Abstract
Foreword
"As far back as we can tell the most important function within human communities has been that of the mediator. The transmission of information, bringing news about the world, but first of all the exploration of the correct, the pure, the peaceful Way – what the forces (whatever they be) influencing, limiting and guiding man and the community want, what they make possible, and what they allow – was a fundamental necessity of life.
Technology, a direct result of modern, pragmatic materialism, has turned this once superior human function into an industry. Is there a way out of the pseudo-entertaining, stupefying, advertisementbelching mechanism?
Szimbólum
Abstract
The Box
"The box is a feminine symbol of the subconscious, of the womb, which always carries a secret within it: it locks and separates from the world all that which is valuable, ephemeral, or potentially terrible. While capable of protection, it is at the same time repressive and preventive. Pandora's Box is a symbol of a secret which must remain hidden from humanity forever – Pandora's Box must not be opened. ...
From: Jean Chevalier – Alain Gheerbrant: Dictionnaire des Symboles (Paris, 1973-1974, Seghers)
Abstract
The Chest
"The basis of the symbolism of the chest is twofold. On one hand it symbolizes the act of hiding something, placing it somewhere, for example when we place a material or spiritual treasure in a chest. On the other hand it symbolizes the act of opening something, which is analogous to the act of annunciation.?"
From: Jean Chevalier – Alain Gheerbrant: Dictionnaire des Symboles (Paris, 1973-1974, Seghers)
Abstract
The Marionette
"A marionette is small puppet figure made of wood, bone or textile, moved by an artist with the aid of strings, or simply his own fingers. These small creatures, which submit themselves to all external influences and completely lack any strength of character, symbolize frivolous and rash people who lack both principle and character. ..."
From: Jean Chevalier – Alain Gheerbrant: Dictionnaire des Symboles (Paris, 1973-1974, Seghers)
Médium
Abstract
Images and Gates
"An image is always limited, and often framed. The frame of the "holy corner" of the end of the millennium is the television, with its rim a gateway to the image. A well has a rim too – the well: a source of life-giving water. Today the television screen within the rim is our source of information. Water, money, news – a stream of life-organizing goods complete with dams and controlled lock-gates; a course of circulation channeled into our homes. And we, the consumers, are its end users – even in the eschatological sense."
Abstract
The Anti-Christ Brain-Laundry
"The dogma's of globalization's world of merchandise and money are fundamentally contradictory to the teachings of Christianity. Yet the destructive genie of the Antichrist regularly appears in our homes from within the altar-lamp of the magic box, glowing blue. The powerful influence of mediamagic charms and chains the viewer to itself, thereby transforming homes hooked into the network of cables and frequencies into circus-like places of worship, a residence of Satan. Our homes become our own hospital wards, for this is where the dissemination of Antichrist gospels happens, by way of radiation. According to Satan Christianity is a cancerous process, both intellectually and spiritually, which needs to be cured.
Let us examine just how the network of effective Antichrist propagators works."
Abstract
Intervention-Initiation
The article casts a glance at the degree to which technology and services serve and transform man's demand for information and knowledge: "What is knowledge? Does it have any constant, unchanging elements? All connections between the content and quality of knowledge, and its mediator, seem to be coming to an end. Increasingly, content is being defined, and often created, by technology itself. McLuhan famous statement – The Medium is the Message – seems to be coming true in our day and age to an alarming degree.
Abstract
Public Service and Political Media Usage (Outline of the relationship between the civil service nature of mass media and the statesman.)
"The war of the media has deformed the relationship between media and politics, or rather politicians, and politics and politicians, and to a lesser degree the media, suffer the consequences. They have lost their stable foundation of operation, and this has exiled them to the disenchantingly superficial realm of politics. This is especially disillusioning, since this relationship has the capacity to render their work truly attractive to both themselves and the public."
Abstract
Total Mediality and Ecocide
"In our day and age the perception of development based on advanced technology generating ecologically sensitive development (for example a decrease in energy usage, the creation of networks resulting in a decrease of transportation needs, etc.), is a common one. According to this concept the two directions of development not only don't disqualify each other: they support each other."
The author of the article presents a criticism of medialization from an ecological perspective. He points out that by exemplifying an increase in consumption demands, covering up environmental problems, turning social discourse into a focus on pseudo-problems, and confusing the media-consumer's sense of time and space the increasingly absolute media network is thrusting the world towards the very real danger of ecocide.
