I guess we shouldn’t be terribly surprised that, by today, certain misleading assertions by Viktor Orbán’s currently favorite minister, László Palkovics, had to be corrected. Probing questions from journalists forced him to admit on InfoRádió that the much welcomed 70% government contribution for employees who are currently working only part time isn’t really 70%. Unlike the German program, the Hungarian government pays only 70% of the wages the employee lost as a result of his new part-time status. Government assistance for an employee earning the minimum wage would amount to between 10% and 35% of his normal salary. This ratio holds true in higher wage categories as well.
This not so generous support will last for only three months, and recipients must use their “free time” on productive activities. Instead of staying at home, “they could perform tasks for the company, be it education or useful work from the point of view of the employer.” Although speed is of the essence in dealing with economic crises, I have the feeling that eligible part-time employees may have to wait weeks or even a month to receive any money. I watched a video with Péter Ákos Bod, the former central bank chairman, who related the story of one of his friends who became unemployed in Germany. He submitted his unemployment insurance claim online, and the next morning €5,000 was in his bank account.
Then there is the mysterious 13th-month pension. Palkovics’s exact wording appeared in several newspapers; here I am quoting from Portfolio. “Beginning in February 2021, we will gradually restore pensions for the 13th month by adding an extra week of pension, which then will be repeated in 2022, 2023, and 2024. For that we will provide 280 billion forints.” Many naïve elderly admirers of Viktor Orbán initially believed that, by the end of the fourth year, they would receive the full amount of the 13th month. But calculations reveal that the 280 billion forints allotted for this purpose covers only a 53rd week of extra money for four years. This was an ugly hoax.
HVG’s latest cover: “Survive and Rule!–The power protection action program”
Another item, which I didn’t cover yesterday but which caused quite a furor in certain circles, was the news that, after years of insistence that without an intermediate foreign language examination no university diploma can be issued, László Palkovics made the startling announcement that the government will waive the language exam requirements for those 75,000 university students who in the last few years were unable to pass their foreign language requirements. The reason? “The economic structure ahead of us needs more graduates.” And the sky hasn’t fallen on him, as the Hungarian saying goes, because he was the man who as undersecretary in charge of higher education insisted in 2014 that by 2023 no one could enter university without having their language requirement taken care of in high school. In vain did people try to explain to him that most Hungarian schools are unable to ensure that their students can fulfill this requirement. Without extra private lessons the great majority of Hungarian high school graduates wouldn’t be able to enter college, especially from inferior schools in the less developed regions of the country.
Palkovics wasn’t convinced. In fact, he was certain that anyone who cannot learn a language in 12 years is just lazy. “Anyone who wants to can learn a language. … I learned to speak three languages completely alone, without teacher or school, as an adult.” In this 2014 interview, our minister of innovation and technology went on and on about the necessity of knowing foreign languages because no meaningful research in any field can be conducted without knowing English or German. Indeed, on this last point one can only agree with our multi-lingual engineer.
In that same interview, he expressed his conviction that in Hungary there is no need to have more than 30-35% of the population aged 30-34 be university graduates, although the EU goal is 40%. Indeed, the Orbán administration purposely suppressed the number of university students, mostly by introducing horrendously high tuition fees. As it stands now, there are only three member states where the percentage of university graduates is lower than in Hungary (33.7%): Romania (24.6%), Italy (27.8%), and Portugal (33.5%). Good job. He and Viktor Orbán can be proud of their achievement.
Naturally, people engaged in research were horrified to hear that 75,000 university graduates would be let loose without knowing a foreign language. Zoltán Pogátsa, a political economist, in his interview with Hírklikk hypothesized that the waiver of the language requirement “is a populist decision aimed at younger voters. Anyone who gets a university degree in today’s world without speaking a single foreign language will not really be able to set out in the world. And all this with the aid of the government. Distressing.”
