In mid-June, when the Hungarian ministry of justice was working on the seventh amendment to the constitution, aimed primarily at civic organizations, the Orbán government in the last minute added a new amendment (Article XXII[3]), which in its final form reads: “In order to protect public order, public security, public health and cultural values, an Act or a local government decree may, with respect to a specific part of public space, provide that staying in public space as a habitual dwelling shall be illegal.” The new law was to take effect on October 15. Since then, 101 people have received warnings and three were arrested.
The real horror of the law becomes obvious only in the directives accompanying it. Here are some of the details. After three warnings within 90 days, the homeless person will be arrested and jailed while waiting for his sentencing, but if the homeless person is not cooperative, he can be jailed immediately. When can the police intervene? If the homeless person “is seen often and regularly within a limited time washing, dressing himself, or keeping a dog.” If arrested, he will spend a maximum of 72 hours in preliminary detention until the case is decided in court. In the first instance, the person can be reprimanded, sentenced to public work, or, in the case of a recidivist, given a jail term. The person will be responsible for all or part of the court costs.
So, let’s see the stories of the three homeless people who ended up in court so far. The first was a man arrested in Gödöllő, a town about 30 km from Budapest. The homeless man, who once upon a time was an engineer, is in bad physical shape and lost his apartment a few years ago. The police found him sitting on a bench. He was immediately taken in because he told the police he didn’t want to go to the shelter; he would rather sleep in the nearby park. That indicates “obstinacy,” which is reason enough for an arrest without any warning. In this case the police asked for an accelerated procedure. They asked for a jail term, but the law clerk (bírósági titkár) decided merely “to reprimand” the man. He was supposed to pay 20,000 forints (€62), which his pro bono lawyer paid.
The second case was an alcoholic who was asleep on the square in front of the Western Station in Budapest. He was apparently drunk. He was warned three times, all in one day, on October 16. He was immediately taken to jail.
From this second arrest we can see how these cases are dealt with in Budapest. The actual trial takes place at the Metropolitan Court of Budapest, but the arrested homeless people are not allowed in the courtroom. They sit on translucent chairs in one of two whitewashed rooms some distance away in the infamous Gyorskocsi Police Station, where, for example, Imre Nagy was executed. Communication between the two locations is done electronically. Our alcoholic, a practically incoherent man, eventually also received only a reprimand. He had to pay 6,300 forints. He promised to go to the shelter, but I’m almost certain that he will be back in the jail in Gyorskocsi utca in no time.
The third case is perhaps the saddest. Mrs. Kálmán Oláh (62) has been homeless for the last five months after her partner of 14 years died. Their apartment was on his name, and the man’s relatives after a year wouldn’t let her stay on. Soon she will be eligible for a pension. Since she has cancer, she can work only part time, mostly cleaning houses. She is well dressed, and if she just sat on a park bench no one would ever think she was homeless. But unfortunately, she had a blanket, a pillow, and a dog. She was warned three times during the course of October 17. After the fourth warning, the police took all her belongings and her dog.
Mrs. Oláh was once a stenographer and typist in the ministry of interior and later secretary to one of the middle managers of a private firm. In 1995 she left for the United States where she spent a few years, but, to her regret, she returned to Hungary. She said that her homelessness is temporary because she is in the middle of a law suit over her claim to the apartment. Her lawyer argued that the law is unconstitutional, and she decided to appeal the reprimand she received.
Given the outcry and outrage over these cases, the government felt it was time to defend the new anti-homeless law. Political Undersecretary Bence Rétvári, who is the face of the otherwise faceless ministry of human resources, whose minister, Miklós Kásler, judiciously avoids the public, explained that “the objective of the regulation is greater assistance to the needy.” These people can break out of their present situation if they take advantage of the temporary shelters provided for them by the authorities. Others claim that there are only about 9,000 available places in Budapest when the number of homeless is between 15,000 and 30,000.
