A new website entitled Visegrad-4 was launched earlier this week and it aims to serve as an independent English-language news source for Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The site notes that these East/Central European states share a common historical heritage, each of them having been impacted by pre-World War I empires, Soviet influence and a dramatic transition to democracy and free market economy in 1989. Twenty years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the re-introduction of multi-party democracy, the member states of the Visegrad Group should aim for greater cooperation and alignment of policies when negotiating with other European Union countries, in order to increase the region’s voice and weight both within the EU and abroad. Read the rest of this entry »

A power failure Saturday evening at Budapest Ferihegy Airport’s Terminal 2A resulted in scores of delayed flights, as authorities attempted to evacuate passengers from the building and transfer all flights and bags to Terminal 2B, located right next door. The electricity went out at 8pm local time and power will likely only be restored Sunday morning. According to Budapest Airport Zrt. spokesperson Mihály Hardy, problems with two 110 kilowatt cables caused the power outage. As such, all baggage reclaim machines are out of order, as are all automatic doors in the terminal. Terminal 2B, however, is not experiencing any of these technical difficulties.

Hardy noted that passenger traffic on Saturday nights tends to be very modest and as such, T-2B should have no problem accommodating all passengers from the terminal that is normally reserved for flights to and from Schengen Zone countries. Terminal 1–which serves discount carriers–is not affected by the outage.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Christopher Adam

According to a press release circulated minutes before midnight (Central European Time) on 31 August 2009, SkyEurope has formally declared itself bankrupt and has canceled all of its flights. Bratislava’s Letisko M.R. Stefánik’s airport’s website now lists all of the Slovak discount carriers flights as canceled and SkyEurope’s own website carries a message informing passengers that the company has suspended all operations. Further, the vast majority of passengers will not be eligible for a refund, if they have already purchased a ticket for a SkyEurope flight.

What can you do if you bought a ticket with SkyEurope for a future flight? If you are like the author of this article and are stuck with a future SkyEurope ticket, your only hope is with your credit card company. If you paid for your flight with a credit card, you might be able to ask your bank or credit card issuer for a refund, since no service was rendered to you. If, however, you purchased your SkyEurope ticket through other means–such as a bank transfer or by cash–you are sadly out of luck. Read the rest of this entry »

Christopher Adam

SkyEurope has stranded more than 1,200 passengers at Bratislava’s Letisko-M.R. Stefánik Airport earlier today, when it decided to cancel all of its afternoon and evening flights without any warning. As we reported earlier today, as well as last week, SkyEurope teeters on collapse, as airports in Vienna and Prague have decided to ban the carrier due to outstanding debts. Bratislava Airport’s spokesperson, Zuzana Hornanova, told journalists that SkyEurope canceled all of its flights due to “operational reasons.” Hornanova described the situation as “complicated.” The airline has yet to issue a statement, even though SkyEurope is now effectively grounded. Somewhat curiously, the carrier is still advertising an autumn fare discount in its site and accepting new bookings.

There is no official information as to why SkyEurope canceled all of its flights, and Bratislava Airport confirmed that the carrier had, in fact, made all payments on time. Unconfirmed reports, however, have suggested that SkyEurope employees may have refused to report to work, after the carrier deferred their monthly salaries due to on-going financial problems. Read the rest of this entry »

Christopher Adam

SkyEurope’s financial situation went from bad to worse today, after Prague Airport decided that it would no longer serve the Slovak low-cost carrier’s flights until it paid its outstanding debt. Prague’s move follows the Vienna Airport’s decision to cancel all SkyEurope flights due to unpaid bills, which forced the carrier to transport ticket-holders to Bratislava Airport, located 59km from the Austrian capital.

But the question now becomes whether or not SkyEurope will be able to survive the suspension of both its Prague and Vienna bases, and the likely collapse in passenger bookings. The first signs seem to cast doubt on SkyEurope’s future. Bratislava Airport’s website indicates that the vast majority of SkyEurope flights due to depart today have been canceled. Additionally, the airport’s website suggests that all SkyEurope flights scheduled for this evening and early Tuesday morning have been cancelled as well, including London-Luton, Brussels, Amsterdam, Bucharest-Baneasa, Istanbul, Lisbon and Larnaca. Almost all arrivals into Bratislava have been canceled as well for later this evening and early Tuesday morning, including flights headed to the Slovak capital from Nice, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Paris-Orly and Rome-Fiumicino. Read the rest of this entry »

Christopher Adam

Simmering tensions threatened to boil over between Hungary and Slovakia, as Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico decided to ban Hungarian President László Sólyom from visiting Slovakia, in order to unveil a statue of Saint Stephen, Hungary’s founding king, in the southern Slovak town of Komarno (Komárom). According to the most recent census, more than 60 percent of Komárom’s 37,000 residents are ethnic Hungarians and the town is located along the Danube, on the border between Hungary and Slovakia. Mayor Tibor Bastrnák had decided to erect the bronze statue in Komárom’s Lúdpiac Square, which depicts St. Stephen mounted on his horse.

Sólyom was about to cross over the bridge between Hungary and Slovakia, but held a news conference instead, in which he indicated that the Slovak government had effectively barred him from entering the country. “This is a situation unheard of, inexcusable and unexplainable in the relationship of two allied countries. It is especially so because of the reasoning behind the ban: that my presence would mean a security threat.” Sólyom said. Read the rest of this entry »

Christopher Adam

Hungarian low-cost carrier Wizz Air has now clearly overtaken its main regional rival, Slovakia’s SkyEurope. Once Eastern Europe’s largest discount airline, SkyEurope has failed to turn a profit since its founding in 2002 and was forced to file for creditor protection in June 2009. Since then, the Slovak carrier’s woes have only gotten worse. The carrier failed to reach a deal with Vienna’s Schwechat Airport last Friday, which led to the cancellation of all flights from SkyEurope’s Central European hub. SkyEurope reportedly has a significant outstanding debt with airports in both Vienna and Prague and as such, Schwechat has decided to stop servicing all SkyEurope flights.

In an effort to stop the carrier from going under, SkyEurope has transferred all of its Vienna-based flights to Bratislava’s Letisko M. R. Štefánik Airport and passengers are being offered free coach service from Vienna. Despite these efforts and the relatively short 59km distance between the two hubs, the majority of SkyEurope passengers are experiencing lengthy delays. Read the rest of this entry »

The Canadian Hungarian Journal and the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation are organizing a lecture evening at the University of Ottawa, on May 25, 2009 at 7pm, which will include presentations by three Hungarian academics. Historian Mária Palasik of the Historical Archives of Hungarian State Security in Budapest will begin the evening by discussing the role that women and technology have played in Hungarian universities, while Róbert Takács of the Institute of Political History will give a lecture on censorship and self-censorship under János Kádár’s communist regime. Márton Pászti of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics will complement the evening with a presentation on applied human-computer interaction.

Each lecture will be 20 minutes in duration and there will be an opportunity for discussion and debate. Complimentary refreshments will also be served by the organizers. The event is scheduled for May 25, 2009, at 7:00pm, in Tabaret Hall room 323, at the University of Ottawa. Please see the event’s poster for more information.

Our three presenters are travelling to Ottawa in order to participate at the annual conference organized by the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC). This year’s conference is scheduled to take place at Carleton University on May 23-24, 2009, within the context of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences. The HSAC conference programme includes a wide array of interdisciplinary presentations, as well as a talk by Hungarian-Canadian author Anna Porter.

We believe that most of you who are participating in this year’s conference, have registered through the fedcan Congress office, but if you have not done so please do so now. HSAC benefits from your registration. We will be circulating the information about the conference to some local community members who might be interested in attending. If you have friends and acquaintances in the Ottawa region, please alert them to this. Interested non-member individuals do not need to register for the Congress but are expected to pay a daily $15 fee for attending any association programs. If you just come to one or two lectures there is no need to pay this fee. The evening event with Anna Porter is free and open to the public.

 We would like to draw your attention to a number of special features/events noted in the conference program:

1. As a pre-conference event, on Friday evening, May 22^nd we are fortunate in having Tamás Szabó, curator from the Szeged Móra Ferenc Museum to talk to us about the Giorgio Vasari painting in the museum’s collection, as well as other aspects of the Szeged collection.

