Magyar Hírek, 1983 (36. évfolyam, 1-26. szám)

1983-09-17 / 18-19. szám

ABOUT THIS ISSUE It may seem paradoxical, if I first, mention a subject not related to En­glish in this English language supple­ment, but the activity exerted by the World Federation of Hungarians in order to maintain the Hungarian lan­guage as a living medium of speech for successive generations of Hunga­rians born abroad, recently led to some events, about which, 1 believe, the English readers should also be in­formed : the report on the Native Lan­guage Patronage Conference held be­tween 15—19 August is published in the Hungarian part of this issue (pp 9—13). The time problems posed by translating and reading the text mean that only the English supplement of the next issue will contain a review of the subjects discussed at the confer­ence. There were native language courses at three centres —Sárospatak, Debrecen, and the Lake Balaton— for young people assembled here from many countries; a report is published on the results anil lessons of these in the present issue. Although it was not on questions of language, the world conference of Hungarian doc­tors, which dealt with the scientific and social problems of health, was al­so held under the aegis of the World Federation. A detailed report of the conference is in the Hungarian part of the paper (pp 2—6) while in the En­glish supplement we are publishing the abbreviated text of the opening and the concluding addresses. Of the article presenting Hungarian reality, I should like to call attention to a report, which introduces the cul­tural life of Pécs, a city in the South of the country, in the Hungarian part of this issue (pp 34—36) and an article which acquaints the reader with the Medicor enterprise, exporter's of medical equipment and instruments on pp 30—31. The latter describes some interesting aspects of the Hungarian economy, as does the “Snapshot” of the Compack enterprise published in the English supplement. Of the cultural events of the season reports the international competition for conductors organized by the Hun­garian Television (pp 40—41), the pre­­miére of the Győr Ballet “Glowing Planets”, (on pp 32—33) and an Amer­ican motion picture filmed in Hun­gary (pp 48—49), are all discussed in the Hungarian part of the paper. In the English supplement we discuss a gallery established in the Castle dis­trict of Buda on the initiative of Amerigo Tot the Sculptor. I am convinced that many of our readers, in many parts of the world, will read with joy and emotion the article written to commemorate the seventieth birthday of Professor Pál Erdős, in which András Hajnal, di­rector of the Research Institute for Mathematics of the Hungarian Acad­emy of Science writes as a grateful student and committed friend about the great Hungarian mathematician, the honoured and beloved teacher at so many universities that somebody called him half jokingly, half seri­ously the “Professor of the Universe”. r THE CONVENTION OF HUNGARIAN DOCTORS The week-long series of events of the Convention of Hungarian Doctors began with the opening ceremony, followed by a plenary session on 2nd August in the ceremonial hall of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. The joint organizers of the Convention were the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the Federation of Hungarian Medical Science Societies and Associa­tions, and the World Federation of Hungarians. Professor Imre Zoltán, welcomed those present at the opening session, and introduced János Gosz­­tonyi, the General Secretary of the World Federation of Hungarians, who conveyed the greetings of the Federa­tion to' the 'meeting. Speaking of the Federation’s wide ranging activities, he said: “The principle of all of our labours is service in the highest sense of the term. Service to those who wish to hang on to their Hungarian heritage even in a new environment, who want to cultivate their ties with Hungary, even though they live in a new country. We have never, and will not lure anyone to come home. On the contrary, we say that whatever the reason may have been that prompted their decision to leave, and whenever they may have done so, let them be loyal citizens of the country which accepted them as settlers, observ­ing the laws and customs of the land where they make their living. Naturally we are happy if not only the generation which emigrated but also their children born abroad feel attracted to Hungary. We want them to become familiar with Hungary, to appreciate the conditions and achieve­ments of the socialist Hungary of our day, judging us by the standards of their own conscience.” “...Doctors of Hungarian origin in different parts of the world have attended international conventions and conferences in the past as well”, János Gosztonyi declared. “The dis­tinguishing feature of the present one is that although participants have come from twenty-two countries, they are all Hungarians by birth, men and The audience of the Convention Professor József Bognár, President of the World Federation of Hungarians, welcoming the participants women of Hungarian origin, who are meeting to further a common cause, the science and practice of medicine, which is perhaps the most noble of all of the human endeavours, since it serves man, life, and welfare of humanity.” János Szentágothai, President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences spoke about the important role of those Hungarian doctors who, during the 19th and 20th centuries, contri­buted to the development of medicine in many countries while maintaining links with their country of origin. “All of us have to be grateful to fate,” he said, that whatever the circumstances that moved one to leave this country, one can look back at one’s place of birth feeling that the citizens and leaders of that country look on them with trust and love, that they hold high relations maintain­ed with those abroad, regarding them as part of the nation as long as they preserve in some comer of their heart the sense of affinity, even if their command of their native language may not be what it used to be. . . “. . .1 cannot count the number of the great international centres of heal­ing and research, whose Hungarian born heads have always shown them­selves ready to help young Hungarian doctors on study tours. Today, when the progress of the medical sciences draws attention to a multitude of di­agnostic aids, and modern therapeutic instruments, which make the cost of healing a problem even in the industri­ally most developed countries, the fact alone that doctors who have direct experience of these means, processes, and methods, come back among us to share their knowledge and experience in their own language implies immeasur­able help to a country like ours, where fi­nancial resources are severely limited.” After a week of fruitful delibera­tions Professor József Bognár, Presi­dent of the World Federation of Hun­garians delivered the closing address: “My own work is in the social sciences, — he said — yet I feel I have something to tell you not only as President of the World Federation of Hungarians but also as a man of science. The social sciences just like medicine spare no effort in order to create a better world. But the relation between the social sciences and medi­cine arises not only from the fact that man stands in the centre of the system of thinking of both, but also from the fact that on the subject of prevention medicine and the social sciences are tangential, furthermore the social sciences approach the interactions between man and nature now in the spirit of the new biological mode of thinking. It would be foolish to say that science is responsible for the negative effects of technology, or to believe that we could return into a world of natural idylls. But we have to engage in the struggle against negative tendencies by carefully considering the socio-natural effects of technology and by extending preventive measures for that is the moral and humane duty of all of the sciences. . .” The Convention came to an end with closing words by Professor Gábor Petri. 52

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