Magyar Idők’s op-ed page couldn’t possibly stay away from the issue. Szilvia Polgári, a young journalist who writes extensively for right-wing publications like Pesti Srácok, published an article titled “Anti-Homeless Demagoguery.” She accuses the activists who protest against the criminalization of homelessness of wanting to prevent the government from providing life-saving heated shelters and “driving them into the forests so they can freeze to death in the open.” The activists would like to see legislation declaring that everybody has a right to a roof over their heads. However, claims Szilvia Polgári, “the government or the local government will not provide free housing on liberal demand.” As far as she is concerned, helping the needy, the old, the disabled, people who cannot provide for themselves is simply unfair to those hard-working families whose tax forints are spent on them. “There is no such government, no such local government that can give anything to anyone without taking it from somebody else…. We should keep this in mind before we begin building the so successful socialism.”
All this reminded me of a recent interview with Francis Fukuyama in The New Statesman. Fukuyama, in The End of History, rebuked Marxists who regarded communism as humanity’s final ideological stage. The interviewer asked what he thought of the resurgence of the socialist left in the U.K. and the U.S. Here is his answer: “It all depends on what you mean by socialism. Ownership of the means of production—except in areas where it’s clearly called for, like public utilities—I don’t think that’s going to work. If you mean redistributive programmes that try to redress this big imbalance in both incomes and wealth that has emerged then, yes, I think not only can it come back, it ought to come back.” In a country like Hungary where, like so many other places, there is such a gap between the haves and have-nots, the government should try to minimize the difference between them. But this government has been assiduously working to make the well-to-do richer and the impoverished poorer. Szilvia Polgári in fact incites those hard-working families not just against the homeless but also against families who have lost their homes as a result of the Forex crisis and now are being evicted. No pity there. No compassion.
The churches remained quiet in Hungary. In Slovakia, however, 13 Christian civic groups wrote a letter to the Slovak foreign minister, asking him to speak out against the criminalization of the homeless in Hungary. Otherwise, Canadian Timothy Schmalz’s 2013 statue “Homeless Jesus” has made its rounds in Hungary too, thanks to the generosity of The Malteses. The photo in this post was taken in Budapest, showing Cardinal Péter Erdő consecrating the statue. But this Christian message made no impression on Viktor Orbán, the leader of the most Christian Democratic state in the European Union.
i’m sure I’m not the only one appreciating the irony of Hungary being referred to as “the most Christian Democratic state in Europe,” since it’s neither.
Accurate comment about Hungary not being either “Christian” (in full sense of term) or democratic.
one can even doubt if in it’s “current state” Hungary can be considered a real state…
definition of state: a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government
current Hungary: a nation or territory considered as one community under an authoritarian, power craving and criminal government
Orban is the apotheosis of every uncharitable thought and impulse any of us has ever had. Ditto for Trump. For their followers, it’s their way of life.
Professor-you and I are close to same age so we remember the communist treatment of those who were homeless. Orban -from all appearances- may have an alcohol
problem. Perhaps he will realize at the end of his life the the thin line between being sober or alcoholic, let alone housed or homeless. Not likely any time soon.
The so called government policy for the homeless will not only not stop homelessness, it will fail to treat any real social problems that frequently lead to homelessness i.e. poverty, lack of affordable housing, alcoholism/drug addiction and/or mental illness/other psychological problems.
The silence of the Churches is very loud, especially as I volunteered at Reform Church facilities in Erdely for the treatment of alcoholism/drug addiction where I helped facilitate staff training, consultations and alcohol/drug prevention skills. I did the same in Budapest for a secular program. I hope the Synagogues for the tiny Jewish community can consider speaking out even if they are too weak to offer any meaningful help. I especially hope that the Catholic and Reformed Churches will condemn this sad policy and offer more meaningful assistance.
Just so you know Eva the homeless Jesus statue is an effectively,approved Catholic statue and we have one in front of the,offices of Catholic Charities in Chicago see https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140428/river-north/jesus-homeless-statue-installed-at-catholic-charities/ Canadian sculptor Schmalz, is a devout Catholic who makes his living making various statues for Catholic Churches.
In fact Eva you can by a Miniature Replica : (5”H x 9.75”W x 3.5”D) of the statue for $79.99 from Schmalz. Here is a link to his website https://www.sculpturebytps.com/about-the-artist/ .
Washington DC has one too.
@István, 9:50 pm
Perhaps Mr. Schmaltz is able to buy himself a free pass into glory by selling “schmaltzy” statuettes. After all, the word these days usually:
“has an informal meaning of ‘excessively sentimental or florid music or art’ or ‘maudlin sentimentality’, similar to one of the uses of the words corn or corny” according to a discussion of the meaning of the Yiddish “schmaltz” and doesn’t it just?!
