Leszek Socha (KO Nowogrodziec and the VE-TO Association) sees power as a living organism with a hierarchical structure resembling a pyramid. At the top of the pyramid is the main beneficiary, “PIRAMIDION,” who controls everything and represents the interests of friends. The rest of the pyramid consists of officials and associates who have the opportunity to grow wealthy. According to Socha, power operates like a company with unlimited revenue. Society has limited influence over what happens to its property.
Leszek Socha asks: why is it not profitable for municipalities to renovate healthcare centres—places to which the community has grown accustomed over generations and where people feel safe? Why is it not profitable to develop the existing petrol station after TESCO, while someone finds it profitable to build a petrol station in the middle of nowhere and make a profit?
“I will use an example from our own municipality of Nowogrodziec,” Socha explains. “There is an ongoing discussion about the municipal healthcare centres. Is it profitable to renovate them? Or should new ones be built? To me, this is a pyramidal absurdity. What does ‘not profitable’ mean? But selling it for that proverbial one złoty—is that profitable? And the person who receives the property—will it then be profitable for them to renovate it? How much contempt is there in such management of municipal property and public finances? How completely state authorities ignore these phenomena. Quite recently, I was reprimanded for my idea, shared by the Nowogrodziec branch of the Civic Platform, to develop the petrol station at the former ‘TESCO’ store in Bolesławiec. Since the city already sells fuel through ZEC, I wondered why the municipal company could not add the sale of liquid fuel to its responsibilities. In the end, fuel in Bolesławiec would be cheaper. I was told that I did not know what I was talking about and was making a fool of myself, although that does not bother me,” Socha explains.