-- KATARZYNA JANOWSKA REMEMBERS KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI: “Penderecki the composer was not afraid of straying. Looking back, I think he wasn't straying. As an artist, from the very beginning, he knew perfectly well which path he wanted to take through the labyrinth of creative possibilities, and the fact that it was a completely separate path was his conscious choice. He didn't bend when, in the 1960s, orchestras refused to play his works. Musicians feared that his ideas would damage their instruments. Penderecki pursued his own way. With his very young wife, Elżbieta, they moved to Germany. With his first earnings, to his wife's horror, the composer bought a brand-new Mercedes. He remained loyal to this brand for years.” https://www.onet.pl/kultura/onetkultura/krzysztof-penderecki-nie-zyje-oto-najwazniejsze-milosci-jego-zycia/jbxw27b,681c1dfa -- GW RECALLS AN ANECDOTE ABOUT PENDERECKI AND HIS COUSIN - TADEUSZ KANTOR (Emilia Dłużewska, Anna S. Dębowska): “His mother's cousin was the eminent avant-garde artist Tadeusz Kantor. Penderecki recounted that when he came to Krakow for his studies at the age of seventeen, he lived with him for a short period. 'I still remember to this day how terribly afraid I was there, even though I wasn't a child anymore. There was nothing on the walls, only old, broken umbrellas. Kantor had a phase in his work where his paintings featured old umbrellas with protruding wires. Those were hanging on the walls of his apartment, no paintings, bare, dirty walls, and those umbrellas. An incredible impression. I fled from there,' he recalled.” -- KUBRICK DID HARA-KIRI ON MY PIECE - GW AUTHORS ON PENDERECKI'S MUSIC IN WORLD CINEMA: “His works were featured on soundtracks for films including William Friedkin's 'The Exorcist,' David Lynch's 'Wild at Heart,' Martin Scorsese's 'Shutter Island,' and Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining.' The American director wanted Penderecki to compose a new piece for him, but he refused. 'I was busy, I was writing some important piece. He told me a little about the film, and I mentioned a few pieces he could use,' he explained. Ultimately, Kubrick used Penderecki's sacred music performed by the Polish Radio National Symphony Orchestra in Katowice. 'From a composer's perspective, Kubrick did hara-kiri on my piece because he repeats one motif dozens of times. But I understand that he needed it for the obsessive theme he was building in the labyrinth,' Penderecki said.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75410,25828173,krzysztof-penderecki-nie-zyje-wybitny-kompozytor-mial-86-lat.html -- JACK NICHOLSON'S SCENE FROM KUBRICK'S THE SHINING WITH PENDERECKI'S MUSIC: -- TYGODNIK POWSZECHNY PUBLISHES AN EXCERPT FROM A RIVER INTERVIEW WITH KRZYSZTOF PENDERECKI BY KATARZYNA JANOWSKA AND PIOTR MUCHARSKI: “The new currents that emerged in painting at the beginning of the 20th century lasted for a few years. Their creators, like Picasso or Braque, closed the door behind them and moved on, leaving continuation to the epigones. In the 1960s, we invented so many new things in music that our successors might have trouble with it. From an orchestra, from instruments that have been around for the last four hundred years, nothing more, in my opinion, can be extracted.” https://www.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/wszystko-juz-bylo-21202 -- Photo. Pola Dwurnik, I USE HAND SANITIZER, 2020, gouache on paper, 55 x 46 cm / 21.5 x 18 in. Courtesy of Daniel Benjamin Gallery, London. https://www.db-gallery.com/ -- POLA DWURNIK'S FB: https://www.facebook.com/apoloniadwurnik/ -- KIDAWIA ON CONTINUING TO BE A CANDIDATE IN POSTPONED ELECTIONS, SPYCHALSKI ON ELECTIONS NOT BEING ARBITRARILY POSTPONED, DWORCZYK NOT EXCLUDING ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS - 300LIVE: https://300polityka.pl/live/2020/03/30/ -- THE CORONAVIRUS HAS BRUTALLY TESTED THE ILLUSION OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF THE GLASS OFFICE BUILDING GENERATION - BARTOSZ BRZYSKI ON THE JAGELLONIAN CLUB: “Can one live life as a self-employed person, with a company health plan and gradually increasing credit card limits? The coronavirus has brutally tested the illusion of self-sufficiency of the generation from corporate glass office buildings. Carefree consumerism and reluctance to pay social security contributions