Új Magyar Szó Online (Maszol), a Romanian Hungarian-language internet site, published an article a couple of days ago about two master bakers from Sri Lanka who were hired by a large bakery with headquarters in Gyergyóditró/Ditrău, a small Hungarian-inhabited town in Harghita/Hargita County. The two bakers arrived ten days ago, and the rumor spread like wildfire that “migrants are being settled in the town.” Some of the inhabitants planned to demonstrate while others called for a boycott of the company. Soon enough, commenters on the Facebook page “We want a migrant-free Ditró” were talking about the “liquidation of aliens” and were also threatening the owner of the bakery. The situation became so bad that the company decided to move the two men to a nearby town.
Romanian companies hire more and more workers from outside the European Union because of the serious labor shortage at home. In the first six months of 2019, 13,000 people received permission to work in Romania.
Source: digi24.ro
A day after its initial article, Maszol reported that “the future of the two master bakers was still uncertain” because a local Catholic priest decided to support the protesters and organized a demonstration against the presence of “strangers.” After the demonstration, he invited the crowd into the church where, after a communal prayer, the priest delivered a fiery speech on the fate of the Szeklers and the injustices they had to endure, past and present. He then led the crowd to the city council’s scheduled meeting. The mayor of Ditró, of course, couldn’t convince the crowd that the presence of these two men would not threaten Szekler culture. The protesters were especially outraged that the owner of the company suggested that learning something about a foreign culture only enriches their own.
By now there is a standoff in Gyergyóditró. The priest who incited the crowd wants Csaba Köllő, the owner of the bakery, to apologize for “failing to prepare the town before the arrival of the guest workers,” which Köllő refuses to do. As far as the Catholic priest is concerned, he claims that “he wants peace and quiet in town,” but he felt that he had to accept the role of leader of the community. By the way, the two men are not Muslims; one is a Buddhist and the other, a Catholic.
At this point another Catholic church leader entered the scene. Csaba Böjte, the well-known Franciscan monk and founder of the Deva/Déva Saint Francis Foundation, which currently cares for 2,500 orphans, expressed his belief that “the fear of the Gyergyóditró community must be taken seriously.” The people of the town shouldn’t be forced to accept the two Sri Lankans. He is convinced that the priest represents the voice and the interests of the local community, although at the demonstration only 150 people showed up while the town has about 5,000 inhabitants. He is hopeful, however, that the conflict will be resolved, that the people can be convinced that no great harm can come from the presence of the two strangers.
Two recent opinion pieces appeared in Azonnali, an internet news site owned by Péter Ungár (LMP MP), setting out opposing views. One was written by Előd Gellért Gergely, a Transylvanian Hungarian, and the other by Péter Techet, who was born and has lived in Hungary all his life with the exception of the time he spent in Germany as a student.
Gergely’s article, titled “Let the pro-migrant politicians be bakers in the Land of Szeklers,” is in full sympathy with the inhabitants of Gyergyóditró because what happened demonstrates that “there is an existing problem.” He claims that “the land of the Szeklers is a closed but tolerant community,” in which it can easily happen that someone from a neighboring village will remain “a stranger” for the rest of his life. Szeklers can handle “exceptions,” but they cannot tolerate mass settlements due to the bad experiences of the past. They are not xenophobes and racists, but they do have to worry about the two Sri Lankans because soon enough four other bakers will arrive from Nepal. The owner of the bakery is importing cheap labor from Asia while 30% of Romania’s population works abroad because of the extremely low living standards in the country. Instead of looking down on the allegedly backward people of Gyergyóditró, we should understand their plight, concludes Gergely.
Techet, who is especially interested in international relations, focuses on the differences between Scottish and Szekler nationalism in his article “Why is Scottish nationalism more successful than that of the Szeklers?” He recalls an earlier Azonnali interview with Christian Allard, the Scottish National Party’s member of the European Parliament, who is a French citizen yet a Scottish nationalist. He has been living in Scotland since 1984, he married a Scot and has three daughters and four grandchildren. He has become Scottish for all practical purposes. Let me add that this is something that couldn’t happen in “ethno-nationalistic” East-Central Europe (especially if he weren’t white). Just think of Párbeszéd’s member of parliament Olivio Kocsis-Cake, who was born in Hungary and whose first language is Hungarian yet is not considered to be a Hungarian because his father came from Guinea-Bissau. As a Hungarian nationalist declared, “he couldn’t understand the pain of Trianon.” Or, there is the case of the two half-Chinese-half Hungarian brothers, the famous speed skaters. As far as Hungarians are concerned, they are not really Hungarians; they are Chinese.