György Gábor, a philosopher of religion, agrees and calls this latest gimmick “an example of the Hungarian government’s stupidity, cynicism, infinite egotism, and total irresponsibility.” Like all those familiar with the sad state of language teaching in Hungarian schools, Gábor considers making knowledge of a foreign language a requirement for college acceptance unfair and unrealistic. Yet he stands firm in his conviction that a Hungarian university graduate cannot remain unilingual because no serious scholarly work in any field can be done based solely on Hungarian sources.
At the end of his essay, Gábor points out that 62% of the members of the Hungarian parliament have passed no foreign language exams. Even a cursory look at the information given on the MPs will reveal that Fidesz MPs are especially short on language skills. As a result, they can learn about the world only through the filter of the Hungarian press. And, if they are true believers, they can read the quasi-news provided by Magyar Nemzet, for example. As Gábor puts it, “this is a real Hungaricum.” And, I would add, a real shame.
“Anyone who gets a university degree in today’s world without speaking a single foreign language will not really be able to set out in the world. And all this with the aid of the government. Distressing.”
Most US undergrads do not speak a foreign language. Same goes for Canadians and also in many other countries around the world. They may not be able to get a job abroad, that is an entirely different issue. But not in Hungary’s interest to prep students for jobs abroad to begin with.
But there’s no no talk about the overseas continents, is there? This is about the world of the EU, get it?
Thanks Michael for your comment.
Zoli
Idiotic comment.
Particularly as Hu is again the worst, not jn health, this time in language skills alternating with Bulgaria at the last place in Europe.
Enough to look at the Fid “parliamentaruans” it’s Felcsútia all over, stale and dark.
Derp! English is the international language of science and commerce. You can easily succeed as someone who speaks only English. Only Hungarian, you are stuck in a very narrow circle.
Reality Check, the propaganda office in Canada decided that Hungarian will become the leading language in science and trade all around the world. Forget English, Spanish or French!
There you are. Zoli throws out the bait and everyone leaps to get a piece of the action. That’s the way it is on the
10TH DAY OF THE NEW DUNA DIKTATURA
Right. 👍
My late uncle who went to gimnazium in Pest told me about his first German class. The German teacher started as follows:
“ Young gentlemen, this, of all your subjects, is probably the most boring…..learning German. But please remember this, if you want to travel. Once you pass Hegyeshalom you will find it easier to make yourself understood if you bark rather than by speaking Hungarian”.
Nothing has changed.
I realize this is the ‘nostalgie’ days but learned it was par for the course while traveling in a captured world. Opening up one’s mouth in a strange and distant tongue as Ingles got some responses composed of a quick shrug of the shoulders coupled with a big wide grin and eyes closed. The hands flicked up and out just for emphasis. At least that was a response. Others would just go on to stare and ignore the ones in front of them. Now that’s knowing your place! 😎That was short and in code for ‘ no speaka angol’ or ‘no bother me’. Today it could seem Russian up ahead will be back in fashion well ……for ‘fraternal’ reasons.
Deja vu: it’s the thing which like a bad guest seems never to go away in the land of the mostly ‘single’ language.
There were some Magyars the enterprising ones though who supplied real fresh air . They weren’t afraid of the kulfoldi. I hope they aren’t in hiding. Koszonom szepens to them.
Na Zoliboy, got lost again in your theories?
I guess you think the scientists in Hungary decoded the genome of the new sars virus by only using authentic Hungarian science written in a beautiful Hungarian language.
Sorry, Bimbi couldn´t stop me from reacting.
Most likely he doesn’t create his posts himself. He gets his guidelines from his employer at the Propaganda Ministery. He then tries to be the first to post a comment, because it entitles him to a bonus.
The reason that Britishers, English Canadians, Americans, Australians, or even the Irish don’t speak foreign language is that they are rarely called upon to speak or use another language. Most scientific papers are written in English and if they go to Europe, an overwhelming majority of Germans, Dutch, Danes, etc. etc. speak English. You can’t compare speakers of a language used by maybe 12 million to 510 million.
