Tens of thousands hit Market Street in San Francisco on Saturday to march for science. My wife and I attended the lively event which was part of a nationwide call to celebrate Earth Day 2017. Clever, sometimes funny posters criticized Donald Trump and raised alarms over his budget plan which would cut federal funds from research. The Department of Health […]
Fidesz support in a closely watched by-election in the Budapest district of Zugló has collapsed, with the left-wing opposition winning a sweeping victory. Bence Bitskey, the joint candidate for the Democratic Coalition, the Hungarian Socialist Party, the small Dialogue party and a local civic group garnered 790 votes, compared to just 404 for Fidesz. While the left won in this […]
Two municipal by-elections are scheduled for Sunday in Budapest and both could serve as an indication of what impact half a dozen mass protests (each drawing tens of thousands) and the scandal surrounding Central European University have had on voting intentions, less than a year before national elections. Both by-elections are in areas that, in any other country, would likely […]
“All I know is what’s on the internet” -Donald Trump Since I published my two-part series in the Hungarian Free Press, (my favourite blog, the one I lovingly call the “Little Engine That Could”) my phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Some callers breathe hard and tell me to “go back to Israel” and hang up, before I can ask – why […]
For years Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been able to control his Fidesz party with an iron fist. Sharp exchanges remained within the walls of Fidesz offices while the leadership always showed a unified front to the public. His recent attack on the George Soros-backed Central European University (CEU), and the Lex CEU law which was approved by the […]
A total of 54 train stations in towns across southern Slovakia will have Hungarian signage in a matter of months, after years of pressure and protest from civil society. Slovak law allows for Hungarian signage, including street and place names, wherever the proportion of Hungarians exceeds 20% of the local population. Yet the country’s state railway company (Železnice Slovenskej republiky, […]
This month, I was invited to watch a private preview screening of the documentary Keep Quiet, which will have its Toronto premiere at the Toronto Jewish Film Foundation Festival on May 8, 2017. The film, directed by Joseph Martin and Sam Blair, focuses on the political coming of age of Jobbik and Hungarian Guard co-founder Csanád Szegedi–a young man who represented […]
The contrast between the words uttered by the Hungarian and Canadian prime ministers this Easter could not have been more stark. While Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Catholic, spoke about how “the Easter story reminds us of the sacrifices made for us, and of the forgiving power of compassion,” as well as called on us to “put into practice what […]
Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian government plans to turn the Budapest International Book Festival (April 20–23) into a political propaganda event. The festival is supposed to be for book lovers. It is an annual four-day extravaganza with panel discussions, book signings, readings where thousands of newly published and older books can be purchased. (Click here to see this year’s program of the […]
This is the continuation of Part 1 of Dr. András Göllner’s essay, which appeared in HFP on Thursday. Introduction In the first part of this series, we argued, that the key players in Trump’s electoral scam have slipped under the FBI’s radar because US laws prohibit the Agency to pursue evidence outside the territory of the US. We also argued, […]