cannot achieve much in the long run.” -- BRZYSKI WRITES ABOUT THE EGOISTS FROM MORDOOR: “Today, there is much talk about intergenerational solidarity, but for the most part, Polish 'young people' lacked solidarity within their own generation. Those who managed to find well-paid jobs in glass office buildings in large cities quickly forgot about their colleagues. And those who, due to choosing a different path and education, became resident doctors, aspiring teachers, nurses, laboratory diagnosticians, or paramedics. Perhaps the outbreak of the pandemic will lead this generation of young adults to realize that the state can be useful for something, that it will be difficult to return to normality without high-quality public services, and that 'luxmeds' and other corporate packages will not solve real existential problems.” https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2020/03/24/koniec-iluzji-pokolenia-luksmed-u/?fbclid=IwAR3JSGWmx4kY8SVC3L8QBi0NNT4GmWLGyNe5lKVmx1GuX-fwnnBCYSQibhs# -- KACZYNSKI IS THE AUTHOR OF THE CHANGE IN THE CODE - AGATA KONDZIŃSKA AND IWONA SZPALA IN GW: “We hear in PiS that the author of the idea to insert changes to the electoral code into the anti-crisis special act at night was Jarosław Kaczyński. The next day, KO candidate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska called for a boycott of the elections.” -- THE PRESIDENT KNEW, THE PALACE SPEAKS OF A CONTINGENCY PLAN - by GW authors: “We hear from the Presidential Palace that news of the amendment to the code reached President Duda's ministers earlier. They were not surprised by it. An associate of the head of state: – We knew that PiS would change the electoral code. What they proposed is good, it gives more voters the opportunity to vote. But I won't comment on the style in which it was done. He calls PiS's move a 'contingency plan,' a safeguard in case it turns out that the May 10th date holds.” -- GW AUTHORS WRITE ABOUT THE INCREASINGLY DIVIDED OPPOSITION: “After the night operation, the opposition became even more divided. On one side stood politicians from KO and Konfederacja, on the other PSL and Lewica. None of the parties supported PiS's electoral amendment, but the Coalition voted for the entire act. And immediately, critical comments rained down on it: that it is walking hand in hand with Kaczyński, that the forgotten PO-PiS coalition has been reborn, that it is inconsistent because it attacks for hours and then supports the ruling party.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75398,25828671,kaczynski-stoi-za-wrzutka-pis-o-kodeksie-wyborczym-duda-wiedzial.html -- THIS IS POLITICAL BANDITRY - PIOTR TRUDNOWSKI, HEAD OF THE JAGELLONIAN CLUB: “Agreeing to escalate the risk of a systemic crisis when we already have an ongoing health crisis and a certain economic crisis at the gates – this is a lack of any responsibility for the state. Cynically exploiting the pandemic situation and extraordinary parliamentary sessions for political games is worse than damaging the state. It is political banditry.” -- IN THE SHORT TERM, THE JACOBIN FACTION WILL EMERGE VICTORIOUSLY - TRUDNOWSKI CONTINUES: “The ruling party has already caused a division among its opponents. PSL and Lewica effectively voted against solutions to save the economy, and the Civic Coalition voted for the shield with unconstitutional electoral provisions bundled in. Moreover, if protests ultimately force PiS to withdraw its questionable changes, it will gain an argument in discussions about the May elections. It will be like with Banas's dismissal – 'we wanted to allow quarantined individuals to vote, but everyone protested so much that unfortunately, we had to withdraw.' This way, the disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of people will be blamed on those who are simultaneously defending themselves against supporting obviously unconstitutional changes. Either way – representatives of the Jacobin faction, who disregard the legitimacy of the electoral process, the seriousness of the state, and trust in the office of the president – will emerge victorious from this mess in the short term.” -- TRUDNOWSKI WRITES THAT PIS HAS DESTROYED THE WORK OF MORAWIECKI'S MODERNIZERS: “Qualitative distinctiveness, although it brought tangible successes in recent days, unprecedented approval ratings for the government's actions, an increase in Law and