Eva, you are right. The problem this generates is the rather unattractive Anglo Saxon sense of superiority and insularity. Apart from the small number of the highly educated elite this engenders a profound ignorance of other cultures amongst the bulk of the population.
Having said that, I must say that when it comes to insularity and sense of superiority there is nothing that the Anglo Saxons can do to to scale the heights the Hungarians have set.
Unless the government comes out with a realistic plan about how and how fast the economic well should start to refill, the people will soon be licking the bottom mud.
So – where is the talent?
Emigrated.
Great comment! Hungary’s most important value added export, medical and/or scientific staff (most Hungarian Nobel prize winners eventually made it to the US, Orban is continuing a “great” tradition!)
And most of these, among them quite a few mathematical geniuses (it’s a pity that there’s no Nobel prize for maths) were Jews and also spoke and wrote German and other languages besides English.
As I wrote, we have to see what they are doing because lie they always. Problem is these measures are supposed to help but businesses can’t plan on such propaganda driven messy tatements. Hope Hu will not suffers worst in the econ crisis despite Orbán’s shallow tricks threatening to bring this result.
I hope that the people in the small to medium business community, who can handle other languages, also understand the value of organization. Since they are the potential local money-makers, they will be heard, provided they speak with one voice.
Thank you for the detailed, but succinct presentation. It really takes talent to capture a number of important topics in one short post. It would seem that neither maths and/or languages are Palkovics strengths. Full confession, neither skill set bring out my assets either, but then again, I don’t pretend to be a qualified cabinet minister.
One of the regular critics of this post, Ur.Zoli correctly commented on the language deficits of Canadians and US citizens although it has not apparently occurred to that critic that both nations contain huge populations compared to Hungary. Last time I checked, not too many people in the world speak Hungarian, I believe a “fair amount” speak English! Life is unfair-I admit it-but my family left Hungary (and Germany and the former Soviet Union etc.) albeit not entirely on a voluntary basis.
Loved the HVG photo shot of comrade Orban. Thanks for sharing with your loyal readers. Again, great job tonight.
Of course, a population of which the majority cannot speak and read a 2nd and/or 3rd language, thus cannot get info about world events other than from the Hungarian government propaganda machine, can be led into the world of fake truth, as indeed most of the Hungarians are… The facts support Orban’s theory and practice to keep his ‘subjects’ uneducated and uninformed, so his rule won’t be questioned by the oppressed masses. This mindless policy of national suicide naturally served by those trolls like ‘zolika’ and fellow Orban believers who don’t have their own mind, just parroting the fascist propaganda of Fidesz…
My suggestions to improve language skills for Hungarians:
–stop with Hungarian voice-over translations of all foreign languages, and instead only use Hungarian subtitles
–provide all Hungarian language videos [e.g.youtube] with subtitles, first English with additional others like German, Portuguese, French, Finnish, etc.
I strongly suggest all media, and especially the “public” ones, to implement the above now to give all people living in Hungary the possibility to improve their language skills
Ferenc, I am afraid that less foreign language skills (if possible at all) are just very welcome for the regime. And after 10 years every government on the world would have had the chance to improve teaching of foreign languages – if this seemed to be useful to them! That means that those leaving school without the ability to use any foreign language today are “educated” by Orbán. Again the old low wages industry Orbán loves that much and not to forget to leave the masses uninformed.
Spreading of Corona virus per County in Hungary [update acc.official data!]
https://app.flourish.studio/visualisation/1799004
For the whole of Hungary again the steady daily increase of +10% [meaning a doubling time of 7-8 days]
Nevertheless in 11 counties Corona seemed to have taken a day off [+0], for the other counties developments as follows:
–Zala +8 [+73%]
–Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén +3 [+43%]
–Veszprém +4 [+29%]
–for Békés, Budapest, Fejér, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Komárom-Esztergom and Pest all show [official] increases just above the Hungarian of +10% [ranging from +10 to +13%]
–of note is that Fejér seems to aim for 2nd place overall… which makes sense considering Felcsút being the financial shadow capital of Hungary…
Bearing in mind the numbers and ratios in other countries, eg. Austria, it’s obvious the Hu figures are prepared in the propaganda ministry or wherever, but they definitely don’t / can’t reflect the reality.
