Польські волонтери зібрали майже 10 мільйонів євро для хворих дітей

Варшава – Варшавську неурядову організацію «Оркестр святкової допомоги» називають польським феноменом. Сьогодні вранці ця організація побила свій власний рекорд із попередніх років: упродовж доби вона зібрала на добродійні цілі майже 40 мільйонів злотих, тобто приблизно 10 мільйонів євро. На зібрані по всій країні гроші «Оркрестр святкової допомоги» придбає дороге медичне обладнання для дитячих лікарень.

Учора вся Польща вже вдев’ятнадцяте розцвіла червоними сердечками. 120 тисяч волонтерів «Оркестру святкової допомоги» вийшли на вулиці польських міст і сіл, аби збирати у перехожих гроші на допомогу важкохворим дітям. Кожен жертводавець отримав від волонтера червоне паперове серце, що символізує милосердя. Таких сердечок волонтери роздали майже 30 мільйонів.

Шоумен Єжи Овсяк, незмінний лідер «Оркестру», пояснює успіх свого проекту тим, що люди максимально поінформовані про те, на що саме організація витрачає зібрані пожертви. Він каже, що здебільшого поляки нескупі, та вони набагато охочіше дають гроші тим організаціям, котрі вміють донести до широких мас населення інформацію про цілі та результати своїх благодійних проектів. За словами Овсяка, саме у такій максимальній прозорості використання коштів полягає секрет успіху «Оркестру святкової допомоги». Процес підрахунку зібраних «Оркестром» грошей та їхнього використання постійно висвітлюється у польських медіа.

Малюків рятували шарф Далай-лами та кубик від самого Рубика

Аби заохотити поляків до благодійності, «Оркестр святкової допомоги» організовує по всій країні харитативні концерти, під час яких популярні співаки й актори закликають до милосердя та щедрості.

Учора в Польщі відбулося 800 таких концертів. Цікаво, що значні суми вдається зібрати під час оригінальних аукціонів. Причому речі для продажу на добродійних польських аукціонах надають не тільки поляки. Скажімо, цього року на аукціон потрапили шарф Далай-лами, кубик Рубика, підписаний його винахідником Ерно Рубиком, а також теніска футбольного клубу «Барселона» з автографами найкращих футболістів світу. Під час дотепних аукціонів можна було придбати вечерю в товаристві популярної співачки, або ж відреставрований літак з 1930-их років.

Характерно, що до організації цього добродійного заходу охоче долучаються органи державної влади та місцевого самоврядування. Цього року свою допомогу в збиранні грошей запропонував навіть голова Європарламенту Єжи Бузек. За організований Бузеком дводенний візит до Європейського парламенту один із польських добродіїв заплатив на аукціоні понад 4 тисячі євро.

Організаторів масової добродійної акції охоче підтримують учасники різноманітних товариств, що пропагують здоровий спосіб життя. Скажімо, жителів Кракова до щедріших пожертв заохочували члени клубу зимового плавання, так звані моржі.

«Процес збирання грошей був вдалим, атмосфера була гарячою, наші серця підігріли воду у Віслі аж на пів градуса. Ми збирали гроші для «Оркестру» вперше, та будемо це робити до кінця світу, а навіть на один день довше», – розповіла одна з членів клубу.

«Оркестр» милосердя стає візиткою Польщі

Учасники цьогорічної акції милосердя, організованої «Оркестром святкової допомоги», звертають увагу на її особливий настрій. Втомлені минулорічними потрясіннями поляки охоче єдналися навколо радісного процесу збирання грошей для хворих дітей.

«Цьогорічна акція – вияв того, що ми не сваримося, а єднаємося. Після минулого року, що був для поляків суцільною травмою, така акція, як фінал «Оркестру святкової допомоги», усім нам була дуже потрібною. Ми вкотре продемонстрували, що діяьність «Орекстру» – послідовна, вона є візиткою Польщі», – каже член клубу.

Про це ж говорить один із організаторів акції милосердя в місті Білосток, ректор Вищої школи публічної адміністрації Єжи Копаня. За його словами, у збиранні грошей в Білостоці, окрім поляків, взяли участь молоді люди, які приїхали на навчання до Польщі з-за кордону.

«Студенти-іноземці здивовані, бо виявляється що ми, поляки, вміємо єднатися не тільки навколо сумних подій, але й радісних. Вміємо бути разом тоді, коли потрібно домомогти людям у їхньому нещасті», – каже ректор Копаня.

Загалом, за 19 років своєї діяльності «Оркестр святкової допомоги» придбав на зібрані гроші 22 тисячі дорогих медичних приладів, які передав дитячим лікарням. Крім того, як наголошують польські оглядачі, ця феноменальна неурядова організація виховала покоління поляків, котре охоче, без примусу й зайвих нагадувань займається добродійністю.

Автор - Ростислав Крамар

Джерело - Радіо Свобода

Algeria has let its rioting youth down

Look at the faces of the rioters currently spreading unrest among the cities and towns of Algeria and you might be struck by one very obvious fact – just how youthful they are.