2. On Saturday 23^rd, we have the talk by Anna Porter, preceded by a buffet supper in the same location. This replaces our usual dinner in a restaurant and we will need to charge for the costs of the supper (we are not yet sure of the amount but it will probably be $25 per person, including wine). This will be announced on the first day of the conference.

3. Finally, as a post conference event, on Monday May 25^th at 10 am we have arranged a special visit /tour to the Library and Archives of Canada’s super-modern Preservation centre where staff will have a display of some of the Hungarian relevant materials of the national collection (books, archival materials, art and other visual material). We are grateful to the Embassy of Hungary for helping to transport participants to the Preservation Centre.  

The location of the conference is at the Carleton University Campus in the Hertzberg building. However, the talk by Mr Szabo and by Anna Porter, as well as the lecture evening on May 25th, are on the campus of the University of Ottawa. Please take a careful look at the programs and the poster. Some of us locals will try to provide transportation certainly on Saturday evening from Carleton to Ottawa U for the supper and Anna Porter.

 Logistics, and other useful information:

 -The congress will distribute bottled water for each panel/session, but staff will ask the session chairs if they wish to “opt out,” for environmental reasons. Catered coffee breaks will still include bottled water as well.
 
Swine Flu Concerns:
  
-The congress is cooperating with Ottawa’s pandemic planning committee and with Carleton’s Health Services
 
-Hand sanitizers will be widely available on campus, especially in the Field House.
 
Information for Delegates:

-The Congress will set up an information desk at Ottawa’s MacDonald-Laurier Airport to assist visitors, but a similar booth will not be available at the train station.
 
-There will be shuttle service available from the Carleton residences to the Ottawa Airport. Return fare: $20.
 
-Shuttle bus service will be offered free of charge between Carleton and 11 hotels in Ottawa. The Congress guide provides a list of hotels. All buses will run every 15 minutes in the morning and every 15 minutes in the evening, with service suspended during the rest of the day.

-As Carleton is a fairly large campus, delegates with reduced mobility can make use of golf carts, which will run between the Field House (place of registration) and the University Centre. These golf carts will be available between 7.30 and 17.00.
 
-Luggage storage will be available for all delegates at “Delegate Services,” or at the residences, for those with on-campus accommodation
 -Parking will be available for $8 per day
 
-There will be a complimentary breakfast on campus in the Residence Dining Room for all delegates on Monday. Those who are staying an extra day may take advantage of this.

April 20th being Holocaust Memorial Day world-wide, it struck me as particularly sad that on the preceding weekend a gentleman, István Dósa, leader of a radical nationalist organization in Hungary, spoke before 200 supporters in front of the German Embassy and in essence stated that “nothing of the  Holocaust was true”. For a nation that had a 900,000 strong Jewish Hungarian population before the devastating events of the Holocaust, for such an event to occur in 2009 is hard to believe. On Monday, the actual day of memorial, the Hungarian education and cultural minister, István Hiller  asked deputies in Parliament to pass a bill to make denying the Holocaust punishable by law.

I, for one was flabbergasted. MTI reported that Hiller said a democratic duty is to condemn Holocaust denial. Perhaps I am not a politician, but  as I see it, it is an ethical and moral duty of humanity, particularly relevant to a nation such as Hungary that saw so few of its Jewish population return to their homeland. They perished at Auschwitz.  It is difficult for me to see Holocaust denial issues in a nation that lost so many of its prominent citizens simply because they were Jewish.           

Zsolt Patakfalvi (Canada) 

The 11^th Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival will feature a Hungarian contingent consisting of two writers and a publisher, who will participate in events in French, English and Hungarian.

Award-winning writer Krisztina Tóth is one of Hungary’s most highly acclaimed poets. Her poetry has been translated into many languages and published in English by Bloodaxe. Born in Budapest, János Lackfi is a writer and a professor at Pázmány Péter Catholic University and the editor of the journal Nagyvilág. Hungarian publisher Miklós Nagy will participate in the International Publishers’ Forum, which brings foreign and English-Canadian publishers to Montreal during the Festival for formal and informal exchanges with Quebec publishers; contacts which in turn help develop new markets for Quebec and English-Canadian publishers. 

• Event 27: On Thursday, April 23 at 9 p.m., János Lackfi and Krisztina Tóth will take part in a multilingual poetry reading. They will read their works in Hungarian.
• Event 42: János Lackfi and Krisztina Tóth will also give readings on Friday, April 24 at 7:30 p.m. Writer Elaine Kalman Naves will host the event, which will be followed by questions from the audience in French, English and Hungarian.
• Event 72: On Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m. Miklós Nagy will join János Lackfi and Krisztina Tóth in a panel discussion hosted by Linda Leith on how Hungary’s recent history has impacted the country’s writing today.

Blue Metropolis Foundation is a non-profit organization based in Montreal. Its core purpose is to bring together people of different cultures to share the pleasures of reading and writing in English, French and other languages. To this end, it produces a range of literary activities, educational and literacy programmes, including the multilingual Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival. Blue Metropolis Foundation plays a leadership role in the Montreal literary, educational and literacy communities as well as on the national and international scene.

Forty-one year old Gordon Bajnai became democratic Hungary’s seventh prime minister on Tuesday, when MPs of the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) joined together to elect recently resigned Ferenc Gyurcsány’s replacement. Bajnai, who is not a member of the Socialist Party, now faces the unpleasant task of introducing massive austerity measures, totalling more than 500 billion forints. Bajnai promised that the cuts “will hurt” and that the “bitter pill will not be sugar-coated.” Bajnai also promised that his prime ministership would last no longer than one year, at which point there will be national elections, which he will not participate in. As such, it is already certain that Bajnai’s unhappy prime ministership will be remembered for its unprecedented cutbacks to pensions, welfare and child-support, all of which are unavoidable if Hungary is to keep its deficit from ballooning again and if the battered Eastern European country is to continue making mandatory payments related to its massive national debt.

Bajnai’s problem is that implementing a package of austerity measures is much easier said than done. Former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány–who was charismatic, flamboyant and a card-carrying Socialist–failed to convince his own party to support major financial reforms and welfare cutbacks and had to water-down each of his proposed measures in order to make them seem more acceptable. Even then, Gyurcsány’s proposals ended up in the rubbish bin. Bajnai will almost certainly have an even more difficult time, seeing that he is not a member of any political party and is reportedly not especially well-liked among the Socialists. This uncomfortable relationship was most apparent when Bajnai attended the latest Socialist Party congress and was forced to stand on stage as party functionaires stood together and sang “The Internationale.” Bajnai looked visibly distressed and uncomfortable, as party members sang the socialist (and once communist) anthem with some enthusiasm. It was later revealed that the Socialists had never told Bajnai of their musical plans. The new prime minister’s surprise and displeasure are both evident in clips that have made the rounds on YouTube.

If the Internationale incident is any indication, then Bajnai has reason to fear. Socialist MPs may have signed a statement declaring that they would support the prime minister’s austerity measures, but if the European Parliamentary election of June 7, 2009 brings the widely anticipated decimation of the Hungarian Socialist Party, the MPs will all but certainly begin to wonder whether their support of Bajnai’s programme would not serve as the final fatal blow, ahead of national elections next spring. A poll released by the Progressive Institute (Progressziv Intézet) already shows the Socialists with only 10 percent support and this represents a historic low for the party. Bajnai may not be running for political office in 2010, but most of the 204 MPs who elected him certainly will be. As such, their political careers now depend on the fledgling government. Bajnai would have to pass as many of his measures as possible, before the June vote, if his government is to be successful.

Being Prime Minister of Hungary is an unhappy job these days and Bajnai may not yet understand the full extent of what he will face. As prime minister, Bajnai will likely be undermined by some of the Socialists who supported him, he will face stinging attacks from Fidesz–the largest opposition party, which will offer no cooperation and will continue to press for early elections–and will have to deal with the same, relentless far-right protesters who often caused chaos on streets under his predecessor. Bajnai has a remarkable challenge on his hands and his chances of success are modest.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Gordon Bajnai

Gordon Bajnai, the Socialist government’s development minister, was nominated to replace outgoing Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány in the early hours of the morning, following desperate, marathon meetings within the Hungarian Socialist Party (MSZP) and the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ). Assuming that Bajnai’s supporters are able to muster a thin majority in parliament next week, the 41 year old development minister will take over the Hungarian government on April 14, 2009. Yet Bajnai will face major political obstables as prime minister, above and beyond the severe economic crisis which brought Hungary to the brink of bankruptcy.