I guess the church feels it can also get a free ride on this one by wearing a pretty purple robe and a pair of jack boots in front of a piece of horizontal bronze. Relics and statuettes of the VM, buy now and (be) SAVE(d).
I can’t imagine who would really want a miniature copy of that statue on their mantle place. It’s really a pretty dark piece, but then so is the crypt at the Esztergom Basilica and one of my extended family members in Hungary has an authorized photo of the Holy Dexter in their home in a fancy frame. She asked when I was looking at it, if I wanted a copy to take back to Chicago? That was a dilemma for me, to be both polite and indicate in Hungarian I did not want one. I got through it somehow.
Just a small correction:
The sculptor’s name is the German version of the word: “Schmalz”.
The Yiddish version is Schmaltz and they mean similar but essentially different things:
Schmaltz means just bird’s fat (usually goose) while Schmalz in German usually is used for pig’s fat – when you make it the remains are Grieben (tepertö). 🙂
– Johnny my son!
– Yes my Father!
– What is this intolerable mess in my church? Only yesterday we called the police to take that wretched homeless man shivering in the doorway of this church, and now I see one inside, in the house of Christ, an unshaven, bearded, raggedy man! His ribs are almost sticking out of his skin! What will my parishioners say, if the see him?! Throw him out instantly my son!
-I understand my Father. Should I throw out only the statue or the cross with it too?
Re: ‘intolerable mess’
While a particular religious institution knows it has a a mandate of ‘spreading love and charity’ it needs to be remembered that secret organizations can and do breed evil. And sometimes this truth is difficult to face.
Recently I wrote to a ‘religious’ individual who pronounced on how ‘open doors’ rather than ‘closed doors’ led the way on to spiritual life. In context of the abuses I had suggested that ‘open’ Catholic doors were deeply insidious as they introduced illicit and illegal betrayals behind ‘closed’ doors with the consequence of trust completely destroyed. I have not received a reply. It’s been so long I don’t expect any response. He must have got a phone call from the Vatican.
Let me deviate a bit from this issue of the inhuman treatment and laws that this fascist regime added to the other already infested hundreds of regulations they brought in during their tenure. To put it in a simple term; Orban is a thug. He is a brute and imprudent individual, whose intellect prohibits him to rise above the mental power of a common criminal. The adjective ‘smart’ is often associated with him, but having a criminal mind thwarting everybody doesn’t contribute to smartness. To use one’s cunning skills to turn a county’s promising future into a state of a 3rd world country is not an achievement. To parade on the international scene with other state leaders like a peacock seeking attention is not a virtue to be envied. Just the contrary; with exception of a few fellow travellers on extreme fringe of right-wing politics, Orban is despised and seen through like filth under a sheet of glass. Just look beyond the tourists infested fashionable central districts of the capital and you can see the real Hungary. Go and visit the hospitals, schools, observe the filthy streets, the collapsing infrastructure, and listen to the people complaining just about everything. And… Read more »
If you’re complaining about beautiful and relatively clean Bp already you don’t dare go out into the villages in the East – with no running water etc …
Where are that villages exactly? Can you name some villages? It sounds like a fantasy…
There was a report on this site about the problem of people going with buckets to the nearest water supply – where the localgovernment had reduced the flow of watr to a trickle,so they would have to wait for a long time …
If you could read and search, you’d find it!
Or just travel to one of these villages and look at the ruins they call houses there.
Even here in rich Zala county every time I look out the window I see a neighbour’s house rotting away, the paint/plaster is coming down in flakes – it doesn’t help that there is no rain gutter, rain water is just flowing down …
And the roof of what used to be stables in the back for animals has already broken down …
Where are those poor villages ? Search the net to see hundreds of photos, eg.
Alternatively drive around in the poorer regions of Hu. I was surprised to find the Slovak and Polish villages on my way to Krakow in much better shape (if not style).
Wolfi/observer,
How low can you sink in your obsessive hatred of the Hungarians? You are posting a photo of a couple shacks
accommodated by the unfortunate gypsies and you want the world to think that this is what Hungary looks like!?
Shame on you!
For the last eight years or so, you and the likes of you come on this blog and vent your deep seated hatred against everything Hungarian. You hate the government and you hate the “thick peasants”, you hate the arts and architecture etc. etc.
