ania-1

 "The Circle" Jafar Panahi

Swietowanie swietowaniem ale przychodzi moment, w ktorym trzeba ruszyc do pracy. I to sie wlasnie zaczelo. Wyklady, praca I inne zajecia no I zostaje odrobinka czasu na wypoczynek i sen. Ale ostatni tydzien byl naprawde fajny:

-         fajerwerki w drugi dzien Nowego Roku byly oszalamajace: nad woda, w srodku miasta, duzo halasu odbijajacego sie od drapaczy chmur I okrzyki tlumow ludzi. Ahhh…. A potem wieczor spedzony w restauracji japonskiej. Jedzenie az palce lizac.

-         Trzeciego dnia wedrowka po Hong Kongu. Odwiedziny jednej z glownych swiatyn (ludzie palili niesamowicie duzo kadzidel, az w oczy szczypalo I skladali owoce I warzywa na oltarzach). Potem Ogrody Zoologiczno-Botaniczne (fantastyczny zapach kwiatow ktore wlasnie zaczynaja zakwitac), potem glowny park miasta z ogrodem Tai Chi I kolacja zakonczona slynnymi lodami z zielonej herbaty w czerwonej fasolce.

-         W sobote impreza na 45 pietrze trapacza chmur (u Manuela z okazji jego wprowadzki), o moj Boze widok niesamowity – parapety przy oknach byly szerokie I niskie I sluzyly za sofy. Ah…. Do tego jeszcze niesamowite towarzystwo I rozmowy do pozna w nocy.

-         Potem wesele u Evy I Eagle w hotelu Ritz ze srebrna zastawa, luksusowym winem, muzyka jazzowa, swieczkami i romantyczna atmosfera. Do tego malinowy tort weselny, jedzenie az palce lizac a desery byly takie ze przez moment mialam wrazenie ze wyladowalam w niebie.

-         W poniedzialek pierwsza lekcja lucznictwa. Nauczylam sie w ktora strone trzymac luk, trafilam nawet kilka razy do tarczy. A instruktor fajny, taki samuraj.

Muzyka nowa I stara, ktora ostatnio mnie zafascynowala:

Trembling Blue Stars  - niesamowicie relaksuje

Bob Dylan: “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Rainy Day Women #12&35”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “I want you”. “Just like a woman”

Natalie Cole: “Mona Lisa”, “Nature Boy”, “Unforgettable”

Francis Poulenc – klasyczna

 Obejrzane ostatnio filmy:

“Scena nad morzem” Takeshi Kitano

Dziewczyna I chlopak, gluchoniemi. On zajmuje sie wywozem smieci; pewnego dnia zaczyna serfowac, rozwija sie jego fascynacja. Ona przychodzi nad brzeg morza aby go obserwowac, pamaga mu nosic deske.

Zupelnie inny film od tych Kitano, ktore do tej pory widzialam. Ma troche poezji z “Lalek” – tutaj Takeshi znowu pokazuje jak duzo mozna zdzialac samym obrazem bez uzywania slow. W calym filmie wlasciwie nie ma slow.

Podobal mi sie, robi wrazenie bo jest taki prosty – nic sie tam nie dzieje chlopak tylko trenuje serfowanie (przez caly film), ale film potrafi dotknac jakas glebie.

Mimo, ze go lubie mam wrazenie, ze czegos tam brakowalo. Moze tego co Pasolini uzyl w “Teoremie” – jakiegos szoku czy kontrowersji. Zreszta z tym to nie byl by ten sam film.

 “Krag” Jafar Panahi

Tutaj nastepny poetycki film. Piec kobiet w Iranie, kazda przed czyms ucieka I jest winna, bo jest kobieta.

Jedna, rodzi corke. Badania ultrasonograficzne wykazaly, ze ma byc chlopiec. Rodzina meza jest oburzona, prawdopodobnie zarzada rozwodu. Nastepna wlasnie wyszla z wiezienia; czlowiek ktorego kochala dostal kare smierci. Przed wyrokiem dano im jedna noc, ona w ciazy, sama na ulicy, bez szans na aborcje – to wbrew prawa aby kobieta miala dziecko nie bedac mezatka.

