Amerikai Magyar Hírlap, 2017 (29. évfolyam, 1-50. szám)
2017-05-19 / 20. szám
AMERICAN Science Magazine: Academia under fire in Hungary Central European University (CEU) offers a test of Hungary’s ability to guarantee academic institutions’ long-term viability and commitment to educational excellence. It is a battle whose outcome will reverberate around the world. A loss will embolden those who aim to limit education and restrict free speech; a win will reaffirm academic freedom, said Albert-László Barabási, a Romanian-born Hungarian-American physicist, best known for his work in the research of network theory, in an Op Ed in Science Magazine. Although portrayed by the government as a purely administrative step, the “Lex-CEU” law is “a strident attempt to curtail academic freedom and limit the independence of academic institutions,” Barabási said in an Op Ed in Science Magazine. He reminded that accredited in both the United States and Hungary, and operating in Budapest since 1991, CEU offers English-language master’s and doctoral programs in fields from public policy to network science. CEU ranks around 300 in the World University Rankings, with several programs in the top 100. Barabási said no other Hungarian university reached the top 500, likely due in part to severe underfunding of higher education. “CEU’s academic independence, modeled on its U.S. peers, has angered the government, which portrays it as a hotbed of liberal thinking,” Barabási said. The government argues that the amendment to the Higher Education Act only creates an even playing field, doing away with the comparative advantage foreign universities such as CEU enjoy. Barabási stressed, however, that the law is widely seen as “an attempt to gain electoral advantage by picking a fight with the university’s founder, the Hungarian-born U.S. philanthropist George Soros, whose long-standing advocacy for open societies and migrants is at odds with the isolationist stand pursued by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.” He and many others - including CEU, academics, EU and U.S. politicians - argue that the law imposes “impossible, and potentially unconstitutional, conditions”, requiring CEU to open a campus in New York State, where it is accredited, by October 2017, which is a practical impossibility; and to be regulated by an agreement between Hungary and the U.S. federal government—ignoring the fact that education in the United States is under the jurisdiction of individual states. Lex-CEU follows the playbook of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who used similar legislative tactics against the European University in St. Petersburg, and mirrors attacks by members of the U.S. Congress against funding of political science, Barabási said. “The masterminds of these attacks do not realize that academia is not a set of isolated interest groups but a tightly interconnected network committed to advancing knowledge. An attack on one of academia’s nodes—an institution, a field, or a researcher—threatens the advancement of knowledge as a whole.” He thinks that despite the law’s apparent finality - President János Áder signed it into law on 10 April despite protests by tens of thousands of people in Budapest’s streets and international outcry both from the academic and political communities - Barabási thinks “the battle is just beginning”. He cited CEU Rector and President Michael Ignatieff’s vow that research and scholarship will continue, the European Commission’s infringement procedure and petitions to the Supreme Court to rule on the law’s constitutionality. Given that none of these efforts are likely to conclude by the fatal October deadline, “only coordinated and meaningful U.S. and European political pressure, at the highest level, can restore CEU’s ability to enroll its next cohort of students.” “CEU offers a test of Hungary’s ability to guarantee academic institutions’ long-term viability and commitment to educational excellence. It is a battle whose outcome will reverberate around the world. A loss will embolden those who aim to limit education and restrict free speech; a win will reaffirm academic freedom.” Albert-László Barabási is the Robert Gray Dodge Professor of Network Science and a Distinguished University Professor at Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA, and lecturer at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. He is also a visiting professor at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, portfolio.hu The Honorary Consuls: A Proud Service On Behalf Of Hungary In The United States The honorary consular service is an important service and contribution to Hungary’s foreign service missions abroad assisting Hungarian citizens living, staying or just visiting in a foreign country. However, the honorary consular system is not a Hungarian invention. The Office of Foreign Missions was created in the United States by an act of Congress on October 1, 1982 to assist the diplomatic community in the USA. OFM in the United States is celebrating its twentieth year of operation. However, the honorary consular system was originally codified on April 24, 1963 in Vienna. Many embassies are finding that having honorary consuls represent their country is a more cost-effective way to handle consular interests in the United States. There are now more than 920 honorary consuls representing diplomatic missions