Twists of fate

12 November 2013

How come in almost all nations the independence day brings together people who rejoice and take pride in their country, while in Poland, for the third year in a row, celebrations end up with riots? The 11 November, national holiday commemorating regaining independence in 1918, after 123 years of partitions, was reinstated after overturning communism. I watched the presence of independence day in the public sphere evolving from overbearing official celebrations into more joyful and casual events, such as recently organised marches. Joy-rendering parades attract more people to take to the streets than sombre commemorations, especially if the routes cover places that unite people of different views – such as the independence match staged by president’s office, whose participants paid homage to monuments of heroes fighting for Poland’s independence, regardless of their political views and membership.

It is a pity state celebrations have not brought all meaningful actors of Polish politics together. The main oppositional party has staged its own, peaceful march in Cracow, but credits for them for effectively dissociating from the nationalist hooligans, who organised their own demonstration in Warsaw.

Maybe the riots were not as violent as two years ago, but Monday’s goings-on give a reason for shame to most Poles… If I can share a few considerations:

1) The word ‘provocation’ has been coming up in all shapes and sizes. For some commentators, whenever anti-government organisations botch something up, the government must have had its fingers in it, i.e. all those people who yanked sett out of pavements, threw stones, scorched the rainbow, set fire to guardsman’s hut, were put up by the government, to spoil the reputation of their opponents

2) Who allowed such huge manifestation to take place when it is dark, when everyone should know dim light is conducive to acts of violence and it’s easier to go unpunished?

3) Who allowed the people, notorious for their hatred for Russia, to pass by the Russian embassy and why were the premises of the Russian outpost left without proper protection?

4) Why did the town hall decision-makers succumb to the march’s organisers insistence on absence of police in the immediate vicinity of he march’s route?

5) How can a mentally healthy person celebrate independence day by attacking other people and damaging their property?

6) Why does a person with clear intensions wear a balaclava?

7) I also noticed, talking to several people (mostly at work), after such incidence many folks hanker after ZOMO. The tolerance for the misbehaviour witnessed on 11 November is very low and given helplessness of the police, percent of people in favour of radical treatment of hooligans is on the rise.

8) Most of those people have not taken heed of the make-up of rowdy crowd, which was the chief reason why the police brigades were reluctant to take tough action on the recalcitrant scoundrels – i.e. the crown was a blend of ordinary, peaceful people and rascals with wrapped faces. The police were facing the risk of beating innocent people while trying to crack down on hooligans. BTW – on TV I saw several pairs – ordinarily-looking girls holding hands with hatred-filled nationalist boys; upon seeing this I scaled down my odds of getting married ever…

13 November 2013

Poland is slowly forgetting about the 11 November incidents, Polish diplomats weigh up what would be the most apposite way to deplore about the burnt hut. Soulmate and I pop out for a lunch to a bar on the other corner of the roundabout, then drop in on the nearby shopping centre. When we walk out of there, we sense the smell of natural gas, blown by the winding from the underground construction site. The tang is quite intense. Gas emergency service is on site, fire engines are coming over. Something is afoot. Some 20 minutes later in our office someone orders us to evacuate. We calmly leave the building, the whole procedure goes smoothly, as during exercise evacuation. Given the circumstances, I do not understand why are were told to stay on the car park (place of gathering according to health and safety procedures) which is the dangerous area. Gas leakage is not serious and relevant services are working on fixing the pipe, ripped by an excavator operator, but out of boredom we begin to wonder what would happen and what the scale of destruction would be, if the gas exploded. We bring back the pictures of gas explosion in Rotunda in 1979 in Warsaw. Our building is not connected to the gasworks, but if any pipes were laid beneath it, a little spark could… perish the thought…

14 November 2013

Gas actually explodes, causes death of two workers, leaves several locals injured and brings about a veritably apocalyptic blaze which turn a part of a village in Western Poland into a post-war landscape. I deeply hope this will be the national operator of gasworks in Poland (the company calls the whole incident a “breakdown”), not the Polish state, who will pay for all damages. Houses might be rebuilt, all materials goods can be restored (except for those having sentimental value), but no one will compensate the dwellers of houses destroyed by the fire (many of them were lucky to be at work or school in the middle of the day) for trauma they are going through, the trauma from which some of them will not recover until the end of their days…

15 November 2013

The company hatched the idea of promoting its services by giving out coffee. Those males who smiled frankly and kindly asked skilful barista girl for something special, could get such bonus. Made my day…

Humility is a virtue

Mayday’s episode on Smolensk Air Crash is due to have its world premiere today at 9 p.m. in National Geographic Channel’s Polish channel. Poles will be the first audience to see the purportedly unbiased coverage of the tragic flight and reasons behind the disaster.

The film has been hailed as prejudiced many months ago by PiS-backing Polish media, as its script is based solely on findings of two official reports on the crash, one drawn up by Russian MAK, the other prepared by the Polish parliamentary commission, run by Jerzy Miller (the series’ makers as a matter of principle rely on official reports rather than on conspiracy theories). Producers of the ‘one-sided’ film, who refused to incorporate possible causes such as blast, terrorist attack, were accused of being paid by the Russians to distort the real course of events to the audience in the world. The broader discussion on the controversial documentary is going to spark off after the broadcast (although many journalists have already seen the document during a dedicated show) and I will post my review of it next weekend (today I will not make it, over the busy week it will be impossible as well).