Wszystkie laduje w wiezieniu. Po wyjsciu z wiezienia nie ma dla nich miejca w spoleczenstwie I laduja tam znowu po wyjsciu. I tak w kolko.

Ciekawy film I miejscami przypomina document bo niektore ujecia sa czasem naprawde bardzo dlugie. A poetyka jest w samych ujeciach – kiedy zakrywaja sie czadorami, kiedy chowaja sie za samochodami albo uciekaja. Jest tam jeszcze jeden ciekawy symbol – palenie papierosow, symbol ich wolnosci.

 "A Scene at the Sea" Kitano

Celebrating is celebrating but there comes the moment when everything ends and hard work begins. And now this moment came: lectures, job, extracurricular activities and there is some time left for leisure and sleeping. The last week was very nice:

-         fireworks during the second day of Chinese New Year were stunning: above water, in the center of the city, lots of noise and scream of thousands of people. Ah… And the evening in Japanese restaurant. Food… too little words to describe

-         during the third day a trip to few place in Hong Kong – to one of the major temples of the city (people were burning lots of incenses and there was so much smoke inside that eyes of everyone were crying. Locals put vegetable and fruit on altars). After that, Botanical and Zoological Gardens (fantastic smell of flowers blossoming right now); later the main park of the city with Tai Chi garden and the day ended with a dinner with a dessert of famous green tea ice creams with red beans.

-         On Saturday a party on the 45th floor of a skyscraper (at Manuel’s place because of his moving in). Oh Gush! The view was incredible – window sills were so wide and low that could be used as sofas. Ah… And on top of everything wonderful company and talks till late at night.

-         Later Eva and Eagle's wedding dinner in Ritz hotel: silver tableware, luxurious wine, jazz music, candles and romantic atmosphere. In addition to everything raspberry wedding cake, delicious food and desserts were so amazing that I felt like if I have landed in heaven.  

-         On Monday the first lesson of archery. I learnt how to hold a bow and even hit the target few times. The instructor behaves like a samurai! Ha-ha… He is really great!

Some new and old music that fascinated me lately:

Trembling Blue Stars  - it really relaxes

Bob Dylan: “Like a Rolling Stone”, “Rainy Day Women #12&35”, “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “I want you”, “Just like a woman”

 Natalie Cole: “Mona Lisa”, “Nature Boy”, “Unforgettable”

Francis Poulenc – classical

Films watched:

“A Scene at the Sea” Takeshi Kitano

A girl and a boy. Both are deaf-mute. His work is to collect trash. One day he starts surfing and becomes fascinated by this sport. She comes to the seaside and watches him training, sometimes helps him to carry the board.

In many ways this film doesn’t have much in common with Kitano’s previous works. It has some poetry from “Dolls” – in “The Scene…” Takeshi shows again how much can be said with scenes and without words. There are almost no words in the whole film.

I liked it because it’s so simple – nothing really happens and the boy is only surfing, but scenes can touch deep inside. Even though I like it, I feel that something was missing. Maybe some kind of a shock or controversy that Pasolini used in “Theorema”. Anyway, with shock it wouldn’t be the same film.

“The Circle” Jafar Panahi

Another poetical film. Five women in Iran, each escapes from something and seems to be guilty because she is a woman.

One of them bears a daughter. Before, examinations showed that the baby was to be a boy. Father and his family are furious, will probably demand a divorce and she may land in the street. Another woman has just left a prison; the man whom she loved had been executed – before it happened they were given the last night together. He is dead, she is pregnant, in the street, alone, without chances for abortion.

All of them end up in prison; after being released there is no place for them in the society and they end up in prison again. And so on, like in a circle.

Interesting film and sometimes looks like a documentary because some shots are really long. The poetry is in shots – when the women cover themselves with chadors, hide behind cars or escape. And there is one interesting symbol – smoking  – the symbol of their freedom.

