish historical character similar to Robin Hood...
Thanks for reading!
-Angelica