After this introduction, Techet moves to Gyergyóditró’s two bakers from Sri Lanka. “They didn’t want to take the bread of the locals; they wanted to bake bread for them.” Perhaps after a few decades if allowed they could even become part of the community. But “Szekler nationalism is not inclusive and not progressive.” Techet says that their nationalism is reflective of “tribal thinking.” The two Sri Lankans could never become Szeklers even if they learned Hungarian and put on their traditional clothing.
Techet claims that “such inclusive, ethnicist nationalism cannot address Romanian society nor can it create a positive image of itself that many Western European separatist movements enjoy on the left side of the political spectrum.” I should add that Techet is not a flaming liberal. He is a moderate conservative who for a long time worked for Magyar Nemzet and Heti Válasz. But then came the time that Fidesz moved so far to the right that Techet was no longer ready to follow them.
I JUST WANT TO SAY: BRAVO! I’m really tired of the Hungarian press (of which I had been a part for some 40 years), so had you not reported on this I probably would never have heard of this beautiful episode in the life of our beloved székelyföldi brothers ad sisters. Techet’s remark about the difference between taking and baking the bread is great! Thats the essence of the story. No f…ng foreigners should bake our breads, better dead than bread baked by those Lankan monkeys. (And, how nice of you Éva, that you didn’t mention Csaba Böjte’s devotion to and financial dependence on NER.
I was tempted to include Böjte’s recent stupid remark about Felcsút academy students kicking more goals for the 15 million Hungarians, but, of course, it didn’t quite fit the contents of the article. Thank you for the compliments.
Thank you for this post, Éva. Just yesterday, I was reading about KUN András, and his fellow Arrow Cross followers/co-murderers. Is this another sad and terrible event, written in miniature, of, “Here we go again!’ How close to murder does a country/nation/community get AND GET AWAY WITH? What is the matter with humankind? Are we lemming-like? Are we haters? Are we believers in good? If the fish rots from the head down, then we can lay the blame all across history, from the Biblical stories of Cain and Abel down–to the Trumps, Orbáns, Somozas, Idi Amins, the Castros, and the other hatemongers. But we cannot stand by. That we must not do? What if the 150 citizens of the town who attended the “sermon” ( for shame!) harmed the two bakers? Whom would the perpetrators go to for absolution, Father Károly, the village “leader?” I’m disgusted, as should be those 150 out of 5,000 who are claiming to speak for the town–in a country where the economy is so bad that there are 13,000 guest workers to take the place of their compatriots who left for the West. Hypocrites–and NOT defenders of a way of life. That “train” of thought… Read more »
Paul I will be honest and tell you that within the last hour I sent a link of Eva’s essay to several priests/academics who are theologians at Notre Dame University in South Bend Indiana who are very progressive Catholics. It is up to them to make contact with the Holy See about any disciplinary issues relating to Brother Csaba Böjte. They know the phone number to the Vatican and can reach the people who would need to be reached. I doubt that is likely to happen, even though the Holy Father’s perspectives on immigration are completely in contradiction to those expressed by Brother Csaba Böjte. If there is a reluctance to intervene in the disciplinary process of the various national churches on the issue of child molestation by members of the clergy it seems highly unlikely it will happen on immigration. A big quandary for me when referencing any of Eva’s posts relating to exposing the nefarious activities among the Hungarian Catholic clergy to anyone in the Church here in the USA is what I see as her pronounced hostility to Catholicism as an oppressive force within Hungarian society. Eva is a secular person, but goes beyond that perspective when… Read more »
Istvan, please!
The way many in the Catholic hierarchy are behaving and thinking makes any sane person “hostile to Catholicism”. There are many in the Catholic church for whom even the current pope is a leftist …
PS:
I’ve been really anti-Catholic for a long time after my friends and I tried to discuss evolution or other topics with them – to no avail.
OT:
The craziest experience was that a Catholic priest said to us in a discussion on torturing and burning witches and heretics:
At least their souls were saved …
My friends and I got so angry!
