[ polska wersja ]
I am disturbed by the refusal of Polish Narodowy Fundusz Ochrony Środowiska to fund the "Zielone Brygady" biweekly in the year 2000. This jeopordizes publication of "Zielone Brygady" biweekly - a loss to the Polish environmental movement.
| First and last name | Organisation/occupation | Address | Signature (if available over e-mail) |
Thank you very much. Please circulate through your networks.
Andrzej Żwawa
Since January 31th, 2000 the following persons have signed the petition (until last updating of the file, in chronological order)
The day before Xmas Eve (1999) I found out that biweekly "Zielone Brygady. Pismo Ekologów" (as well as "Dzikie Życie" and "Kropla" publications) did not receive grants from the Polish National Fund for the Protection of the Environment (Narodowy Fundusz Ochrony Środowiska, NFOŚ) in year 2000.
Reason? As far as I know unofficially, the rules have changed without notice. I say "unofficially" because a member of the Board of Directors of NFOŚ and a rep of NGOs were denied access to the records of the application review commission! Their response was that publications with circulation smaller than 15 thousand copies are no longer supported. NFOŚ is denying this now, yet it is known that one publication with circulation similar to that of "Zielone Brygady" and "Dzikie Życie" did receive funding.
The review commission also had substantial objections to the contents of "Zielone Brygady", such as, understandably, texts of "anarchists, leftists, opponents of bombing of Yugoslavia by NATO...". Forgetting that "Zielone Brygady" gives voice to proponents as well as opponents of Catholic Church, European Union and NATO, the commission accused "Zielone Brygady" of being "sectarian".
Consequently, I have received many suggestions about how to financially
support "Zielone Brygady" and protest the NFOŚ decision. After consulting with several individuals I have concluded that a petition is an effective means. I am kindly asking you to help by signing the petition and passing it on. I hope your signature will help NFOŚ adopt clear criteria for funding community initiatives and will rescue grassroots publications.
Andrzej Żwawa, Editor in Chief