Gordon Bajnai comes across as telegenic and generally affable in the handful of interviews conducted with him during his brief stint in politics. Bajnai, who is not a member of the Socialist Party and seems to present himself as more of a manager or technocrat, than a party politician, has attempted to put himself above the deep left-right divide that has plagued Hungarian society. In his first statement as the left’s prime ministerial candidate, Bajnai noted that it did not matter to him who stands on the left or on the right of the political spectrum and that he did not want to be seen as a political rival, since he is only willing to take on Hungary’s top job for a limited period of time.

The terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ mean very different things in Hungary these days than just about anywhere else in the democratic world. The Hungarian Socialist Party’s rhetoric on economic policy–and that of the government’s supporters in the media–is akin to what one would hear from Conservatives in Canada or Republicans in the United States. In contrast, Fidesz–Hungary’s largest ‘conservative’ opposition party has suggested that it advocates a third-way economic model, while supporting free public health care and a tuition freeze in universities.

Bajnai will try to tackle Hungary’s economic problems with massive public spending cutbacks totaling 500 billion forints. Whether he will be able to pass any of his proposed legislation in parliament (where Socialist MPs have a record of watering down similar legislation in the past) remains an open question. But even more problematic for Bajnai will be his distinct lack of political legitimacy as prime minister. Not only was Bajnai never elected by popular vote to any political office whatsoever, but the Socialists and Free Democrats only decided to elect him after 17 other potential prime ministerial candidates either rejected the offer for the top job, were turned down by the Free Democrats or were seen as unacceptable by increasingly rebellious Socialist MPs.

Bajnai’s nomination was the closing act of a bizarre political soap opera, which showcased a truly stunning degree of Socialist incompetence. Socialists and Free Democrats spent a week agonizing over who would be Hungary’s next prime minister, in the hope of avoiding an early election which would be disastrous for the MSZP and outright fatal for the SZDSZ. The names of 18 businessmen, bankers, economists, academics and politicians were leaked to the media over a seven day period, prompting these business leaders to issue sometimes shocked rebukes or rejections, as they often found out that the Socialists were pondering their nomination without having first informed the candidate about their plans. Following seven days of failed negotiations, a dozen and a half candidates who did not want the prime ministership–or who were turned down by party politicians–the lethargic Socialists and frantic Free Democrats saw the writing on the wall, and elected Bajnai in their misery. The Socialists accepted Bajnai’s nomination through a “vote of sympathy” on Sunday–in which a third of the the party’s caucus was missing–and the SZDSZ’ leadership voted 7 to 5 to accept the new prime minister at around 1:00AM in Budapest. This only happened after Bajnai reportedly issued an ultimatum, in which he demanded that Free Democrats vote for him before midnight, or else he would withdraw his name, just like all the other candidates. In the end, János Kóka, an SZDSZ MP and Bajnai’s former business partner, convinced his party to support his friend, rather than jump off the deep end in an early election, which would have decimated the liberal party.

Bajnai will find it difficult to counter arguments  that Hungary not only suffers from crippling economic problems, but also a huge democratic deficit. While the opposition Fidesz has already indicated that it would continue to push for an early election and would not support any government initiatives–there is dissent within the Socialists and Free Democrats camps as well. Socialist MP József Karsai already confirmed that he does not intend to support Bajnai and that the party’s maneouvering was “pointless.” József Gulyás, an SZDSZ MP, also indicated that he would vote against Bajnai, while three of his colleagues are hesitant to support the new prime minister. For the next 12 months–before the spring 2010 election which will likely bring Fidesz back to power–Bajnai will have to tackle the economy, and deal with the nagging sense of political illegitimacy surrounding his new position. The current political mess will almost certainly come back to bite the Socialists and Free Democrats in European Parliamentary elections set to take place on June 7, 2009.

Christopher Adam

• Gordon Bajnai becomes Hungarian prime minister

The Hungarian Committee of Montréal and the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in Ottawa have partnered to organize a historical exhibit at the Place des Arts, with the aim of showcasing some of the most famous embroderies from Hungary, as well as the history of Québec’s Hungarian community. Needlepoint Halas lace is celebrating its 100th anniversary, while the first Hungarians also settled in Montréal a century ago. Hungarian Ambassador Pál Vastagh will open the vernissage, scheduled for 5 April 2009 at 5:00pm with an introductory speech and he will be followed by Andor Csukly, president of the Hungarian Committee of Montréal. Christopher Adam, president of the Montréal Hungarian Historical Society (MHHS) will provide an overview of the history of Hungarians in Québec, in French. The speeches will be followed by a cocktail reception.

Júlia Ciamarra, the retired principal of the Hungarian School of Montréal, served as the exhibit’s local organizer. The Government of Québec’s Ministry of Immigration and Cultural Communities is among the exhibit’s sponsors.

The exhibit can be viewed from April 6-12, 2009, between 11:00am and 6:00pm, at Montréal’s Place des Arts.

Magyar kiállítás Montreálban

Magyar vonatkozású kiállítás kerül megrendezésre a montreáli Place des Arts-ban, melynek során megismerkedhet a helyi francia és angol lakosság a világhírű halasi csipkével, valamint a Québec tartománybeli magyarság történelmével. A 100 éves halasi csipke legszebb példái kerülnek bemutatára, a Montreáli Magyar Történelmi Társaság által készített, a magyar közösség múltját ismertető tablóival együtt.  A kiállítást a Montreáli Magyar Bizottság és a Magyar Köztársaság Ottawai Nagykövetsége közösen szervezi. Az ünnepélyes megnyításra 2009 április 5-én (vasárnap), d.u. 5 órakor kerül sor. Ezt követően pedig a szervezők koktél-fogadásra hívják a vendégeket. A rendezényt Vastagh Pál nagykövet nyítja meg és szintén felszólal Csukly Andor, a Montreáli Magyar Bizottság elnöke, valamint Ádám Christopher, a Montreáli Magyar Történelmi Társaság elnöke. A kiállítás helyi szervezője Ciamarra Júlia és a költségekhez a québeci kormány is hozzájárult.

2009. április 6-12 között tekinteni meg a kiállítást, reggel 11-től este 6 óráig a Place des Arts színház halljában.

Kanadai Magyar Hírlap

Miklós Jancsó

Pacific Cinémathèque is preparing to present a four-film retrospective on Miklós Jancsó, among the great directors of 1960s European cinema. One of the masters of widescreen composition and elaborately choreographed long-take sequence shots, Jancsó’s fervid, transfixing, highly stylized and intensely formalist films are noted for their balletic, brutal study of repression, rebellion and revolution. Power and politics are destructive forces in Jancsó’s singular cinema, which is highly allegorical and can approach abstraction in its use of ritual, spectacle, massive scale and geometrical patterning to depict human events. His dramas explore, obsessively, turbulent events of Hungary’s past history; the historical settings serve as pretexts for Jancsó’s true subjects: repression in the contemporary, post-1956 Hungary in which he lived; and, more universally, our capacity as humans to inflict very great cruelty upon one another.

Jancsó was the recipient of a Special Prize for his entire body of work at Cannes in 1979 (he had won the festival’s Best Director award in 1972 for Red Psalm), and was accorded a similar honour – a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement – at Venice in 1990. It is no exaggeration to say that he was one of the world’s leading filmmakers in the 1960s and early 1970s. That Jancsó is less well known today speaks to the shifting winds of critical fashion, but also reflects the fact that his films – which demand to be viewed on the big screen – have simply become difficult to see: good 35mm prints of Jancsó ’s works have not been available in Canada or the U.S. for decades. This presentation features new 35mm prints, imported from Hungary, of four of Jancsó’s greatest achievements.

The four films to be screen in Vancouver  include The Round-Up (1965), The Red and the White (1967), Red Psalm (1972), as well as Silence and Cry (1967). All four films are in Hungarian, with English subtitles.  