Re: ‘anti-Catholic’ Really can’t blame you. Imagine if you grew up in it night and day to see this fiasco from the very top all of the way down. The dissembling, the lies and obfuscation in the Church and priesthood. An understatement to say it is disturbing. It is the great betrayal. A thousand years of penance cannot erase that terrible stain put on the flock with reprehensible behavior. Don’t know what to make of it. An institution ostensibly created to uphold the ‘moral’ life and betraying itself in its ideals is a deep loss for humanity. The Church appears as a place now where the devil has made a home for himself inside the sacristies, stones and pews where the faithful congregate. The betrayals have caused a great moral price to be paid not only in Christian communities but all communities. And it makes attacks on atheists look ridiculous when at the same time those attacked can show more moral behavior than the ‘pretend’ Christians. The hypocrisy in it is the height of arrogance. And sadly Magyarorszag appears to be a part of this. They’ve completely lost the way , the truth and the life. The devil has put… Read more »
I suggest you take a look at
https://romkat.ro/2020/01/31/sajtokozlemeny-a-ditroi-esemenyek-kapcsan/?fbclid=IwAR0f_zqNDjHxlivF9uVfoo5kLm-LnzYEjVHZWEb17csYl5ICu7zYx0aX-P0
where the György Jakubinyi, archbishop of Gyulafehérvár condemns what the priest was doing in Ditró. So, think before you start corresponding with theologians at Notre Dame.
I forwarded a translation to the Notre Dame staff. I think György Jakubinyi retired after this last Christmas Eve mass and he may not have the full authority to issue statement this as a formal disciplinary action. It is more like a harsh opinion. Theologically it is an excellent statement and consistent with the presentation of the Holy Father’s presentations on this issue. I particularly was impressed with the reference that read: “Our King Stephen warns his son, St. Imre, to accept strangers because the monolingual country is weak.” I learned something with that reference and will look it up.
Re. Anti catholic. I cannot speak for Prof. Balogh, but as far as I am concerned and being an atheist and secular person, one cannot be critical enough if any religious organization is interfering in problems concerning society.
Human beings are perfectly able to discuss and decide laws and rules without any religious influence based on the content of centuries-old books and just believe.
The example of the priests is exactly showing the problem.
If given the chance, having enough power and influence every religion or better said their represents feel confident to interfere in society and communities.
In the past and present this lead and leads to hate and wars.
Some religious organizations lost their support and power in societies where they had a big influence in the past. They now show themselves as peaceful and only good doing and willing organizations. But to be honest I don´t trust them.
If ever, goodness prevents, they are able to restore their power they will behave the same as in the past in the name of whoever they believe in.
Everyone can believe what he or she wants but do not influence society with your beliefs.
Indeed. Unfortunately many Hungarians in the West are involved with Traditional Catholicism, trying to restore the “good old days” all over the world.
Some of them are involved with The Remnant newspaper, who are great supporters of Trump and Putin, and with many other Trad sites whose propaganda they spread all over the internet.
Others even went to Kazakhstan to help Bishop Athanasius Schneider who is spearheading the resistance to Pope Francis. And Schneider visited Hungary. He frequently speaks against migrants and against the “modern” church.
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/03/bishop-athanasius-schneider-in-hungary.html
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2018/07/07/bishop-europe-migrant-crisis-orchestrated-international-powers/
https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2018/10/wide-ranging-and-hard-hitting-interview.html
We are all entitled to our opinions and I have had plenty of reasons for my devastating opinion of the Hungarian Catholic Church ever since childhood.
As for the Hungarian Catholics in Connecticut, I hope you don’t think that I care what they think. Just as I don’t think what Viktor Orbán and his lieutenants think of me or Hungarian Spectrum. The more they hate me the better.
It is increasingly difficult to defend the top hierarchy of the Catholic Church worldwide.
Yes you have discussed your perspectives on the Catholic Church and your rational for those perspectives. I am fully aware of those perspectives as are some in the Hungarian Catholic community who read your posts regularly.
I think your comment “The more they hate me the better.” Is typical of your wicked pen Eva, one that is not always useful for developing allies for progressive change in Hungary or the Hungarian community in the USA. But it is after all your blog and at least for now we all have freedom of expression here in the USA.
