On this frigid, bitingly cold Sunday (it’s currently -26°C in the Canadian capital) Hungarian poet Attila József’s piece “Winter Night” seems like something appropriate to share with our readers. Attila József (1905-1937) is one of Hungary’s iconic twentieth century poets and one of the few who built much of his oeuvre on exploring the human condition within the Hungarian industrial […]
More than twenty thousand teachers, school administrators, students, parents and union activists took to the very rainy streets of Budapest on Saturday morning, and marched together from Jászai Mari tér, near Budapest’s Margaret Bridge, to Parliament. The mass demonstration is the largest since the series of so-called “internet protests” in 2014, when tens of thousands marched in opposition to the […]
For those among our readers who are based in the Ottawa area, here’s an invitation that may be of interest to you… * The Hungarian Forum of Ottawa, a newly incorporated Canadian non-profit organization, cordially invites you and your partner to attend a wine & cheese reception to celebrate the establishment of an inclusive Hungarian community association in the nation’s capital. […]
Russia has recently offered Hungary six brand new Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, as well as support to launch a new national carrier. They began negotiations last October and Evgeny Andrachnikov, an official of Sukhoi told the media that a Hungarian national carrier would provide a great opportunity for the Superjet 100 to show its worth. He added that the two […]
Columnist Matt Gurney’s piece in Wednesday’s National Post is republished with permission in the Hungarian Free Press. Mr. Gurney argues that the United States is starting to view Vladimir Putin’s Russia as a real threat to the Baltic states and Eastern Europe more generally. While the West has a major military and economic advantage over Russia, President Putin has been […]
To be the director of a public institute, a high-ranking diplomat (ambassador or consul general), a management-level civil servant, a leader in public broadcasting or in much of Hungary’s private media, you not only frequently have to be clearly loyal to the ruling Fidesz party, but you often need a personal family connection to players in Viktor Orbán’s Prime Minister’s Office. There […]
More than 5,000 teachers, students and parents took to the streets of Miskolc last week, in what may have been a first in modern Hungarian history, to demand that the Orbán regime in Budapest end its heavily centralized and authoritarian approach to public education, where teachers and school administrators are stripped of all autonomy and where they are ordered to […]
Hungary’s unseasonably warm, spring-like weather is about to cool off in the next few days, and the political climate is also showing some signs of change, with a growing number of demographic groups cooling to the increasingly insular, arrogant and corrupt Orbán regime. This week, the ruling Fidesz party (it’s really not a ruling party, but rather a ruling clique […]
One of the most amazing goals ever happened in January 2012 at Goodison Park, Liverpool during an English Premier League match. Everton hosted Bolton when in the 63rd minute Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard made a right-footed kick from about 5 meters inside his own penalty line. The ball flew almost 100 yards, bounced once and ended up in Bolton’s net. […]
I just saw Son of Saul. It was a powerful, intense, painful experience. I am a child (not so young anymore) of Holocaust survivors. My mother was in Auschwitz and my father was in Mauthausen. I had heard many stories, especially from my father, about their days in hell. I have seen a number of films about the concentration camp […]