The Round-Up (Szegénylegények)

Miklós Jancsó’s international breakthrough came with this unusual, hypnotic historical drama, hailed by fellow Magyar director Zoltán Fábri as “perhaps the best Hungarian film which has ever been made.” In the 1860s, forces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire round up a group of peasants and, through a ritualistic process of interrogation, torture and execution, attempt to weed out partisans who had participated in Hungary’s 1848 revolt against Habsburg rule.

The Red and the White (Csillagosok, katonák)

Miklós Jancsó was commissioned by the Soviets to make a film commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. A co-production between Hungary and the USSR, the film is set during the Civil War that followed the Revolution, and concerns a group of Hungarian volunteers fighting for the Bolshevik side against White Russian forces. An epic back-and-forth struggle unfolds on a vast, expansive plain; each side commits atrocities as it gains the upper hand. The film showcases Jancsó’s gift for panoramic pageantry, intricate camera movement, and geometric abstraction, and his interest in the rituals of power, the mechanics of dominance and submission. Neither the extreme formalism nor the anti-heroic content could have thrilled the Soviets, who first re-edited the film and then banned it.

Red Psalm (Még kér a nép)

Jancsó won Best Director honours at Cannes for this dizzying, dazzling film which recounts, in fervid, balletic, bloody fashion, and with much pageantry (and nudity), a farm workers’ rebellion on a large Hungarian estate in the late 19th century. Jancsó’s circling, swirling, incessantly moving camera captures the drama with breathtaking kinetic and metaphoric force; this 88-minute film is composed of a mere 28 shots, each demonstrating the director’s bold, rhythmic command of the expressive extended take.

Silence and Cry  (Csend és Kiáltás)

An elliptical, claustrophobic drama shot in the brilliant, breathtaking long takes that are Jancsó’s trademark, Silence and Cry is set after the fall of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic of 1919. A young Red soldier, fleeing the anti-Communist manhunt, takes refuge at the isolated farm of a peasant family. His reluctant hosts are already under police scrutiny for being politically suspect. The local White commander is aware of the soldier’s presence but, for personal reasons, keeps it a secret. The soldier discovers that the farmer is being poisoned, slowly, by his wife and her sister.

Screenings will take place April 1-6, 2009. For more precise screening dates and times, call: 1-604 688 FILM.

Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungary’s longest serving prime minister since the country’s transition to democracy twenty years ago, suprised even the most avid political analysts by announcing his imminent resignation. Gyurcsány spoke at the Hungarian Socialist Party’s congress, where he recommended that the left-centre party form a new government, headed by a new prime minister. “I misjudged our strength and the opportunities before us and I did not offer a clear and straightforward speech at a critical moment. As such, my credibility decreased significantly”–Gyurcsány told party delegates.

Gyurcsány will call for a vote of confidence  in parliament this coming week, which he is almost certain to lose, in light of the fact that the four opposition parties hold a majority in the Hungarian national legislature. The liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (SZDSZ) has been calling for Gyurcsány’s resignation for a year, when it decided to leave the governing coalition. The largest opposition party, the right-leaning Fidesz, as well as the Christian Democratic Peoples’ Party (KDNP) and the centrist Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) have called for Gyurcsány’s resignation over the years. Fidesz, however, is also adamant that new national elections be held on 7 June 2009, in conjunction with the European Parliamentary (EP) vote. The national vote would otherwise be scheduled for spring 2010.

All polls suggest that the Socialists stand to suffer a massive defeat, with Fidesz scooping up all but 5 or 6 of the 22 seats allocated to Hungary in the European Parliament. The deeply unpopular prime minister’s resignation, however, may offer the Socialist Party a glimmer of hope that left-centre voters–especially pensioners–might be re-engaged and convinced to vote. There has also been talk of a so-called “olive branch coalition” between the Socialists, the SZDSZ and the MDF, especially if the country’s new prime minister is independent of these parties and is seen as capable of handling Hungary’s dire economic situation. The MDF recently tried to nominate Lajos Bokros, a former finance minister in Prime Minister Gyula Horn’s Socialist government and the conservative opposition party’s main candidate in the upcoming EP elections, as prime ministerial candidate to replace Gyurcsány, but with no success. While the SZDSZ would probably support a Bokros prime ministership, the left-wing Socialists almost certainly would not, nor would Fidesz or the KDNP. Bokros holds neo-liberal economic views, calling for radical austerity measures and deep cuts to pensions, health care and education.

Even if Gyurcsány is replaced in the next two weeks, he will stay on as Socialist Party president. “Despite all of our shortcomings and our weakness, we stood on the right side,” Gyurcsány told party faithful in what may now be his last major address as prime minister.

The Hungarian economy is currently the most fragile in the European Union. The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio stands at an estimated 73 percent and is expected to rise to over 80 percent by early next year.

Canadian Hungarian Journal 

Ferenc Gyurcsány

Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány warned the leaders of western European Union member states not to erect a new Iron Curtain by permitting Eastern European economies to collapse under the pressure of the global financial crisis. “We should not allow that a new Iron Curtain should be set up and divide Europe. In the beginning of the nineties we reunified Europe, now the challenge is whether we will be able to reunify Europe financially”–Gyurcsány observed, while attending the EU’s emergency summit this weekend. The Hungarian Socialist prime minister’s words were significant enough to echo on this side of the Atlantic as well, with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) featuring Gyurcsány’s warning as headline news on its website.

Hungary has led a move on the part of other East/Central European countries–namely Poland and the Czech Republic–to pursuade the EU to provide the region with a massive bail-out package, in order to cushion these struggling economies from the impact of dramatically declining currencies and–particularly in Hungary’s case–crippling national debts and a sizeable deficit. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk noted that the West must adopt a “spirit against protectionism and egoism.” Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek echoed his Polish and Hungarian counterparts when he noted that the region does not want “a Europe divided along a North-South or an East-West line” and also observed that a “beggar-thy-neighbour policy is unacceptable.”

Hungary has called on the EU to provide Eastern Europe with a massive €180 billion loan, but it appears as though key western European leaders are hesitant to do this. German Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected the idea of a blanket bail-out for any region, noting instead that the situation is dramatically different in each country and that a one-size-fits-all solution would not make sense. In many ways, Merkel’s assessment is quite accurate. Hungary is in the worst situation, as a liquidity crisis looms over what was once the most prosperous country in the former communist Eastern bloc. Hungary’s national debt now stands at well over 60 percent of the GDP and particularly problematic is the fact that the Hungarian forint’s value has slipped by more than 20 percent over the past months, leaving millions of Hungarians who took up mortgages or car loans in Swiss francs and euros in a bind. Yet widespread defaults and personal bankruptcies in Hungary would send Austria’s economy into a free fall as well, since major Austrian banks dominate Hungary’s banking sector. In fact, were Hungary to effectively declare bankruptcy and default on its national debt, it would likely drag the entire European common market and currency down with it.

It seems doubtful that Gyurcsány will receive all that he asked for. In fact, his request that Hungary’s adoption of the euro be fast-tracked in light of the crisis has already been rejected by Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker, who noted that it is impossible to change euro zone accession criteria “overnight.” Additionally, there is a sense that the EU will not provide more aid beyond the €25 billion which was announced last week by the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, which aims to shore up Eastern Europe’s teetering banking sector. This, however, may be too little, too late for Gyurcsány, whose Socialist Party must face a deeply disenchanted electorate on 7 June 2009 for European Parliamentary elections. Hungary is allocated 22 seats in the European Parliament. Most public opinion polls suggest that the Socialists are unlikely to garner more than 6 of these, with the rest going to one or possibly two opposition conservative parties.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Russian state buys stake in Malév

The on-going saga of Hungary’s troubled flag carrier, Malév, entered another chapter, with news that the Russian state has indirectly purchased a stake in the badly indebted airline. Vnyesekonombank, a state-owned Russian financial institution, is reportedly preparing to take control of a 49 percent stake in AirBridge Zrt., the company which owns Malév Hungarian Airlines. In order to ensure that Malév retains its status as Hungary’s national airline and, by extension, does not have to forfeit its European Union operating license, Magdolna Költő and Kálmán Kiss–two Hungarian businesspeople–will together control 51 percent of the company’s shares. János Veres, Hungary’s finance minister, met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Victor Zubor and confirmed that the airline’s new structure will safeguard its Hungarian national status. The new arrangement became necessary after Boris Abramovich, the Russian businessman who purchased Malév in 2007 following its privatization by Hungary’s Socialist government, failed to satisfy most conditions of the agreement and was removed from AirBridge Zrt’s executive.