And we as a nation must always indulge and watch our religious liberties and that ‘separation’ from Church and State. Orban country is an example of it going so wayward to the detriment of both Church and State. Both at this time appear to make their ‘work’ in percolating acids. And both hands seem to wash the other. They revel in it.
.
First off, the commentary of Techet is outright idiotic. I would like to see how Scottish Nationalism would fare if they were living in Romania. It would matter very little how many foreigners they would adopt as their own.
Second, I think there is more to this story. First question I would ask is why locals are refusing to work for that particular company? It is not as if it is a prosperous place where jobs are plentiful. My guess is that owner of that bakery in particular is looking for employees that they can use and abuse. In other words they are importing people from places where such behavior towards employees is considered to be normal. In other words, there are likely some pre-existing frictions between bakery and community. Bakery most likely took “I will show you” approach given refusal of locals to work for minimum wage, under abusive conditions. Unemployment rate in Harghita in 2017 was the highest in Transylvania region, so doubtful that lack of labor force is driver behind behavior of the bakery.
https://www.camh.ca/en/health-info/mental-illness-and-addiction-index/antipsychotic-medication
You are the follower of a suicide cult ideology, so yes I can understand why you would need such medication!
Zoltán, as you are from Canada I understand that you are not aware about the valid rules in the European Union. In general terms every single job has to be fulfilled with an unemployed from the EEA and only in case of getting no candidate a working permit for a 3rd country citizen may be applied for. Besides that this rule mustn’t be abused by payments or working circumstances that are not according the law or if applicable collective agreement. So not only unemployed bakers in just one Romanian county has to be searched for, but from Iceland to Cyprus. Only in the rare cases that labour shortage has been considered to be structural the state may grant exceptions. You may expect that Romania does not like to pay any benefits to unemployed bakers that refuse to work.
But one thing was very predictable: That you write a racist comment and blame the employer.
Thanks for the legal lesson. I know of plenty of circumstances where none of it is followed.
Yes, of course you know people thinking the law is not important – but in that case we are talking about the dictator and his mafia friends.
@Zoli, 8:01 pm
“Zoli”, you are sick and need help. Your offering is nothing but nasty speculation.
Yes, as Z.is typing the S-word almost standard in his comments, ‘is mind must be full with “thoughts” about that.
My recommendation to Z.: search asap mental care
[and be happy not to depend on the health care system wrecked by OV&Co’s “policies”]
Zoli
What if such ardent nationalism is adopted by the (overwhelming majority of) ethnic Romanians and no Seklers/Hungarians are allowed to resettle anywhere, ie. they are locked in their villages. After all Huns DID threaten and suppress other cultures there.
Your speculations re the reasons for employment may be valid, but note that almost 50 000 work permits for non EU citizens were issues in Hu too.
The whole repulsive and silly episode reeks of the typical provincialism, hateful intolerance and is an appalling example of double standards something so ingrained in the Huns.
I just hope that these crazy “Hungarians” never come to Germany e g – what would they do after falling ill when their nurse in the hospital was from the Phillipines and their doctor Chinese as it happened to me?
Are they even more behind the times than regular Hungarians?
We really should rebuild that Iron Wall – around them …
It is sickening that the fires of suspicion and hate against “others” that have been nurtured by Viktor Orbán have firmly taken hold not just in Hungary but in Hungarian-speaking communities abroad. Hungary has been down this road a hundred years ago. Can this country not remember where these prejudices lead to? They lead to Hungarians crammed into freight cars destined to the gas chambers and crematoria of Auschwitz.
Local people, whether in Gyergyóditró or in Felcsút need to learn some respect and brotherly love, even Jesus H. Christ’s dictum, “Love thy neighbor as thyself” and reject the filth poured out by the Fidesz propaganda machine against the “foreign”, the “other” and the “not us”. Try it.
Re: “Love thy neighbor as thyself” – Orbán is loves one neighbour, Mészáros Lőrinc! Orbán thinks this would be enough for an illiberal christian and hates most of human kind – and wants us to do the same.
