The Orange Alternative: Street Happenings as Social Performance in Poland under Martial Law

1998 ◽  
Vol 14 (56) ◽  
pp. 311-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliusz Tyszka
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Social Performance ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

Confronted with political opposition, an authoritarian regime predictably responds with force – but also with recognition of a knowable enemy. Confronted with anarchy and laughter, it can be caught wrong-footed – as happened in Poland in the aftermath of Martial Law, when a young surrealist, Waldemar Fydrych, self-designated ‘Major’, created what he called the Orange Alternative. In a series of published manifestoes and in the street happenings they proclaimed and recorded, the Orange Alternative tickled the soft underbelly of the Jaruzelski regime, and met with responses ranging from hostility to ostensible sympathy to simple bafflement. Juliusz Tyszka here records the progress of a movement and its moving spirit – who, disillusioned with democracy when it came, exiled himself to Paris to invent alternatives anew. Juliusz Tyszka is a past contributor on Polish theatre to NTQ, who teaches in the Institute of Cultural Studies at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan.

scholarly journals „Odświętna akcyjność”. Dni Kultury, Oświaty, Książki i Prasy w polityce władz Polskiej Rzeczypospolitej Ludowej w latach 1971-1989

2017 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
pp. 317-332
Author(s):  
Dariusz Jarosz
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Book Production ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Production Processes ◽  
National Tradition ◽  
Culture Education

The Days of Culture, Education, Book, and Press (until 1973 – the Days of Education, Book, and Press) in the years 1971-1989 was an annual campaign with goals, agenda, and forms settled by the authorities of the party and the state. Analysis of its program, including anniversaries being celebrated, indicates, that until 1989 they were planned to bring together (adequately interpreted) elements of national tradition and current political goals of the PRP authorities, their ideological, Marxist, „revolutionary” background. Relatively broad acceptance for referring to national past (was it verbal only or actual – to be settled in future research) makes programs of these Days of the 70s and 80s of the 20th century significantly different from those from the Stalinism period. Scale and forms of the events had been evolving, due to social, economic and political changes of that time. The most important and influencing concepts of the Days were: legitimizational concepts of the authorities, activities of political opposition, the „Solidarity” revolution, the martial law, and economic crisis, resulting in difficulties in the book production processes.

Characters, Connections, Constructing an Action: Forty Years of Theatre of the Eighth Day

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 403-426
Author(s):  
Juliusz Tyszka
Keyword(s):  
Free Market ◽  
Artistic Development ◽  
Life Choices ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
The World ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
History Of ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

Based in Poznań, Poland, Teatr Ósmego Dnia (Theatre of the Eighth Day) is now recognized not only as one of the most important companies in the history of Polish theatre, but as one of the leading avant-garde ensembles in the world. From its origins in a student theatre group of the late sixties, Theatre of the Eighth Day developed during the early seventies the artistically and socially radical methods of work and of living which have continued to be the hallmark of its work over four decades, but has remained in touch and in tune with the rapid changes in Polish life, first under martial law, and then in the new Poland of the ‘free market’ – towards which the company has sustained an attitude no less critical than to Communist authoritarianism. A number of its productions have accordingly left indelible marks on the sensitivities and even life choices made by two generations of Polish spectators. Juliusz Tyszka is Professor at the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań. A contributing editor of NTQ, he has been a close witness of more than thirty years of the work of Theatre of the Eighth Day, and here sets the artistic development of the group in the changing context of Polish life and politics.

scholarly journals Meaghan Morris in Cultural Studies in Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chua Beng Huat
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Third World ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Hotel Room ◽  
The Core ◽  
Southeast Asian Countries