Despite the assurances, there is no doubt that Russian state interests will now dominate Malév. According to the terms of the new deal, the Hungarian flag carrier will strike a partnership with Aeroflot, Russia’s state-owned national airline. Malév is struggling under the weight of a debt, which has now reportedly reached 20 billion forints. The Hungarian flag carrier owes Budapest Airport Zrt nearly 10 billion forints and since the airline was unable to service its debt in a timely manner, the company had to cede its 15 percent stake in one of its smaller firms, Malév-Lufthansa Technik Kft, and hand ownership over to Budapest Airport’s operator. Additionally, Malév also owes 600 million forints (€2.2 million) to Malév Vagyonkezelő Kft, a Hungarian state-owned company which controls the Malév trademark and owns a gas pipe line running between Budapest’s Ferihegy Airport and the town of Százhalombatta, as well as a Boeing 767-200 aircraft.

Malév currently operates a fleet of 27 aircraft, including 18 Boeing 737 planes, and a handful of smaller, regional aircraft. The airline flies to 50 destinations from its base at Budapest Ferihegy Airport, including regular flights to Tel Aviv (Israel), Beirut (Lebanon) and Damascus (Syria).

Canadian Hungarian Journal

The Canadian Hungarian Artists’ Collective (CHAC) is organizing a film screening and pot luck dinner on February 18th, 2009 at the Youth Centre located next to Our Lady of Hungary Church, in Montreal. The event will focus on a handful of short films, including Peter Horvath’s “Tenderly Yours” and “The Boulevard,” as well as Clarissa Schmidt Inglis’ “Stories of Life.” All three films were produced in 2008. Two other, slightly longer documentary films will also be screened, both of which were produced by Sofie Fekete, a Québec-based artist of Hungarian origins, and a long-time CHAC member. These films include “Tantramar 07,” as well as “Bolondos Two.”

While CHAC is not charging any entry fees, the suggested donation is $5. The pot luck dinner will begin at 6.30 and will be followed by the screenings at 7.30. The Youth Centre is located at 90, rue Guizot Ouest. Those who rely on public transit can take Bus 55, which stops at the corner of Guizot and Boulevard St. Laurent, or the orange metro line to the Jarry station, located a 10 minute walk from the Our Lady of Hungary Church and Youth Centre.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association is ramping up its campaign to get all NKVD, KGB and other Communist secret police veterans out of Canada. 

UCCLA’s “No KGB In Canada!” involves thousands of its supporters mailing in pre-printed postcards to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Honourable Jason Kenney (Minister of Immigration and Citizenship) and the Honourable Peter Van Loan (Minister of Public Safety). The cards share a common message: “Veterans of Soviet secret police formations like the NKVD, SMERSH and KGB should not be allowed to enter Canada nor to remain here. No exceptions. Denaturalize and Deport them all, immediately.”

UCCLA’s chairman, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, explained: “For years we have alerted the Government of Canada, the RCMP and others to the illegal presence in our country of veterans of the Soviet secret police. We don’t know how many there are but some openly boasted about their participation in torture and mass murder. 

“While we have always championed the principle that any person found in Canada alleged to be a war criminal should be tried in a criminal court, politics is the art of the possible. Since the federal government insists upon using denaturalization and deportation for dealing with persons who should not be in Canada, we call upon Ottawa to apply its preferred standard in every case, without exceptions. There should be no KGB men in Canada, not now, not ever. Indeed Canada should not be a haven for anyone who admits that they were involved in war crimes, regardless of their ethnic, racial or religious heritage, their ideological convictions, or the period or place where they committed or enabled such crimes against humanity. Justice cannot be selective,” Dr. Luciuk observed.

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Budapest Ferihegy Terminal 1

Hochtief, the company that operates Budapest’s Ferihegy International Airport, is now dealing with a strike, which started this afternoon. The announcement of a renewed walk-out on the part of airport workers caught Budapest Airport off-guard and it is impossible to tell how the strike– started today at 4:00PM local time– will affect air travel. What is known, however, is that airport officials have already shut down Terminal 1, transferring all flights to Terminal 2B. Passengers who arrive to T-1 later this evening will be transported to T-2B by shuttle bus. According to the two unions involved–the Légiközlekedési Egyesült and the Repülőtéri Dolgozók és Szolgáltatók Szakszervezete–Budapest Airport did not offer any concessions and it merely used delay tactics during wage and scheduling negotiations.

Airport workers last took to the picket lines in December 2008, but Budapest Airport was able to limit delays and flight cancellations by calling in security guards from Greece to help with the screening of passengers. Apparently not expecting for the suspended strike to resume, the airport’s operators sent the Greek replacement workers home late last week. Hungarian unionized workers are furious over the airport’s plans to reduce salaries by as much as 15 percent and to cut down on the annual leave offered to workers.

The strike began at 4:00pm and it will affect flights operating from Ferihegy Terminals 1, 2A and 2B. Domokos Szollár, Budapest Airport’s spokesperson, told journalists that the operator is only now trying to determine which flights and routes will be most heavily affected by the strike. Interestingly, Malév Hungarian Airlines’ spokesperson, Krisztina Németh, found out about the strike from online journalists who contacted her asking for the national carrier’s reaction. Malév was forced to cancel dozens of flights late last year, during the initial strike, but Németh could not say how the current walk-out would affect the airline’s operations this week. Németh did, however, indicate that the carrier has 25 flights departing after 4:00pm this afternoon and that Malév would try to ensure that all of them are operational. Delays, however, are expected and Németh is urging passengers to arrive at the airport 2.5 hours before their scheduled departure.

Most discount airlines use Ferihegy Terminal 1, including carriers such as Wizz Air, easyJet, Ryanair and Jet2.com. All full-service flights departing to destinations within the Schengen Zone use Terminal 2A, while other international flights–including those to the United Kingdom–depart from Terminal 2B.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Slovakia gave up the last strand of its economic sovereignty earlier this week, for what this Eastern European country’s political leaders hope will provide it with stability during the global financial crisis. Slovakia relegated its national currency, the Koruna (or Crown) to the rubbish bins of history on January 1, 2009, and within less than two weeks, the country’s monetary unit will disappear forever. Slovaks have until January 16th to spend their korunas and all stores must accept them as payment until this date.

The number 16 seems to be one which comes up repeatedly, within the context of this currency change. Jan Pociatek, Slovakia’s finance minister, noted that Slovakia has become the 16th member of the euro zone and that the Slovak koruna has served his country well for 16 years. “I can say that 16 is my lucky number,” Pociatek commented when interviewed by the AFP news agency.

Similarly to all other euro zone members states, Slovak euro coins have their own distinctive, national design, at least on one side. These coins feature the Apostolic cross, Slovakia’s national symbol, the iconic Bratislava Castle and Mount Krivan, one of the country’s major landmarks.

Slovakia’s adoption of the euro naturally raises the question of when Hungary, its larger southern neighbour, will do the same. There is no easy answer to this question, due to the fact that Hungary continues to suffer from a major deficit. According to a report published on Portfolio.hu, Hungary’s current account deficit probably stands close to 9 percent of the GDP and appears to be increasing. Hungary would have to keep its deficit below 3 percent for a period of two years, before it could adopt the euro. As such, the venerable Hungarian forint is almost certain to remain Hungary’s national currency well into the future.

Your comments are welcome in English, French, or Hungarian. Please use the form below to post your thoughts and include your name in the “név” field, an e-mail address (which will not be published) and click on “hozzászólás küldése” to send.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Earlier this week, the Canadian Hungarian Journal published an article on how a small group of Wikipedia users deleted virtually all of the information on the religious and denominational affiliations of Canadian prime ministers and politicians. Our article made the rounds on the internet, and the news story was picked up by several blogs, including fivefeetoffury.com, hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com, smalldeadanimals.com and several other sites. Thanks to their interest in this topic and their willingness to feature this news item on their sites, some Wikipedia users are starting to reverse the unwise and unilateral decision taken by a few of their peers. We checked Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Wikipedia biography, and earlier this evening his Christian Missionary Alliance affiliation was once again included in the infobox. The Wikipedia contributor who made the change argued that “religious affiliation is an important bit of information.”

