Category Archives: Hungary

Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

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Jan Jirat from the WOZ rites about nationalist ideologies among right-wing Hungarians and there impacts on minorities like the Rroma. According to his interview partner Magdalena Marsovszky, a local social scientist, one has to grasp the right wing ideologies as a result of a historical trauma: the separation of Hungary after the end of the First World War and the downfall of Austria-Hungary. Subsequently, a nationalist identity of the Magyars, going back to the origins of Austria-Hungary, was constructed, apparently consisting of shared cultural values and blood ties. Political scientist E. J. Hobsbawm called this the “Invention of Tradition”, the structuring of history in favor of an nationalist identity. – Marsovszky is described to perceive the ideology among nationalists as one of ethnic closing and separation, rather than an opening towards a more diverse, tolerant society.

The ascription of criminality as a part of Rroma identity has to be understood in this context of thinking in ethnic-nationalist categories, which his highly racist and problematic. A further aspect is the construction of Magyar identity in relation to the Rroma. The Rroma are misused to structure the ethnic self-perception in relation and against them. The spread of the so called “Antiziganism” combined with the election of Fidesz representatives has lead to an increase in discrimination and violence against Rroma. The civil defense militia of the Jobbik party – the Hungarian guard – has regularly attacked Rroma during the last years, threatening and even killing Rroma in areas designated as Gypsy habitats.

According to the documentary filmmaker Adam Cisllag, Hungary is in a state of social disrupt, a state of decline of social solidarity, and open racism against Rroma that can be witnessed through all realms of society. As reason for this increased racisms he names the growing poverty amongst the Hungarian Middle class.

Jirat article is well researched and eloquently written. But one has to criticize his unbalanced portrayal of the topic. When reading the article, one gets the impression that a vital part of Hungarians are racists and most Rroma live a life hopelessness and despair and are part of pointless employment programs.

Source:

  • Jirat, Jan (2013) Faschismus mit adretter Frisur. In: WOZ vom 7.2.2013.
Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

01.02.2013 Verdict Acknowledges Segregation of Rroma Children in Hungary

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According to the Hungarian minister responsible for the situation of the Rroma, there is no discrimination of Rroma in Hungary, neither is there a segregation of Rroma children in Hungarian schools. A verdict by a north-Hungarian court acknowledges now officially that the segregation of Rroma children is illegal. The verdict recognised that Rroma children are regularly positioned in lower classes than other children, discriminated during lunch hours, swimming lessons and public school events.

According to the Pester Lloyd, the discrimination of Rroma children is an established practice in Hungary, with a tradition of several decades. It often gets initiated by parents who don’t want their children to mix with Rroma children. This denial of good education keeps the unsatisfying situation of many Rroma in Hungary a status quo.

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01.02.2013 The Expelled

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Journalist Bernhard Odehnal writes about a Rroma family in a village outside Budapest and the situation of Rroma in Hungary in general. After the call for the extinction of Rroma by the extremist publicist Zsolt Bayer, the topic of Rroma has gained increased attention by the media. However, according to Odehnal, poor Rroma families often don’t consume any official media and are not ware of the Bayer debate going on. Odehnal goes on to describe the hardships and discrimination most Rroma face in Hungary, with long time unemployment leading to apathy and resignation rather than revolution and upheaval.

He continues to explain how the Jobbik party systematically ethnicizes every criminal act done by a Rroma as inherent part of Rroma identity, declaring it as “gypsy criminality”. This mixing of ethnic identity and criminal activities is highly racist, as are attributions of journalists, who describe Rroma as of an aggressive, hostile nature.

Despite the empathetic focus of Odehnal article, the author reproduces stereotypes about the Rroma by stating that most Rroma live in Ghettos outside the villages and have excessive amounts of children. Additionally, he citties a Spanish infant educator, who sees Rroma women as “submissive and only wanting many children and Rroma men being openly sexist”. Also, when reading the article, when gets the impression, that according to Odehnal all of the 750’000 Hungarian Rroma live in the conditions he portrays in his article. He doesn’t talk about the invisible Rroma, which don’t live in Ghettos, the ones who live a life in the middle class and are not seen on the streets.

Aladár Horváth and Anikó Kiss (Pester Lloyd 2013) from the citizen’s movement of Hungary posted an official manifesto to the Orban government, asking to finally acknowledge that a humanitarian crisis is on the march, with one million people in Hungary, among them around a quarter of Rroma, living under precarious conditions, being close to starving and freezing to death. They criticize, that there is no public moral support for the situation of the Rroma, that the government doesn’t distance itself from extremist statements made against Rroma and that there are no social-critical articles in the official media.

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Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

11.01.2013 Agitation against Rroma in Hungary

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Ritterband (2013) accounts a racist agitation of the publicist Zsolt Bayer against Rroma in Hungary. The publicist Zsolt Bayer defamed Rroma as «murdering animals» using his newspaper «Magyar Hirlap» as a circulation organ. Bayer is known to be a political companion and personal friend of prime minister Orban. The reigning Fidesz party distanced itself from the statements made by Bayer, but didn’t condemn them. Judiciary minister Tibor Navracsics criticized Bayers comments in a public television program, denouncing the statements as incompatible with the Hungary’s democratic principles. Orban himself didn’t take any public position. Zsolt Bayer is known to have made racist agitation before, also using the «Magyar Hirlap» to make anti-Semitic comments against Jews.

Odehnal (2013) complements the topic with a shocking detail: Not only did Bayer compare Rroma with animals and said that they had no place amongst other humans, but propagandized for their immediate extinction. Taking side with the Hungarian left-wing opposition parties, who filed criminal complaint against Bayer because of demagoguery against Rroma, the RCP condemns Bayer’s agitation deeply. Such a public call for the extinction of the Rroma should not be let unpunished. It deeply scares and astonishes, that such a misanthropic statement is aloud to be made public by the Hungarian media and laws. That the proponents of the article appeal to freemdom of the press can only be called absurd. It abandons any sense of ethics and respect towards people in general.

Pester Lloyd (2013/I) states that un-firm distancing of Fidesz from the racist statements shows that the party is trying to bind voters from the ultra right-wing Jobbik party. The article concludes resigned that a silent toleration of racism and open hatred has become a normality in Hungary.

In the most recent article Pester Lylod (2013/II) confirms that the Hungarian chief prosecutor has droped charges against Bayer, stating that there is no visible danger of people persecuting Rroma. Pester Llyod raises the legitimate question what reasons laws have, if they are not applied or only in a very restricted way.

Source:

  • Odehnal, Bernhard (2013) Aufruf zum Massenmord. In: Tagesanzeiger vom 9.1.2013.
  • Pester Lloyd (2013/I) Der Freund schweigt. Halbherzige Distanzierungen: das offizielle Ungarn und der Fall Bayer. In: Pester Llyod vom 9.1.2013.  http://www.pesterlloyd.net/html/1301orbanschweigt.html
  • Pester Llyod (2013/II) Fall Bayer: Roma vertretter sagt Treffen ab, Staatsanwalt sieht keine Hetze. In: Pester Llyod vom 11.1.2013. http://www.pesterlloyd.net/html/1301bayerupdate.html
  • Ritterband, Charles E. (2013) Hetze gegen Roma in Ungarn. In: Neue Zuercher Zeitung vom 10.01.2013. 
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