In the meantime I am taking the opportunity to invoke another report, authored by Japanese parliamentary panel investigating causes and aftermaths of Fukushima power plant disaster. If you recall the tragic events from March 2011, you bring to your mind pictures of cruel powers of nature which destroyed the plant. You blame the earthquake and the tsunami, while authors of the report claim this was a “man-made disaster”. If the read the BBC’s summary of the report’s findings, the picture which emerges is a sharp condemnation of Japanese culture, the nation’s shortcomings and stance of people responsible of overseeing maintenance of the plant and handling mitigating effect of the disaster. Actually the nation is pulled into pieces for its “culture of deference and reluctance to question authority”. Once negligence was covered up at the top, nobody at the bottom felt entitled to bring it to the light. The report was a bitter pill to swallow for the Japanese. They had the courage to eat the humble pie…

Same could be said about the Smolensk crash, this also was a typical man-made disaster. Responsibility for it is collective and many Polish national shortcomings, brought together, contributed to the fatal accident. The list can be long: overwhelming disorganisation in prime minister’s and late president’s offices, commonly tolerated laxity in following procedures, acting on reprehensible faith that “we’ll somehow make it” (jakoś to będzie, uda się), determination to carry on, despite dangerous conditions, cutting corners (bylejakość), bravura, focus on end heedless of safety procedures. Several irregularities were found in the disbanded 36th regiment of Polish military aviation (inadequate training resulting e.g. in reading the wrong altitude meter), in prime minister’s office (responsibility for organising such visits rests with them). Media, for sake of customary refraining from speaking badly about the departed, seldom mention total chaos in the president Kaczyński’s office, but this was also the case. Same can be said about Russian airport in Smolensk, run-down, lacking fixed equipment necessary to service takeoffs and touchdowns (such was moved there for prime minister’s Tusk visit 3 days earlier and taken away immediately), but I ultimately would blame the Polish organisers who did not bother to choose a safer, properly equipped airport.

I am looking forward to seeing the film. Little in its content is likely to surprise me – newspapers in Poland have written long reviews and summaries of it. I am more curious of social potential outcry regarding the account of events depicted in the film. The documentary is not going to change anything. Those who believe this was an assassination contrived by enemies of the most outstanding statesman in the history of Poland will not be convinced this was a tragic aftermath of multitude of human errors, those who put credence into official parliamentary report, will find in it nothing new; nevertheless it is worth spending two hours in front of the TV screen.

Kabaty crash site

Probably no other country in the EU can boast about such long weekend falling on such beautiful season of year, as Poland, which has bank holidays on 1 May and 3 May. This year arrangement of days was extremely favourable – with days off work falling on Tuesday and Thursday, half of the country were on holiday and the rest ticking over. Given the limited number of paid holiday, I decided to stay ‘on duty’ at work over the whole week. This strategy has several upsides – little is going on in the office, one can knock on later, knock off earlier and go out for a lunch for an hour, traffic on the roads is sparse. The only downside is that public service vehicles run according to weekend timetable and if someone saves on fuel, getting to work partly by public transport is longer than door-to-door trip by car.

This year not only the calendar was on Poles’ side, also the weather couldn’t be more conducive for leisure. An unusual for late April / early May heat wave arrived to Poland on Friday before the long weekend and lasted whole seven days. For most of the weekend day-times were hitting +30C and sunshine was not disrupted by a single raindrop. In early February, when temperatures were dropping below –20C, I promised myself not to grumble about the heat. Indeed, below minus twenty it was worse.

Looking around and judging by the picture painted by the media, it can be inferred that Poles are off for a care-free week-long barbecue, devouring warm sausages and sipping cold beer. Not a good form of pastime activity to be endorsed. Popular culture promotes unhealthy lifestyle rather when physical exercise!

OK, I also ate some sausages, drank a few beers, but haven’t succumbed to the notion that life’s easy. Even at the time when almost everyone’s laid-back, pushes aside mundane worries and laps up beauty of the spring, more serious issues must not disappear from the foreground. It’s not about seeking troubles intently, it’s about discerning complexity of the world and remembering about its sadder side.

On Thursday I finally celebrated cycling shake-down day in season 2012. Head down, it kicked off late, the first opportunity was missed on 17 March and then either weather or some timesucks were keeping my off my bike. For starters, I ventured where I had planned to go since my trip to Las Kabacki two months earlier. And the time for the trip could only be slightly better.

Next Wednesday Poles will be commemorating the 25th anniversary of the most tragic airplane disaster in the history of Polish aviation. Many of would argue the Smolensk crash was the most terrible, as many of the fatalities were eminent statesmen, however in terms of death toll the Kabaty plane crash was almost two times more tragic (183 vs. 96).

Shame on me, I have to admit this was my first visit to the place where Il-62 hit the ground. This time before setting off I checked on the map how to get there and didn’t roam in vain in search of the monument as I did in March.