It is especially good to see that former Prime Minister Paul Martin’s Roman Catholicism made its way back to Wikipedia as well, considering that he is one of a relatively small handful of contemporary Canadian politicians who has actually spoken about his faith in public. “I am a practising Catholic. In fact, I am a strong Catholic. But I am also a legislator, and I believe in the separation of church and state,” Mr. Martin noted in 2005, during the same-sex marriage debate. There was some rather unfortunate talk that Mr. Martin and other politicians who support gay marriage should be denied communion. But Father John Walsh, the priest assigned to a La Salle parish that Mr. Martin often attended while back in Montreal, said that the Liberal prime minister could continue to participate in the Eucharist, regardless of his politics.

It is difficult to tell if religious information will remain on Canadian Wikipedia pages, or if it will once again be deleted based on spurious logic. But it’s reassuring to note that so many people had an opinion on this issue, and expressed it on a range of websites. A post on smalldeadanimals.com based on our article and entitled “Separation of Church and History” attracted 56 comments thus far. A blogger on hallsofmacadamia.blogspot.com also referenced our article, sagely noting that although he is an atheist, “the larger issue here is of ad hoc censorship.”

Many thanks again to all the bloggers who found our article through the Google News service and commented on a range of sites.

Here are just a few of the responses posted on other sites, after the publication of our article.

“I think religious affiliation is an important bit of personal information (as long, stating the obvious, it is backed up by sources). It does by no means reduce the person’s complex world views, it just provides the simple information that a person (at least nominally) belongs to a certain religious institution.” Gugganij (Source)

“I think since its standard practice for other countries’ politicians to have their religion in their infoboxes, that there is no reason why we should be any different. And really, do we have any jurisdiction to be different?” — Earl Andrew (Source)

“Inclusionism is the philosophy that information should be liberally added and retained on Wikipedia. It is espoused by users called inclusionists who favor keeping and amending problematic articles over deleting them. Inclusionists are generally less concerned with the question of notability, and instead focus on whether or not an article is factual, with merit, or useful.” (Source)

As always, your comments are welcome here as well, and feel free to publish them in English, French or Hungarian. Let us know what you think, whichever side of the debate you might be on. Just include your name in the “Név” field, your e-mail address (which will not be published) and click on the “hozzászólás küldése” button when you are ready to send it.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Canadian Prime Minister MacKenzie King's crystal ball. King was a spiritualist, participating in seances and table rapping with his close friends.

Until a few days ago, former Prime Minister Paul Martin was still Catholic, Stephen Harper was affiliated with the Christian Missionary Alliance and the late MacKenzie King used to be a slightly unconventional Presbyterian. Then, this information mysteriously vanished from Wikipedia. A quick online search revealed that the sudden disappearance of information concerning the religious affiliations of Canadian politicians-both dead and alive-was a haphazard editorial decision taken after a brief online discussion between the likes of DoubleBlue, Ducio1234 and Skeezix1000, thus confirming the worst misgivings that so many have about Wikipedia.

In a single swoop, denominational information concerning former prime ministers John Diefenbaker, Lester B. Pearson, Louis St. Laurent, R.B. Bennett, and all others starting from September 25, 1926–when Prime Minister Arthur Meighen left office for the second time–was removed. Perhaps this was a watershed moment in Canadian religious history that I had not known about, maybe DoubleBlue and friends discovered something entirely new about our country’s past, or perhaps they simply have not gotten around to deleting Meighen’s Presbyterianism yet.

The casual elimination of information that interests scores of internet users by anonymous individuals confirms the worst about Wikipedia and explains why most university professors strongly discourage their students from relying on a source which can be altered at whim by anyone with a modem. A small handful of anonymous internet users have made an editorial decision, leading to the deletion of key information about Canada’s past on one of the world’s most frequented websites. To make matters worse, they have done so based on spurious logic that the religious views of politicians have never been at the centre of Canadian political discourse. Only recently, Paul Martin’s Catholic faith and that of Joe Clark have come up within the context of the gay rights and the same-sex marriage debate. But apparently information on church affiliation has no place in Wikipedia “infoboxes.” Yet if the religious views of our political leaders are insignificant, then how much more important is it for the average reader to know that Mr. Harper decided to name his children Ben and Rachel, or that RB Bennett never got married?

Deleting public information should not be taken lightly and some of us would support preserving it, even when that information gives rise to questions, debates and beckons clarification. The argument that this information should be deleted from biography summaries and buried within Wikipedia articles only if appropriate suggests that the people who took this editorial decision do not understand the fundamental usefulness of this online encyclopedia. Wikipedia can be helpful when we are looking to find bits and pieces of information quickly and without much effort. But very few people care to be inconvenienced by having to fish through lengthy text to find what they are looking. If we want to spend time doing serious research, then there are is a myriad of sources far more reputable than Wikipedia.

There is little doubt that the personal religious views of politicians are less ubiquitous in Canada than in the United States. Yet nearly every political leader will at some point be asked to divulge his or her personal beliefs. Former Liberal Stéphane Dion–who until recently was widely seen as being secular–revealed on a television program that the environment he cared for so deeply was “given to us by God” and reportedly told host Michael Coren after the show that he was a Catholic. Bloc Québécois leader Gilles Duceppe, on the other hand, appears to be an atheist. Mr. Duceppe’s Wikipedia biography still mentions this, indicating that enthusiastic users have not yet gotten around to pressing the delete button. Who could argue with a straight face that religion was not an issue in Stockwell Day’s failed leadership of the now defunct Canadian Alliance? Day’s prior career as an Evangelical pastor and his belief in Creationism made it impossible for him to launch a mainstream conservative movement. Former Prime Minister Joe Clark’s pro-choice views and his support of gay rights occasionally put him at odds with the Catholic Church, yet he confirmed his Catholic faith in public and countered during a Canada AM show eight years ago that “anyone who knows anything about the Roman Catholic Church knows that [abortion] has been an issue of division for quite sometime.”

An online discussion on the importance of the denominational affiliations of our politicians, or even a Wikipedia article on this matter, could serve as a positive experience for all, as it would enrich our body of public knowledge. But relegating information deemed unimportant by a select few to the rubbish heaps of cyberspace serves absolutely no one.

Christopher Adam

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OC Transpo bus

Strikes are causing disruptions for travellers and commuters in both the Hungarian and Canadian capitals this week, with public transit workers on the picket line in Ottawa and essential ground staff engaging in strike action at Budapest’s Ferihegy International Airport. According to the most recent statements by Budapest Airport Zrt, the company that operates Ferihegy, flight delays of around 60 minutes are anticipated on December 12, 2008, but it is unlikely that new flights will have to be cancelled. Ferihegy Terminal 1, however, remains closed to passenger traffic and all flights that would have normally departed from here have been transferred to Terminal 2. This change affects passengers flying with discount carriers, including Wizz Air, easyJet and Jet2.

The public transportation strike in Ottawa, however, is proving to be far more disruptive than the labour dispute in Budapest, in part due to the fact that it coincided with a major winter storm, which dumped more than 30cm of snow on the Canadian capital in a single day. All OC Transpo city bus lines have been cancelled for two straight days, following the walk-out of 2,100 unionized transit employees. The strike has resulted in a 20 percent increase in the number of passenger vehicles on downtown Ottawa’s congested streets. The strike will head into its third day on Friday, December 12th, wrecking the most havoc for students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, who are writing final exams this week. 

The Carleton University Student Association (CUSA) has tried to alleviate the difficult situation by enlisting the services of a private bus company to offer shuttle bus transport from various points in Ottawa to Carleton’s campus. Shuttle bus service will pick students up every 45 minutes from Merivale Mall, while hourly service is being offered between Place d’Orleans and Carleton University. Students living in Centretown can hop on a shuttle bus at the corner of Bank Street and MacLeod Street every 30 minutes. A representative for the Amalgamated Transit Union, the group behind the strike, suggested that these buses might be targeted by picketers. Meanwhile, CUSA has issued a statement calling upon Ottawa Mayor Larry O’Brien to return to the negotiating table and come to a “speedy resolution” with striking transit workers.

