William Penn Life, 1999 (34. évfolyam, 2-12. szám)
1999-06-01 / 6. szám
A look back at the present Longtime readers of the William Penn Life should not be surprised by the current situation facing Hungarians in Vojvodina. The warning signs of what was to come were recognized and reported in this publication by Andrew Ludanyi in his series “Hungarian Human Rights.” The following are excerpts from “Part Five: Hungarians in Yugoslavia,” published in March 1990. At times, it seems these words were written not nine years ago but nine weeks ago. "While Yugoslavia is now constantly in the news, very little has been written about its Hungarian inhabitants. Recent news coverage has focused mainly on the fate of the Albanians in Kosovo Province.” “Since [the early I970’s the Hungarians] have been under more and more pressure in the Vojvodina to assimilate, to abandon their own culture and replace it with a ‘Yugoslav’ (i.e., Serb) cultural commitment... it was pressure generated by a society that was Serb-dominated.” “Slobodan Milosevic is now using Serbian nationalism to consolidate his own position of power among Serbs and Montenegrins within Yugoslavia. This revival of a ‘Greater Serbian’ mentality continues to gain ground with Milosevic’s political ambitions." “Just when the rest of Eastern Europe seems to be heading toward more democracy and the protection of human rights, Yugoslavia cannot afford to move in the opposite direction. Such policies can only lead to polarization, fragmentation, and disaster.” garians. Belgrade has pointedly ignored pleas from the European Parliament to stop the resettlement. "People, mainly the young, left because the pressure in the media gave them a feeling of insecurity, because there were threats from paramilitary forces and a growing number of Serbian refugees came to settle among us. The authorities were also forcing our young men to join the army," said Mayor Kasza, whose family has live in Subotica for 500 years. No More Guarantees The fertile, rolling flatlands of Vojvodina are a microcosm of the Balkan region. Wars and treaties have redrawn borders that left millions of ethnic minorities stranded and sprinkled in countries that do not share their religion, their culture or their language. Vojvodina's population includes, Serbs, Croatians, ethnic Germans, Slovaks, Romanians and Hungarians, who are the largest minority. They lived together peacefully under an agreement by major European powers that guaranteed Vojvodina's autonomy after World War I and World War II, a guarantee reiterated by the European Parliament in 1993 and written, for both Kosovo and Vojvodina, into the Yugoslav Constitution in 1974. In 1988, mass demonstrations orchestrated by Belgrade forced the collective resignation of Vojvodina's provincial assembly, made up of Croatians, Serbs and Hungarians. The assembly was then packed with Serbs loyal to Slobodan Milosevic's version of a Greater Serbia. A Lasting Impact Editors, senior media personalities and non-Serb managers were fired and replaced. The subsequent propaganda had a lasting impact, jobs went to Serbs. School curricula were in the Serb language and reflected Belgrade's version of history. The Hungarian language was phased out, and Hungarians were quietly but relentlessly elbowed across the border. "You feel the tension on your skin. When your child is told it would do better to go to a country where he or she can speak Hungarian, it's easy to make the decision to move out," said László Josza, president of the Vojvodina Association of Hungarians. He spoke by telephone from Subotica, the bastion of the Hungarian minority, a city where 42 percent of the population is ethnic Hungarian. "The tension is rising because people are frightened of the reaction after Serbia was attacked. Since Hungary became a member of NATO, the mood of the Serbs toward Hungary and Hungarians is changing for the worse," he added. |\yp| | Vojvodina Links Current information about the Hungarians in Vojvodina is scarce. The situation of minorities in parts of Serbia and Yugoslavia other than Kosovo is going pretty much unnoticed and/or unreported by the major news media. Fortunately, there are a number of private organizations trying to keep abreast of the situation in Vojvodina. Those with access to the Internet can also read the Serbs’ take on what’s happening there. S> Hungarian Human Rights Foundation P. O. Box J, Grade Station New York, NY 10028 (212) 289-5488 Fax: (212) 996-6268 http://www.hhrf.org O Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 10118-8299 (212) 290-4700 Fax: (212) 736-1300 http://www.hrw.org O For the Serbian view http://www.vojvodina.srbijainfo.yu/ingles http://www.serbia-info.com 8 William IVnn Lilt, June 1999
