Religion and dance the best remedies in crisis and managerial salaries prone to crisis pressure.
Reviewed by Slawek Szefs
The English language WARSAW VOICE looks at transformations of the past 20 years in Poland through the eyes of its own society. The socio-economic changes that have taken place in the country since 1989 are almost always discussed in terms of a system transformation and great political change. But it is also worth looking at this period from the point of view of the fundamental social processes that have occurred in Poland, argues the weekly. One of the most important of these are changes in education, best described as a true boom with mushrooming academic centers and the number of people with higher education going from 7 to 15 percent of the population in a time span of one generation. Unfortunately, this extremely positive development has been accompanied by a negative trend: a demographic collapse. Another prominent factor has been ownership transformation involving the privatization of most of the economy. This, in turn, created problems unknown in previous decades under communism: fierce labor competition and real unemployment. It also revealed another painful truth, namely, diversity of consumer capacity depending on people’s living conditions. And finally, there has been the tremendous civilization leap Poland experienced during the 20 years of its democratic and free market change. Saturation of everyday life with advanced technology has changed people’s habits completely, to mention only omnipresent mobile phones of which there is an equal number to the population size. Mind you, these statistics include even one year olds. Indeed, Poles have come a long way…
If you believe in God, you will survive the crisis – is the simple recipe in WPROST. An old Polish proverb in rough English translation says that when you’re desperate, you place confidence in the Lord. The accuracy of this observation becomes ever more obvious in times of deep economic crisis. And however widespread its effects may be, the problem will not encompass only one sphere of our life – religion. That is why Christian, Jewish, Muslim and other religious communities can welcome freshly devoted followers, as there is no better relief for crisis headaches than good old religion. Both for the tired individual and the struggling masses.
Staying in the mainstream of crisis related themes NEWSWEEK POLSKA looks at corporate managerial circles. Companies are searching for possible savings in expenditures, cutting employment, reorganizing production… in other words, tightening the belt. Does this also apply to managers who run them, asks the weekly. It is morally justified that taxpayers’ money cannot stuff wallets of CEOs whose companies are shaken by crisis developments. That is why their remuneration has been considerably limited almost everywhere. But the trend has somehow been bypassing Poland. Till now, observes the weekly, when public pressure has discarded self complacent myths of Poland being exterritorial to economic and financial doldrums experienced by others.
POLITYKA has an interesting report on a true boom of dance schools in Poland. The carnival is over, but not in hundreds of such centers across the country where Poles are mastering the secrets of rumba or break dance. This fashion for dancing is an intriguing phenomenon when we keep in mind the fact that the average Pole never showed any exceptional inclination towards artistic passions. Has anything changed? The answer is a resounding YES. Dancing is viewed as a way of having a good time with little expense involved, something which will simply make one relax and feel good. What better method to break away from daily headaches and the all embracing crisis!