André Cornellier, president of the transit union, spoke with CTV News yesterday and observed that there was nothing wrong with inconveniencing people during a strike. “It’s about walking the picket line, stopping people from coming in like they would on a normal day. Inconveniencing people, what’s wrong with that?” said Cornellier. A group of OC Transpo workers have picketed outside Ottawa City Hall for two days in a row and their action has led to further delays and congestions for already frustrated drivers arriving to Ottawa from the suburbs during the morning rush hour. A number of Ottawa residents heaped scorn on the picketers, hurling insults and swear words their way.

More than 350,000 Ottawa residents ride on OC Transpo buses every day. The transit service operates approximately 250 bus routes, as well as the O-Train light rail route.

The OC Transpo strike revolves around a dispute concerning salary increases between the City of Ottawa and the Amalgamated Transit Union. The municipal government has offered a 7 percent increase, but union representatives are demanding a 10 percent raise.

Readers are invited to post their comments in English, French or Hungarian using the form below. Please include your name in the “név” field and your e-mail address (which will not be published). Click on the “hozzászólás küldése” button to post your comment.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

We had a couple of articles lined up about Québec’s provincial election, which saw Premier Jean Charest’s Liberals win a razor thin majority last night, the Parti Québécois regain its status as the official opposition and Mario Dumont resign as leader of the Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) following his party’s truly disastrous performance. Unfortunately, we can’t upload this new material at the moment, because our internet service provider is down and their tech support is missing in action.

We rely on 3Web CIA Cybersurf for our internet access, but we have been unable to access the web as of earlier this evening and it is absolutely impossible to contact anyone at 3Web Cybersurf. Despite the fact that tech support is supposedly available from 8AM to midnight (EST), it isn’t even possible to get through to 3Web’s telephone menu, as it is pre-empted by an automated message indicating that all service representatives are occupied with other clients. One of the biggest unsolved mysteries surrounding 3Web CIA Cybersurf is precisely how many service representatives the company actually has, because this user has thus far never been able to speak over the phone with a single one of them.

Those who have relied on 3Web CIA Cybersurf over the years are probably accustomed to this company’s truly dismal customer service which, at the moment, appears to be entirely non-existent. To make matters worse, the company’s various websites appear to be down at the moment as well.

The comments of other 3Web CIA Cybersurf users are more than welcome on this page. You do not need to register to post a comment. Simply include your name or pseudonym in the “név” field, your e-mail address (which will not be published) and a website, if applicable. Please click on the “hozzászólás küldése” button to send your comment.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Ferenc Gyurcsány

Hungary’s Socialist Prime Minister, Ferenc Gyurcsány, was undoubtedly disappointed earlier today to discover that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico decided to reject all six suggestions raised by his Hungarian counterpart. These ideas were aimed at improving the two country’s troubled relationship and ensuring the rights of minorities in both states. Gyurcsány, who leads a centre-left minority government, has consistently avoided the use of inflammatory nationalist language and has been cautious when addressing the prickly issue of Hungarian minorities in neighbouring countries. As such, Gyurcsány’s six suggestions for Fico and his leftist-nationalist Slovak coalition reflected this moderation. Gyurcsány recommended that minority schools in both countries be permitted to use textbooks published abroad, noted that both Hungary and Slovakia should launch inquiries whenever there is a possibility that the rights of minority groups have been compromised, suggested the creation of an ombudsman for ethnic minorities in Slovakia and a liberalization of current laws in Slovakia which prohibit the display of most Hungarian national symbols.

Fico’s response to Gyurcsány’s request was swift and uncompromising. The Slovak prime minister said that his Hungarian counterpart’s recommendations were “unacceptable” and claimed that the rights of Slovakia’s Hungarian minority are guaranteed. “A range of laws protect the rights of minorities in Slovakia and our system is one of the best in Europe. As such, it is unwarranted to modify these laws or give ethnic Hungarians more of an advantage that what they already enjoy,” Fico said.

Gyurcsány has been critical of the nationalism which increasingly characterizes the Slovak government and this became especially evident after Slovak police officers brutally attacked reportedly peaceful Hungarian fans at a soccer game in the town of Dunaszerdahely (Dunajska Streda) last month. The attack sparked angry protests in front of the Slovak embassy in Budapest, which led to the burning of Slovakia’s national flag by radical demonstrators. Hungary’s Socialist government has strongly condemned this protest.

Yet one of the major points of controversy is the fact that Fico entered into a coalition agreement with a far-right, ultra-nationalist and deeply xenophobic political party led by Ján Slota. The Slovak National Party’s president has made a string of anti-Hungarian, anti-Roma and homophobic statements. Several years ago, Slota reportedly threatened that Slovakia “will sit in our tanks and destroy Budapest.” Slota has also referred to Slovakia’s Hungarian minority–which forms roughly 9 percent of the country’s population–as “a cancer in the body of the Slovak nation.”

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract / Magyar kivonat: Michaelle Jean, Kanada főkormányzója három emléktáblát avatott fel a budapesti Városligetben magyarországi látogatása során. A három nyelvű táblacsoport megemlékezik az 1956-os magyar bevándorlókról, illetve valamennyi magyar emigránsról, valamint arról az építő munkáról, mellyel hozzájárultak Kanada fejlődéséhez. A három tábla mellé pedig egy juharfát ültettek el és mind ez a központi 1956-os emlékműtől néhány lépésre található. A felavatáson szintén beszédet mondott Demszky Gábor, Budapest főpolgármestere.

The English-language plaque. (Photo: Judy Young-Drache)

 Michaelle Jean, Governor General of Canada, unveiled a set of three plaques in Budapest’s City Park (Városliget) earlier this week, which commemorate the achievements of the more than 40,000 Hungarian refugees who arrived in Canada following the suppression of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, as well as later waves of immigrants. Donated by the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation (CHEF) and the Rákoczi Foundation, the monument consists of Hungarian, English and a French plaques, all of which surround a newly planted maple tree. Very fittingly, the plaques were placed in close proximity to the main Hungarian monument commemorating the 1956 Revolution, which was erected on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the uprising.

More than 200 guests were present during the unveiling, including Canadian ex-pats living in Budapest, representatives of the diplomatic community and dignitaries. Judy Young-Drache, president of the Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation, was also present. In her speech, Michaelle Jean noted that Canada was profoundly affected by the 1956 Revolution. “The tragedy of the Hungarian people, the plight of the refugees who arrived in our country by the thousands, profoundly touched Canadians. And it was with open arms, in a spirit of solidarity, out of respect for their suffering and admiration for their courage that they welcomed those women and men whose only fault was the desire to live free,” the Governor General explained. Gábor Demszky, Mayor of Budapest, also spoke on the occasion of the unveiling and noted that the 1956 refugees found in Canada a country that valued tolerance, human rights and openness. Demszky also pointed out that according to the latest census, 315,000 Canadian citizens indicated that they are (at least in part) of Hungarian origin.

Canadian Hungarian Journal / Kanadai Magyar Hírlap

Jordan Croucher

The Kesztyűgyár Community Centre is located in the eighth district of Budapest, and is part of the Hungarian capital’s efforts to improve living conditions in the neighbourhood. Opened in August 2008, the Centre offers various classes and counselling to youth, and is host to several organizations, such as the Roma Youth Association and the Drug Prevention Association.

My name is Jordan Croucher, a singer/songwriter from Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I am very honoured to be part of the State visit to Europe with Their Excellencies the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, and Mr. Jean-Daniel Lafond. When I first received the invitation to come, I didn’t quite understand what I had done to deserve this honour. But after today, I know exactly why Her Excellency chose me for this trip. The connection that I made today makes me realize why I am pursuing my career in singing.

Our first stop is in Budapest, Hungary, where the days have been filled with historic and inspiring events. And today was another special day, when I had the opportunity to accompany Her Excellency to Mátyus Square and the Kesztyűgyár Community Centre. Upon entering the Centre, Her Excellency was greeted by a musical performance and dance by the Roma children of this community. Since the trip started, I’ve been having a hard time adjusting to the busy schedule, but after this performance, I feel energized and uplifted. It was a beautiful sight. Accompanying Her Excellency has allowed me to see her interact with people from around the world, and when she began to dance and connect with these children, it touched my heart.

