Harbinger of metro-area ticket

During Communist times, Women's Day was a socialist-political holiday, first observed in Russia after the October Revolution in 1917. However, the holiday has deeper roots, as the first International Women's Day was organized in the U.S. on Feb. 28, 1909, by the Socialist Party of America. One of the first occurrences of Women's Day in Europe was on March 8, 1913, just before of World War I, when women across the continent held protests for peace. In both the U.S. and Western Europe, the holiday was observed until the late 1920s, when it fell out of popularity, to be revived by the feminist movement during the 1960s. Currently IWD is observed in a large number of countries throughout the world and is enjoying increasing popularity. Traditionally on Women's Day in Poland, women receive flowers, stockings and chocolates from the various men in their lives (students, coworkers, husbands, boyfriends, employees, etc.). However, Manifa, the feminist celebration, is more about expressing power and being visible as strong women. Feminists (of all genders) bring public attention to a number of relevant issues, including abortion, lesbian rights, transgender rights, equal pay and unpaid domestic work. Every year in Krakow, the organizers of Manifa present a list of postulates to the public and the media. They highlight issues of particular concern, which feminists believe are neglected the rest of the year by the government, politicians, the media, and are generally excluded from public discourse. Today, March 7, in preparation for Saturday's march there will be a "warm-up" party in Kawiarnia Naukowa (ul. Jakuba 29). Those interested have been encouraged to bring materials to make posters and banners for the march. In addition to the march and concert on Saturday, a contest for a new feminist book award will be announced at eFKa Women's Foundation at 17:00. The announcement will be made by a special guest, the wellknown American feminist Ann Snitow of the Network of East West Women (NEWW). The idea for the prize came out of feminist academic and activist circles in Krakow. Candidates for the award are the authors of feminist books published in 2006 or 2007, and the prize, to be awarded in the fall, is sponsored by NEWW. In the past, Manifa itself (the march) has met with opposition from certain groups such as All Polish Youth, whose members did not hesitate to resort to hateful speech and even violence to stop the march. The organizers this year hope that the march will go off without incident. Since Monday, feminist events, such as film screenings, concerts, workshops, discussions and music videos, have been taking place in various locales throughout Krakow. Organizations taking part include: Love Without Borders), Women's Space, Autonomous Foundation, eFKa Women's Foundation and Crisis Intervention Society. For more information, please visit Manifa's blog: http://manifakrakow.blox.pl or to get in touch online with the organizers, write to: manifa2008@gmail.com. Those living in the Krzeszowice area west of Krakow have begun using the same ticket for travel on trains to and from Krakow and on public transit within the city. Warsaw and some other cities in Poland have been using an integrated transit ticket for some time, but it's a first for Krakow. The experiment got under way March 1. The first step toward an integrated ticket was the city introducing the Krakow Municipal Card in 2005. It carries a computer chip that allows the train system and the city transit operation, MPK, to divide the income from commuters' trips. Now commuters can buy a Krakow Municipal Card with a Polish National Railway system sticker. It entitles the customer to use any city transit line plus a second-class train fare between Krakow and Krzeszowice. The integrated ticket is about 10 percent cheaper than the combination of train and transit tickets. In Krakow it applies to both tram and bus lines. In coming months integrated tickets will cover train tickets between the Miechow, Trzebinia, Bochnia and Tarnow districts and Krakow ? and Krakow's transit system. The City of Krakow eventually wants to introduce integrated tickets in the entire metropolitan area. Mayor Jacek Majchrowski has said they will smooth travel throughout the area. Irena Cebula of the Malopolska Province Governor's Office said the main obstacles to adopting metropolitan-area-wide in- tegrated tickets have been how to divide the income between the train and transit operations and coming up with standard discounts. The train and transit systems have different discount systems. One of the long-term hopes of area transit planners is for a suburban railway system with convenient transit transfer points. Such a system would make integrated transit tickets more attractive. Planners also hope some day to have an integrated ticket that covers minibus transit. The city has had unsuccessful talks about the issue with minibus owners, who are entrepreneurs rather than city employees. The talks have deadlocked over the issue of how to divide integrated-ticket money among the train system, city transit system and minibus owners. Although the Krakow Municipal Card system can eventually be applied to all train and transit options, it requires special computers and card readers ? and they aren't cheap. The center-right Civic Platform Party, which has a majority in the City Council, wants to liberalize the area's transportation market so that private carriers can pick up and drop passengers at city bus stops. It also wants an integrated transit ticket that covers both government-provided and private-company-provided transportation services. Councilman Pawel Sularz said long-term transit contracts have prevented the liberalization plans from moving forward. Once the contracts lapse, the project should be able to get off the ground, he suggested.