The median age in the north African country is 27, with more than 75% of the population under 30. Little surprise, then, that the majority of those protesting against soaring food prices and mass unemployment are barely more than teenagers.

Many will have little personal recollection of the bitter civil war, which divided the country for over a decade up until the early 2000s, let alone the colonial struggle against France, which ended with independence in 1962.

Yet there is no doubt that these two violent struggles are the biggest influences on the consciousness of Algeria's young rioters. When rule from Paris ended, successive Algerian governments did their utmost to forge a national identity free from western influence. After 132 years of bowing to a foreign power, complete independence became the rallying cry. Forced Arabisation saw foreign companies and investment rejected as everything was done to forge a free nation.

English, the international language of business, was ignored in schools and colleges, as were "foreign", modern subjects such as commerce and marketing.

Suspicion of overseas capitalism became even more intense during the civil war as Islamic rebels battled with an elected government, and every side strived to assert their nationalist credentials so as to win popular support. The result was entire generations growing up surrounded by violence, and not being equipped with the economic know-how to escape it. In turn, administrations did little to create a sound social infrastructure within which democracy could flourish.

"Algeria is one of the most youthful countries in the world, yet young Algerians like me are completely unqualified to compete in the modern world," said Lahcène Bouziane, 24.

"People of my generation were brought up to be proud Algerians and Arabs, but not to contemplate succeeding in the global economy.

"When our own, insular economic system begins to fail, as it is at the moment, we have no chance to escape. This boils into frustration and anger."

Bouziane spoke to me on Saturday from the capital city, Algiers, where President Abdelaziz Bouteflika held crisis talks about the price of staple foods such as flour, cooking oil and sugar doubling in the past month.

The situation intensified on Friday when Azzedine Lebza, 18, became the first fatality of the riots when he was hit by a police bullet in Ain Lahdjel, around 250 miles south-east of Algiers. Another demonstrator, 32-year-old Akriche Abdel-Fattah, was later killed in Bou Smail, some 30 miles from the capital. Five fatalities have now been reported and a thousand protesters have been arrested.

Rather than acknowledge the underlying causes of the resentment, Bouteflika concentrated on slashing taxes and import duties, seeking a short-term fix to a growing crisis. Lack of jobs, government services, affordable houses and soaring inflation have all combined with a failing education system to create a bleak future.

Despite Algeria's abundance of natural gas and oil – the country has grossed more than $600bn during Bouteflika's 12 years in power – swathes of the country live in poverty, many in slums on the outskirts of cities like Algiers.

It is for this reason that thousands of young people attempt to leave every year, most boarding small fishing boats to try to reach countries like France, Italy and Spain, where they hope they will better their situation and alleviate their family's poverty back home by sending regular amounts of cash.

This has given rise to the term "harragas" – which literally means "those who burn" borders. Upon arrival in Europe they also "burn" their documents and try to start their lives again.

"There is nothing for them in Algeria," a university professor told me. "Parents regularly see their young ones disappear – into the black economy in other parts of the world or, worse than that, many are drowned at sea.

"Those that remain are now fighting the authorities. Algeria has completely let them down – all they have really learned is that violence is everywhere."

Author - Nabila Ramdani

Source - Guardian

Earth must prepare for close encounter with aliens, say scientists

UN should co-ordinate plans for dealing with extraterrestrials – and we can't guarantee that aliens will be friendly

World governments should prepare a co-ordinated action plan in case Earth is contacted by aliens, according to scientists.

Scientists argue that a branch of the UN must be given responsibility for "supra-Earth affairs" and formulate a plan for how to deal with extraterrestrials, should they appear.

The comments are part of an extraterrestrial-themed edition of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A published today. In it, scientists examine all aspects of the search for extraterrestrial life, from astronomy and biology to the political and religious fallout that would result from alien contact.

"Will a suitable process based on expert advice from proper and responsible scientists arise at all, or will interests of power and opportunism more probably set the scene?" asked Professor John Zarnecki of the Open University and Dr Martin Dominik of the University of St Andrews in the introductory paper. "A lack of co-ordination can be avoided by creating an overarching framework in a truly global effort governed by an international politically legitimated body." The pair argue that the UN has a ready-made mechanism for such a forum in its Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Copuos).

Member states of Copuos should put "supra-Earth affairs" on their agenda, say the scientists, and establish structures similar to those proposed for dealing with threats from near-Earth objects, such as asteroids, that might be on a collision course with our planet.

According to Simon Conway Morris, a professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge University, anyone planning for alien contact should prepare for the worst.

Evolution on alien worlds, he said, is likely to be Darwinian in nature. Morris argues that life anywhere else in the universe will therefore probably have important similarities with life on Earth – especially if it comes from Earth-like worlds that have similar biological molecules to ours. That means ET might resemble us, warts and all, with our tendencies towards violence and exploitation.

"Why should we 'prepare for the worst'? First, if intelligent aliens exist, they will look just like us, and given our far from glorious history, this should give us pause for thought," wrote Morris in the journal's special issue.