The small-town Szekler communities are crumbling everywhere in the Szeklerland because depopulation, because so many young Hungarians have left Romania after 1989. The RO-Hungarians were 1.7 million in 1977 (as opposed to 1.4 million in 1930) but they decreased dramatically through emigration – 1.6 million (1992)-1.4 mil (2002)- 1.2 mil (2011) and now probably under 1 million. That is a 40% population loss in 30 years . Mostly young and able people, the very generation which should have ensured the existential continuity of the national community. This is national/community death by suicide, through emigration not because assimilation.
On the other hand it shows that globalization and population replacement is now reaching even such a closed and remote community as the Szeklers.
This problem won’t be solved by such local-punctual protests, you have to take the larger, integral view. It is their very own desire for cheaper bread which has caused this situation. In this case just as in the first case of emigration.
You are right about depopulation of the Szeklerland/Szekelyfold/Tinutul Secuiesc. (Sorry about hun spelling but I have just en keyboard installed). This is both an economic and a political result. As for the latter I think there is a huge mistake made by hungarian authorities and by RDMSz/UDMR. They have promoted relentlessly a policy of ethnic parallelism aimed at keeping the national identity but somehow that policies backfired. It led to younger generations of Romania born hungarians not being able to speak romanian, hence not being able to integrate themselves , economically speaking, in their own country. The natural consequence was/is a massive migration toward the only place where they feel comfortable linguistically, Hungary. But this is exactly the opposite of what was/is intented, I guess, keeping szeklers inside Szeklerland. It may sound paradoxically but I think that if Hungarian government wants to preserve and protect hungarian minority in their own lands, they should promote the interaction with majority in every way possible.
“They have promoted relentlessly a policy of ethnic parallelism aimed at keeping the national identity but somehow that policies backfired.”
Yes, that’s why I said “emigration not assimilation” . RMDSZ is still fighting yesterday’s wars (the inter-ethnic marriages did spike significantly in the 1980s) while it would have been better to look for strategies to increase the chances for finding work in Romania and not emigrating.
Not sure though how much of a difference it would have made in numbers. The Romanians have emigrated in large numbers as well.
In the 1990-2000 period 30% of the engineers who arrived in Canada as immigrants were Romanians. 15 000 doctors and more than 35 000 nurses have left for the West since 1990, and so on. Romania has lost half of its workforce.
More people lost than in WW1 and WW2 combined.
Now our Romanian copy of ovoda is whining again … 🙂 🙂
Actually, population in Harghita and Covasna declined well bellow Romania average according to 2011 census. The decline in the ethnic Hungarian population far exceeds that of the Romanian average in counties where ethnic Hungarians make up less than 20% of the population, meaning it is mostly assimilation, so on that one factual evidence suggests you are very wrong.
Not meaning necessarily assimilation. Another variable not counted in my initial post was that the RO-Hungarian population is on average older than the ethnic Romanian population. Their mortality losses are on average higher than those of the Romanians.
“The decline in the ethnic Hungarian population far exceeds that of the Romanian average in counties where ethnic Hungarians make up less than 20%”
Yes, that’s in the cities, Cluj-Napoca/ Kolozsvar for instance were their percentage plummeted. They were better skilled, better educated, and it was both easier and more enticing for them to leave for much better paid jobs in the West. On the other hand, the movement of the Romanians from the countryside and other regions of Romania into the cities in Transylvania continued after 1989.
The demographic data I cited makes your initial comment very problematic in terms of being factually feasible. You committed to some specific concepts, which I know are widespread gospel in Romanian society, such as the theory that Hungarians are leaving Romania because they cannot integrate in the workforce due to lack of knowledge of Romanian. Yet data shows that it is in places where ethnic Hungarians are pretty much all fluent in Romanian, namely places where they only make up a relatively small minority of population that the decline is most acute and in fact catastrophic. The population decline in Harghita and Covasna is in fact well bellow Romanian average, which is the only place where one can find ethnic Hungarians who lack bilingual skills in any meaningful volume (even that tends to be exaggerated a great deal). Nothing you wrote in your reply helps to shore up your original thesis. In fact you managed to throw more stuff out there which is not supported by data. Natural decline in Harghita Covasna is also bellow national average, which goes against your theory that Hungarians are seeing higher natural decline rates, at least in places where assimilation is not as acute.… Read more »
” Natural decline in Harghita Covasna is also bellow national average, which goes against your theory that Hungarians are seeing higher natural decline rates, at least in places where assimilation is not as acute”
It is bellow because the Szeklers are way less educated, a peasant society , compared with the Hungarians living in the rest of Transylvania, a lot of whom were/are urban, better educated, more mobile, with much better marketable skills, and thus with more opportunities and reasons to emigrate.