Just looking at those gypsy homes, how come the likes of you couldn’t manage to bring them into the 21st century when you were in power?! Those homes on the photo weren’t exactly built during the Fidesz rule, were they?!
Nonsense, it is the likes of Fidesz symphatisers that consciously keep these villages like this. The right wing has been targeting the gypsies even harder ever since the gárda and Jobbik got into the picture, their situation worsens. Also, you needn’t post gypsy shacks to see poor villages. If you know which counties to go to, you will see plenty of houses in very rough shape. In Hungary there is a sharp regional divide, where villages in one county look rather western, and ones from the other look like they are left behind from the ’60s or ’70s.
@MZ:
You silly person, I see similar houses every day walking through our
village – and I see very nice houses built by/for Fidesz honchos (tobacco shop owners e g) nearby.
Your claim that I’m anti-hungarian reminds me of the Nazis:
Everyone who was against AH was anti-german …
You really are the perfect village idiot!
Wolfi,
“When the debate is lost, slander becomes the tool of the looser”!
Yes, you are a “looser”, MZ – any facts from you? Like re the rape of children by your friends with the cross?
In case you forgot:
You are the one who calls everyone “antihungarian” that shows facts about the corruption of Fidesz e g – ain’t that cute?
More links on poverty in Hu (for the lazy ones here):
?key=7f4c522aa067e6bd960534c265b5883c
Yes, a typical picture – with two interesting facts:
There was money for tv and a satellite dish – or rather two of them!
There was no money for a rain gutter – the rainwater just runs down, of course often destroying the walls …
The water coming up from the earth (no insulation …) does the rest – these houses are damp and really unhealthy!
Wolfi,
As someone formerly from Eastern Hungary, there’s a crucial thing to understand here: due to legal connectivity, a rain gutter is de facto part of the canalization, so if you have that, you’ll have to cough up a few million to do said canalization on that street, whereas in lack of a GEZ, owning a satellite dish isn’t communal.
The house that I bought around 20 years ago in a village near Hévíz had rain gutters – they still lead to a little canal between the street and the pedestrian’s way, not into the canalisation.
A few in the village still don’t have them!
The toilets were connected to a large “reservoir”/dump (forgot the English name) which had to be emptied regularly.
Luckily when we did the renovation the whole village got sewage/canalisation – no more letting the dirty water run straight into the Balaton!
Of course we immediately asked for a connection though it wasn’t mandatory at first.
Rather OT:
I still remember – you could tell when our neighbour’s washing machine ran – the water went into the lawn …
https://www.penzcentrum.hu/karrier/az-orszag-nyomorfalvai-itt-elnek-a-legszegenyebb-magyarok.1056941.html
https://444.hu/2018/05/29/magyar-falvak-ahol-se-bolt-se-iskola-se-pap-se-munka
http://mandiner.hu/attachment/0242/241586_vasarloero.jpg
Eurostat, the statistical office of the EU, has published its estimates for 2017 about the deprivation of societies in member states. Hungary is ranked among the highest in terms of poverty rates.
https://bbj.hu/analysis/hungary-among-eu-countries-with-highest-poverty-rates_148538
Even an idiot should be able to read this.
Now I’m wondering whether we’ll see any comments on this by our oh so Christian (or rather fascist …) trolls.
I can just imagine MZ using her cross to hit a homeless person to make it run away …
Re: holding my cross
Melanie Zuben is currently supporting five charities. What do YOU and the likes of you do apart from complaining about the Hungarian Government’s noble decision to accomodate the homeless?
Re: National Theater/Dos 929
I happen to love the design! I know some of you on this blog would have been happier with a simplistic concrete structure decorated with a couple of Banksia “murals”, but lucky for Budapest, Orban took a stand. And this building will remain for future generations to enjoy and admire ! 💖
Re: Fidesz run villages
According to “wolfi” the Fidesz run villages are living on the “land of plenty”. In this case, does anybody know why the “poor” villagers are shooting themselves in the foot?
MZ is supporting maybe the Catholic Church – helping them abuse more children?
Have you looked at the story of your Cardinal Pell?
What an ugly creature …
But this is about Hungary anyway …
Have you one totally crazy, MZ?
“Land of plenty”?