Abstract
Absent Minded Notes on Cultural Television
"At this very moment more than a hundred-million people are sitting before a television screen surfing channels, one of them being their very own digestive system. This is not a bad thing. It is basically an achievement and could even lead to long-lasting peace. Some of the images, however, allude to something else in the making, and I don't necessarily mean the news. For those with a good sense for scenario it is superfluous to emphasize that the situation itself, including the junk food, the undigested puzzle pieces of information, the un-increasable rigid heap of negative sensations, and the false outbreaks of joie de vivre all around us with its stereotyped patterns serving as a example for the masses, is indeed reality itself. At the same time it is surrounded by a vast number of world-scale festering conflicts, and our attitude proclaims our ignorance. It seems as though we have again forgotten the culture of our own consciousness."
Abstract
Is There Such a Thing as Communal Television-Watching?
"Television robs us of our time. Television kills activity. What television provides in the place of time, space and activity is decidedly harmful. Is there such a thing as communal television-watching??"
Közvetítés
Abstract
The Atlantic-Alternative. Preparations for a New Hungarian Media Law
The Hungarian sphere of politics, and even an increasing portion of society, is beginning to realize that the very structure of Hungarian mass media ill. However, we accept this situation far too easily by declaring that the media law cannot be changed amidst the intensified political war. It is worth examining whether the awkwardness of the media law and the inflamed war between the political parties are the sole reasons behind our inertia, or is it really a symptom of the worldwide tectonic cultural drift.
Over the past few years the American Congress has begun a revision of the telecommunications law of 1996. A debate has ensued which includes the Federal Communication Committee as well as local governments, about who communicates to whom, about what, and through which organs in this 'age of has digitalization'." The article is based on: Jeffrey Chester, Gary O. Larson: 10 steps to more democratic media (Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures. 2005. Spring).
Abstract
Preliminary Study on the Creation of a Hungarian Cultural Audiovisual Archives
The primary goal of the Hungarian Cultural Audiovisual Archives, a strictly non-profit organization, would be the digital mapping of spheres of society and culture which fall beyond the scope and collections of specific archives. It would strive to map and store the main characteristics and products of a cultural cross-section, and to make them available, without economic limitations and in a nonprofit fashion. The basis for the development of the archives must be an approach which emphasizes the principles of culture.
Abstract
Media-Uprising, or the Liberating Media
"When the Federal Communication Committee of the United States submitted a proposal which would have allowed further company consolidation in the media, a new grass-roots movement was born which broke through the front lines and the limits of color and social class: America voted against the proposal unanimously."
Életünk színterei
Abstract
Private Business
"Profit-oriented business results in the creation of increasingly larger department stores and shopping centers. In this way stores soon fall completely under the economic control of department store networks and trade associations. With this increase in size the individual nature of service is lost, and the conditions of existence for small shops, deteriorates. Trade organizations often give the impression that their stores are in private hands. This impression, however, is false."
Abstract
The Corner Grocery Store
"Most of a community's shopping needs are served by small shops, which at the same time promote the growth of neighborly relations and contribute to the population's maintenance of identity. Today, however, planners and architects seem to think that people are reluctant to go to shop at small local stores. This, in fact, is not the case. Not only do people like to walk to the store nearby, but the 'corner grocery store' plays an important role in the life of a healthy community, and in the maintenance of the awareness of belonging together.
Abstract
Cafés
"Cafés opening up onto the sidewalk is an extraordinary location in the life of a town. It is a place where, according to established tradition, one has the opportunity for peaceful relaxation: they can watch and observe the world they live in. In towns which have preserved their humane atmosphere the most, there are a multitude of cafés on the sidewalks."
Gyümölcs – Kert – Táj
Abstract
Types of Old. Possible tools serving the diversification of sustainable agriculture
"The practical interpretation of sustainability is debated over and over again among professionals, while a growing number of studies in professional journals in both Hungary and abroad deal with the interpretation of sustainability from an agricultural perspective. The problem is primarily with partiality. Environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainability must all be taken into consideration."
Abstract
In Search of Real Wine
"On the table before me is a glass of wine. It was made by a good friend of mine in Gyöngyöspata: Its beauty is revealed in its purity, and its natural grace invites one to have yet another taste. The drink is exceptional, as its creator was: pure of heart. And nature rewarded his pains.
