ABSTRACTS
Introduction
Lajos Eff:
What Kind of Communication
do we Need For Gentle Globalization?
"Naturally global interdependence
boasts its gold medals and hides its faults. Meanwhile the communication
of incoherent, deformed interests becomes amplified. At times the media
displays the behavior of unbalanced dictators; exaggeration is one of the
most popular professions."
Symbol
Language
"Language, whether written
or spoken, is permeated with symbolic values: images, concepts, sounds,
written expression, etc. in everything it expresses and, to a certain extent,
in everything it doesn't." (Source: Jean Chevalier -- Alain Gheerbrant:
Dictionnare des Symbols, Paris, 1973-74)
'Gentle Communication' and
Society
József Zelnik:
Irascibility and Thought,
or: What's Wrong, Hungary?
"... Intellectual events
in Hungary of the past decade, especially the absence of political concepts
and the extent of irascibility, have truly surprised us. To this day we
evade addressing the phenomenon, so obviously documented in the press,
how the development of Hungarian political thinking is inhibited by irascibility,
which permeates all. How high is the stake, that tension runs so high?
What inhibitions, what unripe though process that never ripen into actions
is it, which feeds this irascibility? What degenerated form of behavior
born of unresolved conflict is this animosity? It is our responsibility
to provide gentle and precise answers to these questions, asked louder
and louder with time, or to at least press on with the questioning, perhaps
wording the question a bit slower, in the hope of a more deliberated answer."
Csaba Vass:
A Minimal Program for
Gentle Communication. Human Rights of Communication
"The appearance of the concept
of the freedom of communication during the late middle ages is at the same
time the moment the concept of gentle communication was born."
Imre Baji Lázár:
Crucified on a Frame
Circle, wheel, garden, fence,
frame -- all key words of civilization and in Hungarian all from the same
root. The movement of the man of old as he motions towards his tilled earth
which he has declared his own by fencing it in: a Rousseau-like moment
of the rise of civilisation. In the garden separated from the wild, order
fenced off from chaos examines itself. Sphere of culture, yearly cycle,
circle dance, breaking on the wheel. Garden of Eden, cemetery, English
garden, garden-Hungary, and weaving frame, paradigm frame, frame of existence.
Picture and frame belong together.
The frame could be a picture
frame, a situation, a biological process, a context, or the limit of a
paradigm enclosing upon itself. Within what kind of framework does a vision
or inspiration appear and within what framework can it be possessed?
Stephanus Sartorius:
Tractatus Reclamus-Theologicus
A 'tract' on the 'theology
of advertising'.
Áron Tóbiás:
László Németh and the
Radio. Literature and History 1934-1935
"To this day it is an interesting
topic worth analysing how László Németh, the writer only 36 years old at
the time, the one-man publisher of the journal Tanú and modest school doctor
of the capital city by occupation, became director of the literary department
of the Hungarian Radio, the most powerful cultural authority of the time?
Were the more or less ripened seeds sown by the times, was his personality
gripping, or were things arranged by blind faith... who knows? Perhaps
all three factors played a part, along with several others."
Michael Marien:
Non-Communication and
the Future
Communication is idealistic.
"When we use the verb 'communicate'
we think of passing on information which is comprehended and understood.
The words 'communicator' and 'communicate' indicate our tendency to emphasise
the positive. In other words, we assume that communication has actually
taken place, much the same way we assume that where there is teaching there
is learning ... .
Unfortunately it is not
always so either in the area of communication or the area of education,
a broader form of communication. In our seemingly well-educated society
ignorance is general."
'Gentle Communication' and
Ecology
Lajos György:
General System Theory
and Peaceful Interaction
"General system theory is
a philosophy of nature.
It examines the fundamental
components as well as The Whole, its relationships, interactions, self-contacting,
and the process of recognition. The Whole is more than the total of its
parts, its characteristics are not determined by the characteristics of
the components. Causality is a complicated and complex network."
Tamás Cselószki:
Media and Conservation
International Outlook and
Hungarian Experience
"How can the attention of
the population be drawn towards protecting the environment amidst the cacophony
of the media market, and ad campaigns of companies which fundamentally
endanger sustainable development? The article deals with the problems and
opportunities of environmental communication and gives an insight into
the opinion of Hungarian leaders of green organisations and conservationist
journalists."
'Gentle Communication' and
Ideology
Gyula (S) Sípos:
Brief Opinion on the
Calling and Renewal of the Hungarian Nation
According to the author
God granted every nation a calling which can be deciphered from historic
records and the examination of the inspiration of ethnic culture. After
their arrival to the Carpathian Basin the Magyars created a stable form
of government, made peace between the people living in the area and wandering
through it, made trade routes safe, and thus had a far reaching effect
in its time. Its calling today could be the transformation of life in all
of the Carpathian basin according to the will of Love.
Ways and Ways Out
Tibor Bartos:
Out of the Water
Today draught causes billions
of forints worth of damages, while earlier floods and inland waters did
the same. Will it always be like this? The author travelled the flooded
country with a notepad in hand and a camera behind his back. His illuminating
thoughts, however, go beyond the immediate environment: questions concerning
the country's agriculture, environmental protection, poor financial status,
our European hopes and fears, all churn in waters vital, yet often destructive.
The people of the Sárköz,
who have been coexisting with the "rhythm of the ebb and flow of the Danube
and the Sárvíz, have always managed to reap benefits from both low and
high waters. Until the end of the 18-th century they had no intention of
standing in the way of flooding. Quite the opposite: their intention was
to connect ever-increasing areas into this natural system of respiration."