Ted Peters, a professor of systematic theology at the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary in California, considered what might happen to the world's religions in the event of ET making contact. Conventional wisdom suggests that terrestrial religion would collapse if the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) were confirmed, he wrote

"Because our religious traditions formulated their key beliefs within an ancient world view now out of date, would shocking new knowledge dislodge our pre-modern dogmas? Are religious believers Earth-centric, so that contact with ET would de-centre and marginalise our sense of self-importance? Do our traditional religions rank us human beings on top of life's hierarchy, so if we meet ETI who are smarter than us will we lose our superior rank? If we are created in God's image, as the biblical traditions teach, will we have to share that divine image with our new neighbours?"

His conclusion, however, is that faith in Earth's major religions would survive intact. "Theologians will not find themselves out of a job. In fact, theologians might relish the new challenges to reformulate classical religious commitments in light of the new and wider vision of God's creation."

"Traditional theologians must then become astrotheologians ... What I forecast is this: contact with extraterrestrial intelligence will expand the existing religious vision that all of creation – including the 13.7bn-year history of the universe replete with all of God's creatures – is the gift of a loving and gracious God," he speculated.

Source - Guardian

Young people are fleeing Portugal in droves. But is this a bad thing?

The rise in emigration might just herald the emergence of a more self-sufficient, curious, and less spoiled generation

In Portugal, having an optimistic start to 2011 hasn't been easy. Along with Greece and Ireland, Portugal is currently one of the three weakest economies in the eurozone: the press seems primed for our downfall. The minority socialist government led by José Sócrates says the budget deficit, thought to be 7.3% of GDP in 2010, needs to decrease to 4.6% this year.

Experts expect that Portugal will soon be forced to access the IMF financial stability fund, and Teixeira dos Santos, the finance minister, recently went on a "successful" visit to China in order to secure financial support. The country seems to be on sale. Organisations and enterprises are shrinking their budgets. Unemployment rates are at 10.9%. My friends in Lisbon tell me: "Don't come back. Things are so depressing over here."

Many choose to put their feet on the ground and move away to another country. The young are running fastest of all, and they are making experts in Portugal worry about a new emigration wave, which is seen as the biggest since the 1960s. More than two million Portuguese are estimated to be living abroad. Recent research by the economist Álvaro Santos Pereira says that around 6.5% of the 10 million population have left the country between 1998 and 2008 – a number that could be even higher in the next census in 2011. What is different from the previous wave of migration in the 1960s is that these new emigrants are most likely young, highly skilled, and choose new countries like Spain and the UK. A 2006 report by the World Bank warned that Portugal was suffering from serious brain drain, with 13% of graduates emigrating.

Conventional wisdom will tell us that these kind if emigration rates create at least two problems for a country: brain deficit, since there isn't a significant highly skilled immigration to fuel the workforce, and population shrinkage, because the birth rate is slowing down. Both facts can have a major long-term impact on social security funds.

And yet, it's worth asking if emigration on this scale is always necessarily a bad thing. Consider, for one, that one traditional reason behind Portugal's economic weaknesses has been our laissez-faire attitude to work. Statistics portray a youth that is averse to risk-taking, values comfort and longs for security. The Portuguese social structure is shaped by dependent children or married people.

A Dutch friend was telling me the other day that he left his parents' home at 18 – in Portugal, almost 60% of young adults between 18 and 34 still live at their parents, one of the EU's highest rates according to a 2008 Eurostat survey (in the UK it is about 40%). Telling a Portuguese son or a daughter to find his or her own apartment at 18 would be unthinkable, the equivalent of abandoning a child in the wild. There is no tradition of flatsharing; when middle-class twentysomethings get out of their parents' house, it's usually to get married.

The high number of young people leaving the country might indicate that something is changing in the Portuguese mindset. It might just herald the emergence of a more self-sufficient, curious, and less spoiled generation.

The European Union has had a major impact in those born in the 1980s, a generation who grew up during the economic growth of the 1990s and have paid their bills with the euro since 1999. Enrolling in international scholar programmes such as Erasmus has become common; plus, foreign students come and go to Portuguese universities, and international networks expand. Travelling is much more regular for them than it was for me – my first flight was at 18, which makes my nephews laugh. The world, and especially Europe to where this new emigration wave is heading, has become a less frightening place. Might this generation have the competitive edge that has previously been lacking in the country?

The question remains whether these highly skilled workers would want to go back to Portugal once they've found success abroad. The scientist António Damásio or the artist Paula Rego are only two of many successful Portuguese emigrants who have decided to settle abroad permanently. A side effect of our Roman Catholic heritage is that we aren't very good at praising people for their successes and rewarding merit. Portuguese elites are suspicious and small; they are distant from the rest of the population, which in turn does not trust them either – as shown in research conducted by the sociologist Manuel Villaverde Cabral in 2004. We have problems with words like meritocracy and competitiveness, seen as part of a vocabulary used by capitalists or by over-achievers.

How would those who went abroad and increased their cultural capital fit in a milieu that ejects outliers when it is supposed to appreciate them? That's the conundrum. The question of how to convert the value of an individual's journey into a public benefit has yet to be solved in Portugal. 

Source - Guardian
Author - Joana Gorjão Henriques