More counter-demonstrators than demonstrators
On the 3rd of November, a nice Sunday morning, a sculpture of Miklos Horthy (authoritarian governor of Hungary between 1920-44) was inaugurated in a Calvinist church of Budapest on Szabadság tér, very close to CEU. The inauguration was organized by Lóránt Hegedűs, Clavinist priest - well-known for his radical rightist legacy - and „Jobbik”, the strongest radical rightist party of present-day Hungary. In anticipation of this event, by means of a spontaneous Facebook campaign, a protest had been organized a day earlier. Participants were invited to wear the yellow Star of David which Jews were forced to wear in 1944-45 due to racial legislation approved by Horthy. While 150 people joined the sculpture-inauguration ceremony, 600 people protested it with banners saying “Horthy is our shame” displayed both in English and Romanian and with images showing Horthy chit-chatting with Hitler in a car. The governing, allegedly central-rightist Fidesz party disapproved this sculpture inauguration arguing that it could provide new grounds on which foreign liberal and leftist press may criticize Hungary. Luckily, the protest against it raised attention and awareness; the Hungarian Calvinist Church itself has declared disapproval of Lóránt Hegedűs for allowing a political event to take place in a church and for supporting hate speech.
Editorial note: On the reasons of controversies around the person and politics of Miklos Horthy see a more detailed article in our next issue.
So far 142 national tobacco shops closed
If you smoke, you may have noticed that recently in Hungary one can buy cigarettes (legally) only in the network of the so called “national tobacco shops”. If you do not smoke, you might have still been informed about this in The CEU Weekly (See: For health, morals and profits by a disgruntled smoker in our 37th issue). The alleged goals of introducing this new system – largely criticized for the corrupt process of assigning the permits to run them – were to reduce smoking among underage people and to improve health conditions of the population in general. Whereas prices of tobacco and cigarettes increased and illegal cigarette import and trade reach previously unseen peaks, apparently the original goals are not being achieved either. The office for consumer protection closed down 142 national tobacco shops so far because of the selling tobacco to underage customers. More than 200 irregularities were discovered during 2600 controls and altogether 25 million HUF of penalties imposed.
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The Blind Komodor gained notoriety regarding the alleged fall of MP Balogh‘s partner. Balogh used the poor animal as a cover up for the beating of his partner. Image: ARC Magazin |
On April 28, József Balogh MP beat his partner so gravely that she had to be treated in a hospital for more than 8 days with a broken nose and cheekbone and various other injuries. He denied having hurt her, alleging instead that she had tripped and fallen over their blind dog. Apparently, she did not see the dog approaching them as they exited their car, since she was drunk, following a night spent at a wedding. He held this shameful lie for months. His party (Fidesz) pressured him to leave the party fraction in Parliament and the party distanced itself from him. Nevertheless, Balogh has remained a member of parliament as an independent representative. The parliament suspended his immunity on September 16, and in early November Balogh underwent interrogation and admitted that he had indeed hit his partner. On November 6, Fidesz entirely dismissed him from the party. Although his leaving the parliamentary fraction would not abolish his party membership, he was called to redraw himself from the political sphere. He yet continues his political career.
Hungary
Nationalism Studies
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