It’s Orbanistan after all.
As a very conservative estimate (+/- 20%) – I would say that Hungary should reasonably have 30 corona-deaths per day and rising, at this stage.
Yes, here it is again: The unique Hungarian way! They don’t help anybody, but the regime produces “good news!”
And bad news, accordingly, eg.
There are more than 100 infected in an elderly home run by BUD CITY COUNCIL, emphasized. But no such thing in the vast state hospitals, health care and social homes system, only two or three heads of hospitals/departments were reported infected.
Müller will go there to personally oversee corrective measures too eliminate the deficiencies there ( Brace yourselves )! incl. the wearing of protective gear !
And the voters love Orban anyway and support Fidesz anyway. There is no sign that any opposition party could benefit form this chaos (just as after two years of farce Johnson vanquished the left-wing Labour which put together the most detailed party manifesto with a single sentence).
They will love Orban in rural places as long as he breathes and hate the left-wing even if they have to eat grass.
The voters are not rational and don’t care about policy issues like health care.
Maybe one day the opposition can understand that.
It is very interesting to read that Budapest has by far the biggest traffic inside the city compared to all other Western towns.
Even in the lassaiz fare Sweden the car traffic got smaller.
Orban understood instinctively that people just love their cars (they are happy to use it after so many years of belt tightening) and really don’t care about the virus and want free parking and pronto. I am certain that his scores will go up and Karacsony’s will go slightly down.
https://qubit.hu/2020/04/09/szinte-megallt-a-kozuti-forgalom-a-vilag-nagyvarosaiban
Marty
LIES – because polls consistently place healthcare among the top three concerns among Huns and you know about these. And
BS – since, apart from the 1.5 million faithful Fid had never had more than 2.7 mil votes, many of which are given in fear, not love, and even those don’t constitute “the people”.
You’re degrading yourself into troll category.
degrading or revealing to be, that’s the million Corona question…
But that is exactly the THING. Whatever people say in polls about policy preference, they tend to disregard it when voting. This is the fundamental conundrum for the Democrats in the US: people consistently favor (and have been doing so for decades) the policy solutions offered by Democrats from minimal wage to environmental legislation and so on but they still vote for Republicans (during the last decade Democrats lost over 1,000 elected positions on state level) and Trump won too. The Democrats just don’t know why this is so. They want to win with boring debates on wonkish policy solutions and are surprised again and again that they end up losing. But the answer is clear: people whatever they say simply don’t vote according to rational arguments on policies. The Republicans understand this and the voters’ psyche simply better (while the Democrats simply refuse to change their approach because they wan to believe in rational voting and the rational human mind as posited by Enlightement). Also, there is no reason to argue about the number of non-voters because these people are irrelevant to the outcome: at an election only those people get heard who vote. Those who do not vote… Read more »
But that is exactly the THING.
Whatever M tries to write sometimes as “credible comments” about policy preference, she/he fully disregards those when VOting…
If you want to consider a different explanation to the Republican’s still strong incumbency in the US, in sharp contrast to their actual electoral support and relative unpopularity of their policies, I suggest you look up “gerrymandering” and “voter suppression”.
I think you’ll find that without those techniques, Republicans would have far less power. As an example, no Republican president has won the popular vote in several elections in a row.
In my view, this makes your argument about the Republican’s superior messaging quite unconvincing.
All of the above can be applied to the Hungarian situation. I’m not suggesting it’s essentially the same, but I’m equally suspicious of the explanatory power of Orbán’s mastery at propaganda. I’d say his fiddling with the electoral system carries a greater weight.
Also, it’s not very wise to disparage the non-voters as being out of the game. They are, until they aren’t. More and more, elections are being decided when a small percentage of non-voters decide that this time they’ll vote.
