1. Case-study No. & Title:
200. Program promoting refugees’ cultural, educational, and social activities in a local cultural center (Podkowa Circle), in Podkowa Leśna, Poland (1993-1999).

Keywords

2. Author information
2.1 Author’s Name
Joanna Wawrzyniak

2.2 Institutional Affiliation and Contact Details:
Warsaw University, Institute of Sociology (PhD student)

contact address:
ul. Sierpecka 6/32
01-592 Warszawa
Poland

E-mail: kochanowiczjoanna@wp.poczta.pl

2.3 Date recorded
29/10/2000

3. Good Practice Information Sheet
3.1 Local Level Good Practice:
The program was targeted at refugees settled in the neighbourhood, mainly in the national Center for Refugees "Dębak". The aim was to integrate them with the local community but at the same time to promote their cultural distinctiveness. The practice included mainly cultural, but also educational activities, as well as social assistance. In addition, an important aspect of the program was to attract public attention both to the issue of immigrants in Poland and to the local community in which the practice took place. The program offered a variety of activities from day-to-day practices (such as afternoon classes in the Armenian language), to help in organizing Amnesty International conferences, and publishing a first volume of the periodical "Exile and Culture" [Uchodźstwo i Kultura].

The practice was a part of a complex local curriculum offered by the communal cultural centre. It must be noted that it is only this one part of the curriculum – targeted directly at immigrants - that is analyzed here. However, this program cannot be entirely separated from other activities at the centre: they were all closely related to one another, as the main concern of the centre’s staff was cultural integration and co-operation.

3.2 Location:
The practice was set in Podkowa Leśna, a small town with around 3500 inhabitants located 25 km away from Warsaw, with the status of a gmina (the lowest administration level). The activities related to the project mostly took place in the local cultural center at Świerkowa street (property of the gmina). The director of the centre was an employee of the local authorities. The conventional name of the place - Town Cultural Center - was changed to Podkowa Circle.

3.3 Minority/Target Groups:
Minority: refugees, mostly from Armenia, but also from Chechnya, Georgia, Albania, Bosnia, Russia, and others;
Target group: refugees settled in the Center for Refugees "Dębak" (a national government property) placed at the border with the neighbouring gmina, Nadarzyn, or immigrants with unclear legal status, living in different areas of the two gminas.

3.4 Major Actors Involved

3.5 Budget allocated by local government authorities and/or by other actors
Exact amounts are not available. Apart of providing the necessary premises, the local authorities usually sponsored around one third of expenditures related to functioning of the Podkowa Circle – mostly for wages of permanent employees and maintenance of the premises (around USD 30,000 per year). The rest of the funds came either from the Circle’s own earnings (e.g. from selling tickets for performances) or from various donors, mostly NGOs. The three largest grants (around USD 80,000 each) came from the Open Society Institute. Among many other sponsors were the UNHCR, Batory Foundation, YMCA, ELEKTRIM. Help was also given in kind, for instance from the Polish Central Bank, the Government Cabinet, KARTA Center, or in the form of volunteers’ work (e.g. YMCA, Polish Humanitarian Action). For instance, in 1995:

Please note that above funds and help were not targeted solely at immigrants. They were related to the functioning of the local cultural center at large, the exact amounts spent for the refugee program are not available.

3.6 Timeframe
The initiative started when in October 1993 a new director of the Town Cultural Center was appointed. It lasted until 1999, when he was dismissed. The last activity related to the whole program took place in May 1999. As the official curricula of all annual activities were not always prepared in advance, and given that the program consisted of many various spontaneous activities, it is difficult to give a precise date when each of them was first proposed, officially launched, or put in practice. The first activity related to immigrants, a carnival ball for children coming both from the town and from the Center for Refugees "Dębak", took place in January 1994; the last activity, a feast organized on the occasion of Children’s Day, with the cooperation of Polish Humanitarian Action, took place in May 1999.

3.7 Local level good practice relation to national level ethnic policy
The relation of the practice in question toward national level ethnic policy is ambiguous. On the one hand, it took place in "no man’s land", because the cultural activities of refugees do not fall under the consideration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (responsible for immigrants). On the other hand, however, the local activities were sometimes inconvenient to the Ministry’s authorities, who were not always very keen on any forms of refugees’ organized activities (according to information of the Circle’s former employee). In addition, the staff of the local center offered sometimes cultural and social assistance to those immigrants with unclear legal status. Nevertheless, no official statement was ever made on behalf of the Ministry to condemn the local practice.

