Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Hungary’s largest institution of higher education, is prepared to introduce a course on anti-racism, and is also considering whether to make this mandatory for all students enrolled in the Institute for Art Theory and Media Studies. Péter György, the institute’s director, said that the course would include Holocaust studies and that while faculty planned to consult with student unions, in order to obtain their input, it will be university professors and researchers who determine whether or not to make this course an elective, or a graduation requirement. HFP’s readers will recall that another Hungarian university recently announced that Holocaust studies would be compulsory for all undergraduates, which resulted in protests from the student body.
The new ELTE course will be entitled “The Cultural History of Racism,” and Professor György’s goal is to “do what we can to ensure that people don’t become politically insane.” But Professor György also added that “there is no such university that won’t produce Gábor Vonas,” referring to the leader of the far right Jobbik party, who graduated with a degree in history from ELTE. The main student union will be given a chance to review and submit feedback on the course’s contents. Professor György added that in his experience, students in the institute are fed up when they are assumed to be Jobbik supporters, even though the far right party does appear to be the most popular political force among university students.
ELTE
According to a recent study, 20% of university age Hungarians support Jobbik, while the Politics Can Be Different (LMP) green party enjoys 14% support in this demographic. Fidesz comes in at third place with 12%, followed by the centre-left Együtt party (Együtt means Together in Hungarian) at a distant 3%. The Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the Democratic Coalition (DK) stand at 3% and 2% respectively. It’s pretty clear that left-centre Hungarian youth have tuned out from MSZP, DK and Együtt almost completely, and have instead gravitated towards the alternative left, which LMP aims to represent, though with rather mixed success.
Mr. Vona made a few flippant remarks, after he heard of Professor György’s statements regarding Jobbik and political insanity. The Jobbik leader now gives weekly video interviews (Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long been giving weekly radio interviews on Fridays), which are published on the web, and this is where he responded to Professor György. “This armchair is black, which clearly suggests racism, and my shirt is white, which demonstrates the presence of the Ku Klux Klan,” he said. Mr. Vona then offered to be a guest lecturer in ELTE’s new course.
And because in Hungary, nearly anything seems possible, one can’t completely dismiss Mr. Vona’s offer.