Meaghan has been part of the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies project from the very beginning— she was at the founding conferences, organised by Chen Kuan-Hsing, in National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, between 1992 and 1995. The two conferences bore the title of ‘Trajectories: Towards a New Internationalist Cultural Studies’ and ‘Trajectories II: A New Internationalist Cultural Studies’, respectively. According to Kuan-Hsing, he was motivated by historical changes in Asia, from postwar decolonisation to post-Cold War in late 1980s, marked locally in Taiwan with the lifting of martial law in 1987. This was also the period of the rise of Asia within global capitalism, beginning with Japan, followed by the so-called ‘Tiger’ or ‘Dragon’ economies of South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore via the export-oriented industrialisation. The industrialisation model was subsequently picked up by China and the other Southeast Asian countries. The conferences certainly lived up to their promise of being international, with presenters from first and third world locations, and the core concerns were very much grounded in the historical conjuncture of Asia at the end of the twentieth century. One evening during the second conference, while the edited volume for selected papers were being prepared for publication, Rebecca Barton, the editor for the book project at Routledge, brought up the idea of an Asian cultural studies journal. In a hotel room in Taiwan, with Meaghan, the late Jeannie Martin, Kuan-Hsing and myself from the conference and Rebecca, the plan for Inter-Asia Cultural Studies was hatched. It was decided that Kuan-hsing and I would be the co-executive editors, supported by a relatively large editorial collective drawn across Asia and Australia.

scholarly journals „Ja, jako psycholog, mówię ci…”: ontologiczna narracja uchodźcy opozycyjnego z epoki „Solidarności”

1970 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
pp. 119-141
Author(s):  
Mary Patrice Erdmans
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Life Story ◽  
Turning Points ◽  
The Self ◽  
University Faculty ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Subjective Perceptions ◽  
Communist System ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

Using the life story method first introduced in The Polish Peasant, this paper analyzes the life story of a „Solidarity” refugee, positioning the subjective standpoint at the center of analysis and interpreting social action as both agentic and responsive to objective conditions. The ontological narrative in his life story is plotted through a professional schema. He defined the turning points in his life as intentionally driven by his motivation to be an organizational psychologist: his opposition within the communist system; the reason for his internment during martial law; the choice of where to emigrate; and the decision to return to Poland. He constructed a coherent narrative defined by volitional reactions to changing situations. In the life story method, subjective perceptions encode objective conditions allowing us to analyze the interactions between the self and society. Mary Patrice Erdmans, Ja, jako psycholog, mówię ci…”: ontologiczna narracja uchodźcy opozycyjnego z epoki „Solidarności” [„I, a psychologist, tell you”: The Ontological Narrative of a „Solidarity” Refugee] edited by M. Nowak, „Człowiek i Społeczeństwo” vol. XLVII: „Chłop polski w Europie i Ameryce” po stu latach [Polish peasant in Europe and America after one hundred years], Poznań 2019, pp. 119–141, Adam Mickiewicz University. Faculty of Social Sciences Press. ISSN 0239-3271.

‘An Old Man Emanating Kindness’: Dario Fo at ISTA, 1996

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-187
Author(s):  
Juliusz Tyszka
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
International School ◽  
Multicultural Society ◽  
Universal Language ◽  
Dario Fo ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

In 1996 the Polish theatre scholar Juliusz Tyszka was present at the gathering of the International School of Theatre Anthropology (ISTA) in Copenhagen. Here, Dario Fo – in company with his wife and theatrical partner Franca Rame, also a contributor – was among the few invited to participate in both sessions of the conference: ‘Performers’ Bios: Whispering Winds of Theatre and Dance’ and ‘Theatre in a Multicultural Society’. Though already seventy years old and still in recovery from a recent stroke, Fo was incapable of confining himself to a conventional lecture, but (against his doctor's advice) combined his talk with performing the points he was making, whether imitating the curves of a voluptuous girl or enacting a speech in his universal ‘language’ of ‘gramelot’. He was to live on for another twenty years before his death at the age of ninety on 13 October 2016, outliving Franca Rame by just three years. Juliusz Tyszka, an advisory editor of NTQ and a regular contributor to the journal, is head of the Unit of Performance Studies, Institute of Cultural Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University at Poznań, Poland.