Today the hapless tile merchant was quoted to say that the implementation ministerial decree for the gov econ packages are not ready yet, as there are difficulties eg. re. how to establish which companies have lost xx % of business, which one had had earlier problems leading to the decline, and that they may consult and consider supports for those who had to close / lost their jobs ….
What a revelation Felcsutia had !
As if they were not asked to consult the sectors, the unions and (OMG!) the other parliamentary parties, as if they were not told by numerous economists and some Top managers that this is inadequate and won’t work this way, but the pig headed one, surrounded by sycophantic mediocrities, plowed on and hit some rocks …
God save Hu.
“there are difficulties eg. re. how to establish which companies have lost xx % of business”
let’s put it plain and simple OV needs a little time to find the “best requirement” to be used for executing what he really wants,
and that is very selective support to only those who support him, the very true Hungarian Serial Democracy Killer!
The weak standing of the smaller industries and their under-stimulated (the general level of lingual capacity being very symptomatic + the weak integration of the talented candidates) potential for adaptive export-production is going to hit back, like a boomerang.
The prime minister must sense that his preaching days are about to end.
Eva,
IMO you should hold on with any attempts to decipher / entangle the somewhat mess being presented by the regime, because all these ideas may change by the afternoon of the same day or by various “interpretations”. Already on several occasions by the time we read your summary the pigheaded one had changed his mind.
Agree. Index wrote yesterday that ‘everyday a minister announces it that he will announce something later’. They announce lots of things but without details in legal instruments. I guess they are polling like crazy and waiting for the EU monies (from their channels they want to know how much they can expect).
If Orban hurts one major group that’s a big problem but doing nothing (though appearing to be doing something) is OK because most people – like in the case of health care or education – don’t really care about policy issues and they don’t understand them anyway.
Pensioners will not feel much from the crisis, state employees neither. Rural people are fidesznik no matter what Orban does. So the goal is to keep these constituencies intact and avoid very clearly offending other groups.
“Pensioners will not feel much from the crisis”. I’m sure you’re talking economically but it might be better to clarify, given that pensioners are most at risk from dying because of this disease, and most of those who have died already in Hungary with Covid-19 are over the age of 65…
I meant economically sure. OK inflation is high but otherwise pensioners will be the very last constituency to directly suffer.
I don’t like being cynical, especially in the current situation, but if the virus claims a lot of pensioners’ lives, then giving the 13th monthly pension will be cheaper and easier (not a nice thought, but if we look at what has happened elsewhere in Europe quite possible)…
Marty doesn’t understand that Hungarian pensioners supplement their pensions with under the table work and/or with support from family members. The family can’t support if family members are out of jobs.
And thankful they are, too!
Marty, pensioners have been feeling the inflation already and are complaining a lot so again I wonder what the average joes are thinking – if at all.
Back to the language:
I’ve told the story before how the English teacher of my wife’s younger son told his class not to worry about things like he/she/it – it was too complicated for them anyway.
When we met he spoke English quite well since he had been watching a lot of US sites on the internet, but even today he regularly makes those mistakes (like talking about his mother: his …) though it’s become much better and since we had many discussions in English his prof congratulated him.
Of course in IT this is conditio sine qua non – how canO1G expect his country to keep up there without enough language knowledge?
PS:
Afaik English is still the EU’s preferred language but as we all know about Hungarians:
We’re only in it for the money!
Marty
Wrong.
Pensioners do and will feel it even more as they are hit in several ways:
– 8-10% inflation In their consumer basket, with 2.7% increase of pension, the 13th one announcement is falling flat as they get nothing this year,
– locked up, usually alone, without cars to drive around a bit,
– they all have children who are threatened, forced to stay home with grand children, lost their jobs, etc.
All drastic changes which elderly people usually abhor.
And it gets worse for them if they have no children – or the children live far apart in a foreign country …
We regularly see houses which look like ruins which are still inhabited.
If they’re lucky they get a truck of firewood from their village – but getting that into the house …
Rather OT – or not?