You mean the billions that O and his family, Mészaros etc have stolen?
Have you ever looked at the success stories of these creatures?
Do you know anything about what’s going on in Hungary?
“OV’s Government’s noble decision”
according MZ it’s NOBLE to make homelessness a crime! and that in the constitution! prison penalties and fines for people who don’t have anything!
“OV&Co run villages are living on the “land of plenty”. In this case, does anybody know why the “poor” villagers are shooting themselves in the foot?”
sounds like a “real democracy”, where everybody has equal rights: not supporting the current powers equals shooting in one’s own foot…
PS: I’m supporting at least six real organizations helping people in need, but the numbers don’t matter the supported causes do!
MZ
You ARE an idiot, eg:
1. “Noble decision to accommodate the homeless..”.
?@!&WTF are u talking about?!!
– The orban regime has decreased spending in almost all or stopped many social programs.
– Out of malice and ideological extremism the fascists hamper or outright ban charitable activities, the most egregious eg. the Rev. G.Ivànyi’s ones.
2. Tying central gov funding to local political standing is illegal, it’s abuse of power, to start with.
3. The Nat Theater project was, as most things Orban:
– driven by pig headed malice – to cancel all previous achievements at any cost, and
– it was corrupt – the tender was scrapped and talantless Maria Siklos was given the job (she designed the villa of some Fidesznik) https://index.hu/belfold/sklsmr5855/.
– the result was predictably Felcsutia – opinions in the profession about the design range from “mediocre” to “screaming kitsch”.
But there’s MZ & co, of course ….
Observer/wolfi,
Firstly, no decent human being would allow himself to address a woman the way you do, unless he’s a bloodthirsty misogynist.
Calling me an “idiot” and accusing me of helping the Catholic Church to “abuse more children” is an attack on my character and unless you have a very good excuse, such as the possible legal advantage of hiding behind mental illness, I’d suggest to you both to watch your ugly mouth! Shame on you!
I still remember when MZ accused all of us of “playing with our thingilingis” etc which of course in her belief not only leads to blindness but also is one of the biggest sins (unless you’re a priest of course … 🙂
Now should we go to court for this abominable assault on our characters?
My wife is the only one allowed to play … 🙂
Wolfi,
Re: playing with your thingilingi
Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Your quote is out of contexts!
What I actually said was: why don’t you play with your thingilingi instead of attacking my character! Once again, as many times before, I defended myself from your vindictive abuses!
No commentnecessary on these quotes from our village idiot … 🙂
“…asked you specifically to stop playing with your you -know- what, as it can cause serious blindness”
“haHve you ever been in bed with a flea?”
“and why don’t you stop playing with your thingilingi?There is a huge possibility that doing it long enough, it may cause you blindness.”
“Always the stronger dog f<**s!"
"…maybe it’s time for some western dogs to take a rest from the humping or a nice German Shepherd could bite of his thingilingi."
"Whilst the Oh So Birghts are busy with “creative destruction” the “not so brights” -like myself- are studying the Bible. There is not much we can do. For now, that is."
Wolfi,
The bloodthirsty misogynists are fighting desperately! “No comment necessary”, the vicious abusers are at it again. As usual, my comments are taken out of context. You are unable to conduct a civilised debate!
Civilised debate with you ?
You better return to your holding the cross – Halloween is coming …
MZ
Almost every time you open (figuratively) your mouth u just confirm my point above with your incomprehension, ignorance and inability to construct a logical argument:
– nobody address u as a woman,
– nor should a woman get any preferential/discriminatory treatment for her nonsense on account of her sex,
– I listed precisely the grounds for the obvious inclusion, which BTW seems to be widely shared.
– threats won’t help improve your rating here: it remains cat Idiot.
observer,
Would this article improve my “rating here'”? 🙂
I let the Economist “construct a logical argument” for your excusite taste:
https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/10/17/liberals-need-a-new-approach-to-immigration
BTW, my name is “Melanie” not “Michael”, so you are addressing me “as a woman”.
So are you denying, MZ, that catholic priests abused tens (maybe hundreds …) of thousands of children and they still do? There were several thousand cases just in Germany, in Australia too …
Wouldn’t that be something to fight against – with all your might?
“excusite ” can you explain this, magyar migrant mel?