No to zaczelo sie wielkie noworoczne swietowanie I weszlismy w rok Koguta. To co sie dzieje w miescie jest naprawde fantastyczne – szalenstwo na maksa. Wczorajsze popoludnie I wieczor spedzilam u Karen – jej rodzina zaprosila mnie na kolacje. Bylo naprawde fantastycznie.

Karen mieszka na samej polnocy Hong Kongu, zaraz pod granica z Chinami. Bylam zaskoczona kiedy spacerowalysmy ulicami w tamtym regionie – brak tlumow na ulicach, malo samochodow I bardzo duzo palm I roznego rodzaju zieleni.

 Zjedlismy tradycyjna noworoczna kolacje – pewne rzeczy naprawde mnie przerazaja, na przyklad ptasie jajka konserwowane albo slodko-ostre kielbaski czy czarna roslina przypominajaca male glisdy. W kazdym razie warto bylo sprobowac.

Przed kolacja pojadlysmy troche cukierkow lotusowych, ciastek z chinskim znakiem powodzenia na nich, wypilysmy duzo japosnkiej herbaty, porozmawialysmy z jej rodzicami (nie znaja za duzo angielskiego, Karen byla tlumaczem) – jak zwykle w czasie rozmow z ludzmi z HK nie obeszlo sie bez pogawedki na temat komunizmu w Polsce. Potem obejrzalysmy lokalne wiadomosci, pokibicowalysmy druzynie pilkarskiej Hong Kongu (grala z brazylia I przegrywala 1:7, no coz), poogladalam duzo zdjec z Pekinu I obejrzalam film jaki Karen nakrecila wraz z dzialaczami UNESCO podczas ich podrozy do polnocno-zachodnich Chin (jest tam bardzo biedni I szukali wsparcia w HK dla zfinansowania tam kilku szpitali). Na koniec obejrzlysmy parade w telewizji, byla niesamowita.

Dostalam nawet troche prezentow: czerwony znak chinski z dwoma rybami, ktory ma mi przyniesc wielka fortune; male pachnidlo z wyszytym znakiem chinskim oznaczajacym powodzenie, kalendarz chinski I kilka czerwonych kopert z pieniedzmi (to jest taka tradycja, ze osoby ktore nie sa zamezne dostaja od rodziny czerowne koperty z mala suma pieniedzy – ma to przyniesc brak problemow finansowych w najblizszym roku, teraz rozumiem dlaczego Eva I Eagle biora slub po Nowym Roku!.)

To zadziwiajace jak bardzo inne jest pojecie pieniadza w Chinach niz na zachodzie. Ludzie zamiast zyczyc sobie “Szczesliwego nowego roku” zycza “Wielkiej fortuny”. To jest tez bardzo mile, ze zamiast w tych dnaich dawac sobie ogromne prezenty – ludzie daja sobie drobne talizmany I symbole, ktore maja przyniesc powodzenie I szczescie.

Dzisiaj jest drugi dzien nowego roku – czas w ktorym ludzie spotykaja sie ze swoimi rodzinami. Wieczorem bedzie wielki pokaz fajerwerkow.

New Year celebrations have started and we entered into the year of Rooster. This what is happening all around the city is really fantastic – people are absolutely crazy about these celebrations. I spent yesterday’s afternoon and evening with Karen and her family – they invited me for a dinner. It was really wonderful.

Karen lives in the far north part of Hong Kong, just next to the border with China. I was really surprised when we were walking in that area how little crowds and cars are there and how many palm trees and small parks.

We ate a traditional New Year dinner – some of the food really scared me, like preserved bird eggs, sweet-hot sausages or black vegetables resembling earthworms. Anyway it was worth trying.