in America, almost double the number of career consuls. Honorary consuls are most often U.S. citizens with established contacts in the business world. OFM has recognized the important role of honorary consuls and is including them in its outreach activities. Hungary currently has 18 honorary consuls on U.S. territory, 16 of those on the mainland, 1 in Hawai and 1 in Puerto Rico. Typically, major cities and hubs where larger Hungarian communities reside would be selected as places where honorary consuls will be appointed. These cities in the continental U.S. are Atlanta (Georgia), Boston (Massachusetts), Charlotte (North Carolina), Cleveland (Ohio), Denver (Colorado), Hamden (Connecticut), Houston (Texas), Miami (Florida), New Orleans (Louisiana), Sacramento (California), Saint Louis (Missouri), Saint Louis Park (Minnesota), Salt Lake City (Utah), San Francisco (California), Sarasota (Florida) and Seattle (Washington). The Honorary Consuls typically provide some of the following services: Consular authentication, consular certificates: signature notarization, authentication of legal documents and apostille; Passport administration and information; Hungarian citizenship administration and information; Information on visas to Hungary and immigration; General information on official administration in Hungary; Meet and assist with nationals on matters affecting their social well-being; Provide advice and recommend appropriate legal representation for nationals who contact the consulate; Translation services. Some of the honorary consuls are long-time renowned personalities in U.S.-Hungarian relationships, including László Bojtos (Cleveland), Eva Voisin (San Francisco), Ilona Szablya (Seattle), Jeno and Krisztina Megyesy (Denver), and George dePozsgay (Miami). Adam Topolansky hungarytoday.hu Május 19,2017 ÍD SUBSCRIBE TO THE HÍRLAP - amhir.com Hungarian PM Laments “Old Model Of Globalisation” The “old model” of globalisation has reached its end, and the East has caught up with the West, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in Beijing. A prominent part of the world is fed up with developed countries giving lectures on such things as human rights and the market economy, Orbán told Hungarian public media during an official visit to China. The idea that money, profit and technological knowledge derives from the West is past its prime, he said, adding that this state of affairs had changed over the past few decades. The driving force of the economy is not found in the West but in the East, the Hungarian Prime Minister said. “In truth, it is in Asia today that the largest amount of money is being accumulated, and this money will start making its way to the West,” Orbán said. He said evidence of this could also be seen in Hungary with a recent surge in Chinese investments after Chinese acquisitions of Western companies. “This trend is the exact opposite of what we’re used to and what we had been taught about the workings of the global economy,” Orbán said, adding that globalisation had divided the world into those few developed countries that give lectures about human rights, democracy, development and the market economy, and those on the receiving end. hungarytoday.hu Runaway German Holocaust Denier Seeks Asylum in Hungary An 81-year-old German far-right activist requested asylum in Hungary to escape a jail term in Germany. Horst Mahler, a disgraced attorney who used to represent the neo-Nazi party NPD, fled Germany and asked Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to grant him political asylum, regional daily Mitteldeutsche Zeitung reported. According to the report, Mr. Mahler published an online statement saying, “On May 12, 2017,1 asked the leader of the Hungarian nation, Viktor Orbán, to grant me asylum in Hungary as a politically persecuted person.” In the statement, Mr. Mahler, 81, employed the historically charged German word for leader, “Führer.” The term was Adolf Hitler’s title and has remained a favorite among enthusiasts of the Third Reich. German daily Die Tageszeitung reported Monday that Mr. Mahler was arrested by Hungarian authorities uppn his arrival. The police in Hungary announced that Mr. Mahler had been detained in Sopron, a city in the west of the country, near the border with Austria. Officials said it was likely he would be returned to Germany. In 2009, a Munich court sentenced Mr. Mahler, a high-profile far-right activist, to six years in jail for repeated counts of giving a Hitler salute, a punishable offense in Germany. The same year, another court condemned him to an additional five years in jail for Holocaust denial and banalization of Nazi war crimes. He was released two years ago on humanitarian reasons due to ill health. But he recovered and was supposed to report back to prison last month. Instead of this, he chose to flee and his whereabouts have been unclear ever since. handelsblatt.com nytimes.com ANGYALFI RENT- A-CAR AUTÓBÉRLÉS MAGYARORSZÁGON A. Suzuki Swift 1.0 manual 150 usd/hét B. Fiat Punto 1.2, Opel Corsa 1.2, Suzuki Swift II 1.3 manual, air.c 190 usd/hét C. Suzuki SX4 1.5 manual, air.c 220 usd/hét D. Opel Astra 1.4 manual, air.c 250 usd/hét E. Honda City 1.5, Chevrolet Aveo 1.6 automatic, air.c 270 usd/hét Korlátlan km használattal, biztosítással és adóval. Repülőtéri átadással és átvétellel Bécsben is (plusz költség). 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