I always find it funny (or sad) hearing these arguments against migrants from migrants – but of course hungarians can’t or rather don’t want to be compared to others in similar situations …
You really are an ***!
Wow, a comment from a reactionary/populist Orbán fan – who doesn’t even give his/her name …
It’s nothing neww that the economist has become an almost fascist paper, good for MZ! 🙂
MZ
See? Exactly as I noted: The Economist can construct a logocal argument, but not you, ie. migration to Western Europe is totally OT when we discuss the malicious urges and inhuman policies and treatment by the Orban regime (one-trick-donkey response).
Your incomprehension on the gender issue underlines my rating.
Not too much OT:
A “nice” example of how the USA treats similarly underprivileged people:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/georgia-black-voters-bus
The best political advertisement, Robert Puzser.
lies and liars are bad
using lies to topple liars is even worse
the next step, whatever that may be, is the worst
Puzser is bloated going on the bad-worse-worst road
Another eerie parallel between Hungary and the USA:
I still remember from our US trips how shocked my wife was, seeing so many homeless persons in the center of the big cities …
NYC and San Franciso were really bad. In San Francisco I had got a relatively cheap room in the famous Whitcomb hotel on Market St (where the streetcar runs …) and just 20 m from the hotel entrance was the Underground entrance where day and night you would meet homeless persons. And on the other side of the street was a Burger King so these poor creatures would often search the garbage nearby …
The homeless problem has increased in the Bay Area in the USA due to the fantastic increases in property values and is now significant even as far out as Sacramento. (See https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/homeless/article220066220.html ) There is now a multiple problem, low wage workers are priced out of the market and there is no place for them to live because no new public hosing is being built, the drug addiction homeless problems remains consistent, and there is very little community based housing for people with mentally illness. Chicago has had a consistent history of homelessness and we have a strong not for profit sector that advocates for them that includes some talented lawyers. I have donated to the homeless coalition here in Chicago. The coalition has trained several Hungarian interns here is a story about them from last year http://www.chicagohomeless.org/cch-welcomes-organizing-fellows-hungary/ This project with Hungarian interns has been ongoing since 2013 and I have met many of them and some have come to dinner at our home here in Chicago. They are really wonderful young people. I am honored that the coalition I have supported has taken on this project. One key problem for Hungary is private philanthropy targeting the homeless in Hungary,… Read more »
If you ever have the time you should come to Paris. Our homeless problem has gone from bad to worse and Hidalgo’s response has pretty much been banning “aggressive architecture” and that’s about it. Until I moved I had been working closely with the order of malta and ran one of their food kitchens for a while, a big problem we have in Paris is that many, many, many people “move” to Paris to beg because it’s wealthy, a lot of SDF people speak French, the police won’t touch you, and the winters are generally not horrible and the metro is big. Between aid organizations and the city apparatus itself, the Paris/banlieues homeless population could easily be taken care of. But instead Paris draws homeless from all over France, Europe, and Africa and the number (seems to) get bigger every year. To a certain extent I understand laws like this, there was a church I used to volunteer at in the IVe that had a soup kitchen for the homeless on saturday. But that’s it. Eventually homeless people started “moving in” to the darker corners of the church and then eventually they were jsut everywhere always and had essentially occupied… Read more »
Yes, it is a very difficult, perhaps even insolvable problem. This new law achieved that the homeless moved out of the downtown areas but the numbers haven’t grown in the shelters. That means that they moved somewhere else. Perhaps the forests and the less inhabited areas in the outskirts.
Josiah, Look at the problem at its core. In Hungary, if you’re not able-bodied, you’re screwed, literally. Decades ago, as others have noted, the Kádár regime laid heavy emphasis on removing the homeless into prisons, and to appease the pensioners who lived in that “paradise”, the Orbán regime does the same. The difference isn’t money, it’s lack of compassion. The French, though etatist, is still a nation of capitalists, so they’re keenly aware as there is such a thing as personal or business ruin, that contribute to homelessness, i.e. it can happen to just about anyone. Take for example the BMSZKI, which got into the news recently for taking part in the government’s actual refugee aid in that they actively helped not only to get them a place to stay but to help them integrate into the Hungarian society. They have run a business model for the regular homeless where part of their contribution went straight to a fund like Fundamenta to finance a future home. As you’re probably aware, the not so collateral cynicism hits extra hard here, since those homeless willing and able to go to a shelter could only do so without pets and kids. The killing… Read more »
Josiah
Tnx for the info. A decade ago a documentary re homeless in Paris deeply touched me, especially a “normal” guy who wore white shirt and tie and went looking for a job.