scholarly journals Polish Feature Film after 1989

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadeusz Miczka
Keyword(s):  
Socialist Realism ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Pressure ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
Feature Film ◽  
Know How ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Solidarity Movement ◽  
The Government

CINEMA IN THE LABYRINTH OF FREEDOM: POLISH FEATURE FILM AFTER 1989 “Freedom does not exist. We should aim towards it but the hope that we will be free is ridiculous.”Krzysztof Kieślowski1 This essay is the continuation of my previous deliberations on the evolution of the Polish feature film during socialist realism, which summarized its output and pondered its future after the victory of the Solidarity movement. In the paper “Cinema Under Political Pressure…” (1993), I wrote inter alia: “Those serving the Tenth Muse did not notice that martial law was over; they failed to record on film the takeover of the government by the political opposition in Poland. […] In the new political situation, the society has been trying to create a true democratic order; most of the filmmakers’ strategies appeared to be useless. Incipit vita nova! Will the filmmakers know how to use the...

Authoritarian consolidation in Belarus: What role for the EU?

European View ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 178168582110618
Author(s):  
Giselle Bosse
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Eu Policy ◽  
The Eu

The aim of this article is to review the EU’s relations with Belarus over recent decades; to examine the patterns, opportunities and limitations of the EU’s policies vis-à-vis the authoritarian regime; and to evaluate the effectiveness of the EU’s responses to the brutal crackdown on civil society and political opposition following the flawed presidential elections in August 2020. It is argued that, despite its careful balancing act between principled approach and pragmatic engagement, the EU’s perception of the Belarusian regime has been overly optimistic and often influenced by the appeal of short-term geopolitical and economic gains. How should the EU deal with a consolidating and increasingly ruthless dictatorship at the heart of Europe? By way of conclusion, the article maps a number of ‘lessons learned’ and suggestions for future EU policy towards Belarus.

‘My Future Plan? To Die’: Grotowski's Last Visit to Wrocław

2000 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-191
Author(s):  
Joanna Ostrowska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Studies ◽  
Laboratory Work ◽  
Future Plan ◽  
The Status ◽  
Polish Culture ◽  
Jerzy Grotowski ◽  
Adam Mickiewicz

After fifteen years absence, Jerzy Grotowski returned to Wroclaw on 6 March 1997, for the presentation of an award for his contribution to Polish Culture made by the Cultural Foundation's chairman, Stefan Starczewski. Grotowski was accompanied by his protégé and collaborator, Thomas Richards, and went to great lengths to establish Richards's equal and often major contribution to the laboratory work at Pontedera in Italy, which they had been jointly leading since 1986. This work has eschewed publicity, has never sought an audience, and has only been witnessed by chosen groups of sympathetic experts, who have been felt necessary at times for its validation. Initiated and sustained because of the reputation which had accrued to Grotowski during the various phases of his earlier career, the danger was that it might cease to attract support on the demise of its principal validator – which, as one of Grotowski's replies at the Wroclaw meeting anticipated, sadly occurred last year. By acknowledging the functional and artistic importance of Thomas Richards, Grotowski here establishes the argument for his work – described in detail in Richards's own At Work with Grotowski on Physical Actions (Routledge, 1995) – to be continued, as the status of the old master passes to the new. Joanna Ostrowska, who is currently working at the Institute of Cultural Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, here offers her own impressions of the Wroclaw meeting.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Autocratization

2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 117-136
Author(s):  
Aris Trantidis
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Authoritarian Regime ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Opposition ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost

In competitive authoritarian systems, aspiring autocrats must win elections and marginalize the political opposition. In Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko’s strategy for political hegemony heavily relied on socioeconomic co-optation, offering privileges to supporters and imposing sanctions on dissenters. In an economy dominated by the state, co-optation had a coercive effect on behavior. Without sizable areas of activity autonomous from the government, citizens could not defy or mitigate the cost of reprisals for openly supporting the political opposition. Through co-optation, Lukashenko weakened the opposition and built an authoritarian regime without resorting to extensive political violence, which could have undermined his claim of public legitimacy.

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