(Bertalan Andrásfalvy)
Imre Márczi:
Regarding Klebelsberg
"The Hungarian homeland
can only be preserved and once again lifted to greatness not with the sword,
but with culture." The quote is from Klebelsberg Kunó, Minister of Education
following World War I.
The Scenes of Our Lives
Focus on: Community Areas
In this column we continue
the publication of excerpts from Pattern Language (Christopher Alexander:
Pattern Language. Towns, Buildings, Construction. New York, 1981) which
pertain to the chosen topic of the journal.
"No social formation, be
it family, a work group, or school group, could survive without the constant
direct contact among its members. Buildings, which house human communities,
support this contact by providing spaces used by everyone. The formation
and positioning of these spaces has a decisive effect on the life of the
group. Let us examine a good example of this through the introduction of
the living room of a working family in Peru."
Ernő P. Szabó:
Towards a New Atlantis.
Hungarians at the Seventh International Architectural Exhibit in Venice
"Crisis, and not simply
an architectural crisis, but a crisis of humanity, a dead end in the process
of historical development, is how the vision of Massimiliano Fuksas, the
outstanding architect and director of the exhibit can be summarised, from
which he formed the main concept of the exhibit: 'Less aesthetics, more
ethics!' And, he added to support his idea, a stronger and more complex
relationship between architects and the 'users' of architectural products,
the citizens, must be founded, for only by thinking together can the world-wide
crisis of city development, be stopped."
Masters and Workshops
László Hollós:
Coming Home. Gábor Karátson
and Change
"Not wanting to add a personal
tint to this irregular 'portrait of a master', allow me to do so in the
introduction. I've known Gábor Karátson for a long time, and I truly like
him. I like his humanity that knows no limits, his comforting and deep
wisdom, his view of life that emanates hope in the most hopeless of circumstances,
his relentless honesty, his unusual, playful sense of humour. I could continue
listing the things I like about him. I would be honoured if he would consider
me his friend. ... At Gábor Karátson's request we wandered the magical
landscapes of Transylvania along the Setétpatak. We wandered and talked."
Péter Medgyasszay:
Building Nature. A discussion
with Attila Ertsey
Defencelessness, or autonomy?
That is the final question.
A discussion on technical
development, 'gentle technology', and the Hungarian Gentle Technology Foundation,
of which Ertsey is president.
Eco-Grumbling
Magyargaszkár.hu. A Reader's
Indictment on Self Destruction
"I arrived back to Budapest
from my brief trip to Madagascar just yesterday. I gave myself two months
to do some historical research on the legendary Count Móricz Benyovszky.
Actually, I would have really liked to take a long-awaited vacation. But
then everything worked out very differently. I spent barely 4-5 days in
Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, when I decided to cut the trip
short and return to Budapest as soon as possible. Unfortunately everything
felt strangely familiar."
Green Forum
László Csekei:
Brighter Than the Sun.
Conference on Renewable Energy
"On June 18, 2000, a symposium
entitled 'Ecological Alternatives in Hungary II' took place at the Nádasdy
manor in Nádasdladány as part of a series of events organised by the Nádasdy
Foundation beginning in 1999. The symposium's chosen date -- the last Sunday
before summer solstice -- was no accident: the topic of the conference
was in accordance with Sun-day events held all over Europe."
Béla Borsos:
A Year at Gyűrűfű. 1999-2000
"The experiment at Gyűrűfű,
described in detail in the 22nd edition of Ökotáj, has both gained momentum
and come to a standstill at the same time. The years of struggle have come
to fruition and several plans, considered dreams at best, were materialised
this past summer."
Gardening Without Limits.
Professional Conference Series
"A Hungarian enterprise
has initiated an exemplary undertaking: with the aid of outstanding supporters
it has organised a series of conferences intended to assist Hungarian gardening
companies and entrepreneurs in building relationships in neighbouring countries
and the whole of the Carpathian Basin. The ideology of the organisers is
that the future of the Carpathian Basin rests on fruitful gardening, which
in turn rests on dependable, successful human cooperation."
Bookshelf
Book Review of
Kalle Lasn: Culture Jam
-- The Uncooling of America
According to David C. Korten
the book is an indispensable survival handbook for our race: how to face
up to the suicidal consumer social attitude and its consequences.
The 'McDonaldization'
of the World
Book review of: Paul
Aričs: McDonald's Children
The famous French political
scientist, Paul Aričs, has published several works on nutrition and its
social aspects. In this work he systematically tears the ideology behind
McDonald's to shreds, as well as its practical implementation. He examines
each phenomenon individually using in-depth psychological analysis of McDonald's
documents.
Book Review of :
Marshall McLuhan: Understanding
Media -- The Extension of Man
"McLuhan's book, published
again thirty years after its original publication, was a basic work on
the state of mass communication, which was in its beginning stages of development
at the time. Today it is considered a classic as is the terminology he
created, such as 'world village', 'the age of information', and 'the medium
is the message' ... According to his fans this work placed him in the same
ranks with such great thinkers as Newton, Darwin, Freud, Einstein and Pavlov."
Book Review of:
Roderick Frazier Nash:
The History of Environmental Ethics
"The author, a professor
of the history of environmental conservation in the United States, attempts
to map the roots and development of environmental ethics and provide an
overview of the relationship between liberal American tradition and the
development of conservation."
EcoLibrary
In this column we introduce
works from the collection of our library, published abroad dealing with
the theme of our current edition. |