LEPSZE JUTRO BYŁO WCZORAJ
Thinking approach the project that I will perform in Warsaw with the same line as the project I did in Tarragona, I started thinking about what sentence would be appropriate to be reflected in this neighborhood, the Prague neighborhood of Warsaw. My intention, as in Tarragona, is to find a sentence with a meaning in the past that can be used in the present, claiming its validity. In this sense, Tomec, GPAS street worker, told me about a phrase that many people remember in the neighborhood, because it was in a wall for 30 years, the phrase is Lepsze Jütro Wczoraj Było, in English “better tomorrow was yesterday”. I understand that this sentence refers to the communist era in the neighborhood, and broken promises of capitalism and democracy. This phrase was removed about three years ago, my job would be to return the phrase to the neighborhood.
The next day, walking around the neighborhood with the group, we talk with a older women who claimed to be agree with the arguments of the sentence. For her, in the communist era life was better in the neighborhood, for reasons such as economic conditions for housing, making it much worse: today they live without hot water and in a very small rooms. She told us that this winter 17 people have died because the cold weather in the apartments, only in her building. Also she remember better conditions for work, “used to work a few hours, and then could devote to caring for her family” today, she said, “are much worse jobs, and take all day.” She also complain about the conditions of the neighborhood, which was previously well kept …. This women seemed not to remember factors like lack of individual freedom and expression under communism. Which surprised me a lot. Having been educated in democracy and capitalism, I’ve always heard evil of communism, even by the same people on the left …
It seems that this phrase can be quite representative of the neighborhood and connected to the living social reality. These days I want to do many interviews with people from the neighborhood, to see how much they are agree with this statement. For this, Anna is going to help me, an also I need some translators…