Justice's standing, and excellent polls for President Andrzej Duda, was treated as a threat. The efforts of the 'modernizers' to develop a 'new normal' in politics, including good communication with fellow citizens and simple decency in relations with the opposition, were brutally pacified. President Andrzej Duda was treated similarly. Forcing him to sign a law that undermines the legitimacy of his potential second term is another symbolic humiliation of the head of state, following the confusion surrounding Jacek Kurski's resignation.” -- THIS WILL END IN MASS PROTESTS - TRUDNOWSKI CONTINUES: “In light of the lack of actual universal legitimacy of the Constitutional Tribunal, the dispute over the status of the Supreme Court with the Chamber of Extraordinary Control and Public Affairs adjudicating the validity of elections at its head, the imminent change in the position of First President of the Supreme Court, and the 'informal' but real state of emergency we are in – signing the shield with the 'night insertion' and holding the elections at the planned date will end in mass protests. Widespread doubts about the legality of the May election will also concern many of Andrzej Duda's and Law and Justice's current voters.” https://klubjagiellonski.pl/2020/03/28/zmiana-prawa-wyborczego-kaczynski-niszczy-wysilki-szumowskiego-i-morawieckiego-a-przy-okazji-podpala-panstwo/ -- LUDWIK DORN ON A SCENARIO OF FORCEFULLY BLOCKING THE ELECTIONS - writes in GW: “At the elite level, the most important are local government officials – the heads of municipalities (village heads, mayors, presidents – for brevity, I will write 'village heads'). The Electoral Code entrusts them with tasks without which elections simply cannot be physically carried out. They maintain voter lists and hand them over to district election commissions the day before the election. If they don't hand them over, there are no elections. They provide premises (primarily schools) for the district election commissions. If they don't provide them and ensure they are locked up tight on the morning of May 10th – there are no elections. They announce the addresses of the district election commission seats (polling stations). If they don't, there are no elections.” -- I AM SICK FOR THE ELECTIONS. DUDA, WIN AGAINST JAKUBIAK - KINGA DUNIN in Krytyka Polityczna: “How low should voter turnout be for it to be clear to everyone that elections under these circumstances are a farce? (...) If someone enters the game, they should then accept its outcome. And they cannot really challenge it afterward. It's tough, but if Duda is to win, let him win against Jakubiak. However, the rule is simple – you don't sit at the table with cheaters.” https://krytykapolityczna.pl/felietony/kinga-dunin/na-wybory-jestem-chory-duda-wygraj-se-z-jakubiakiem/ -- JAROSŁAW FLIS SHOWS HOW ELECTIONS IN BAVARIA SPREAD THE VIRUS: “If anyone has doubts about what such a graph means, the simplest way to put it is: if we compare two counties where there was the same number of infections on March 15th, then 10 days later, Bavaria had 17 more cases per hundred thousand inhabitants. Out of the total difference of 20 cases, 3 can be attributed to the initial differentiation. The rest can, of course, be due to many different factors by which Bavaria differs from Rhineland or other parts of Germany. However, the fact of an exceptionally massive event, such as universal voting and hours-long collective determination of results by election commissions, seems a highly probable explanation. If this hypothesis is true, then holding elections in Bavaria led to about 2,000 people contracting the coronavirus.” -- ELECTIONS MEAN 6 THOUSAND NEW INFECTIONS - FLIS CONTINUES ABOUT HIS MATHEMATICAL SIMULATION: “Taking into account the differences in the size of the country, in the case of Poland, elections like those in Bavaria would account for approximately 6,000 new infections. But of course, there are those who believe that nothing is happening in Poland that would justify postponing the elections. They surely thought the same in Bavaria.” http://jaroslawflis.blog.tygodnikpowszechny.pl/2020/03/29/wirus-i-bawarskie-wybory/ -- FORCING A CHANGE IN THE ELECTION DATE IS A COUP D'ÉTAT - JACEK KARNOWSKI: “The opposition claims that sticking to the deadlines is a 'coup d'état.' On the contrary, it is the hysterical attempt to force a change of date that is a coup against the constitution. It is an attempt to escape the verdict of the voters, which is not directly related to the epidemic; Andrzej Duda has been leading in this race from the very beginning. Perhaps the elections will have to be postponed. However, there are no grounds to decide this today. On the contrary, the ruling camp has an obligation to prepare for their conduct, which it is doing by changing the electoral code. The opposition should thank them for these preparations, not start another quarrel.