o p i n i o n s

2004-11-16
Divided States of America
Europeans made no secret of who they would like to see as the next president of the USA. Relations between old and new continent has never been as complicated as they are today. And observers agree that George Bush has polarized even the American society. When giving his final speech, Kerry called for unification of the country. So, obviously, something is wrong about Bush. Yet, millions of "good Americans" have voted for Bush. How come? Words does not describe the whole truth. Why not listen to ordinary Americans from Texas? They explain verry clearly, why their fellow Texas guy is the man! You will need flash module installed in your computer to view the show (http://www.momentagency.com/flash/texasvoices.html). And as for John Kerry... well, if he is by any chance reading this page of mine,"Sorry man, you did the right thing. You lost, because you were smarter. And I wish you good luck for future."

2004-11-17
Cesta do mesta...
Hura! Idem do Prahy! Idem tam, kde to presne pred patnastimi rokmi zacalo. Ani sa mi nechce verit. Doteraz sa tak trochu spamatavavam. A to uz tu mame patnastrocnych, co si v podstate nic z toho, co bolo, nepamataju. Zvlastne, ze sa o sociku bavia ako o niecom akademickom na hodinach historie, ako o niecom "co bolo". Da sa vobec komunizmus vysvetlit pre tych, co ho nezazili? Jedine, co po tej tmavej dobe zostalo su pokrivene ludske duse, sede panelaky a obskurne pesnicky 80-rokov. Zvonky stastia... Takto, s patnastrocnym odstupom je mozno na case sa pozriet aj na tie pozitivne stranky, co realny socializmus obsahoval. Co bolo vtedy lepsie, ked vobec nieco? Je to ruhanie, takto uvazovat? Z tich malo konverzacii, ktore som na dane tema mal, sa ukazalo, ze ludia za socializmu boli skutocne iny. V com? Napriklad v tom, ze mali cas. Na seba, na rodinu, na pivo s kamaratmi. Cez vikend sa islo pomahat kamosovi stavat dom. Zavist nebola hlavnym motorom ludskeho konania. Nebolo co zavidiet. Nikto nepracoval od 08.00 do 20.00. A ked aj ano, pracoval zrejme ako vratnik niekde na Slovnafte (halo, kto je tam, chodte do p..., papagaaaj) a aj tam robil velke hovno. O tretej sa zavrtelo kabelkou a bolo. Ludia viacej sexovali. Vsak co ine sa dalo robit? Aupark este nebol pojem. MacDonald bol znamy len z rakuskej telky. Salama bola lacnejsia. Auto nedostupne. Za cizmi od Bennetonu dal clovek polku vyplaty. Ked nie celu. Na lego pre deti sa stala sora. Od Michalskej po obchodnu. Na dovolenky sa chodilo do Bulharska. Prominenti do Titovej Juhoslavie. Underground bol stale undergroundom. Psi Vojoaci a Zona A, Prazsky vyber a Dezo Ursiny. Ale azda najlepsie na komunizme, bolo tych par tyzdnov, alebo v najlepsom pripade, ten rok po revolucii. Ked ludia boli ludmi. Aspon na chvilu. Ale potom prisiel Vlado. A na Slovensku to zrazu bolo tak... a nikdy nie inak.

2004-11-18
To make an organisation function...
How do organisations usually function? Do they function at all? Is our society functioning? THAT IS THE QUESTION. Experience Belgium and this question will emerge as the most important one. Without any doubt. Unfortunatelly, it is to difficult to explain. You have to come to Brussels, to understand. So I will not bother you again.

2004-11-18
Clash of Civilisations
Seems like Samuel Huntington was right after all. The other day, I was visiting the Schaarbeck City Hall to finally (after four previous visits) get the permit for legally living in Belgium. Out of approximately 150 people, there were three white people in the waiting hall, inclusively me. Suddenly I was in minority. People were waring scarfs, shouting, speaking funny Turkish and Arabic dialects, but thats OK. I was waiting patiently, SMSing my girlfriend. I went to the counter, three people got in front of me, claiming their righ of affirmative action and privilege to be first. Because they are discriminated. But tthat's OK too, I guess. Then I went outside, heading for the tram. No white people there. I took the tube, no white people there either. I got to metro station Schuman, the European Council and Commission's headquarter. Phuh... white people, not a minority anymore. Withouth being rasist, without making any reference to the murder of Mr. van Gogh last week, I pose a rethorical question, which I am, I hope so at least, entitled to pose: "Can we achieve Lisbon goals, fooling around like this? Do we care for integrating the people at the Schaarbeck City Hall? Are we heading towards sustainable development?

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