Before the dinner we ate some lotus sweets, cookies with Chinese sign of ‘luck’ on them, drunk lots of Japanese tea, have been talking with parents (they know very little English so Karen was translating, she seemed to like doing that a lot) – and of course, like with many conversations I have had here, we had a chat on communism in Poland. We’ve also been watching some news, supporting Hong Kong soccer team which was losing with Brazil 1:7, looking through pictures from Beijing and watching a film that Karen made last summer together with UNESCO volunteers during their trip to Nort-West China (that region is very poor and they tried to raise some funds for hospitals there). We’ve also seen a parade on TV, it was incredible.

I have received some gifts: red craft with two fish on it – it is to bring me a great fortune, small pocket with incense and Chinese sign of ‘luck’ on it, Chinese calendar and some red envelopes with money (it’s a tradition that people who are not married receive some red envelopes with small change from their relatives – it is supposed to bring lack of financial problems during the next year. Now I understand why Eagle and Eva have their wedding after New Year!)

It’s amazing how much different is the attitude to money here in China in comparison to the one in the West. People instead of wishing “Happy New Year” say “Have a Great Fortune”. It’s also very nice that instead of giving big gifts at this time, they give each other small talismans or other symbols that are to bring fortune, and luck.

Today is the second day of the New Year - time for family gatherings. There will be huge firework display tonight.

Albert Camus

Fajnie jest zrobic sobie od czasu do czasu dzien na relaksacje. Tak aby zregenerowac sily: uciec od swiata, pomarzyc, planowac i robic na co tylko sie ma ochote. Taki dzien dla duszy – dla tej czesci nas, do ktorej nikt inny nie ma dostepu I w ktorej zawsze jestesmy sami. To dzisiaj jest wlasnie taki dzien dla mnie.

Skonczylam czytam ‘Obcego’ Camus. Wczesniej ‘Dzuma’ naprawde mnie zafascynowala a teraz mialam okazje siegnac po cos nowego. Fantastyczna ksiazka, naprawde wyzwala nowe mysli.

Opowiada o Meursault, ktory zyje w izolacji od spoleczenstwa. Pewnego dnia zabija on czlowieka i jest za to potem sadzony. Cala powiesc ma w sobie duzo z kawkowego “Procesu”. Jest tutaj ktos, kto zyje w swiecie absurdu i jest wplatany w biurokracje spoleczna. Teksty napisany jest w pierwszej osobie i Meursault raportuje wszystko co mu sie przydarza, bez ujwniania jakichkolwiek emocji a czytelnik w pewien sposob interpretuje wydarzenia i tworzy swoj wlasny obraz zycia bohatera.

Meursault odmawia klamstwa, mowi czym jest, przechodzi przez granice prawdy, ktora spoleczenstwo jest w stanie zaakceptowac. Nie gra w ta gre, w ktora powinien.

“Matka zmarla dzisiaj. A moze wczoraj, nie wiem”

Jak czesto my sami, mowimy rzeczy ktore nalezy powiedziec albo zrobic (tak jak on powinien plakac na pogrzebie matki, bo takie sa zasady). Wypada powiedziec, ze jest nam przykro (czy jest nam przykro, czy uwazamy ze powinno byc), wypada pokazac ze jest sie smutnym (jestesmy, czy po prostu wszyscy tego od nas oczekuja, a my w to gramy?). Jestesmy jak marionetki, ktore odgrywaja role spoleczne – wypada byc przykro za dzieci w Afryce, albo za ofiary tsunami. A tak naprawde to gowno nas obchodzi tsunami. Ok, ale do tego sie nie mozna przyznac i wybieramy hipokryzje. Obejrzymy wiadomosci, powiemy sobie – kurcze, szkoda ze ci wszyscy ludzie tam zgineli, moze nawet scisnie sie nam serce. Ale zaraz potem i tak bedziemy zyc swoim zyciem, i swoimi problemami ktore w porownaniu do tamtych sa male, ale nie dla nas.

I to mi sie podoba w tym czlowieku, ze nie klamie. Ze zdaje sobie sprawy ze nic nie ma sensu, akceptuje to I jest szczery. Wklejam ponizej fragment tekstu, jest o angielsku, nie mam za bardzo czasu aby to przetlumaczyc.

