Articles by: Hungarian Free Press

Viktor Szigetvári. Photo: civilhetes.net

Viktor Szigetvári: European People’s Party tolerance of Orbán is shameful

On Sunday, I exchanged a couple of emails with Viktor Szigetvári, chairman of Hungary’s centre-left opposition Együtt party. (Együtt means ‘Together’ in Hungarian and the party was previously associated with Gordon Bajnai, Hungary’s former prime minister.) I was pleased to see his activists engaged in civil disobedience, by defacing dozens of the xenophobic government billboards that now dot the landscape […]

by · June 8, 2015 · Politics
Detail from "Creating a New Family" (2002). Acrylic on canvas, (42 inches x 54 inches).

Recommended programs in Ottawa: Hungarian Studies conference, Truth and Reconciliation exhibit

The two programs that we’re recommending to our readers this weekend (for those within relatively easy reach of the Canadian capital) are quite different, but they are both relevant in different ways to those interested in Hungary and Hungarian society. First off, the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC) is holding its annual conference as part of the Congress of the […]

by · May 28, 2015 · Culture
Vilmos Hanti

Vilmos Hanti: Dormant fascism sprouts in weak democracies

Vilmos Hanti is a prominent Hungarian antifascist activist and the 2005 recipient of the cross of the Republic of Hungary’s Order of Merit. Mr. Hanti is the president of the International Federation of Resistance Fighters and he submitted the text of his speech given in Moscow on May 7th, 2015, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary commemorations of the […]

by · May 14, 2015 · Focus
Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi.

Ambassador Szemerkényi responds to HFP: It is legally “unacceptable” to refuse meeting with Jobbik delegation

György Lázár of the Hungarian Free Press published an article about the unprecedented visit of a Jobbik delegation at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington DC where Ambassador Réka Szemerkényi received and briefed them. They also visited the Hungarian Consulate in New York, where they met Hungarian Consul General Mr. Ferenc Kumin. We asked for feedback from the US State Department, US […]

by · May 13, 2015 · Politics
Gellért Rajcsányi, assistant editor at Mandiner.hu. Photo source: National Audio-Visual Archive / Nemzeti Audiovizuális Archívum.

Gellért Rajcsányi: Hungary’s Fidesz has lost its buoyancy — Can it ever recover?

Based on the results of the recent Tapolca by-election (although no longer concentrating directly on this vote), one can argue that this is yet another sign that Fidesz has lost its political buoyancy. And it’s possible that the party, in this current form and in this construction, won’t ever be able to get it back. If it searches for different avenues, […]

by · April 21, 2015 · Politics
Szabolcs Nótin, editor-in-chief of the pro-government Hungary Today online paper.

Hungary Today responds to HFP article: The pro-government foundation does not receive public funds

Dear Editor,  I would like to point out some mistakes that took place in the following article about Hungary Today and its publisher, the Friends of Hungary Foundation.  On the same issue, we have written an article earlier, fyi. The Foundation has never received or applied for state funding and covers its operation costs exclusively from private and corporate donations. The Foundation is committed […]

by · April 19, 2015 · Focus
Sándor Weöres. Photo: Litera.

Sándor Weöres: The Secret Country

Let’s turn away from contemporary Hungarian politics for a moment–especially as HFP’s readers celebrate Easter and Passover–and immerse ourselves in the balmy waters of Southeast Asia, as seen through the eyes of Hungarian poet Sándor Weöres (1913-1989). As far as I could tell, this poem isn’t available anywhere on the Internet, so I am taking the liberty of typing it […]

by · April 4, 2015 · Culture
Tamás Wetzel is in Canada this week to shore up support for Fidesz withing the Hungarian community.

Deputy state secretary arrives in Canada to buy Hungarian votes for Fidesz

For the past years, Canada has been the target of an unusually high volume of senior level Fidesz political visitations, all travelling on taxpayers’ money, to work over the pro-Fidesz Hungarian diaspora. (The Hungarian governmental visits to Canada outnumber the number of such visits by Canadian governmental officials to Hungary, on a scale of roughly 100 to 1.) Virtually every […]

by · March 11, 2015 · Diaspora
Roundtable at Concordia University on March 3, 2015. Photo: CA.

Experts call for international action on Hungary’s rule of law violations

An international panel of experts at Concordia University drew public attention to one of the greatest credibility challenges faced by the European Union since its inception: the government of an EU member state – Hungary – has been openly defying the “Rule of Law”, and the core values the Union is formally committed to uphold. Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán`s […]

by · March 6, 2015 · Focus
Roundtable

Montreal’s Concordia University hosts roundtable on demise of rule of law in Hungary

Kim Lane Scheppele from Princeton University, former government minister and Central European University professor András Bozóki, and Professor Emeritus András Göllner will lead a roundtable discussion at Concordia University on Tuesday, March 3rd, 2015 at 5:30 PM, on challenges to the rule of law in Hungary under the current Orbán government. The talk will be held at 1455 de Maisonneuve […]

by · March 1, 2015 · Politics