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/493479-to-proba-wymuszenia-zmiany-terminu-jest-zamachem-stanu -- MICHAŁ KARNOWSKI ON HOŁOWNIA FROM THE COMFORTABLE CONDITIONS OF THE TVN STUDIO: “What Hołownia offers is not authentic. He supposedly gets angry at reality, but it's unclear why only recently. He supposedly is new on the scene, but it's hard to forget that he sat in the comfortable conditions of TVN – a station that is co-responsible for the shape of many things. He supposedly risked everything, but he didn't even touch the sacred cows of the Third Polish Republic. The common denominator, as we can see, is a lack of credibility. An element in politics that is key, most important. Stripped of this trait, Mr. Hołownia has become a curiosity, a celebrity, a nice guy who may have an attractive idea for himself, but not for Poland.” https://wpolityce.pl/polityka/493436-piec-powodow-dla-ktorych-kampania-holowni-sie-rozsypuje -- POLITICAL PATHOLOGIST, NOT A STATESMAN - TOMASZ SAWCZUK IN KULTURA LIBERALNA: “People sometimes say that Kaczyński is the best or most outstanding politician of contemporary Poland. But we wouldn't call a boxer who first knocks out the referee and then beats his opponents with a metal rod the greatest boxer. (...) Kaczyński degrades Polish politics, ruins the Sejm, senselessly escalates the party war, endangers the lives and health of Poles, and at the same time hinders the fight against the pandemic and the economic crisis. Kaczyński's actions suggest that he is a cynical, corrupt person – a political pathologist, not a statesman.” -- THE OPPOSITION HAS NOT SHOWN WHAT IT IS ABOUT - SAWCZUK CONTINUES: “Meanwhile, the opposition parties have turned on each other. Platforma attacked Lewica and PSL because they agreed to change the Sejm's regulations, which allows for remote voting. In turn, Lewica and PSL attacked Platforma because it voted hand in hand with PiS on the anti-crisis shield act, which included the aforementioned changes to the electoral code. The slaughter in the opposition is still ongoing. It makes no sense. It was – it's gone. There is a pandemic and an economic crisis. Something else seems more important. The opposition parties have so far failed to show with sufficient force what needs to be done to respond to the crisis. I listened to the Sejm speeches, browsed social media profiles, but I had no clarity on what I should focus on. I still had the impression that the opposition lacked a clear message. Too much juggling, too little action.” https://kulturaliberalna.pl/2020/03/30/pandemia-koronawirus-tarcza-antykryzysowa-wybory-prezydenckie-komentarz/ -- ORBÁN'S EXAMPLE IS A TERRIBLE WARNING - ADAM BODNAR IN CONVERSATION WITH WIĘŹ: “We must also care for legal procedures because the example of Hungary and Viktor Orbán's ideas for a state of emergency, which would involve the actual suspension of parliament and other democratic institutions, is a terrible warning. There is no room or consent for this in Poland, but all the more reason to take care of good democratic practices. http://wiez.com.pl/2020/03/29/adam-bodnar-spelnione-sa-przeslanki-do-wprowadzenia-stanu-kleski-zywiolowej/ -- I AM AFRAID OF FEAR THAT WE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CONTROL - JANINA OCHOJSKA IN CONVERSATION WITH OKO: “I am afraid that we will face a large increase in infections and fear that we will not be able to control. Because if there is panic, I don't know how prepared these authorities and this government are for it. And that could happen. That's what I think about most often. But – I want this to be strongly emphasized – I am full of admiration for my nation, for society. Because we are showing a wonderful attitude towards this threat, sewing masks, collecting money. We could have turned away and said: 'We don't care, the government must provide.' But we