As the radical right-wing Our Homeland Movement calls a rally to protest against what they define as ‘Gypsy crime’, a pro-government and an alt-left commentator offer diametrically opposed views on the causes of racial segregation.
Pro-government commentators scorn the Curia (the Hungarian Supreme Court) for upholding the cash compensation for the mostly Roma children who were taught in separate classrooms in the municipality of Gyöngyöspata in northern Hungary. A left-wing philosopher welcomes the decision which he interprets as a victory in the battle against racism. READ MORE
A left-wing commentator thinks the government majority is the only beneficiary of the latest far-right scandal. A pro-government columnist, on the other hand, suggests that alarmism is promoted by the radical right and opposition parties alike. READ MORE
The leading left wing daily deplores the deepening ethnic segregation in Gyöngyöspata, the Hungarian village which made international headlines earlier this year, due to ethnic conflicts between Roma and non-Roma, and patrols by extreme right wing paramilitary groups. READ MORE
There is little sympathy in the media for the Fidesz MP who boasted that towns and villages which want to succeed in their applications for public funds should be on good terms with him. READ MORE
It is high time for mainstream parties to pull themselves together and face the gravity of the racial conflicts in rural Hungary – both right and left-wing commentators conclude from the election of a far right candidate as mayor of Gyöngyöspata, in Northern Hungary.
Hungary’s 600 thousand Gypsies are the biggest losers of the regime change in Hungary, but the majority of the population do not identify themselves among the winners either. Ethnic distrust and conflicts are an inevitable consequence. Two decades of political correctness imposed by left wing-liberal intellectuals only served to deepen the crisis. It may come as a surprise that this opinion should have been published in Demokrata, the passionately right wing pro-government weekly that is often accused of racist inclinations. The author of this thorough analysis, on four full pages, without ever blaming any community for the worrying developments is the weekly’s publisher, Gábor Bencsik (brother of the editor in chief András Bencsik) who recently received his PhD degree with a dissertation on the perception of Gypsies in 19th Century Hungary. READ MORE
Another battlefield of the twenty year old clash of two opposing world outlooks in Hungary is the plight of the six hundred thousand strong Roma/Gypsy minority. In March Jobbik, the radical right wing party held a march at Gyöngyöspata, a village of 2,800 inhabitants in northern Hungary, blaming the local Roma (who make up about a quarter of the population) for the suicide of an elderly resident. READ MORE