NOW! He slept in the entrance of of a small luxurious apartment building with the consent of the residents to do this between 11pm and 7am (unthinkable in Hu).
While Paris City and the French were trying to humanly resolve/alleviate a problem, Orbàn’s regime is persecuting these unfortunates/wretches for political gains with no such intention at all.
On 444.hu yesterday (https://444.hu/2018/10/19/tenyek-soros-most-a-hajlektalanuggyel-tamadja-a-kormanyt):
The organization “A város mindenkié” (The city belongs to everybody) which defends the homeless is, of course, “connected to George Soros”. Therefore, the “Tények” (“Facts” 😉 ) magazine of TV2 prefers to put it this way: “Soros is now attacking Hungary by way of the homeless.”
I tried once – but got censored maybe?
The Fidesz propaganda has now reached or rather trumped the level of uglyness of the stuff by Goebbels. Will the next step be the (in)famous question:
Wollt Ihr den Totalen Krieg?
Totally OT on the positive side – Hawking’s last book:
Its main idea: Their may be life on other planets- but there surely is no god!
https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/16/health/stephen-hawking-final-book-intl
I still remember the loonies claiming that Stephen converted to religion on his deathbed …
Did they? It was probably the ID guys.. Those who root for the cosmic Versace out there…the ‘Intelligent Designer’
Hawking, such a brilliant scientist. Funny guy too. He had a hard time believing there are ‘multiverses’ where pizza wasn’t invented’. He was a foodie too.😎😀
What is really telling:
The Fidesz politics show a strong correlation with the program of the German Fascist AfD:
https://www.afd.de/wp-content/uploads/sites/111/2017/06/2017-06-01_AfD-Bundestagswahlprogramm_Onlinefassung.pdf
Later I’ll try to find an English version of this – or maybe not, it pains me too much …
Silvia Polgári’s statement that “There is no… …government… …that can give anything to anyone without taking it from somebody else…. We should keep this in mind before we begin building the so successful socialism” hits the nail on the head when it comes to summarizing Fidesz/Orbán philosophy.
First and foremost, the Orbán regime has made an obsession of taking and taking and taking for themselves and, indeed, not giving anything to anyone else. But who cares? Orbán is not in the business of “building socialism”. As Lazer Johnny put it so well, “If you have nothing, you are nothing”. Not even Jesus Christ could have said it better.
By the way if you haven’t caught up with the latest on Democracy in Hungary, check this Dutch video out:
note: provided with EN/HU subtitles
for those less familiar with YT:
-switch on subtitles (one of the bottom right icons)
-select your language in the settings (next to the subtitles icon)
The video is awful: vulgar and brainless. Stopped watching at 1.11….
?? mixed the NL comedy video with Puzser’s one??
check the behinds at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zondag_met_Lubach
The following is reporting by Mr. Novak formerly of a now extinct Budapest Beacon. It was done in October of 2015. As we are now a further three years on from the activity of VO socializmus or whatever it would be difficult to see any enhancements in things that looked ‘promising’. Orban has his issues with free market capitalism but he’ll take from it like an apple tree. His love for a socialism consisting of an expanding autocracy, a bit here of kleptocracy and a bit there of plutocracy seems to be working. Result? The inexorable dive has to continue. Report: ‘The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) yesterday released a country profile titled How’s Life in Hungary as part of the international economic organization’s “Better Life Initiative”. The report spotlights the fact that the children of poor families have it especially hard in Hungary. There are marked regional disparities in the level of education, income and access to things such as broadband internet between Central Hungary and the Northern Great Plain regions. Another finding is that life satisfaction in Hungary falls below the OECD average. Where things are looking promising Compared to the average OECD citizen, Hungarians experience… Read more »
EU elections of 2019 are open to fraud:
Orban & his party want to increase their European Parliament votes in 2019 by giving Serbian, Ukrainian or other “ethnic Hungarians” outside the EU the right to vote.
This means that lots of people will vote for Fidesz without knowing it. Since the dead people are not taken off the rolls, the dead will also vote for Fidesz.