Getting there is a piece of cake. Inhabitants of southern part of Zielony Ursynów and adjacent villages are in a privileged position. You just need to turn into ul. Jagielska from ul. Puławska and walk / cycle / drive (the last should be deleted, as inappropriate) some two kilometres east to find a green gate closing off a path to the forest (to the right – photo taken while riding, hence blurred). Cycle or walk two hundred metres into the wood and soon you reach the destination.

If you’re heading from proper Ursynów, you’re still in the luck – your trail will be longer, but you ma enjoy a pleasurable walk / ride through the forest (especially delightful on a sweltering day, when trees give shelter from the heat) and signage should lead you to the place.

The crash site is commemorated by a small, inconspicuous clearing (here for a moment unattended). The place is arranged to play host to few visitors and brings out a conductive atmosphere to contemplate the fragility of human life. I have to say all tourist stopping over there behaved appositely.

Two artefacts on the site are a stone plaque, with names of all fatalities inscribed on it and a cross. Photographs of both objects prove my photographing skills are inadequate – I didn’t manage to snap up-to-the-mark shots on a sunny day in a shaded place. With hindsight a good incentive to tweak with my compact Canon’s settings or a reason to upgrade. The first name on a plaque is captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk who piloted the ill-fated plane. There is a street named after him in a nearby Ursynów. Many people owe him they are alive, as captain Pawlaczyk, having realised he wouldn’t have a chance to land the plane in Okęcie airport, decided to drop the plane into an uninhabited area, without risking lives of more innocent people.

The cross has been put up by members of a local parish in Pyry. A small Jesus crucified on it, a small wreath laid in front of. In a few days there will be lots of flowers and candles all over the place and then someone will tidy it up and only silence and rare visitors will haunt the place.

A notice attached to a tree informs two masses commemorating the victims will be administered on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to seeing archival TV coverages of the disaster. Few can be found on youtube although TV reporters have covered the story quite informatively. Censorship apparatus in late 1980s eased off and news of the crash appeared in the media immediately. Truth wasn’t said in the context of co-operation with Soviet engineers, probably accountable for the glitch which led to a engine breakage, who wriggle out of helping Poles investigate true causes of the engine breakage and denied their responsibility for the faulty part.

I’ll surely be visiting the place at least once a year, and on one of 10th days of April in the coming years I’ll take a trip to Smolensk. Regardless of political views, each Pole who can afford to travel there (provided Russian visa is obtainable) should to pay homage to the ones whose lives were shattered in the Smolensk muds…

Safety?

Never, ever have I had such problems finding an apposite title to a post. I've sat for some ten minutes trying to come up with a sentence that would best render the purport of the posting. 'Safety' is not an ideal title, but seems to be the closest common denominator for what I want to write about.

The initial idea for this weekend's blogging dose was to lay out my take on commuting, but after reading two other posts on it, and having left comment to one of them, there' s little to add, and another topic emerged in the meantime.

Recent weeks brought a spate of tragic events. Unwarranted tragic events...

18 June 2011 - Amy Winehouse is to kick off with her concert tour in Belgrad, but is too intoxicated to perform. After an hour of wait, she comes up to the stage, gibbers something, audience hook her down. Her other concerts are cancelled. Did anyone think over a month ago that on 23 July 2011 she would be found dead in her house in London?

29 June 2011 - two home-made bombs go off in Kraków, the people are injured,
14 July 2011 - another home-made bomb explodes in Kraków, one man is injured,
17 June 2011 - fourth home-made bomb explosion in Kraków within a month, another man injured.

Anything in common? All causualties were mullitated by home-made bombs, planted in shopping bags. All casualties run businesses. Motives of the perpetrator remain in the realm of conjectures, but as the man who quite probably is behind the explosions, was detained two days ago, residents of Kraków can finally have a sigh of relief. Can they feel safe now?

10 July 2011 Sunday - a cruise boat sinks without warning in Russia. Current findings point at human errors and bad technical condition of the ship as causes of the disaster. Death toll: 119. Could it be predicted?

Norway is an atypical country. Its residents are ranked among the happiest people in the world, the country has tremendous deposits of oil and gas, revenues from extraction of natural resources are not wasted but put aside into special ageing fund that should shield the country's finances against demographic problems. Outside European Union, yet prosperous, with society famous for its tolerance and low criminality rates. Seemed to look like a heaven on earth...

22 July 2011, aftenoon - the picture of paradise breaks apart. Firstly bombs go off in government buildings in the capital of Norway. Death toll there is considerbaly low, only 7 people died and several were injured. Later this attack turned out to be just a prelude to a bigger disaster. Some two hours later, a murderer killed almost 100 participants of a youth camp organised by the ruling party. The culprit did admit his responsible and described his deeds as "gruesome but necessary". Could it be foreseen? Did this carnage express some people's hatred towards multiculturalism, permissive societies, other religions, openess, tolerance? How will it affect the trustful and tolerant people of Norway?

Still we have more questions than answers. The post is kind of messy, as each and every note written out of duty rather than inspiration. May the next week bring some revelations on me... Before this happens, come along with some musings on the topic broached...