'Galerianki': Poland's Lolita Mallrats

'Galerianki' is a new word in Polish. The easiest way to translate it directly into English would be to use the American term 'mallrats'.

But whereas 'mallrats' conjures up images of geeky comic book fans (as seen in the Kevin Smith film) who hang round shopping centres because they have nothing better to do, 'galerianki' signifies something much more unpleasant-- underage girls, some as young as 12, who exchange sexual favours in return for cash, clothes and gadgets in Poland's ever-increasing number of shopping centres.

The term, and the phenonomen which spawned it, have come to public attention partly because of a new film, "Galerianki", which won the Golden Lion award for best directorial debut. (Katarzyna Rosłaniec)

The following is a brief extract from an interview with Dr. Elżbieta Michałowska, a specialist in social problems amongst young people:

Q: You claim that the problem of 'galeriankis' is one of the most dangerous trends amongst young people, and that it is becoming more and more common. Is the situation really that bad?

A: 'Galeriankis' are just the tip of the iceberg. Underage prostitution in general is sadly on the rise. Different motivations and needs create different types of prostitution.
There is forced prostitution, which usually takes place at home: The mother retires from prostitution and the daughter takes her place. A few years ago I carried out a study concerning pathologies in poor neighbourhoods in Łódż. I found some cases where the father would follow his daughter on the way to school, soliciting clients. During lunch break, the client would have sex with the girl and the father would keep the money.
There is also unforced prostitution, normally carried out by drug addicts and homeless youngsters. Sometimes the girls are paid in sandwiches rather than cash. These cases are truly desperate.
'Galerinakis' are not desperate. In their case, cultural factors are more dominant than economic factors.

Q:What do you mean?

A:I mean that they treat their bodies like a good or product. A quick look at magazines like 'Cosmopolitan' reveals that the body and sexuality are the main topics: How to improve and maintain your body in order to be attractive. Music videos on 'Viva' (TV channel for da yoof in Poland) aimed at young people, are the same. It is an erotic volcano. The artists appear in what are little more than adverts for their own bodies, paid for by men. Now, i'm not a puritan but it scares me what young people can watch theses days. In modern pop-culture, the body is a product and it is to be consumed. This ethos is most common amongst the young, the teenagers brought up in the free market. These days I read blogs and internet forums as part of my research into 'galeriankis' and I have found something which is becoming more and more popular: Selling virginity. These girls are putting their virginity on sale.

Q:How much does it cost?

A:Recently the going rate was around 1000-1500 złotys.

Q:Not much.

A:Not much, yet it still goes on. As well as the cultural factors which we have discussed, we have to talk about the commercialisation of modern life. Underage girls aspiring to prostitution is one effect of this. They earn the things that they want, or that they think they need. 'Galeriankis' more often exchange sex for gifts, not money: an MP3 player, the latest model of mobile phone, some good cosmetics......

Dr. Elżbieta Michałowska works for the Sociology Institute at the University of Łódż.
Interviewer: Joanna Podgórska

Translated by Czarny Kot 01/10/09 Source: 'Polityka' magazine.

Millenium Schools: A Case of Selective Memory

Amidst the recent rash of anniversaries commemorating some of the darkest moments in Poland's history, there was one milestone which marked an altogether more positive event-- the 50th anniversary of the founding of Poland's first 'millenium school'. These modern, well-equipped schools started to appear all over Poland from September 1959. The name 'millenium' celebrated a thousand years of the Polish state.
Strangely, this anniversary has been completely overlooked. Why? Here is an extract from a report by Krysztof Pilawski, taken from 'Przegląd' magazine:


Pact of Silence

The celebrations had been planned for months-- the first day of the new school year at Primary School No. 7 in Czeladż would coincide with the the 50th anniversary of its founding as the first of Poland's 'millenium' schools. City authorities had bought flags and banners and had published a special book to mark the occasion. Invitations were sent to the highest officials in the country. The guests, however, did not arrive. Donald Tusk did not attend. Neither did he send anyone as his representative. The PM did not write a letter sending his best wishes. A letter was sent by the deputy director of the PM's office saying that he was unable to attend but it said nothing about the anniversary.

So why should the head of the government have been in Czeladż on 2nd September?

Because Donald Tusk claims that education is a priority for his government.
Because school 7 in Czeladż ws the first of 1417 schools built under the programme "a thousand schools for a thousand years."
Because the millenium schools were an unprecedented development in Polish education.
Because the millenium schools, with their bright classrooms, gym facilities, libraries, common rooms, medical facilities, canteens, toilets and cloakrooms, guaranteed a European level of education to people whose standard of living and financial status were often well below European levels.
Because the millenium schools created the extra places needed in order to educate the post-war baby boom.
Because the millenium schools realised the ideal of equality of opportunity for all children and young people..
Because in the 50 years since their founding the millenium schools have educated millions of Poles.
Because the millenium schools served not only the PRL but also the children of the 3rd Republic.

