A poll produced for the political news weekly, Vasárnapi Hírek, on the Orbán government’s plans to erect a 175 km long fence along the border between Hungary and Serbia–in order to stop the growing wave of refugees and migrants crossing the frontier illegally–reveals some surprising results. The opinion poll was conducted by the Publicus Intézet and it shows that a clear majority of Hungarians (54%) oppose the construction of a fence, often described as a new iron curtain, along the border. As could be expected, supporters of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the small Politics Can Be Different (LMP) green party, were most opposed to the new barrier, with 80% and 79% expressing their opposition, respectively.
What’s interesting, however, is that the fence even seems to divide voters who typically support the far-right Jobbik party. Just over half of Jobbik voters (51%) support the erection of the barrier, while 47% oppose it. The highest level of support for the government’s plans come from within the ruling Fidesz party, where 60% agree with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his cabinet.
The poll, conducted between July 7-9, 2015, found that 54% of the Hungarian population was skeptical that the fence actually served the purpose of halting the arrival of migrants, but was simply a political tool used to deter attention from other domestic problems. The vast majority of Hungarians (67%) feel that the fence will be ineffective in stopping new migrants from crossing over into Hungary.
Amidst the backdrop of the Orbán government’s demagogic and openly xenophobic campaign against migrants, there are actually many Hungarians who have shown compassion and a sense of social justice to the large waves of refugees. By early June, over 57,000 refugees had arrived in Hungary so far this year.
A friend of mine, Balázs Szücs, who serves as a municipal councilor in Budapest’s 7th District, affiliated with Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért – PM), donated part of his salary this month to rent portable toilets for use by migrants outside the bustling Keleti pályaudvar train station. Mr. Szücs is also a Protestant minister and donations collected from weddings that he had recently celebrated also went towards renting the two porta-potties.
Szilárd Kalmár, chair of the radical Hungarian Left Party (Balpárt), posted a photo to Facebook of a disabled homeless man in Budapest showing a young Syrian boy how to ride his scooter.
A Syrian refugee learns to ride a scooter…thanks to a random act of kindness from a Hungarian homeless man in Budapest. Photo: Szilárd Kalmár.)
Mr. Kalmár himself welcomed a six-member refugee family from Afghanistan into his home this week. The family had been on the road for the past 10 months, travelling through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Serbia, before arriving in Budapest. Mr. Kalmár organized a small food and clothing drive for them using Facebook. He noted in conversations with the family (two of the children spoke English), that the mother and father treated each other as equals (thus challenging the stereotypical image of Muslim women being subjugated to Muslim men). When they arrived in Budapest, they were greeted by a volunteer at the Keleti pályaudvar railway station, who provided them with food, an opportunity to take a shower and lodging for their first night. Then later when they ended up in Győr, a man bought breakfast for the family.
There are many more instances of ordinary Hungarians seeing the growing stream of refugees in the streets, and deciding to respond with kindness, generosity and a helping hand. I wonder if some of them were so disturbed and disgusted by the government’s xenophobic billboards against refugees, that they decided to take matters into their own hands.