The bill:
http://www.parlament.hu/irom41/02941/02941.pdf
Additional gems in the bill (affecting every type of election in the future):
1.
It will be more difficult, if not impossible to appeal the decisions of the fidesznik election authorities.
2.
It will be more difficult to disqualify votes sent in by mail.
3.
It will be more difficult for the opposition to reach the electorate on billboards, television, radio.
4.
The central and local governments can legally campaign for Fidesz.
@tappanch, 11:22 am
What is this? Are you saying that Ms. Sargentini (give her a kiss!) was right after all? Hungary under Orbán really is the graveyard of democracy, fairness and honesty just as she said it is?
Who’d a thunk it??
And the good news is:
Hungary sent only 18 members to the EP – even together with Polands 51 this is less than 10%, rather insignificant.
I know this is a kind of gallows humour – just like my wife’s family showed today when we took a drive through the country.
Whenever we passed a village with bad roads and rotting ruins as houses they said:
This village didn’t vote for Fidesz!
And when they saw nice roads, a new football field and/or a playground they said:
This must be an Orbán village!
Obviously, these homeless laws are designed to address the symptoms not the cause. There are of course many causes of homelessness. It is a mistake to assume that in every case the blame attaches to someone other than the homeless person. One can think of endless examples where the person becomes either deliberately homeless or his conduct causes him to lose the roof over his head. The state of homelessness is however mostly a result of misfortune, poor mental and physical health. Whatever the causes, the homeless are a pathetic part of society whose condition would in most places in the world would elicit sympathy and an overwhelming desire to help as a priority. It is never an easy task to be effective because resources are scarce. However the Hungarian approach is barbaric.
It’s not the”Hungarian approach” – it’s the “Christian Illiberal Fidesz/Kdnp approach”.
Never forget that these (quasi-)fascists got less than 50% of the votes!
That’s still a kind of consolation for my wife and her family – which had been thinking of leaving Hungary for good …
PS:
Fascist right wingers are similar all over the world – from Fidesz to AfD and some of the Repugs in the USA.
And don’t even think about kuruc.info or the DailyStormer!
I chose those words with care. I have not forgotten the much rehearsed argument about Orban regime’s legitimacy. The real test in my view is not whether he should be allowed the powers he has with 49% of the popular vote. After all the 49% is more than that of any other party. If you wanted to demonstrate that his is not the “Hungarian approach” I would find it persuasive if you identified any sizeable body of protesters, organisations and/or individuals who took to the street to show what they think of the barbaric treatment by their government of the least fortunate of their fellow citizens.
In London today nearly 700,000 people turned out to protest that their government does not give them a “people’s vote” on the shameful charade called Brexit which is threatening to plunge the U.K. into economic and political chaos. People can make themselves heard even when their rulers hate to hear it. Do you now see what I mean by the Hungarian approach?
I’d say the Hun approach is keeping quiet in public – just moaning about it in private which some people I know do continuously!
Maybe it’s a relic from “Socialist times” …
Aida
It’s a very naive to think that political activities can be pursued in Hu just like in the UK, or anything like it – the contemporary dictatorships have better fig leaves and are less oppressive, just enough to rig and steal the “elections”, which can’t possibly produce a legit government. So,
No, the Orbàn regime has no legitimacy
I largely agree with you. The only merit to the current government’s approach would be if, having cleared the streets of homeless people (dubious in terms of morality and human rights), they then put great effort and resources into helping them solve some of the complex problems that caused them to become homeless. Criminalizing people is unlikely to help.
Also, being homeless in some forgotten village in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county is less criminal than being homeless outside Buda Castle?
pantanifan,
Jokes aside, you posit a legal conundrum. In a place like Kocsord where you “kiszívod a zoxigént”, the probability of someone falling to the side of the road drunk from their bikes isn’t zero.
As such, the law criminalizing the use of public space other than intended applies not just to the homeless. Since we’ve already seen some cops interpret 4 warnings within 90 days as 4 warnings within 2 hours, if the drunk stays on the roadside, they ad absurdum, but de facto do commit the crime.
Scratch budapest off the bucket list…
VIRTUAL REALITY CAN INCREASE EMPATHY FOR THE HOMELESS
https://psmag.com/social-justice/virtual-reality-can-increase-empathy-for-the-homeless