Star of David in breechcloth

Letters from Turkey

My dearest Aunt,

I am happy you joined the Peace March, a little walking does wonders for your health at your age. However, I can't figure out what the message of that demonstration was. I understand Zsolt Bayer, one of the chief organisers told BBC: "I would call it a march for peace, to show the government it is not alone, he said, and to show the European Union that we don't like how they are treating it."

OK, fair enough.

“a march for peace” – is Hungary at war or threatened by war?

“the government is not alone” - less than 2 years following a democratic election one can hope the government is not alone

we don't like how the EU is treating Hungary – not too specific, and as there were no speeches we should rely on the banners.

The main message carried by the chief organisers reads: We will not be a colony!

I can only agree with that, Hungary should not be a colony. But who wants to colonise this country?

It is very clear from the following banners. There are two enemies – probably acting in alliance. The European Union and Goldman Sachs. 

According to the banners the EU = CCCP, that is the Soviet Union, 

and the invaders should go home, well, that we have known that for a very long time (ROMANES EUNT DOMUS)   
. 

How the European Union could go home bugs my mind. Where is the home of the EU? Hungary is a member, is it not? Am I missing something? 
The Piece March seems to suggest an analogy between the pressure by the EU on the high-speed acts of the Orban government and the crushing of the 1956 revolution by the Soviets. That analogy may explain why the crowd felt they have to march for peace. Hungary is uprising, and as a consequence faces bloody retributon. As in 56. In 1956 the crowds demanded that Russians go home. That made sense, Russion troops liberated Hungary from the Nazis and then did not find their way back home and stayed in Hungary as "temporary" occupiers. Rusky go ho,me made sense, and of course nobody demanded the state of the "Soviet Union go home" - as now the crowd wanted the European Union to leave. But then a banner reading "Europeans go home" would be explicitly schizophrenic. I see only one way to solve the axymoran and that is to demand the government to break with the EU.

So instead of uprising, Hungary could leave the club elegantly without breaking the Chinaware – which was not possible under Soviet rule. But probably most Hungarians want to stay. I could catch but a single banner suggesting to break with the EU: 

“Shall we be members or free? EU No!“ paraphrasing the National Poem by Pefőfi: “Shall we be slaves or free?” 

But nothing is lost yet. We have hope. In whom we trust? Even though the organisers said the crowd will march in support of the government there was not a single banner I could find on the internet praising the government or any member of that body. Not even the President of the State, supposedly Dr. Pál Schmitt, who supposedly embodies the unity of the nation and represents Hungary according to Article 9 of the Fundamental Law. 

Pro banners only for the prime minister, Mr. Viktor Orban, the inventor of a new era rightfully coined (by me) as Viktorian. We love you Viktor. We are with you! Orban is right!

He is for us, we are for him. Thank you Viktor! 

I am Orban too (whatever that might mean).

And Hungarians should not be lectured on democracy or conditions of loans because the EU, IMF even the USA are toddlers compared to Hungary. Hungary: 1116 years old. Impressive. 

I regret the banner stops there. It could have gone on like this:

Ancient Rome: 2800+ years

Ancient Greece: 3300+ years

Ancient Egypt: 5050+ years

You see my dear aunt the older the culture the deeper the shit they are in. Hungary should be happy to be so young compared to Grece, you can still pay the teachers and your politicians for a while.

Who is responsible for the dept, who is the arch enemy? Goldman Sachs of course. The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc is a huge investment banking firm and the sound of their name is enough to blame them for the misery of Hungary. The sound of their name, because in reality the majority of the government bonds are actually owned by Franklin Templeton Investments. But see, this looks impressive: 

This tells it all: 

but replace Goldman Sachs with Franklin Templeton, it just doesn't sound right.

Oh Lord, save us from Franklin Templeton? Not powerful at all. I do not know why, it just isn't.

One of the best banners I think is the one pinpointing the obvious but obscured connection among EU, men without balls and Cohn Bendit.

It reads: We are still EU members, but lest we should be eunuchs like that stinky beast Cohn Bendit. Brilliant! First of all it is elegant for playing with the words. EU - eunuchs, wonderful and does bear some truth in it. Second, it is extremely sensitive and polite, because they called Cohn Bendit a beast and not a swine, which would not be kosher at all.

However, the winner of the banner competition for me is this one:

In some Muslim countries the Star of David would not be covered but proudly shown and then burned obligatoryly. Perhaps that is also true for some European countries at demonstrations of Nazis or the extreme right. However, in any democratic European country a crowd supporting its conservative government such a banner would not be tolerated. Conservative gentlemen simply don't behave like that. They would take that as a provocation. I just  wonder about the nature of negotiation on the case of the Star of David - which was worn by hundreds of thousands in Hungary and not as a fashion item and not very long ago. Did the organisers say: "OK, we agree but please do not show it to the foreign press. Cover it with something. Adam and Eve wore breechloths, so it should be no offence to Jews." I do not know how this banner got there and how it was transformed, but this story is sad and funny at the same time. Hungarians do have a sense of Monty Python type British humor, for semi-covering the star and demanding the USA, the Union and Izrael (or Jews in general?) to go home (What have the Romans...). 

Many banners read that Hungary is a democracy.

[We are].from heart and soul (with very small characters right above "e") Hungarian democrats  

I think Hungary is a democratic country. But for how long?

This is the link to the Unites States Constitution: http://www.house.gov/house/Constitution/Constitution.html

Read it carefully: Constitution.html and not Constitution_Republican_Party.html

This is the official link to the Hungarian Fundamental Law at the Parliamental Portal: http://www.parlament.hu/angol/alaptv_angol_fidesz.pdf

which translates as /fundlaw_english_FIDESZ.pdf, where Fidesz is the party of Viktor Orban. Interestingly, the name of the file suggests that the official Fundamental Law is a Fidesz version. Were there any others? Of course not. Perhaps they just wanted to emphasise their copy right to their Constitution.


By the time you receive my letter they may correct that (again, sad and funny) mistake. Letters travel slow these days. It is extremely cold here and the caravans are hold back by heavy snow, camels have very little forage left.

I hope you are in good health, please join every march – there will be quite a few – to stay fit.

Yours, as ever, Kelemen 

Hungarian Laws and the European Standard

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.