Bálint Ódor, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ deputy state secretary in charge of European Union matters, has been appointed Hungary’s new ambassador to Canada. He takes over the embassy in Ottawa from László Pordány, whose term as ambassador has been brought to an end effective August 15th, 2014. Mr. Pordány leaves behind him a politically charged embassy and a […]
Miskolc, a traditionally industrial and working-class city of 163,000 residents situated in northeastern Hungary, is evicting much of its Roma population. The official explanation refers to a petition apparently signed by some 35,000 residents, in support of razing one of the city’s rundown and largely Roma-populated neighbourhoods, which will become the site of a new stadium. Those who pay close attention […]
We regretfully announce that DunaDOCK will not present its MasterClass program at the Jameson CineFest International Film Festival in Miskolc this September.To our greatest surprise we found out that CineFest can only host our professional program if it does not contain – contrary to our plans – any film dealing with the topic of Roma in Hungary, or if it […]
Israel’s ambassador to Budapest issued a sharply-worded statement, following a bizarre and vicious display of overt antisemitism in the town of Érpatak, located in the northeastern county of Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg. The town’s far-right mayor, Mihály Zoltán Orosz, organized a mock, public execution (which Ambassador Ilan Mor referred to as a “horror show”), where effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]
Hungarian human resources minister Zoltán Balog’s comments that Roma were not deported from Hungary during the Holocaust and that Roma intellectuals need to be careful not to focus as much on the experience of the Holocaust as the Jews did, for fear that the sense of “victimhood” lead to schizophrenia, has resulted in calls for the minister’s resignation. Ágnes Kunhalmi, […]
One day after the commemoration of the Roma Holocaust (also known as Porajmos) Hungarian Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog denied that Hungarian Roma were deported from Hungary and went on to warn the community that they must be careful not to focus as much on these Holocaust experiences as the country’s Jewish population has focused on the Shoah, for fear that […]
On Sunday, Romania’s Prime Minister, the 41 year old Victor Ponta, addressed about 200 people in Nyergestető (Piatra Niergeș), Hargita in Hungarian, during a commemoration that recalled the 165th anniversary of a critical battle during the 1848/49 Revolution and War of Independence. Mr. Ponta was invited to the commemoration by Hunor Kelemen, president of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania […]
I am speaking about democracy in a nutshell today, because pretty well that’s all is left of Hungarian democracy by today. In fact, it is even quite loose in that nutshell, after having shrunk so small. On December 31 2013, in the late night hours, as the country was well on its way to get drunk and celebrate the new year, […]
Hungary’s M1, the main public television channel, interviewed economist and Orbán government consultant Csaba Lentner, airing his views on why journalists in the West reacted so critically and fiercely to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s infamous ‘illiberal’ speech in Tusnádfürdő, Romania, last weekend. What the state broadcaster (which is hardly known for its fair and balanced reporting, even though they are […]
Bea Gergely, a Budapest-based freelance photo reporter, attended Orlai Produkció’s adaptation of Amadeus, a play by British playwright and screenwriter Sir Peter Sheffer. The play offers the audience a fictionalized version of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s life. The narrative is told from the perspective of fellow composer Antonio Salieri who — as a devout Catholic and as someone who is highly envious […]