You are wasting your time with the topic ‘assimilation’. That is not the issue/cause. The RO-Hungarians lost so many people percentwise in the last 30 years overwhelmingly through emigration. In the 90s to Hungary and afterwards to West. It’s that simple.
I really had to laugh reading the exchange between our two trolls – “bellowing” like two crazy dogs … 🙂 🙂
At least, even if they don’t give any personal details, they are real (it seems ..) unlike many profiles on facebook.
There’s a very interesting article on these fakes and how they were found out by journalists:
https://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/facebook-how-to-fake-friends-and-influence-people-a-4605cea1-6b49-4c26-b5b7-278caef29752
It’s kind of crazy how much time and energy is spent on this – again similar to or trolls which have almost no connection to Hungar and don’t really care for the people here!
“On the other hand it shows that globalization and population replacement is now reaching even such a closed and remote community as the Szeklers.”
Too funny! Two Sri Lankan bakers show up and this is evidence for “replacement”. Szekler communities may be waning due to emigration, but there is no real replacement, just abandonment.
Every journey begins with a first step. Do you think it was clear in early 1600’s what effect the appearance of settlements like Jamestown will have on the native population of an entire continent? At the time, those were just a few settlements, with hundreds of inhabitants. I bet there are plenty of native Americans today who regret the fact that their ancestors allowed those settlements to take root. Just a few decades ago, people like you were scoffing and crying “racism” when some voices suggested entire European towns will see the native Europeans become the minority population, yet it is happening. Towns like Malmo, London Roterdam, as well as many towns in France where one can see it even though stats do not exist. In just a few decades! Just think how many “geniuses” like you were saying “common, its just a few Africans”. Turns out they were wrong as sure as 1 + 1 = 2. I guess some communities just don’t want to take that first step down the path of ethno-cultural suicide. Behavior of that Szekely community is primitive and wrong, but the sentiment of rejecting multikulti is not. Its the path of self-destruction and should… Read more »
If Africans are replacing the likes of you, I am all for replacement.
Szeklerland is not alone in facing a depopulation problem. Populations are always on the move, often from country to city or from south to north. Italy is a case in point. Indeed, there are small towns/villages in the mainland south that have been almost totally depopulated by emigration to the north but which are now experiencing a revival through, dare one say it, immigration. To make this work there must be acceptance, goodwill (even gratitude?) and a readiness to work towards a common community goal. Face it, the days of a century ago are gone and while we must learn lessons from the past, the world must be dealt with as it is. Surely no one wishes Szeklerland ill?
“Surely no one wishes Szeklerland I’ll”….Then you don’t know history or anything about its current situation within Romania.
@James T. Kirk, 7:46 am
Do I some some “victimhood” exposed here?
It’s not only the young Hungarians which have been leaving Romania. I’ve told my favourite story before: In 1990 we were looking for a cleaning lady and a friend who teaches German to foreigners recommended Romanian Margit – she did good work though her German was severely limited, later after finishing that course she got a job in the local German railway’s kitchen. We became friends, met her husband too: Of German descent … At that time I hadn’t visited Hungary yet and of course no idea about buying a house – but that’s a totally different story. So many years later, after they had integrated in Germany they visited me too in Hungary (with their children and grandchildren now), also after I got my new Hungarian wife. Funny: When we went to our favourite restaurant some people there were looking at us strangely – why? My wife and her son talk Hungarian with Margit, Margit, her husband and my wife talk German with me, I talk English with my wife’s son – and Margit and her German husband talk Romanian when there’s a special topic. 🙂 🙂 So what? PS: Margit and her husband are real Germans now, only… Read more »
Hungarian nationalists are great at fooling Americans (and folks from other countries). They put up the Szekler flag, and Hungarians know that it represents this type of extreme xenophobia. This article is a small, but very wrenching example of what that flag represents. Next time I see a Hungarian-American event that displays the Szekler flag, I will use this article to let my American friends better understand what the real message means.
Please inform us, how does the Szekler flag represent “extreme xenophobia”? Or is it that Romania, even after 100 yrs. hasn’t been able to eliminate and or assimilate the Szeklers that you’re frustrated and angry about?