Famous author Janos Székely’s novel Versuchung has just appeared in an English translation:
Temptation
After fleeing Horthyland in 1919 he was a really successful writer of movie scripts – first in Germany and then in the USA before returning to East Germany under McCarthy.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1nos_Sz%C3%A9kely_(writer)
What would have happened to him without his knowledge of German and English?
Marty is clueless. Many pensioners have spent their monthly reserves, can’t get out, worried about how they’ll get by. Who is taking care of them? The city of Budapest and its district mayors.
“Since the declaration of the emergency, it has also been the responsibility of local governments to take care of the elderly, as the aim is to keep them at home during the epidemic. The elderly have used up their reserves in the past month, so more and more people are asking for help. We accompanied the volunteers in the seventh district of Budapest.”
https://index.hu/video/2020/04/09/onkentesek_erzsebetvaros_onkormanyzat_idosek_koronavirus_bevasarlas/?fbclid=IwAR2Mdwyfw0TjsuvsHlwrFDT3e2jeqwVcFGCr5He7XKgW4WPBOfhKaEsvdG8
Good news: Momentum is asking Krisztina Baranyi, mayor of district 9 to stop the construction of the Olympic Stadium (currently named Atlethic Stadium).
It will be a conflict within the opposition but it was high time to something more symbolic. It is a 170bn HUF project (the tab will likely go much higher) and people are losing their jobs.
Yet, Karacsony and his wishy-washy pals would not say as much as a peep. I hope Momentum will use this smartly, and fight.
https://444.hu/2020/04/09/a-momentum-arra-keri-baranyit-hogy-allitsa-le-az-atletikai-stadion-epiteset
Perhaps she might pull some female voters from Fidesz/KDNP?
Baranyi is popular in her district. She made a deal with Fidesz (re the Stadium, if the new National Library is also gets built in her district, which is needed because Orban is moving into the Buda Castle where the library is currently) but I think the circumstances changed (in international law it is called “peremptory change of circumstances”).
People can’t be expected to suffer when megalomaniacal luxury projects for entertainment are still being spent on. It is a good symbolic cause for the opposition.
Karacsony had a deal with Orban because this we Karacsony could get money for health care.
But given now COVID, however, Orban will anyway have to spend more on health care (even in Budapest) so there is not much political reason to honor the deal for Karácsony (the problem is: it is almost certain that Fidesz gives some crumbs to MSZP-related entrepreneurs from the stadium construction so these entrepreneurs will force MSZP to stick to the deal).
I think it reasonable to assume that for most women, the health care situation in all districts in Budapest will overshadow the “cattle trading” involved in the endeavors by the opposition to serve the personal vanity of the prime minister.
Is it not foreseeable that there won’t be enough money for practicing placebo-politics for a longer period than two years?
Also – The vacuum the government currently creates by the confused communication about the crisis and the following recession, is a good opportunity for Baranyi & co to reach out directly to the women on the social media. They will be eager to discuss the public health policies and economic priorities concerning the public institutions of the city. They will also have a strong interest in the measures which must be taken in the school system etc. regarding the control of virus spread.
We are talking about one half of votes.
Re: the poor state of language skills in the country even among Parliament..
Not only in languages other than Magyar but it perhaps also points to a deficiency in the utilization of Magyar itself where it’s verbiage each and every day apparently seems to produce ‘stupidity, cynicism , infinite egotism and total irresponsibility’ as György Gábor infers.
And the state only having 30-35% going to university education..
That’ll leave more desks aside for a certain elite. This is education only for the few. Only given to those who are deemed connected and destined to rule and govern. The result of this is readily apparent in the current state of the nation. Impossible to think of the ‘best and the brightest’ running it.
Wfree – I assume you describe a communications gap between the well educated and the political elite.
My impression is that the culture of communication through acronymity makes it very difficult (if not impossible) to establish a transparent common understanding of foreign languages, in a Hungarian context.
Transparency and integrity are universal human qualities that overcome such obstacles, but they seem to be very rare in the parliament.
