Global Voices Online

Who says that in the blogosphere text is king? Photographers are alive and clicking in the Polish Blogosphere. Fotosia shows us everyday Poland through her camera. Staying with the visual arts, Polska＊ポーランド＊Poland provides a virtual tour of Warsaw parks, from a Japanese perspective (though I don't know what the perspective on Warsaw sushi bars is).

From shutterbugs to Papal-inspired censorship (that's right, Poland has it all), P3 reports that in preparation for Pope Benedict XVI's visit to Poland at the end of May, officials are planning to “purge from television programs ads for personal hygiene products and underwear…”

In the comments section, M. Farris adds a translated Polish idiom for some cultural context: “I've heard an expression in Polish for this, called ‘painting the grass green' (before the arrival of a bigshot).”

Perhaps the grass is greener on the political front? To help add some clarity, the beatroot announces his very own political barometer called the PiS-ed off Index:

The methodology to the PiS-ed off Index (PoI) is simple: compare the PiS-led government’s opinion poll ratings to their share of the vote in last September's general election.

The Index will provide a measure of how “…unhappy and disappointed Law and Justice party (PiS) voters have become since last autumn’s general election.” At the moment the PiS party PoI Index is zero.

Far from wanting a zero on anything, millions of Polish high schoolers have taken their final examscalled “Matura.” According to Kinuk in Poland, in what might appear at first a spectacular invasion of Agent Smith (of Matrix fame) progeny:

Maturzysci, as the students taking the end-of-school exams (the equivalent of British A-levels) are called, still dress up to write their exams. Black trousers or black skirts for some, white shirt or blouse and often a black jacket or cardigan sets them out from the rest of the crowd on the bus or the street.

Apparently, student procrastination is universal in scope, and even memorialized in Poland, according to Kinuk, in a 60's song entitled “The exam’s in a day, in an hour, soon, getting closer, in a minute!” (In Polish: Oj, za dzień matura, za godzinę, już niedługo, coraz bliżej, już za chwilę!).

During last week Polish language bloggers were mostly preoccupied by the newly reformed government, with not one, but two populistic leaders - made ministers in exchange for their parties support. Andrzej Lepper, who was recently convicted for libel, and Roman Giertych, right-wing radical with a record of hate speech, barely started to adjust to their new functions, and already one Pole has decided to renounce his citizenship:

…[he] decided to leave our rejuvenated homeland and go into inner emigration - literally.

That’s the Poland blogopshere update! Until next time - Do widzenia!