Why did the PM decide to ignore the anniversary?

Because by going to Czeladż he would contradict his view that WW2 finished in 1989.
Because this would contradict the new WW2 museum which he is building, which is based on the idea of a '50 year war'.
Because this casts doubt on the idea that there was no difference between Nazism and Communism.
Because it would contradict the opinion that the PRL was a 'black hole' without any achievements to its credit.
Because it would put him on the side of the Communists, because the programme 'a thousand schools for a thousand years' was started by the First Secretary of the PZPR Władysław Gomułka.
Because Władysław Gomułka opened the school in Czeladż.
Because by praising an programme carried out by the war-damaged, desperately poor PRL, Tusk would draw attention to the fact that progress in education over the last 20 years has been very modest. The government has passed reponsibility for schools onto local authorities and is not even able to finance free meals for children from poor families......

Krysztof Pilawski is a Polish journalist.

Translated by Czarny Kot 28/09/09 Source: 'Przegląd' magazine.

The Devil's Fruits and Vodka Absurdity

The biggest story in Poland is the missile shield, or lack thereof, but it has been written, talked and blogged to death so here are 2 other topics which entered my head at some point or another recently.

1) Fruit machines: They have sprung up like mushrooms after rain in the last 6-9 months. First they were restricted to gaming parlours and pubs. Then they appeared in petrol stations. Now they are taking over any available space-- empty shops converted into dismal 2-machine casinos, 12 year old boys and depressed housewives relentlessly feeding them in supermarket foyers....
I don't gamble. Not for any religious or moral reason, just because it has always struck me as a very pointless, dull and expensive past-time. I have no problems with fruit machines in pubs and gaming parlours but that is where they should stay.
Of course, people will argue that i'm advocating a 'nanny state' approach and that the restrictions on fruit machines should be lifted in the name of 'choice', 'fun' and the divine right to make money by whatever means. If people are stupid enough to develop an addiction to these machines then that's their problem, right? Someone selling crack outside a school could use the same logic.
It looks like their here to stay, so now everytime I go to the supermarket and see a group of underage boys with glazed expressions crowded round the one-armed bandit i'll be reminded what a cheap and crass world this can be sometimes.

2) Vodka to Poland?: There is an expression in English which makes reference to my hometown: "To take coal to Newcastle." The Poles say something similar about taking wood to the forest. It is used to describe some pointless, illogical activity.
Some time in the past, they actually did start taking coal to Newcastle (some of it from Poland) and what was a byword for absurdity became normal.
This came to mind recently when I went to buy vodka for my wedding. I know a lot of Poles who buy Bols or Maximus but I always try to respect my adopted country by buying the far more patriotic Sobieski brand. I intended to do the same but unfortunately buying vodka for 40-odd people is expensive. The 2 cheapest (drinkable) brands were Smirnoff and Bols. Reluctantly, I ended up buying 50% Sobieski and 50% Smirnoff/Bols.
There is no love lost between Russia and Poland but they would both grudgingly accept that they both know about vodka. But Bols is Dutch. Dutch vodka at a Polish wedding!! If that is not taking coals to Newcastle, what is?
The Communist era threw up plenty of examples of absurdity (basketball nets on grass?!?) but people buying Dutch vodka for Polish weddings in order to save money shows that modern capitalism is all too capable of producing its own mind-boggling examples.

Anniversary Fatigue

OK, back with batteries recharged (sort of) after a summer of drinking British ale, getting up late and getting married. I'm too lazy at the moment to find something to translate, let alone translate it, so just some things which have been going round my head in recent weeks:

1) Anniversary Fatigue:

I'm a history buff. I subscribe to BBC History Magazine and spend more money than I should on Amazon, buying books on anything and everything from Celtic Britain to Post-War Europe.
Given all this, you would think that the recent anniversary of the outbreak of WW2 would have made me happy-- plenty of articles and newspaper supplements to pore over. Not really.
The problem is that there have been so many of these anniversaries in such a short space of time (the Fall of Communism, D-Day, WW2 Outbreak and several more before) that they become depressingly familiar. Instead of dignified rememberance of human tragedy we get the undignified spectacle of politicians using these events as political footballs-- Putin says this, Kaczynski say this, ad nauseum.
It's not just politicians. In what I believe is called the 'Blogosphere', these anniversaries seem to coincide with sharp increases in ovegrown boys venting their WW2 reconstruction fantasies and naked xenophobia.
It is understandable that history forms a more important role in the public agenda in Poland than in other countries. This part of the world has seen more blood-shedding, brutality and back-stabbing than most. There comes a point, however, when the past dominates the present to an unhealthy degree. A casual glance at a Polish front page or news website in recent weeks would reveal that the news cycle is based almost exclusively on arguments about the past.

Let historians argue about the past, politicians are paid to think about the present and future. Hopefully there won't be any more controversial anniversaries in the near future and we can get back to the here and now.

