> How is it Ukraine and Turkey seem determined to join the EU? Btw, is there
a strong anti-
> Russian sentiment in Poland?
WS: EU accession has two major benefits: opening European markets to local industries and opening European job markets to local people. No wonder they want to join.
As to Anti-Russian sentiments in Poland - I think that most of it is coming from the official propaganda and the right-wing nationalistic elements, but there is no much popular resentment.
But attitudes toward Russia and Russians are something peculiar. In the heyday of the Soviet empire, there was a lot of resentment of Soviet policies in EE, but there was remarkably little prejudice against the Russian people. They were actually liked as private citizens and often viewed in contrast to the functionaries of the empire. I think Czechoslovakia after 1968 (and Hungary after 1956) were different in that respect because they were actually invaded by the Soviet troops, but I did not see much popular resentment of the Russian people elsewhere in EE.
I think the main factor that explains it is that, unlike US-sers who tend to be paternalistic and condescending toward foreigners, Russians tend to be very informal, low-key, and folksy, which people seem to like.
Ulhas:
> Don't Poles want to migrate to Germany (and elsewhere in Europe) for jobs?
WS: Big time, but that was fueled mainly by the foreign currency exchange rates. The communist development policies stressed pursued measures that were highly protectionist of the lcoal industries. That involved, inter alia, several different foreign currency exchange rates, depending on whether you were an importer, and exporter, or a consumer. The exchange rate for consumers (including that on the black market) was such as to make foreign goods prohibitively expensive.
One, most likely intended, result of that policy was that import of hard currency was extremely profitable. If you earned your money in Western Europe or the US, but spent them in Eastern Europe - you could fare really well. That was the force behind "guest work."
However, the post communist reforms normalized the currency exchange rate and guest work is no longer as profitable as it used to be. Nowadays, people emigrate to look for work because of high unemployment rates (close to 20 percent in Poland).
Ulhas:
> My impression is that East European countries made high quality films in
the Soviet era. Is
> there any major cultural change in eastern Europe?
WS: I think it is a really mixed picture. There was a lot of state patronage of the arts, but the art produced was mainly of quite provincial quality. I recently rented a few renowned flicks from the "communist" era and their provincial nature was quite apparent. It was quite embarrassing. But that has more to do with the Podunk character of Eastern Europe in general - except perhaps the Czech Republic which is quite urban and urbane- than with the form of sponsorship.
I think one benefit of the market reform was the availability of foreign publications. The communist era was characterized by a relatively wide variety of titles but very low numbers of printed copies. Today, you can get an even wider variety of titles (a big chunk of it is trash, but good stuff is getting translated as well) which are actually available.
I think that Polish cinema is a Polish joke, however. The stuff they seem to be producing now is at best B-quality by Hollywood standards , and the good old stuff is not available on DVD (their video tapes use SECAM and a conversion is required before they can be watched outside Eastern Europe or France).
Wojtek