Unfortunately this type of wine is rare, not just in Hungary but all over the world. Economy and economic efficiency have conspired against us. Very few even know about its existence, and therefore do not suffer from its absence. Wine like this cannot even be made for the people of today, for they can only be interpreted according to timeless values. Wine-globalizers lack an essential quality: the internal need to produce good."
Abstract
The Constructed Landscape. Protection and Production – a Peaceful Model of Land Utilization
"One of the most specifically local models of land utilization and landscape remolding within the Carpathian Basin ? is flood-plains agriculture. Flood-plains farming enables the inclusion of marshy areas, regions not exploited in any other way, into organized farming. This procedure, lifestyle and way of thinking is not known anywhere else in the world, and is unique to Hungarian inhabited regions. It is a unique product of our intellect. ?"
Earth work is another such example: large earth mounds created during centuries prior to the Middle Ages "is proof of the existence of harmonious communities, communities in which people supported one another. ..." Both models "resulted in the development of a noble, inventive and familiar landscape."
Mesterek és műhelyek
Abstract
The World of Personal Love. A Conversation with Dr. Mária Kopp
Dr. Kopp Mária is a medical psychologist, university professor, and director of the Institute of Behavioral Science at Semmelweis Medical University. She studies the correlation between spiritual-emotional and physical well-being. "We followed the process of how the emotional and physical health of Hungarians changed within basically the same parameters during the course of the change of regime, and even earlier. By the end of the 1980's we became aware of a startling phenomenon, which we call Central-Eastern-European health paradox: despite the fact that our economic circumstances were relatively good until 1988–89, and the financial situation of people was quite bearable, a process had begun in the 1960's–1970's: the mortality rate of men between the ages of 45-65, middle aged men, rose incredibly. ? We began to examine the reasons behind this phenomenon and the reason why women living in the very same society did not exhibit it. Why are women better able to tackle change?"
Ökológia és ideológia
Abstract
Be the Change! Human Chain for Hungary
"This time our goal is not the protection of a group of trees or a river: it is the protection of our very selves, our country. We have decided to establish a party in defense of the defenseless and against indifference and resignation. Our goal is to sustain the rich diversity of lifestyles, to heal the wounds of our injured planet, and the discovery of the path leading out of the crisis human co-existence is suffering from."
Abstract
Thoughts on Independence
Overshadowed by the elections of 2004, which brought the most autocratic and least legitimate government of the United States back into power, three dozen individuals got together for a weekend in November in Middlebury, Vermont to discuss and advocate their thoughts on Vermont becoming independent of the United States. The three-day event was supported by the organizations Fourth World and Second Vermont Republic.
Ökofórum
Abstract
Spirituality and Community
Zoon politikon: social creature this is how Aristotle defined the human being. Yes, humans are social creatures, for it is their nature to join together and to experience cultural identity communally. Members of human communities are bound together by shared values, descent and language, and the collective fulfillment of similar needs.
The British-Hungarian Melting Pot Research Group attempts to improve the organizational structure of communities by exploring individual and collective experiences and through the application of Buddhist consciousness-raising practices.
Ökomorgó
Abstract
Living in a Food-Desert
We live in a desert of food: we are either not ableto buy healthy food close to where we live, or it is too expensive. This is probably the case, even though we are not aware of it, if our sole source of food is a supermarket, and we have no access to smaller independent stores or agricultural markets. The article briefly introduces a British initiative – a potential escape route from the clutches of megagrocery store chains and shopping centers.
Abstract
A Celebration of the Food Economy
The Slow Food Movement organized a meeting of food communities – Terra Madre communities – in Turin. Terra Madre sprung forth from the vibrant energy of agricultural producers, who have not given up. They preserve and share myriad variety of seeds, lead their varied lifestyles, speak many different languages and celebrate various nourishment-related festivals. Slow Food is a movement which places the production and consumption of good, healthy and varied foodstuffs in the focus of social, political and economic change. Five thousand of its members came together from 130 countries.
A szám címlapja.
Az Ökotáj jelen számának illusztrálásához többek között Egry József Szent Kristóf a Balatonnál (első borító belső oldala), és Csontváry Koszka Tivadar Marokkói tanító című képét (hátsó borító belső oldala), valamint a Bodor Ferenc-gyűjtemény képeit használtuk fel.
Az angol nyelvű összefoglalókat Nagy Piroska írta.