Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2013 (25. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)

2013-05-17 / 20. szám

Hungary’s rawest nerve: Learning to love the Roma By Nick Thorpe, BBC News The relationship between the Roma minority and the non- Roma majority is a difficult one in many central European countries. There are frequently problems in Hungary, but could there also be examples of good practice? “I am not asking you to love the Gypsies, but we all have to live together,” the police colonel told the hall packed with police cadets. “And for that, the police must show tolerance and trust, not hatred and exclusion.” The hall falls very quiet. We are touching the rawest, most exposed nerve of Hungarian soci­ety. And it twitches. More often than not, it hurts. A few moments before, I had sounded out the opinions of the young policemen and women. “In my experience, 70 or 80% of crimes are committed by Roma,” said one. “So what do I say if I stop a man, in my routine police work, and he accuses me of picking on him because of his ethnic origin?” “The problem is not the preju­dice of the majority,” said another. “It is the way the Roma hate us, the Hungarians.” Another woman cadet took a different view. “We have to be vigilant, and watch out for all signs of intolerance or ethnic hatred - on the internet, and in everyday life,” she said. It’s an unusual morning at the big police academy in Miskolc, a city with 25% unemployment. An American activist, Patrice O’Neill, is here to share her expe­riences of fighting hate-crime in the US - white supremacists tar­geting African Americans, Jews, Mexicans, Native Americans and gay people. And how communities come together to say - “Not in Our Town”. Most audiences she speaks to, as she tours eastern Hungary, like her message. Many are also sceptical. Could Hungarians reach out to each other like that, in the face of similar incidents? Would they have the self-con­fidence, the civic courage of the Americans? Many people are not familiar with the concept of hate crime - the idea that the targeting of people because of the colour of their skin, their religious belief, or their sexual orientation is different to ordinary crime. Three years have passed since four men accused of the serial killing of six Roma people, on ethnic grounds, were arrested. Their trial is still under way. Köszöntő Ahány csillag van az égen, Ahány virág van a réten, Annyi áldás szálljon rá ma A magyar ÉDESANYÁKRA! ŐSMAGYAREGYHÁZ. HU Highest Quality Care at the Best Price! Elderly, Rehabilitating, Children, Newborn Beszélünk magyarul is! Ingyenes konzultáció otthonában. Hívják Piroskát vagy Krisztinát! *4 Hour Immediate Response * licensed & Insured * Live-in or Live-out * Temporary or Permanent * Qualified & Screened * Flexible Payment Plans * Most Insurances Accepted * Worker Comp. & Long Term C*re AdvantagePlusAgency.com 800 687-8066 But many Hungarians compare those murders to those of white Hungarians by Roma in the past years. The killing of a white school teacher at Olaszliszka by a Roma mob in 2006 was even cited by the prosecution as the incident which provoked the serial killing of the Roma. The murder of a Romanian handball player in Veszprém in 2009, and the rape and murder of a police psychologist in Szeged in 2012, were also carried out by men of Roma origin. Only the most violent extrem­ists actually spell it out, but some­where in the debate in Hungary lurks the ugly sentence, "’They kill us so we kill them.” Tit for tat - the recipe for ethnic war. But their own experience can help Hungarians understand the difference between ordinary crime and hate crime - like when people in Romania or Slovakia or Serbia, are attacked just because they speak Hungarian in the street. Around the time the Not in Our Town movement started in the United States, a young Hun­garian couple’s marriage in Cluj, in Romania, was stopped by the registrar because the young man dared to say “Yes” in Hungarian. The Romanian authorities in Hargita and Covasna counties, where Hungarians are the major­ity, are currently prosecuting local mayors who had the temerity to peacefully display a local Hun­garian flag, the blue and yellow Szekler emblem, alongside the Romanian one. In Slovakia, around 40 ethnic Hungarians who applied for dual, Hungarian citizenship have even been stripped of their Slovak citi­zenship as a result. Intolerance is alive and well in central Europe, but it seems to me that the Hungarian public is open to the message Patrice brings. There are positive examples, in Hungary too, of community action which defies the logic of ethnic division. A Roma policemen who feels valued for his professionalism, musicians holding benefit concerts to heal the wounds opened by a far-right march past a Roma com­munity, the mother of that police psychologist who was raped and murdered appealing for calm. “No-one is telling you that there are no criminals among the Roma,” György Makula, a senior Hungarian policeman, and a Roma himself, told the cadets. “But please do not forget that there are very many who are not, who really suffer from those prej­udices which exist in society.” Fifty-six hate crimes were reported in Hungary in 2011, compared to 55,000 in the United Kingdom. Either Hungary is an island of tolerance... or it might need a new approach. Congratulations! We join in celebrating your 99th birthday! Gratulálunk! FERENC DADAY Distinguished Hungarian American Artist Renowned Painter of Portraits of President Richard Nixon and President Ronald Reagan Presidential Appointee to the Advisory Council on the Arts for the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. With sincere Best Wishes from your many Friends in the Hungarian community, Los Angeles County Commissioner Dr. Frank de Balogh and President Miklós Perehazy, Los Angeles Magyar Ház Fabulous Women Throughout History Susan Dobay was selected as one of the 50 women of the year in Pasadena, CA. THE 5th Annual 50 Fabulous Women Tuesday, June 4. 5 PM - 8 PM Pasadena Museum of History (470 W. Walnut St. Pasadena, CA 91103) A Celebration Of Women Making A Difference DUNA Travel 8530 Holloway Dr. §102 W. Hollywood, CA 90069 Spa, Hotel foglalások, Kocsi bérlés Kedvezményes repülőjegy árak Hajóutak bárhová a világon Hívják ZSUZSÁT TEL: (310) 652-5294 FAX: (310) 652-5287 1-888-532-0168 ANGYALFI RENT- A-CAR AUTÓBÉRLÉS MAGYARORSZÁGON A. 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