Romanians are notorious propagandists.
Good point, @James T. Kirk. It’s not just extreme xenophobia, you’ve also given a fine example of bigotry against Romanians. I really appreciate how you’ve helped me prove my point.
Thanks again!
You’re a funny guy, the Romanian state has discriminated, attempted forced assimilation and has committed genocide against the Szeklers and you have the audacity to call them “bigots”…bravo! Typical Romanian chauvinistic mentality.
Actually you have shown what Romanians are all about. Ethnic Hungarian towns cannot adopt a local flag, but drive an hour to a mostly Romanian town like Brasov and its all fine, they have their own flag. So no equality before the law!
@ Raulism
I would ask the same question as James T. Kirk. On the other hand I would tell @James T. Kirk that, although I am a Romanian, I don’t like propaganda nor propagandists, nor generalization. I believe this a great forum about Hungarian life/politics in which I am very interested. I cherish Hungarian community I try to learn their language, I try to understand them better, knowing that this is the only way for us having a better life together.
No Catalin, this is not a great forum to learn about Hungarian life, culture and politics. It’s extremely biased and one sided.
Re: ‘ I believe this a great forum about Hungarian life/politics in which I am very interested. I cherish Hungarian community. I try to learn their language, I try to understand them better, knowing that this is the only way for us having a better life together’.
I too cherish both communities. Sanity and wisdom in what sometimes is a wilderness of thought. It is good to hear. 👍👍
Re: Csaba Bojte, religious ‘leader’ It is quite disorienting to see a representative of Christ in a community of Catholics taking the position he has to the unwanted bakers. He should remember that as a Franciscan his mission and vocation in the world is to uphold devotion to the humanity of Christ in a world growing colder and colder. A retreat might would do well to reorient himself to his life’s work and reconsider his relationship to the saint whose philosophy he purportedly follows. It also may do him as well as all the other religious looking on to take a peek at Matthew 8:20 and Luke 9:58. Their words are translated identically in Greek : ‘Foxes have holes , and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head’. And the modern translation for the times considering the plight of the bakers: ‘Every fox has a den. Every bird has a nest. Only humans are homeless’. The ‘Franciscan’ needs to practice what he is bound to preach. If not then do something and work to make more bakeries and bakers. Then he’ll be following Francis and what he charged his order… Read more »
György Jakubinyi, the retired Archbishop of Archdiocese of Alba Iulia (really all of Transylvania consisting of 253 parishes) in his statement that Eva linked to theologically destroyed Csaba Bojte. Father Gergely Kovács who is the appointed and acting Archbishop but who will not be ordained until Feb 22, has issued no statement that I have as yet seen on Csaba Bojte. Possibly he will be quietly put out to pasture.
Kovács was an official in the Pontifical Council for Culture in Rome and as such was involved in fostering the relationship of the Catholic Church with different cultures including Islamic cultures and dialog with non-believers. He apparently has a direct relationship with Pope Francis and fully supports his positions on immigration from everything I have read today. Cardinal Péter Erdő has sort of danced around the issue of immigration. So it will be interesting to see how the dynamics on this issue evolve in the church in the future.
http://szabadsag.ro/-/washington-london-budapest-ditro
http://szabadsag.ro/-/washington-london-budapest-ditro
An opinion piece from the Cluj/Kolozsva’r Hungarian language daily.
It’s funny in a way when our Hungarian and Romanian trolls fight against each other – makes one also understand why the extreme nationalism of some people is braking the development in Eastern Europe.
It gives me some hope however that the “Balkan” people living in Germany that I know are totally different …
What’s funny is a German living in Hungary (obviously oblivious to Hungarian culture and history) having the audacity to criticize Hungarians. Is advocating for autonomy a “Balkan” thing? Have you ever looked on a map to see where the “Balkans” are?
Are the Austrians in Sudtirol “Balkanian” for gaining autonomy? Dumkauf!
Another idiotic troll – from Enterprise even?
You shouldn’t abuse that name …
“Dumkauf” ???
Learn German first, little Balkan troll – then you’d understand that for many of us the Balkan begins east of Vienna, it’s a state of mind, not geopgraphy.