“Egzystencjalizm polega na byciu swietym bez Boga; byciu twoim wlasnym bohaterem, bez tych wszystkich sankcji I wsparcia jakie daje religia albo spoleczenstwo” Anita Brookner (brytyjska pisarka I historyk sztuki)

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It’s great to have every now and then some time for relaxation. Just to regenerate strengths; escape from the world, dream, make plans and do whatever one wants; a day to be in touch with one’s soul – the place which no one else can access and where we are alone. Today is this kind of a day for me.

I’ve finished reading ‘The Outsider’ by Camus. ‘The Plague’ has fascinated me a lot and now I wanted to read something new. It’s a fantastic book and uncovers some hidden parts of human existence.

It tells a story of Meursault who lives in isolation from society, one day kills a man and is trialed for that. The novel has a lot in common with Kafka’s “Trial”. The character lives in the world of absurd and is entangled into social bureaucracy. The text is written in first person and Meursault reports everything that happens to him without showing any emotions. Here the reader in a way interprets events and creates his/her own picture of the character’s life.

Merisault refuses to lie, says what he is and crosses borders of truth that society can stand to accept. He doesn’t play this game that he should. 

“Mother died today. Or maybe yesterday, I don’t know”

How often each of us says thing or does things that one should (like Mersault should cry on his mother’s funeral because that are the rules)? We say that we are sorry (are we sorry, or do we think that we should be?), it is expected from us to look sad (are we really sad, or we just play this game?). Aren’t we like puppets playing social roles – we should be sorry for dying of hunger children in Africa, or for tsunami’s victims. But in reality don't we care about tsunami like about shit. Ok, but admitting this would be socially unacceptable and don’t we chose hypocrisy instead. We watch the news and we may feel that we are sorry for all of those people or that it hurts our hearts. But just after that we will continue living our own lives as if nothing has happened and we will be preoccupied with our own problems, which even though sometimes tiny in comparison to the test, are serious for us.

This what I like in Mersoult is that he doesn’t lie. That he realizes that nothing has any meaning, he accepts that and is honest with his feelings.

“According to him [Chaplain], human justice was nothing and divine justice was everything. I pointed out that it was the former that condemned me. He replied that it hadn’t washed away my sin for all that. I told him I didn’t know what sin was. I’d simply been told that I was guilty. I was guilty and I was paying for it and there was nothing more that could be asked of me”

“>I’m on your side. But you can’t see that because your heart is blind. I shall pray for you [chaplain] < Then, for some reason, something exploded inside me. I started shouting at the top of my voice and I insulted him and told him not to pray for me.[…] He seemed so certain of everything, didn’t he? And yet none of his certainties was worth one hair of a woman’s head. He couldn’t even be sure he was alive because he was living like a dead man. I might seem to be empty-handed. But I was sure of myself, sure of everything, surer than he was, sure of my life and sure of the death that was coming to me. Yes, it was all I had. But at least it was a truth which I had hold of just as it had hold of me. I’d been right, I was still right, I was always right. I’d lived in a certain way and I could just as well have lived in a different way. I had done this and I hadn’t done that. I hadn’t done one thing whereas I had done another. So what? It was as if I had been waiting all along for this very moment and for the early dawn when I’d be justified. Nothing, nothing mattered and I knew very well why. He too knew why. From the depths of my future, throughout the whole of this absurd life I’d been leading, I’d felt a vague breath drifting towards me across all the years that were still to come, and on its way this breath had evened out everything that was then being proposed to me in the equally unreal years I was living through. What did other people’s deaths or a mother’s love matter to me, what did his God or the lives people chose or the destinies they selected matter to me, when one and the same destiny was to select me and thousands of millions of other privileged people who, like him, called themselves my brothers. Didn’t he understand? Everyone was privileged. There were only privileged people. The others too would be condemned one day. He too would be condemned. What did it matter if he was accused of murder and then executed for not crying on his mother’s funeral?”