4. Good Practice Description
Local community and immigrants
For years, the local community in Podkowa Leśna had been ethnically homogeneous. It consisted mostly of relatively wealthy and educated Polish citizens (often private entrepreneurs lawyers, doctors, politicians, scientists, artists, intellectuals, civil servants, etc.). However, at the beginning of 1990s, on the border of Podkowa Leśna and the neighbouring gmina, Nadarzyn, the national Center for Refugees "Dębak" was established, to shelter refugees seeking political asylum. The Center for Refugees started to work under the auspices of the UNHCR; later it became the property of the Polish government. From that time on, immigrants of various origins have become a part of the local picture, as the Center for Refugees have so far hosted immigrants among others from Bosnia, Armenia, Chechnya, Belarus, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. The national Center works relatively well: it provides meals and accommodation for the immigrants, and hires committed and tolerant staff. However, there is not much room and resources for satisfying anything more than the basic needs of the immigrants.

Curriculum of the communal cultural center:
The curriculum of the newly-changed communal cultural center met the challenge of accommodating the new-comers, although the whole initiative was complex and not limited to the immigrants only. It aimed at cultural integration and co-operation understood in a broad sense. Four sets of activities may be distinguished so as to summarize briefly what took place in Podkowa Circle from 1993 until 1999, when the program was closed down, and the center’s director was dismissed.

First, the program included both presentation of the culture of various minorities coming from different areas in Poland (for instance: Roma, Lemk) and of ethnic groups coming from other nations (e.g. Croatia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Russia, Ireland, Scotland). Second, there were presentations of the music of various subcultures. Third, the center carried out work with refugees settled in the neighbourhood, including: cultural and educational activities as well as social assistance. The co-operation with immigrants was aimed at integrating them with a local community but at the same time at promoting their cultural distinctiveness. It also included co-operation with institutions dealing with humans rights in general, such as Amnesty International or the UNHCR. It tried to promote the local community as a place of tolerance, a place in which various – even international - initiatives were to be discussed, or put in practice. Fourth, the center hosted a set of activities, which are among the general responsibilities of any communal cultural center in Poland, such as movie shows, dance, art classes, or other hobbies’ sections, and various exhibitions and festivals. However, compared with other communal centres in Poland, the level of activities offered by the Circle was exceptionally high.

Although only one part of the curriculum is analyzed below, it must be noted that a precise division between the four parts cannot be made: they were all closely related, as the main goal of the whole project was cultural integration. The immigrants, for instance, presented their own music during the festivals (which are grouped with the first part of the program), or anarchists (the second part) acted as volunteers in organizing parties for immigrant and Polish children. In addition, refugees were invited to organize their own activities in the Circle on the same basis as any other local citizens (the fourth part).

Before getting into the details of the progam, it is worth mentioning that the curriculum of Podkowa Circle was praised by various international authorities, among others by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. It also won the first prize in the national competition – "Small Homelands" - devoted to positive local level initiatives (1995). The importance of the whole curriculum was summarized by the performers of the most famous Polish alternative theatre group: "Podkowa Circle has set an example to the world – a place of tolerance and learning, a place for people who see their hometown from the perspective of the whole European community" (Theatre of the Eighth Day).

Actors
Podkowa Leśna, like all other gminas in Poland, is governed by elected local authorities. The main decision-making body is a Town Council. The appointment of a director of the Town Cultural Center is one among many prerogatives of the Council. The decision of appointing a new director that was made in 1993 was far-reaching in its consequences. It would be impossible to understand the whole program without taking into account the strong personality and authority of the Center’s director. It is not an exaggeration to say that he was the main actor, a spiritus movens, of the whole initiative. During his employment, the resources devoted to the Center (later: Circle) increased substantially, due to the positive relations with various sponsors. As the Circle was not solely dependent on the annual budget allocated by the Town Council, it was able to broaden its curriculum beyond the statutory obligations. The Circle became a unique local center in Poland, and one where the statutory obligations became integrated with spontaneous civil activities.

The Circle based its activities on the work of permanent staff (7-10), on a large set of collaborators or volunteers, and on people working in exchange for obtaining premises for their cultural activities. Hence there were various actors who were co-operating, among others: a student theatre, anarchist music bands and organizations, volunteers from the YMCA, Civil Service International Organisation, or Polish Humanitarian Action, and – obviously - immigrants.

Among sponsors, there were: OSI, UNHCR, Batory Foundation, Foundation for Culture, ELEKTRIM, ANIMEX, Ministry of Culture and Art, Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation, Embassies of Canada and of the Netherlands, Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Polish Central Bank, PHARE, Idee- Insititute for Democracy in Eastern Europe, Polish Government Cabinet, Museum of Literature, KARTA Center.