I imagine sincere and serious, well spoken people, feel they encounter a ravine of deliberate misinterpretation and manipulation, in those circles.
You raise an important point. ‘Communication’ is arguably at a nadir in the country and it is due to a top-down orientation when engaging in the bombarding of quite centralized messages that need to get pumped out. It’s quite boring because it appears things just go one way.
Communications which would move people to perhaps restrict maneuver and choice in their lives is just one way of making them swallow and just accept what comes from above. With consequences for the quality of their lives. Arguably the illiberalist mentality seems to follow the former type of communist planning where if no ham was available well thrown in the eggs too.
Acronymity….could be worse than that! And if there existed ‘respect’ in the magyar atmosphere it must be gone AWOL. It’s been deleted in the szotar. It is evident who did it.
Your clear description leads to some intriguing questions.
The gravity of negative cultural inheritance vs. The will to develop in a more positive direction?
Destructive imaging vs. Positive reward confirmation?
Fright vs. Confidence?
“Strong” vs. “Weak”? – The old “God” vs. “Satan”?
Chaos! Minister of Finance tells about the use of EU money Hungary doesn’t get according to government declaration. He also sees Hungary being in a recession, while Madtolcsy predicted growth a few days ago.
https://444.hu/2020/04/09/varga-mihaly-szerint-recesszio-lesz
Na ugye?!
However, one shouldn’t pay much attention to Matolcsy …
The flow of Covid 19 patients coming into Stroger Hospital has declined since Monday when I last volunteered here. There are sufficient numbers of medical students eagerly volunteering here who are qualified beyond my skill sets as an EMT. So I ended my volunteer duty that began at 4:30 AM here a short while ago to avoid any additional exposure to the virus, unless the unforeseen takes place and there is another call up for medical reserves. Here is Chicago’s latest data https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/sites/covid/reports/2020-04-08/Chicago%20COVID-19%20Update%20V2%204.8.2020.pdf. Clearly looking at the data its obvious that Chicago’s African American population has been heavily impacted by Covid 19. As of yesterday 122 of the 177 deaths attributable to Covid 19 within Chicago are African Americans. The percentage of the total Covid related dead in Chicago composed by African Americans has been between 68 and 72% depending on the day. It is estimated that African Americans compose between 28 and 30% of the City population, but there has been a significant decline in that population in the last ten years fed in part by white gentrification of parts of the city driving up rental costs and making areas with little property values increasing valuable and targets for… Read more »
Thanks for this brutal but true description, Istvan!
The good news might be that the reduction in consumption of resources/consumerism goes along our Green agenda. Save the environment and fight against climate change!
Yes the decline in global pollution since the pandemic has been astounding from everything I have read. It of course does prove Greta’s point that radical reductions in pollution are not impossible, but simultaneously also shows the loss in income radical reductions in industrial production can create.
deleted, sorry
Leadership in action a la Hungarian opposition.
Gergely Karacsony, mayor of Budapest, currently the most popular opposition personality who should be a beacon of the opposition says “if the police believes that we need stricter restrictions I will deliver that decision” – reaction to the news that Orban authorized mayors to regulate their towns until the end of Easter holdays (Monday night) as they see fit (depending on the local situation).
Orban scored big (again).
Karacsony is a person who would have to be a leader, a decider – and just as the average joe expects from a weak “lefty”, Karacsony duly failed.
Why did this person want to be a mayor?
https://444.hu/2020/04/09/karacsony-ha-a-rendorseg-ugy-iteli-meg-hogy-szigorubb-korlatozasokra-van-szukseg-a-dontest-azonnal-meghozom
Who is your preferred dictator/big boss/alpha baboon? Don’t be shy!
Actually, Marty – The mayor knows something we don’t, and it has nothing to do with the political sandbox intrigue. It’s a question of how many die, and taking chances with that, on your own.
This crisis is sending Orbán & co directly to the skids and the mayor knows that all too well. He is not going to play the strong cards while “the boss” still thinks he is on a roll.
