WOSP is for 19th year, proving they are a viable alternative for any geothermal idiot. And secular. Search for Julius Streicher's nasz dziennik archive (if it exists) what the smolenkists think of this admirable initiative.
At first it seems like an excellent idea because WOSP helps a lot of people.
But when looking at it from another perspective.. In fact, people pay taxes to have all this equipment available. I'm pretty sure the Polish government is happy with this movement because they can more easily steal money and put it into their pockets instead of buying medical equipment.
Maybe that's a little exaggeration, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works, especially that WOSP has been with us for almost 20 years now, every year.
To sum up, WOSP idea is great, but it's prone to corruption.
You can get that with any large charity, whether WOSP, Caritas or anything else - telethons are the same. The question is, if they suddenly stopped, would the government actually pay for things themself.
It's the same with volunteerism (not a problem in Poland which has one of the lowest levels of volunteering in Europe) - but in countries like the UK and especially the US which have a huge culture of volunteering, its hard to imagine what would happen if all the volunteer workers stayed at home for a month.
The question is, if they suddenly stopped, would the government actually pay for things themself.
Of course not. The government wants to eat their cake and still have it. As WOSP and other volunteering movements prove, people are much more effective in managing money than governments. Instead of paying taxes that are wasted on nothing, the money should go into the hands of people who can manage money much more efficiently. WOSP is a great example :).
I feel more or less the same - that such expenditure is best controlled by the people at a grassroots level. Though nevertheless, social provision needs to be co-ordinated to make sure sections of society don't fall through the net any more than they do already and there certainly needs to be tax revenue involved to make sure that social provision is funded by all, not just the generous.
Funny thing, no cancer, no kids, haven't visited public health care services for 20 years-allways private. So no I don't need it personally. But thank you. I doesn't change the fact that volunteers are aggressive and some WOŚP employee make good private income of it.
Genuine question. Wielka Orkiestra is clearly very popular and very much appreciated in Poland. However, looking from the outside, I can't understand why this has been allowed to effectively replace the central funding of medical equipment from the government.
How has this come about? Is there a movement in Poland to attempt to migrate the role of WOSP to an organisation under ministerial control?
I don't know. I don't think Children in Need or Red Nose Day are true parallels. They are not intended to fund the mass purchase of medical equipment for use in public hospitals. This seems to be WOSP's primary purpose, and they are proud of their red heart stickers on equipment found in just about every hospital in the land.
For me, this is wrong. The government should be funding this through taxation.
Frankly, I'd sooner trust Owsiak to spend the money wisely than the current government. Don't hospitals in Britain rely partly on charities and charity drives to fund major purchases like medical equipment. Here in the States, a lot of the rooms, buildings and pieces of equipment have a tag saying "Donated by...." or "In memory of..." on them. Even the bench in the smokers hut at my hospital has one, as does, weirdly, the microwave in our break room. Hell, the whole hospital is named after the man who donated the land and money to found it.
There is even a Masonic organization, the Shriners, that specializes in building and operating hospitals for burn victims, never mind that a good percentage of the hospitals here were founded by different religious groups. Every NFP hospital has a foundation that is essentially a large charitable organization.
My point is that in the UK, charity-funded equipment is the exception, whereas in Poland, through WOSP, it seems to be the rule.
I don't doubt for one minute that WOSP is doing amazing things, but it's a poor state of affairs when this charity is doing the work of the government.
In the end, does it really matter? We pay the taxes, and now we (or at least i do) give money to WOSP.
If the government would do this, i'd probably be a bureaucratic mess to begin with. Plus now its a "thing" once a year. People get out, think about why they are there and in the end give more this way i think.
As long as it works, i dont see a problem with it. That its an exceptional way of handling things is definitely true, but you have to keep in mind that Poland had to keep busy with other things that other parts of Europe for a long time. Cant blame them.
it's a poor state of affairs when this charity is doing the work of the government.
I'm not disagreeing with that, but Poland does not have anywhere near the funding, or the political will, to do it without significant help. The Polish government is having a hard time funding healthcare because the country's taxpaying population has been depleted by mass migration of its best and brightest, leaving the country relatively enriched in the old and hopeless, especially in those areas known as "Poland B". You may not appreciate how far Poland still has to go until you see the inside of a provincial hospital. It was a real eye-opener for me.
Wielka Orkiestra is clearly very popular and very much appreciated in Poland
I find it a little annoyin (and I find Owsiak to be very annoying) but.... I'll always respect it because it was practically the first citizen initiative in post-communist Poland. That is after 1989 it was the frist (and for a long time the only) large scale coordinated effort by citizens that wasn't organized by either the government or church.
That gives it a cultural, civilization value that goes beyond the actual monetary raised and equipment bought. I suspect that many British charities are the same, the civic society element is just as important as the results.
It would be nice if it weren't needed (though I'd still encourage it) but Poland spends (proportionately) about half as much on healthcare as most European countries and that's not going to change soon.
One weird result of the moderation (if you want to call it that) is a lack of discussion of ongoing events in Poland.
So, since no one else has, I'll bring this one up again - today is the 27th final of WOŚP (grand orchestra of holiday help... better than the official 'translation')
Who here has participated or has thoughts on this citizen intiative, popular with the public and hated by the government?
I wonder whether they will break their record again? The government's negative attitude usuallyworks to their adventage...I hope it will be the same this year.
My whole familly gives a bit, I was a volunteer in the past and a family member is in Pokojowy Patron ( a group of regular, well trained volunteers that take part in different events, WOSP , Woodstock etc
The government's negative attitude usuallyworks to their adventage...
I can almost believe they have an agreement (something like pro-wrestling) where PiS agrees to be as nasty as possible to the cause of helping sick children because they know people will give more money then....
But no... they're probably just really that nasty that they resent money raised for sick children if they're not in charge of it.
PiS agrees to be as nasty as possible to the cause of helping sick children
Yes, this is very strange and reveals the sort of 'I-live-deep-in-the-country-and-don't-want-to-hear-of-Mr-Owsiak' complex. It is much more a psychological than political thing.
Clergy attitude is even more interesting. It's almost like a litmus paper test- if a priest is greedy you won't see any volunteers anywhere near their church as they are afraid parishioners will give to WOSP instead of their collection. Good priests are ok with volunteers collecting on their ground and even in the church itself
One weird result of the moderation (if you want to call it that) is a lack of discussion of ongoing events in Poland.
That's because the dominant posters here aren't actually in Poland. ;)
It used to be indifferent, then PiS tried to wreck it and I suddenly became a big supporter ;)
It would be nice to believe that it was a pro-wrestling style charade, but the attempts to prosecute Owsiak for bad language in public shows that it's not. They hate him because they can't control him, just like opposition parties.
Strangely enough, PiS have no problem with WOŚP funding equipment for poor hospitals.
Oh my ******* God.
The President of Gdańsk has been stabbed on stage at the WOŚP concert in Gdańsk by someone shouting that he spent time in prison because of the main opposition party, Platforma Obywatelska. He's apparently alive, but he had to be resuscitated on site. There's no more information, but he's alive as far as has been reported.