The Beginner's Guide to Polish Music Pt. 1: Lady Pank

What with all the coups, death and politics I thought it would be a good idea to lighten things up a bit with an introduction to Polish music (well, Polish music that I know) First up we have the giants (or dinosaurs) of Polish rock-- Lady Pank-- who started way back in the 1980's (when they were called the 'Polish Police') and are still going today. The first song "Fiancee Crisis" (??) is from the start of thier career (1983) The second, "Always Where You Are" (??) is probably thier biggest hit, a wedding and karaoke standard from 1990. The final song, "Warsaw Station", is from the album before last, in 2004.

Rural Poland-- Garden of Eden or Heart of Darkness?

The recent popularity of films and TV programmes with rural settings has raised the question of how the countryside is perceived in modern Poland, and what this tells us about the country and its people. Is the countryside a rural idyll? Or a bastion of backwardness and superstition? Here is Robert Walenciak, writing in 'Przegląd' magazine......

Who to believe? Rural Poland is seen from 2 different perspectives. From one point of view it is an oppressive place which crushes individuality and is run by closed networks of family contacts and friends of friends. The people are suspicious of the outside world and at the same time they take too much interest in the lives of others, because their own lives are so unfulfilling.

From the other point of view, the countryside is a serene, welcoming place. This is the image that we can see right now, in films and TV programmes which are breaking box office and viewing records.

Rural mafias? Nonsense. It is simply social cohesion. People look after their own. All for one and one for all-- that's a good thing, right? Suspicion of the outside world? Does the outside world really deserve to be trusted? A slow, lazy pace of life? Isn't that what we all dream of?

This is the side of rural life that the Polish public want to see, and film and TV producers are happy to oblige. "U Pana Boga za Miedza" is the latest production in this current trend-- a crime comedy set in a small village in Podlasie. People go to watch it and they leave the cinema happy. The 2 prequels which preceded it were received with equal enthusiasm. Then there is "Ranczo", "Plebania", "Ojciec Mateusz"..... We are currently seeing a steady stream of films and TV series about the countryside, that good peaceful countryside. It is worth asking what lies behind this trend.....

Why sentiment? Because millions of us grew up in similar small towns and tiny villages and now we want to indulge in nostalgia about the good old days? Do we miss our happy, care-free childhoods?

Why the popularity of skansens (open air folklore museums)? Because they are oasises of peace and quiet, a shelter from the large cities and their relentlessly buzzing lifestyles? Because in a skansen people don't kill for money?

These are all good arguments but they do not explain everything.

Could it be then, that it is the great characters which make these films so popular? The village policeman, the provincial mayor, the parish councillor? Surely not, these stock characters have been with us since the 17th century!

Or perhaps we love these films because they show us ourselves, but in a more positive light. Of course, we all have our faults but in the big scheme of things these are minor defects which make us more colourful, more loveable. Gluttony? Go to a Polish beach in summer and try counting how many slimmers you can see. Ignorance and superstition? Perhaps it's better to be a peasant than a stuck-up know-it-all.

If films depict dreams then you could draw the conclusion that in today's Poland, there are not too many big dreams. Things are fine as they are. In the Polish countryside teenage boys do not play forbidden music in garages, wannabe directors do not make amateur films, the good people are among us and if anyone is bad they are probably an outsider. Also, thanks to the internet, mobile phones and satellite TV, our perception of the countryside has changed. A person can live there, enjoy its peace and quiet without feeling isolated from the world.

Poles, battered by the storms of history, are certainly in need of a period of peace and rest. Time to get to know themselves, to focus on the simple things. It seems that most agree that now is the time.

Robert Walenciak is a Polish journalist and assistant editor of 'Przegląd' magazine.

Translated by Czarny Kot 06/07/09 Source: 'Przegląd' magazine.

Mexican Gothic

While the world focuses on places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka, one of the bloodiest conflict in recent years has been the brutal drug war in northern Mexico. A seemingly endless stream of brutal and gruesome murders has become so normal that they hardly seem newsworthy. However, the following story represents a dark and disturbing episode, even by the horrific standards of recent times......

Police find 5 mummified corpses and animals sacrificed in a "narco-satanic" cermony.

Morelia, Michoacan state, 3rd July-- Officers from the Justice Department found 5 mummified corpses, 4 of them buried underneath inversed crucifixes, along with dozens of dead animals, an altar, candles and skulls. Among the sacrificed animals were toads, ducks, lambs, chickens and turkeys. 4 of the corpses were buried under a tree. The fifth corpse was found in a room, painted black, covered in bandages and sitting on a chair placed upon a table.

Authorities can confirm that the bodies were found in a large 2-storey farm house in the commune of Coatepec de Morelos, in Zitacuaro. Officers confiscated 100 cartridges of different calibers, as well as an AK-47 assault rifle. Items of uniforms belonging to the National Defence Forces and local police were also found.
There were no arrests during the operation.

Translated by Czarny Kot 04/07/09 Source: Proceso.com.mx