Details of the program:
While dealing with immigrants it is important to bear in mind their varied origins and the very unstable nature of their stay in Poland, which is very often only a transitory stop on their way to Western Europe. It is further the case that individuals do not want, or are allowed, to stay in the Center for Refugees for more than one year. No official count was ever made of the refugees who came to the Circle and noone was interested in their legal status, so activities tended to involve also other immigrants living in the neighbourhood. Armenians were the most active ethnic group, so most of the events were organised in co-operation with them, but there were also refugees of different origins.

The activities are listed in the following order. First, day-to-day practices or those that were intended not just to be an occasional event. Second, occasional events, either with the Circle as the main animator (mainly feasts, balls, and exhibitions), or ones initiated by the UNHCR or Amnesty International (mainly meetings and conferences that took place in Circle premises; with the cultural program that usually accompanied these meetings having been designed by the Circle’s staff). Finally, there is a section devoted to the co-existence of immigrant program with other programs offered by the Circle’s curriculum with the stress on co-operation and reciprocation.

Day-to-day practices:

Cultural events with the Circle as the main animator:

Co-operation with the UNHCR and Amnesty International

Reciprocation
An important aspect of the functioning of the refugee program was its integration with other activities which took place in the Circle. As already mentioned, the Armenian Club was hosted by the Circle on the same basis as other local associations, which meant that the Club was obliged to act for the benefit of the local community. Obviously, various Armenian feasts and exhibitions were regarded as also being of benefit to local citizens. However, there were also other activities undertaken by Armenians. For instance, they helped in renovating the Circle’s premises, often providing voluntary work. In this respect, the Armenian initiative that was most widely recognized was the building of a wooden playground for the local children.

In return, other groups hosted by the Circle acted for the benefit of the refugees. For instance, the members of a student theatre, or various anarchists groups, often took care of immigrant children. They provided their assistance in preparing various children parties or feasts, or helped with preparation of children’s exhibitions, and events.

Local Conflict
This section explains why the Circle (and at the same time the refugee program) – despite its widely-recognized appeal and significance – was closed down by the local authorities. This requires going into details of a local conflict which grew up around the Town Cultural Center. Since the Center was given its new name of Podkowa Circle, and new programs were launched there, a relatively small group of local citizens started to protest. At the beginning, their dissatisfaction was marginalized, as the Circle’s programs had the full approval of the Council. However, the situation changed after new elections, when the opponents of the Circle acquired a considerably large representation.

The dissatisfied members of the community organized their own association called Social Committee for the Self-Defence, and edited their own newsletter. The main target of their attacks was the Circle’s director. They proposed dismissing the director and putting the Circle under direct control of the Local Council. The conflict became especially heated when the Circle implemented the subcultures program and anarchists from different organizations and music bands started to be frequent guests in the town. Their haircuts, dressing style, and vocabulary were not favoured among the local community. Thus, once the dissatisfied fraction had a majority in the Local Council, the director was dismissed and the Circle’s program closed down. It must be added that the refugees never became a target of open attacks. Unfavourably disposed comments on their status in the Circle functioned only as rumours, for instance that the Circle did not do anything for the local citizens (whatever it was supposed to mean), and spent money on foreigners.

It is difficult to discover the rationale behind attacks undertaken by the members of the association, however, it seems that they really believed in what they said and wrote. The unfortunate closure of the Circle appears to have been partly the effect of an unwillingness on both sides to reach a compromise. For a long time, the opponents of the Circle were treated by its staff as black sheep in a generally tolerant and open community. Therefore, negative opinions were marginalized and not treated very seriously. Only the sad ending helped to foster the realisation that democracy works both ways, and even seemingly unimportant or "wrong" opinions have to be taken into account. On the other hand, the members of the Self-Defence group were never interested in explanations offered by the Circle’s director.

Conclusion
The refugee program offered by Podkowa Circle was a local-level initiative with a complex curriculum that was unique in Poland. It not only recognized the problems of refugees living in the neighbourhood and offered them cultural assistance, but also involved them in local activities. Furthermore, it tried to promote the local community on the basis of its tolerance and the attractiveness of the local cultural program. Indeed, the town became recognized by various national, and international organizations, as a place in which various events and meetings might be organized. However, the animators of the Circle did not take into account the negative opinions on the part of the local community. Due to the conflict which grew up around the programs offered by the Circle the whole project was closed by the decision of the Local Council. A lesson which should be learned from the unfortunate end of the Circle is that this is not enough to have an own vision of the common good for the local community, but it is necessary to discuss this vision with other members of this community, even if their opinions are totally different.

Main sources of information
Interview with the former director of the Circle; documentation of the Circle; local and national press.