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Euthanasia could replace retirement
Jan Józef Lipski Social activist
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The landscape following a war that's lasted more than 40 years, as Kuroń said, is truly appalling, and to be honest, no one really had a clear idea about how to find a way out. I'm not an economist so I'm not able to say anything amazing about this. I'm simply one more citizen who feels that things are even worse than they seem. We have to speak right away about the socio-economic situation because when we read in the papers these days that there may not be any money to pay for old age pensions, and we're talking here about a demographic group that has no reserves, is on the brink of starvation with most of them already below the boundary that separates them from genuine destitution, then if this kind of problem occurs, it means that we really have hit rock bottom, and this isn't the only problem. I'm mentioning it because it has shown in a drastic way, today's press has shown the terrifying situation which is largely the result of structural solutions in this area. Contributions to pensions were systematically robbed by the country's finance office over the last few decades. Under these circumstances, it's no wonder that the ZUS [Zakład Ubezpieczeń Społecznych (Social Insurance Institution)] coffers are empty because they've been plundered to which we can say, well alright perhaps they have been robbed but the country's bank also doesn't have any reserves. Since there are many situations like this that we could mention, and the government, probably rightly, is determined not to print any more dead money, the response to situations like this could be shocking. Somebody with a black sense of humour said that in this case, instead of a new law regarding pensions which we can't afford, the parliament ought to pass a humanitarian law about euthanasia and that way at least it would be contributing something to those who were in the worst position. If these kinds of grim jokes are starting to appear, it means that things are a lot worse than we imagine.

Ten krajobraz po czterdziestoparoletniej wojnie, jak to Kuroń powiedział, jest rzeczywiście przerażający i tak prawdę mówiąc, mało kto ma jasną koncepcję jak wyjść z tego. Nie jestem ekonomistą, w związku z tym nie jestem w stanie powiedzieć nic rewelacyjnego w tej sprawie. Po prostu należę do tych obywateli, którzy mają poczucie, że jest nawet trochę gorzej, niż się wydaje. I to trzeba od razu zresztą mówić o sytuacji gospodarczo-społecznej, bo gdy w prasie dzisiejszej się czyta, że być może nie będzie z czego w ogóle wypłacić emerytur – a chodzi o grupę ludności, która nie ma żadnych rezerw, która jest na pograniczu głodu, a już większość tej grupy jest poniżej tej kreski, poniżej której to już jest nędza autentyczna – to jeżeli zjawia się taki problem, to znaczy, że jesteśmy rzeczywiście na dnie, a to nie jest przecież jedyny problem. Ja go wymieniam dlatego, że on w sposób wyjątkowo drastyczny pokazał dzisiaj, dzisiejsza prasa pokazała przeraża..., przeraźliwą sytuację, która zresztą wynika w dużej mierze ze strukturalnych rozwiązań, które w tej dziedzinie są, składki emerytalne były przez dziesięciolecia rabowane przez skład pańs..., przez, przez skarb państwa. W tych warunkach nic dziwnego, że kasy ZUS-u są puste, bo zostały obrabowane dosyć, a wtedy się powiada: „No dobrze, być może, że one zostały obrabowane, ale budżet państwa nie rozporządza dziś też żadną rezerwą”. Ponieważ takich dziedzin można wymieniać dużo, a rząd, zdaje się, chyba słusznie jest zdecydowany, że już martwego pieniądza więcej drukować nie będzie, no to odpowiedzią na to mogą być sytuacje szokujące po prostu. Ktoś, kto ma poczucie wisielczego dowcipu, powiedział, że może w takim razie zamiast nowej ustawy o emeryturach, jeżeli nas to nie stać, niech Sejm uchwali jakąś humanitarną ustawę o eutanazji, to przynajmniej da coś tym warstwom, które są w najgorszej sytuacji. No, ale jeżeli rodzą się tego rodzaju wisielcze dowcipy, to znaczy, że jest gorzej, niż niejednokrotnie się wydaje.

Jan Józef Lipski (1926-1991) was one of Poland's best known political activists. He was also a writer and a literary critic. As a soldier in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), he fought in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1976, following worker protests, he co-founded the Workers' Defence Committee (KOR). His active opposition to Poland's communist authorities led to his arrest and imprisonment on several occasions. In 1987, he re-established and headed the Polish Socialist Party. Two years later, he was elected to the Polish Senate. He died in 1991 while still in office. For his significant work, Lipski was honoured with the Cross of the Valorous (Krzyż Walecznych), posthumously with the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta (1991) and with the highest Polish decoration, the Order of the White Eagle (2006).

Listeners: Marcel Łoziński Jacek Petrycki

Film director Marcel Łoziński was born in Paris in 1940. He graduated from the Film Directing Department of the National School of Film, Television and Theatre in Łódź in 1971. In 1994, he was nominated for an American Academy Award and a European Film Academy Award for the documentary, 89 mm from Europe. Since 1995, he has been a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Art and Science awarding Oscars. He lectured at the FEMIS film school and the School of Polish Culture of Warsaw University. He ran documentary film workshops in Marseilles. Marcel Łoziński currently lectures at Andrzej Wajda’s Master School for Film Directors. He also runs the Dragon Forum, a European documentary film workshop.

Cinematographer Jacek Petrycki was born in Poznań, Poland in 1948. He has worked extensively in Poland and throughout the world. His credits include, for Agniezka Holland, Provincial Actors (1979), Europe, Europe (1990), Shot in the Heart (2001) and Julie Walking Home (2002), for Krysztof Kieslowski numerous short films including Camera Buff (1980) and No End (1985). Other credits include Journey to the Sun (1998), directed by Jesim Ustaoglu, which won the Golden Camera 300 award at the International Film Camera Festival, Shooters (2000) and The Valley (1999), both directed by Dan Reed, Unforgiving (1993) and Betrayed (1995) by Clive Gordon both of which won the BAFTA for best factual photography. Jacek Petrycki is also a teacher and a filmmaker.

Tags: ZUS, Social Insurance Institution, Jacek Kuroń

Duration: 2 minutes, 59 seconds

Date story recorded: October 1989

Date story went live: 15 March 2011