know that it won't provide.” https://oko.press/ochojska-jak-bedzie-wzrost-zachorowan-i-wybuchnie-panika-to-wladze-nie-dadza-rady-tego-sie-boje/ -- ATTACKS ON KIDAWA ARE POINTLESS - DOMINIKA WIELOWIEYSKA IN GW: “Meanwhile, these attacks are more or less pointless because, in essence, the stance of the opposition candidates is consistent. They all want to postpone the elections. And the call for a boycott is merely a form of pressure on the ruling party and an attempt to make them realize that the authorities will plunge Poland into another constitutional crisis, namely a president whose election will be questioned.” -- THE BELIEF THAT KACZYNSKI HAS REALIZED THAT ELECTIONS CANNOT BE HELD IS ILLUSORY - WIELOWIEYSKA CONTINUES: “The belief that Jarosław Kaczyński has now understood that the elections cannot be held may prove to be illusory. Kaczyński will push for it at all costs. And the divided opposition, without a common stance, will only strengthen his conviction that he will succeed in implementing this project. He showed this by inserting an amendment on postal voting into the anti-crisis package. He did not care about the valid objections that he was breaking the law by doing so. He thinks the same today about the elections because he believes that only under these conditions will Andrzej Duda win them. He fears that in six months, Poles' moods will worsen, and dislike for PiS will increase. And what then, dear candidates? Will you call voters to vote for you on May 10th? It really doesn't take much to reach an agreement: only a little goodwill.” https://wyborcza.pl/7,75968,25829798,ataki-na-kidawe-blonska-sa-bezsensowne-opozycja-potrzebuje.html -- OPPOSITION CANNIBALISM DREAMED UP BY PIS - JACEK NIZINKIEWICZ IN RZ: “Opposition cannibalism during a plague is PiS's dream scenario. Everyone sees that this party is using the epidemic to consolidate its power. However, the opposition is also now trying to eliminate competitors on the anti-government side. PSL is doing everything to discredit Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska so that Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz becomes the favorite in the presidential election.” -- A DIVIDED OPPOSITION IS A LOSS FOR VOTERS - NIZINKIEWICZ CONTINUES: “A divided opposition is not only a gift for PiS but also a lost opportunity for voters. PO, PSL, Lewica, and independent senators in the Senate can rehabilitate themselves and prove that they prioritize the country's affairs over partisan interests. Together, they should present a joint project to help Poles, without harmful unconstitutional changes to the electoral code. Together, PiS's competitors should also appeal to postpone the elections by a year. In the name of the health and safety of Poles.” https://www.rp.pl/Analizy/200329156-Jacek-Nizinkiewicz-Kanibalizm-opozycji-na-zyczenie-PiS.html -- HYPOCRISY OF THE RULING CAMP - MICHAŁ SZUŁDRZYŃSKI IN RZ: “On this occasion, the entire hypocrisy of the ruling camp has been revealed. (...) In 2009, President Lech Kaczyński challenged the amendment to the electoral regulations, which PO had passed three months before the elections, to the Constitutional Tribunal. His attorney was then Minister Andrzej Duda, arguing that changing regulations less than six months before an election is unconstitutional. Now PiS is changing the regulations... six weeks before the elections. However, it may turn out that the president will not have such a dilemma.” -- THE OPPOSITION CAN PROVE TO KACZYNSKI THAT HE DOES NOT HAVE FULL CONTROL - SZUŁDRZYŃSKI CONTINUES: “Ideas are emerging for the Senate not to debate the regulations sent from the Sejm, but to propose an identical anti-crisis act, but without the amendments to the electoral code. And to freeze the Sejm's project in committee for a month. The opposition would have to explain such reckless behavior well to voters, and in the last week, it has mainly been occupied with tripping over its own feet and internal conflicts. Moreover, PiS is capable of setting effective traps. But if the opposition has learned lessons from the past, it will have a chance to prove to Kaczyński that he does not have full control over the situation at all.” https://www.rp.pl/Komentarze/200329153-Michal-Szuldrzynski-Hipokryzja-obozu-wladzy.html -- 10TH ANNIVERSARY OF KTT'S DEATH. -- BIRTHDAYS: Mieczysław Kasprzak, Tomasz Sławatyniec, Hanna Bakuła.