[Spotykach] Experience of East-West meetings

[Olha]

Hi, 

I found it's interesting that discussing initiated by activists from so called
Western fraction.
I agree with Will and Laura that problem is not unilateral coming from the
Western who only dominate but in the same time I would like to point out why
easterners allows so develop in unbalance way and make westerners feel more
powerful and smart even its far a way from the reality. Here some
half-philosophical ideas:

1. "Quest" syndrome.
for many to visit a place abroad and even on own land but with foreigners
insolvent awake a "guest" syndrome when people get closed and awaiting to be
treated in certain way with following respect and giving space for the "owner"
to rule the situation. It has a bit to do with Eastern mentality/hospitality
discourse when a host is full responsible for the guest with giving and care as
much as possible from the heart and the quest just consuming and enjoy. If he
start to be too much self-initiative- it will be considered as a unrespect.
This is one of the so called communal rules when hospitality is a great tool to
care for others. In western discourse is a bit different: even you are quest,
you act autonomously and don't expect too much from the host. In most cases if
you are invited, you supposed to bring own food with, pay own cover a costs of
your staying as a normal things of rational society. Any the main is to care
yourself of your own feeling good, have initiative to get integrated by
yourself. Sometime the present of two different perceptions about hospitality
as many other wrong expectation from each other can cost a problem.

2. Differences in finding a common topic.

Now it concerns not real anarchists but more broader circle of activists: the
most of western alternative activists clearly have problem with capitalist
system  of being in and looking for alternatives, also expressing interest to
the Eastern friends to find some solutions also coming from them maybe. In the
same time Easterners naively think that the answer is in Western style of being
and therefor don't understand "what these westerners not happy about (they have
everything they need: money, doll, supermarkets etc) and what they want always
to discuss. Many participants coming to the West to taste it, but not speak how
bad it is. There might be again a clash of expectations. I don't know is it
real correct to say concerning anarchists but many so called civil society
children of Papa Soros, are like this.

3. Different distance to the reality.

This is a reason for mentioned above factors. While a mainstream media is a
main source of information about the West still with its "shiny" side, people
cultivate "myths" about smart Western heros, good equipped, powerful, having a
lot of money etc which somehow concerns all Westerners (I mean also Americans)
in a perceptions of easterners. Somehow it works like a psychological
pollution. I am experience exactly different by seeing how such smarter, who
trained push certain bottoms in automatic tools, plays role of "cool man", in a
situation when automatic does not reply, getting into a looser. And then a
simple person close to the ground, who have good develop "inner smartness",
able find a way out of the situation without pretending to be a hero.
What I wanted to say with that starting from so far a way is following:
sometime I have a feeling that people from the east living more close to the
ground, to real world. They look on things more simply, without having brain
full of theories and ideas, but ready to action/make changes without discussion
it too much. For me it was always exhausted participate in endless discussion
about topics which rather gave me impression "talking for talking" when in the
end I did not have idea for what all this was. Recently I find out that this
feature is one of the German tradition described in book of Sylvia
Schroll-Machl  "Die Deutchen-Wir Deutchen". where intercultural interaction is
a main topic. The best for me would be a balance: A Westerners less talking
using the political cliches and looking into a real world, coming from a books
into a reality to learn a language of simple person. Sometimes Easterner blamed
of political illiteracy. This is true. But I want to be careful into turning
now eastern population into total learning western tradition which was
developing many years. I also want westerners learn to be more "inner world"
kind of people. Last point is important cause I know many people are so: they
don't speak too much but they have got incredibly nice world hidden under the
silence and they able to do a lot cause they feel it by intuition, they don't
need discuss_rediscuss too much certain things. This is partly a phenomenon of
so called "Eastern soul" (expression which has nothing to do with a religious).
There can be found solidarity, real help. understanding, warmness etc which is
missed in "pure discussion" habits.  There can be found a life and because of
it, it's more likely to get a feeling that life is possible to change as a real
things instead of just talking about it.

be continued..since there are more hidden under the surface.

Olga


 




>I was particularly interested in two ideas in the presentation of the 
>Spotykach list:
>- the imbalance in communication between participants, often with a 
>predefined sense of dominance of the western participants [Does this mean 
>the "westerners" define THEMSELVES as dominant, or they are MADE dominant by 
>the "easterners"? Or a bit of both?!]
>- finding ways of overcoming the predefined discriminative organizational 
>and psychological inequalities bewteen east and west.
>
>I was heavily involved in organizing the Anarcho-Syndicalist East-West 
>Meetings in 1992 (Berlin), 1994 (Prague) and 1995 (Füzesgyarmat, HU). I felt 
>the meetings were rather chaotic, as I think most other participants did 
>too. That's probably unavoidable when you have people coming together for 
>the first time from a range of different countries, backgrounds and 
>generations; anarchists, anarcho-syndicalists, council communists, 
>counter-culture punks, etc., etc. Not to mention the language barrier...
>
>One situation that comes to mind took shape at one one of the painfully 
>slow, multi-lingual assemblies at the meeting in Prague in 1994. For a few 
>days no one from Poland had been at the meeting at all, it seemed, but then 
>a group turned up. Anna Niedzwiecka was one of them. Unfortunately the 
>people were very withdrawn and I don't remember them making any 
>contribution, verbally or otherwise (e.g. helping with cooking, fetching 
>water, etc.). I think something was really wrong with the "vibes" there, but 
>I never found out what. Several months later I saw a rather negative report 
>on the meeting in Mac pariadku, but my Polish is poor and my memory even 
>worse, so I never understood what it said. I can imagine that there was some 
>perception of predefined dominance - it would have been great to understand 
>how those people felt the dynamics to be. 
>
>Bye for now.
>
>Will, Berlin (FAU) 
>
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