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piątek, września 09, 2005

PolBlogcast: The Junk Juggernaut in Warsaw

PolBlogcast: The Junk Juggernaut in Warsaw


Another PolBlogcast


One man's junk is another man's...well, junk too.

In our current PolBlogcast we look at the so-called 'junkification' of Warsaw sidewalks by a growing tide of peddlers. Selling household items from a-z, these sidewalk merchants seem to take a diversity of forms-- retirees, parents overloaded with junk, individuals involved in a larger merchandizing ring. But they all appear to share a common denominator -- they are all poor. The majority of photos are of the sidewalks around Rondo Wiatraczna.



Yard sale gone public



A 'haggling' merchant of Wiatraczna

We have seen toys, pipes, stuffed animals, even used vcr tapes, and old DOS software disks. It's both funny and sad. Are these people really desperately poor or are they just unloading their junk (possibly from dumpster diving) to see if someone will snatch it up? Whatever the reality, the truth is that it's clearly illegal and an eye sore for the neighborhood.



At Szembeka corner, a junk-strewn curb



Branching out

We invite your comments about this issue. What should be done? Is this just something that we should tolerate, afterall at least this stuff isn't clogging up the landfills? And who knows, there might be that hidden treasure to be discovered? Maybe these people would do better to get on eBay, or the Polish version called Allegro? Maybe all they need is a microloan?

What's your opinion?



the goods...




At least the 'green grocers' use tables,
and the veggies and fruits are fresh.


Listen to the PolBlogcast (9 minutes)


Links to Sites mentioned in this PolBlogcast:
1) In the Spotlight (Featured Blog): the beatroot
2) Fundusz Mikro is the not-for-profit microfinance institution. It was established in 1994 by the Polish American Enterprise Fund (PAEF) to promote the development of microenterprises in Poland.

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# posted by ~JS @ 9.9.05

FAIR USE NOTICE This article contains copyrighted material, the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in the efforts to advance understanding of Poland's economic, environmental, human rights, political, scientific, and social justice issues, among others. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material in this article is distributed without profit for research and educational purposes.

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