“Existentialism is about being saint without God; being your own hero, without all the sanctions and support of religion or society” Anita Brookner (British novelist and art historian)

The Decalogue

 Kieslowski

W ostanim tygodniu bylo zimno, do tego duzo mgly I ani jednego promienia slonca. Wszyscy wygladaja jak truposze. Zadziwiajcace co pogoda moze zrobic z ludzi.

Obejrzalam ostatnio ‘Dekalog’ Kieslowskiego. I coz moge powiedziec? Jest przeniesamowice odjazdowo superowy! Ah… naprawde zrobil na mnie wrazenie.

A lubie go za to, ze nie daje odpowiedzi tylko zmusza do refleksji, za detale, napiecie, poetycka wrazliwosc, za ta cala plejade gwiazd, za muzyke Preisnera, za to ze opowiada o ludziach ktorzy staraja sobie poradzic z wewnatrznymi pragnieniami I uczuciami, czesto sprzecznymi. Wszystko jest zlozone, nie ma prawdy a widz jest jak niemy swiadek tego co sie tam dzieje. Goraco, goraco polecam.

Zbignew PREISNER

Dekalog 1

Naukowiec pokladajacy cala swa wiare w nauke I logike (ta akurat czesc najbardziej mnie rozczarowala, jest troche naiwna i moralizuje)

A scientist who puts his all faith in science and logic (this one disappointed me a bit, seems to be naïve and moralizing)

Dekalog 2

Kobieta, ktorej maz prawdopodobnie umrze, a ona jest w ciazy z kochankiem. (ta czesc niesamowice mnie poruszyla, jest tam duzo napiecia I symboli, a w roli glownej Janda, ah…)

A woman whose husband is probably to die, and who is pregnant with another man (this film was extremely moving; there is a lot of tension and symbols in it; what is more, in the role of the main character is one of my favourite actresses)

Krystyna JANDA

Dekalog 3

Samotna kobieta I jej byly kochanek w czasie Bozego Narodzenia (niesamowite czym jest samotnosc I co moze zrobic z czlowieka)

A lonely woman and her ex-lover during Christmas Eve (it’s incredible what loneliness is and what it can do with a person)

Dekalog 4

Ojciec(?) i corka, milosc, namietnosc, tajemnica...

Father (?), daughter, love, passion, a secret…

Dekalog 5

Mlody mezczyzna chodzacy ulicami Warszawy I poszukujacy ofiary (niesamowicie trzyma w napieciu, jak sie ta czesc skonczyla to mialam ochote odkopac trumne Kieslowskiego I uscisnac mu kosci! Super!)

A young man wandering the streets of Warsaw in search for a victim (it really keeps in tension, after it finished the only thing I wanted was to dig Kieslowski out from his grave and shake his bones! Incredible!)

Dekalog 6

Mlody poczciaz zakochany w artystce mieszkajacej w sasiedztwie (to tylko/az milosc?, a artystke gra Szapolowska)

A young postal clerk who fell in love with an artist from neighborhood (is it just or as much love? the artist is played by another fantastic actress)

Dekalog 7

Dziewczyna, ktora uprowadza swoja biologiczna corke (duzo desperacji, samotnosci, checi bycia akceptowanym a w roli nauczyciela Linda)

A girl who kidnapped her biological daughter (lots of desperation, loneliness and desire to be accepted; in the role of the teacher an amazing actor – Boguslaw Linda)

Dekalog 8

Profesorka etyki, Zydowka I wspomnienia z II wojny swiatowej.

An ethic professor, a Jewish woman and memories from the II World War.

Dekalog 9

Mezczyzna impotent I jego zona.

An impotent man and his wife.

Dekalog 10

Dwoch braci odziedzicza bezcenna kolekcje znaczkow ojca.

Two brothers who inherited their father’s priceless stamp collection.

Nie opisuje, brak mi slow.

I won’t describe any farther, I lack words.

