Tesco’s dominant presence in Hungary is perhaps both a curse and a blessing, when seen from the perspective of social justice. On the one hand, those on the left who are vocal advocates for shopping locally, supporting local small business, buying eco-friendly and fair trade merchandise are often situated in the upper middle class and can actually afford shopping on […]
One of Hungary’s most celebrated actresses, Mari Törőcsik, is turning 80 this month. When she was approached by the conservative Mandiner website for an interview, she indicated that speaking about contemporary politics was not something with which she felt comfortable. “One side kicks me, while the other lifts me up onto a pedestal–that’s not something that I need,” said Ms. […]
This is a lighter, although I think still meaningful, story for a Sunday. The Canadian capital is getting ready to hold its second Embassy Chef Challenge on November 5th, 2015 at Victoria Hall, where each year a handful of chefs employed by foreign missions in Ottawa compete and showcase their culinary art. All proceeds from the event go to the […]
Almost a year ago, Senator John McCain blasted Colleen Bell on the US Senate floor: “We’re about to vote on a totally unqualified individual to be ambassador to a nation which is very important to our national security interest. Her qualifications are as a producer of the television soap opera The Bold and The Beautiful, who contributed $800,000 to Obama […]
In a landmark case, a Budapest court ruled that calling someone a homosexual in public can be seen as defamation of good character. The decision is astounding, even if the justice argued –somewhat strangely–that it has nothing to do with the court passing moral judgment on sexual attraction, as such. We have written before about the public polemics between Fidesz […]
Dezső Máté is a Junior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Minority Studies whose work focuses on the fate of a minority within a minority: namely the treatment of Gay Roma in Hungary within their own ethno-cultural community. In the past, he has also explored the survival of Roma languages and the representation of minorities within […]
Democracy is not a right. Democratic values must be fought for and protected every day, sometimes in seemingly small ways, and even in Canada. This was the overarching message of this past Sunday’s commemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery, organized by the Ottawa Hungarian Forum. The Forum is a fledgling grassroots community group in the Canadian […]
My father’s cousin is a retired engineer who moved to Israel with his wife, Lory, over four decades ago. Endre Borsai now lives in a retirement home in Haifa, with his wife. On December 31st, 1999, as the twentieth century drew to a close, he wrote a lengthy letter–a very personal testimony–of our family’s experiences during World War II and, […]
The Spectrum, a Utah-based news site, has granted the HFP permission to republish an insightful and moving story about a Hungarian who fled her homeland in 1956 and settled in the United States. Her story, recorded by Kevin Jenkins, is very candid and is especially relevant in light of the refugee drama still unfolding in Europe. * As millions of […]
The Fidesz party mayor of Drávaszerdahely, a village of just 214 residents, is a very lucky man, and for this, he can give thanks to the Hungarian right’s archnemesis, former Socialist Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány. In 2006, Mr. Gyurcsány signed an agreement to open a natural gas distribution centre in the village, which provides gas to southern regions in both […]