Marty – The news will sound something like this in 2022:
“The Soros-paid pro migration and corona-infected anti Hungarian voters deny Orbán another term by cowardly stealing his fair victory.”
A party will break out in Budapest as the result is clear.
Exactly, what does Marty think? That if he is advised that stricter controls will help lessen the spread and the flatten curve he is going to say no? Laughable to consider this weakness and not wise leadership.
Every political action, every political choice sends a message. Try to understand that (Orban and Fidesz viscerally do). Political communication does not happen via boring policy debates nobody understands and cares about but via subtext messages like in a theatre performance. A good author is not didactic but lets you deduce naturally what he wants to write about. The point is this. For decades now Fidesz’ clear message re the left-wing and recently in particular with respect to Karacsony was that they don’t deserve power because they are “weak” (flip-flopping, wavering, give in to pressure). So this was a test. The moment Karacsony is given power (even if for 4 days) he is wavering, trying to shift the burden of decision on the police (implying that he trusts PInter’s, Orban’s most loyal underling’s, organization). Finally he had a choice to act decisively provided he had a vision and a willingness and he decided not to act (OK he closed Margit island and Normafa). So the message to the voters is this: I confirm Orban’s long term message that I am unable to make up my mind. What does Karacsony think about the virus? Is this a dangerous thing? Is it… Read more »
You are blowing bubbles Marty! Orbán & co are headed for perdition and others will take over control. Nothing – I repeat – Nothing, will fulfill the manipulated scenarios you project without any objective basis what so ever. Pure speculation on your part, since obviously Orbán is no longer in a position to call the shots! Why do you think the opposition won in Budapest, in the first place? Because of the media? Because of some absurd and obscure master plan by the medicated “masterminds” of Orbán & co. ?? There is only one reason, Marty, and that is the will of the voters to support someone who have a capacity to behave like sensible and responsible fellow citizens, to look forward in time and take that direction. This crisis marks the beginning of the end of the Orbán era, and as the death toll rises, people continue to get ill while the last reserves, supplied by some gifts from abroad, are being spent. There is no way out, Marty! The base is crumbling fast, under the current regime and you know it. If you should doubt it, just open your eyes and ears! At this point, people who are… Read more »
I do hope that they will disappear as soon as possible. But remember that Hungary is not a democracy and autocrats tend to survive crises. In Venezuela Maduro is still in power for example. Orban will not give up power, he will escalate. Venezuela is also an example that you need credible opposition politicians with leadership potential (which the Hungarian opposition has been lacking for long). But the economic crisis has the potential of making people to rethink their political allegiances.
Economic crises also have the potential to cause a loss of autonomy, when the debt reaches certain levels, don’t forget that.
It would be wise for a sidetracked opposition to let the autocrat go unhindered to the end of the line.
Back to the language discussion: My wife’s younger son just told me that he and his wife had to take tests in two (!!!) foreign languages when they made their exams in psychology! For him it was English and German while she chose English and Esperanto – she felt her German wasn’t good enough. Of course both of them never had a chance to visit any foreign country while still studying – later they improved their English by talking with me. So that is similar to Germany where you need at least two foreign languages to get your “University level” aka Abitur or Matura (in Austria). One of these languages can be a “dead” language like Latin or Greek – but then the recommendation is to learn at least the basics of a third language. Memories from 60 years ago: Since I grew up in the French Occupied Zone my first foreign language was French, then I was “forced” to Latin (the principal wanted his best students there …) and then a few years of English and just a little bit of Ancient Greek – which helped me with mathematics, all those symbols like pi, phi, rho, alpha, beta etc… Read more »
Taking English as 1st foreign language makes good sense in Hungary. Today, there are many good international and semi-private alternatives and partners to the old national institutes, with very international student bodies. I could imagine how, besides the traditional big ones, business, informatics and economic studies and even the more EU-minded ones like gender and trans-regional studies, could be attractive to today’s young Hungarians.
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