Letters from Turkey
My dear Aunt,
you said prime minister Mr. Viktor Orbán can prove that the new laws in Hungary are not unprecedented For every single line of the new laws he can present a precedent in the jurisdiction of this or that European country. If true, why is the EU attacking Mr. Orbán so vehemently?
It can be true. It can be true that there is a precedent for creating a National Jurisdiction Office and give it power and influence on all matters. It's not unheard of to appoint it's president for 9 long years. To lower the retirement age of judges from 70 to 62 without any transition is probably unprecedented, but it does not affect democracy. Hundreds of new judges will be appointed this year and thousands of cases will be re-opened, well, fine, this is the direct consequence of changing the act on retirement, no problem with that. So us Huns should not worry, there is nothing new or antidemocratic in this law.
However, put these all together: the most powerful position is filled for 9 years, this person has tremendous influence on the appointment of hundreds of judges this year, and will apoint dozens to the preemptied leading positions, all these together is worrisome. And by the way, that person happens to be the wife of an influential Fidesz politician.
Or take just one aspect of the new law on higher education. The accreditation committees are critical in maintaining the quality of higher education. To be effective, accreditation boards should be independent of governments, political parties, churches, practically everything, perhaps even of themselves. "ENQA considers the autonomy of institutions and independence of quality assurance agencies within national HE systems as a necessary condition to ensure the full exercise of their responsibilities, notably with regard to the provision of accurate and consistent information to the general public." http://www.enqa.eu/mission.lasso
First of all in the new law the word “independent” was omitted. No big deal, perhaps the way the Committee is set up will ensure independence. Well, the Committee has 12 members, 6 of which will be delegated by the minister of education (or of whatever, as names of those institutions change with every government) and 6 members by the president of the Hungarian Academy of Science. The chairman of the Committee is appointed by the minister with the approval of the academy. So is this board independent of the government? Is there no way for the minister to influence members delegated by him/her? And again, you should know that accidentally, the president of the Academy is a former minister of education in the former Fidesz government. So the former and the present ministers of education decide on the members of the independent Accreditation Committee.
You should know I do trust the integrity of these two gentlemen, profs. Miklós Réthelyi and József Pálinkás . I cannot trust the minister or president of the future, I do not know who they will be. Even if I trust them, is it not worrying, that the Committee evaluating the quality of every institution will have members delegated by two openly religious, Christian conservatives?
My sweet aunt, you do not spend so much time in the kitchen as I do, but you will still appreciate this metaphor. Hungarian goulash (which is a soup) is delicious with its beef, vegetables, sweet and hot paprika. Sour cherry soup is another favourite of mine: the fruits floating in the cold liquid with heavy cream, sugar and cinnamon. Perfect ingredients. So we can combine them as we wish: let us fry some cherries in hot lard, add the cream and beef , spice it with hot paprika and cinnemon and serve it lukewarm. Indigestible! Quite a surprise for Mr. Orban, because there is precedent for each of these ingredients to be used in famous dishes. Sure, but not for this unique combination.
This Viktorian era (my spell checker wants to change Viktorian to Victorian, Viktorian apparently does not have any sence :-) in Hungary is indeed a unique combination of many good things.
Well, there is the other goulash precedent, that of Kadar's goulash communism. Over here across the wide and beautiful sea we would use the term "hash" (goulash, though a sort of liquid hash, is far tastier) – noting that the recipe is usually made up of left-overs from all the previous week's meals. Some of the bits might have been tasty but the final product is usually disgusting in color, texture, and taste. So Orban mixes the fragments and elements of policies and practices for which there are precedents in a way that blends only those elements that were "authoritarian", whether emanating from the tired old Left or the tired old Right. A little populism here, a little Arpadism there, a little cryptic anti-Semitism, a lot of Horthyism everywhere, and sprinkle with a Christian blessing. In our own complicated native tongue the word has the extra beauty of indicating that someone has made a mess of things (Elkurtad!) or, as we say, "he really made a hash of things", though it's probable that the esteemed Viktor has never thought of himself as a professional Elkurtadist. And, our compliments to the Chef -- Viktorian is a nice coinage, with its echo of the defining characteristics of the Victorian era – primness, prissiness, erotic repression, avoidance of the unpleasant facts of life, and the belief that this is the best of all possible ways to be.
ReplyDeleteCheers – Hibernius Viator
Your Hungarian is impressive - a vocabulary of 20 words built up during the sieage of the state TV headquarters (elkurtad, takarodj etc). And now with introducing the term "Elkurdatist" you became to Hungarian what Joseph Konrad (Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski) was to English. Then what is the name of the country of so many Elkurdatists? Elkurtadistan, El-Kurtadistan or Kurtadistan for short? Is Elkurtadism (Kurtadism) a philosophy, religion or the scientific term for a mental disorder?
DeleteIf we resort to the not-so-well-known "bilingual punning system", then "megjegyzés" easily becomes, "O My God, yes!", which puts a positive spin on things, even Elkurtadism. Elkkurtadism is both a philosophy and a way of life (what's the good of a philosophy that's not rooted in reality?) and is its own reward:
ReplyDeleteAs in:
No, I didn't elkurtad, you misunderstood me or maliciously maligned me (a lot of "mals" there, as in German, zweimal).
Or: No, I didn't elkurtad, I misunderstood what you really wanted. (That is, confuse the opposition by implying that they are very unclear in their own minds.)
Or: Elkurtad! How dare you sir, civilized people don't speak that way, at least in front of the children. (Shame the opposition, even if they're obviously right.)
Or: What! Your mother was an Elkurtadist! (Be bold and go on the offensive.)
You get the idea. Elkurtadism is very flexible and accommodates opposites. Besides, from the point of view of the gods (the ones who used to reside on Mount Olympus, but were run out of town by upstarts and impious people), the whole human race dwells in a perpetual state of Elkurtadism.
As to the great Joseph Conrad, I am humbled by the comparison -- he was a very good writer who discovered in his youth that if you wanted to write about adventure on the high seas (or among the low-lifes stranded on exotic islands) you had to become an Englishman -- they had a monopoly, after all, and the idea of a teller of Polish sailor's tales when there was no Poland and Gdansk was teeming with Krauts would get you laughed out of the writers' club (by comparison, landlocked Magyar Orszag's Szinbad was only a spiritual voyager). For Magyars who are always lamenting "lost causes" and bungled revolutions, I recommend Nostromo. And he tried to remain friends with both Rudyard Kipling and Henry James (eminent Victorians but not imminent Viktorians) – a task more difficult than dealing with the Germans on your left and Russians on the right. He's one step behind Nabokov, who managed to write easy and difficult novels in both Russian and English, and all of them were extremely witty. Now that's zweimal.
And, as to my twenty Magyar words, how dare you, Sir, again. I know at least twenty-five, and they are the most useful. In addition to a few private and personal terms about barnyard animals having interesting relations with mothers, I also know how to get a small beer for myself and a large one for my wife, buy a pack of toxic cigarettes, and not confuse "three black men" with "three black cats" or "three Saracens". With this much knowledge I think I can fill in for Viktor when he comes down with a cold. By the way, he is a total amateur when it comes to the practice of "crony capitalism" – the Russians have Putin and we have Reagan and each of his successors – these gentleman are professionals!
Hibernius Viator