Wittgenstein

 Derek Jarman 'Wittgenstein'

Antropologowie Sapir I Whorf uwazaja, ze jestesmy tylko tyle w stanie zobaczyc I poczuc ile oferuje nam nasz jezyk. Moze sprostowalabym to droche I dodala, ze tyle mozemy WYRAZIC na ile pozwala nam jezyk. No to uczmy sie wyrazac, kopac w umyslach I nie bac sie mowienia. Bo to jest chyba to co laczy nas ze swiatem I pozwala wiecej z niego czerpac.

To taka tam drobna refleksja jaka za mna caly czas chodzi (Polecam wszystkim strone www.jezyk-gietki.pl, przydatna I mozna cos z niej wyciagnac)

A dzisiaj rocznica wyzwolenia Auschwitz, trabia o tym na BBC I nie chce nawet myslec co dzieje sie w Polsce. Ale nie podoba mi sie takie przesadne czasem rozdmuchiwanie tamtego okresu. Bylo, minelo, wyciagnielismy wnioski no I teraz pracujmy na tym any sie nie powtorzylo. A tutaj w Polnocnej Korei obozy pracy, w Ameryce Latynowskiej miliony cywilow mordowanych przez armie, tysiace umierajacych z glodu w Afryce, a my tutaj caly czas siegamy do historii I wyciagamy stamtad najtragiczniejsze momenty podczas gdy tak duzo dzieje sie teraz.

Czytalam jakis artykol, chyba w The Economist, o pomocy dla ofiar tsunami – gdzie te pieniadze ida I tak dalej. Bylo tam kilka przykladow jak malo sie robi aby ZAPOBIEC katasrofom naturalnym. To chyba w Bangladeszu (A moze w Mozambiku, nie pamietam) przed ogromnym trzesieniem ziemi jakies 2-3 lata temu apelowano o fundusze, ktore pomoglyby zapobiec katastrofie. Ci ktorzy prosily, otrzymali moze z cwierc tego, co bylo potrzebne. Po katastofie, kiedy tysiace ludzi zginelo, ze swiata naplynelo kilkadziesiat razy wiecej pieniedzy jak te ktore byly potrzebne do zabezpieczenia ludzi, a ktore nigdy nie dotarly.

No dobra, mamrocze dzis cos ponuro, ale czasem warto jest sie zastanowic nad takimi rzeczami.

Sofia Strzalkowska

Zdjecia tych, ktorzy nie doczekali wyzwolenia obozu.

Pictures of those who died before the liberation.

Afryka/ Africa 2003

Poludniowa Afryka, cywile mordowani przez armie rzadowa.

South Africa, civilians murdered by government army.

(‘The borders of my language are the borders of my world’ WITTGENSTEIN)           

Anthropologists Sapir and Whorf think that we can only see and feel as much as our language allows us for. And I would change it a bit and say that as much we can EXPRESS as our language allows us to. So let’s learn to express, dig in minds and don’t be afraid to talk, because words seem to connects us with the world and enable to take the most of it.

It's just a reflection that is a lot with me lately.

Today is the anniversary of liberation of Auschwitz. They made a report on BBC and I can only imagine what is happening in Polish media. But I don’t like this pulling out of events from the past and focusing on them, sometimes to the excess. It happened, passed; we took a lesson from that time and now let’s try not to let it happen again.

In North Korea work camps, in Latin America thousands of civilians murdered by an army, in Africa people dying of famine, and so let's don't just look into the past, there is a lot happening now.

I’ve read an article, as far as I can remember in The Economist, about aid for tsunami’s victims. There were few examples on how little is being done to PREVENT natural disasters. I think it was in Bangladesh (or maybe in Mozambique) where before an enormous earthquake around 2-3 years ago, it had been said that a certain sum of money would be needed to secure people. Those who asked received maybe a quarter of the funds needed. After the disaster, when thousands of people died, the country received an aid of few times more money than was originally needed to prevent the damage.  

All right, I’m mumbling something gloomily, but sometimes it’s worth thinking about things like that.