Category Archives: Hungary

Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Discrimination in Hungary

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An article about Roma in Hungary and the discrimination they suffer in their lives. Good facts and description of the issues, were it not for the statement that the Hungarian Roma were made sedentary centuries ago… They never travelled except for going there.

This is typical of the French view of Roma: They are Travellers and it is a way of life…

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Ukrainian Refugees in Hungary

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Roma from Ukraine fled to Hungary because of the war, but not because of poverty. Rozina is 38 years old Romni and is one of several thousand refugees from Ukraine who fled to Hungary after the Russian invasion in February 2022.

She sits at a table and practices writing her name at a school in the eighth district of the Hungarian capital. She has freckles on her face, a bright smile, and struggles with the letter “k” when writing the surname Farkaš. The classes are run by Taleta, a non-governmental organization founded by two Hungarian women, Silvija Moldovan (Szilvia) and Agnes Pletser, immediately after the war began, with the aim of helping to educate young Roma refugees from the western Ukrainian Transcarpathian region.

Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Catalan Rumba in Hungary

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Catalan Rumba in Hungary

MazsiMó-GipsyMó’s first album titled Gypsy DNA was launched in a concert on May 19, 2023 in the Akvárium Klub in Budapest. The formation, which plays music based on Catalan rumba, was created in August 2021 by the internationally recognized band Romengo and the head of the International Gypsy and World Music Network, Mihály Mazsi Rostás. The Catalan rumba was made known all over the world by the Gipsy Kings.

The members of the band express themselves most easily in the Lovári language, and they also want to get the young Gypsies – who generally speak the language of their grandparents less and less – to sing as much as possible to the catchy tunes in Gypsy.

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The Pope in Hungary

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The pope met Roma, Ukrainian refugees, and many other refugees and migrants while on visit in Budapest this weekend.

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Budapest Restaurant

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A review (very enthusiastic) of a restaurant and club in Donany ut 78 in Budapest 7th district. It is called “Like the Gypsies”. The club and restaurant caters unfortunately to all clichés including fortune telling, caravans and the like.

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Brussel: Exhibition

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On the occasion of International Roma Day, Fidesz EP representative Lívia Járóka organized a contemporary art exhibition entitled “Time of the Gypsies” in honor of the diverse and special Roma culture and art in the EP building in Brussels.

By presenting the works of eleven Roma visual artists of Hungarian origin, the exhibition explores the unique perspectives of Roma visual art and describes its diverse style and specific traditions in its pictorial world.

Lívia Járóka is herself subject of controverses: She is firmly behind Viktor Orban, and thus in effect and in spite of her origins, supports discrimination and segregation of Roma in Hungary.

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Hungary – Condemned

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Another article on the recent condemnation of Hungary for segregated education of Roma.

Let’s see what the country makes out of it.

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Hungary: Condemned

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Hungary was condemned by the European Court of Human Rights for the segregation of Roma in the education system and has been asked to provide a plan to remediate this.

It is doubtful whether Orban and his government will comply. Segregated schools are common in Hungary for Roma.

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Hungary, Jobbik, and Roma

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Parties opposed to Viktor Orban agreed prior to the last elections to allow Roma politicians to run on their joint list. This also applied to Jobbik, an extreme right party that usually is very much against Roma and other minorities. Ferenc Varga a Rom, entered parliament in the 2022 election from the joint opposition list in the Jobbik faction.

On January 6, 2023, Ferenc Varga announced that he would leave the Jobbik parliamentary faction and continue his work as an independent. When asked why he made this decision, he said:

“The main reason was that the party was concerned with its own affairs and not with the voters. Even if the number of votes for the change of government was small in the election, we cannot help but constantly deal with the party’s internal affairs and infighting. I didn’t see a way out of this. I did everything in my field, I visited the country, I built the Gypsy Association with Honour, but the politicians who have been sitting in the parliament for several years practically did nothing.”

The Jobbik fraction wants him to give up his seat for another Jobbik politician, but Ferenc Varga refuses, saying that he was elected as part of the overall opposition coalition.

Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Hungary: Roma Tales

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Hungary: Roma Tales

A Hungarian movie series based on Roma tales was just realised. It was done a unique 3D series. The Gypsy Tales series was the idea of Mária Horváth, one of the founding members of the Kecskemét Animation Studio. After finishing the Hungarian folk tales, it occurred to her to show the values hidden in Roma culture through Roma tales. The creators consider it important that Roma should be proud not only of their music, but also of their fine arts and literature.

Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Hungary, the Church, Roma, and the EU

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The Christian Roma Vocational Colleges Network and the Roma Vocational Colleges Association will participate in a professional trip at the beginning of March to present themselves at an international conference in Brussels.

In Hungary, eleven Roma vocational colleges have been working for more than ten years on the higher education career path and institutional and social integration of young people of Roma origin and/or underprivileged.

The issue with this is the fact that education is segregated. That seems not to be obvious to the promoters of such colleges…

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Racism in Hungary: “Get out of here, Gypsy!”

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A scandal broke out at a festival in Miskolc, Hungary.  Gyula Horváth, the president of a Roma organisation had all the permission to collect donations and distribute balloons at the festival. The city police, however, harassed him and told him to leave.

“They have been harassing me since the morning, since the Festival started. First they wanted to disturb me, then they threatened me, then they wanted to ring out the stand with a cordon. There were about ten people here, they checked my papers, but I have all the official permits,” Horváth told.

The president negotiated with the police for two hours. In the meantime, they took photos of him, and then the police sent the photos to the mayor.

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Larry

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The Hungarian movie “Larry” was one of the cinema surprises at the end of 2022 and perhaps the biggest Hungarian film success. This is not a Roma movie, but it is refreshingly different in the way Roma appear in this movie. In addition, a part of the film takes place in the Edeleny Roma settlement with its residents.

Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Hungary: A Success Story

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A former bricklayer helps Roma children get to a better school. László was only three days old when his parents abandoned him and he was placed in a foster home. The Roma boy then learned the most important thing: to stand up for himself, and later for others. His hard work and perseverance eventually took the former mason to amazing heights, working in the European Commission.

Hongire Nouvelles d'Europe de l'est

Hungary and the Roma Autonomy

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The newly formed Integrity Authority, which is supposed to investigate cases of corruption, has requested documents of the National Roma Self-Government’s Bridge to the World of Work program. This was announced by the chairman of the board in ATV after the NAV terminated the investigation into the catch-up program linked to the former Fidesz MP Flórián Farkas after 7 years.

The Hungarian National Roma  Self Government has been engulfed in several controverses recently and been accused of mismanagement.

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Project in Hungary

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An article about the InDaHouse association which teaches young children from poor families, mostly Roma. Kinga Tillmann has been working for the InDaHouse association for six years and today coordinates the early education program. She believes her work has the greatest impact at this stage of life: “There are families where there are no developmental toys at home, no books, and no knowledge of how to play with a six-month-old. We want to compensate for this so that there are no backlogs that could lead to school failure.”

“It’s mainly urban, academic volunteers who come to the villages and take care of the children and assure them of their love and trust. These children will still experience racism on a daily basis, but because they get a lot of positive reinforcement from us, we believe that they will be able to function as equal partners, as citizens in society,” explains InDaHouse President Fruzsina Benkő.

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