And in Südtirol most German speakers have no problem with their situation (we were there …) – only a few fascists like you …
So explain how I’m a “fascist” or “troll”? or are they just words you label anyone who’s not as ignorant as you.
No one needs to know German, Herr dumkauf…the Austrians in Sudtirol have achieved autonomy, that’s why “they have no problem with their situation”
The Szeklers (who are double the population and area of Sudtirol) and are under continued attack by the Romanian state have not. Is autonomy reserved for countries of Western Europe? Seems you’re the fascist and hypocrite.
OT:
Something especially for our professional haters zolidiot, ovoda etc:
https://www.euronews.com/2020/01/29/german-museum-unveils-wax-statue-of-greta-thunberg
It looks really life-like. 🙂 🙂
Sorry, but this GT statue thing sounds like a bad joke to me.
“It looks really life-like”
I would say that it looks way more life-like, more alive, than the poor little thing.
ovoda, Greta will be remembered long after O1G and Hungarian fascists like you will be forgotten!
Wait, I forgot you have no connection to Hungary at all – and you don’t understand Greta (there people like Obama or the Pope are needed … 🙂 ) – so why are you lunatic here on HS?
OT
In about 3 hours the UK will be out of the EU.
Just now I realized that “the English” can’t accept decisions by a majority of others, but at the same time don’t allow “their own” minorities [Scots, Welsh, Northern-Irish] to have their own say in their own matters…
PS: I’ve read a lot of books and old newspapers about colonies. There was a big difference between “the English” and other countries in how other territories and people were ruled. Most was far from positive about the “common wealth’s way”…
I too feel this is crazy – waiting to hear what my sister, her English husband and their children will say.
Of course they are in a good position – having German passports too.
But for all others?
Need an international driver’s licence, no more EHIC for health insurance, maybe need a visa and so on …
But of course Farage and Johnson will scream:
It’s the EU’s fault – just like Fidesz when they’ll get less money …
The citizens of all countries have the right to determine the type of government they wish to have or with whom to share their homes and territory.
Germany, France, UK, Belgium, just to name a few countries, who accepted large number of refugees/immigrants/illegal immigrants, have had terrorists attacks, attacks on women e.g. rape, as well as murders by refugees. No go zones have been, also, established in Sweden and France.
One or two refugees or migrant workers will probably not make a difference However, the importation of immigrants would not have stopped at the two foreigners.
Politicians are responsible to the citizens and if the citizens do not wish to share their homeland with foreigners, their wishes should be respected.
If the baker does not agree with the majority, he can move his business somewhere else.
@Maria von Theresa, 2:36 pm
“If the baker does not agree…” True, but this would not solve the bread supply situation. Do you have a better suggestion?
The loonie’s no-go-zones again … 🙂 🙂
At least you idiot might use a real nickname …
“One or two refugees or migrant workers will probably not make a difference However, the importation of immigrants would not have stopped at the two foreigners.”
Principiis obsta; sero medicina paratur Cum mala per longas convaluere moras- Ovid
Resist beginnings; the remedy comes too late when the disease has gained strength by long delays.
And just something from the eponymous namesake Ovid…
Omnia mutantur, nihil interit (“everything changes, nothing perishes”)
Magyarorszag’s leaders with their behaviors in the modern times seems to simply resurrect what is more useful dead and gone into new guises both overt and covert. It is a great failing, that attitude to change. It admits a bankruptcy of the imagination.
Coward!
And if the baker moved his business what would happen to the close to 100 people who used to work in the bakery? They would lose their job. Great victory, don’t you think?
Apparently, one reason for the growing concern about the xenophobia of the people of Ditró is a deadly incidence in 1986. A Gypsy teenager allegedly killed a man and the whole village decided to take vengeance. All Gypsies were removed from their houses which then they burned to the ground. All the Gypsies were forced out of town and to this day the place is free of Romas. The mayor is afraid that something like that can happen again.
The former leader of UDMR/RMDSZ- Marko Bela…The Hungarian community has failed the test and it is given now lectures on tolerance by the Romanians
http://plakatmagany.transindex.ro/kinek-a-nepe/?fbclid=IwAR0YsuwHfqYqijCZ4Hlcfyi1ZbwzRAPjQt0GBDkVX0OJ5FMwWEFXms0_G74
Markó is a good man. Too bad that he retired from RMDSZ