I was given a chance to present my album, No Dress Code, to one of the young performers, and was then asked by one of the counsellors to perform. Her Excellency suggested that I sing a song close to my heart, so I chose “Hello”. Afterwards, the Governor General recited some of the lyrics of the song back to the children-”Hello, hello, hello my love”-and a child in the audience quickly responded by repeating the same line back. It was a beautiful moment for me, and I was honoured by both the support of Her Excellency and the reaction from the children. I was so touched by their energy and musical ability, that it made me feel privileged to be there; it was a musical moment for me by the way they responded to my music.

After the performance, the children left the room, as we were about to participate in a dialogue, but before we got a chance to start, two young Roma girls came back and asked me to sign an autograph. Before I finished signing the second girl’s hand, the rest of the children had started to come back into the room for autographs. This moment made me feel the power of music and the effect it can have on the world. This was an unexpected experience for me and it has been a highlight of the trip so far. This was my first musical performance abroad, and it will always be a great memory for me. The energy of the children reminded me of my community and the energy that the kids have there. Today was a special day for me, and it demonstrated to me the power and connection between people, culture and music.

 Jordan Croucher / CitizenVoices

The Ukrainian Canadian community today expressed its thanks to the Government of Canada for recognizing officially that the 1932-1933 famine in Soviet Ukraine was genocidal. Bill C-459 established a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor) Memorial Day in Canada, marked annually on the 4th Saturday of every November, recalling the many millions of Ukrainians who perished during a famine orchestrated by the Stalinist regime of the USSR. 

Commenting, Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, chairman of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said: ” It is now widely understood that many millions of Ukrainians perished during the genocidal Great Famine of 1932-33 in Soviet Ukraine, a crime against humanity arguably without parallel in 20th century Europe. We are grateful to the Government of Canada for showing solidarity with Ukraine by sending the Honourable Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, to Kyiv, where he will take part in an international memorial service tomorrow marking the 75th anniversary of this catastrophe. Tomorrow, here in Canada, we will join them in recalling the many millions of victims of Communism in Ukraine.”

Magyar kivonat/Hungarian Abstract: A történészek számara, Manchester a világ egyik első olyan városa, melyet az ipari forradalom alapvetően átalakított. De a zene kedvelők inspirációt találhatnak abban is, hogy Nagy-Británnia harmadik legnagyobb agglomerációja a zenéről és a kulturáról is világszerte ismert. Ádám Christopher, a Kanadai Magyar Hírlap főszerkesztője és az ottawai Carleton Egyetem történelem professzora múlt héten beszélt Rupert Hill angol szinésszel, valamint Jonny Booth zenésszel. Mindketten a Yellow Dog (Sárga Kutya) nevet viselő együttes tagjai. A Ruperttel és Jonnyval készült terjedelmes interjú során elmondták Christophernek, hogyan alakult meg az együttes, beszéltek a kortárs brit zene, művészet és kultúra helyzetéről, valamint arról hogy mi is a jelentősége a Yellow Dog elnevezésnek. Ezen kivül elmondják hogyan készülnek a zenei számok és beszélnek a zene társadalmi szerepéről.

Manchester is known among historians as one of the world’s first industrialized cities, but for music enthusiasts, Great Britain’s third largest urban centre is also home to one of the country’s most vibrant music and cultural scenes. Christopher Adam, a historian from Carleton University and editor of the Canadian Hungarian Journal, sat down with British actor and musician Rupert Hill and Jonny Booth of the Manchester-based band Yellow Dog earlier this month. Rupert and Jonny spoke about how Yellow Dog was formed, the state of music in the United Kingdom, what’s really behind their band’s name, how their music is produced and they explored their thoughts on the role of music and the arts in society.

I find that in Canadian schools, whether or not students become interested in the arts, culture, music and theatre often depends on a charismatic teacher who can pull his/her weight, inspire their pupils and encourage them to get involved in the arts. Did you have such an experience in primary or secondary school? Did the arts form a key component of the curriculum and was there a teacher who might have inspired you?

Jonny: Not at all. Our music teacher was terrible. She was very staid and very traditional. As such, music was the complete antithesis of ‘cool’ things to do at school. But I was always interested in music outside of school, even though I didn’t study it as part of the curriculum.

Rupert: I was kind of into hip hop when I was in school. Then I did a play and this girl was playing guitar in it. She taught me two cords on the guitar. I couldn’t believe that in a space of ten minutes I could play two cords and as such, I managed to convince my mom and dad to buy me a guitar when I was about 16 years old. After that point, my brother gave me a ‘Best of Bob Dylan’ CD and I just became obsessed with that, as well as everything that Dylan had done. I ultimately learned how to play Dylan songs on the guitar. I left hip hop behind me and went into folk music, as well as rock and roll. It’s pretty strange, because I never got taught music. Instead, I taught myself how to play guitar and I took my inspiration almost entirely from Dylan songs; especially the early ones.

Jonny: I think that music is really undersold in this country. You’ll find that a lot bands and many musicians are self-taught. Maybe this is also why we’ve got a unique style.

Rupert: I think that the Beatles were self-taught along with pretty much every other band. The problem is that when you’ve got a regimented approach to making music-if you’re classically trained-then you don’t know how to break the rules. I break rules all the time. You tend to get interesting things out of that.

You’ve both partly answered my second question. I was wondering if the school curriculum in the United Kingdom-and this is, of course, a generalization-is not placing an adequate emphasis on the live arts and is perhaps stressing something else instead. What would that be?

Jonny: A lot of the emphasis in this country is on sports and you can see this from all of the money that’s being spent on the Olympic bid. There are some people who might think that there’s something wrong with you if you’re not into sports.

Rupert: It even stretches to girls as well. I was talking to a teacher the other day. She asked all the kids in her school about what they wanted to do when they became older. I think that ninety percent of them said that they wanted to become famous, which isn’t a profession. The majority of these students wanted to marry footballers. Footballers are so big in schools that girls want to marry them.

Turning to your music, Rupert, I know that for a while you played in a different band. You then performed on your own, before forming Yellow Dog about a year ago. What was the impetus behind the establishment of your current band?

Rupert: In was co-writing with my mate in my first band, but our paths just started to veer off in different ways. I was instinctively trying to write some quieter songs and he very much wanted them to be loud pop songs and crowd pleasers. This didn’t ring true to me, so we split the band up and he went off to do his own thing. I didn’t have anyone to play with; he kind of took my own band, so I was left on my own. I just played a few solo gigs, because I was still writing, but I didn’t have an outlet. I didn’t want to do this, because I’ve always really been into the sound scape of music, where the power and the force of the lyrics are all together. I just looked around in Manchester and managed to find a few people. I tried to get together the absolute perfect band. A few people got kicked out and a few people got brought in and finally we ended up with a band that for me is absolutely perfect.

If I’m correct, your band is a mix of alternative country and folk. What would you say are the key differentiating factors between “mainstream” folk and country folk, which is what you play?

Rupert: It’s difficult to talk about genres. We cross over many boundaries. But we’re very modern, as well as being old country folk. Folk music tends to be somewhat political. There’s a certain comradery that you see in Woodstock, often involving protest. This is political and we don’t directly do it, but in the end all art is political. Country is kind of a sound. Specifically for us, our music is about recording techniques and production sounds. For example, we’ll reference Dennis Wilson and Neil Young. We try to emulate a sort of West Coast and Canadian rock and roll, which was in some ways country. We use this not so much in terms of our song writing, but in how we produce the recording. This was the heyday for music production. These days, a lot of contemporary music sounds totally over the top, over-produced. When you watch the band live, they sound rubbish. They can’t emulate their record production.

You obviously have an affinity for Northern Soul, Rupert. When did this interest actually develop?

Rupert: When I left Coronation Street, I did a play in Bolton, which is around 40 minutes away. The play was called Once Upon a Time in Wigan, and it’s about Northern Soul. I didn’t know anything about Northern Soul at all and I had the lead role in the play, so I had to do a hell of a lot of research. I had to learn all the songs, so I caught the bug and it’s quite infectious music. Once you get involved, it’s sort of like a club that only a few people are invited to join. The fans are so die-hard and serious about it that it’s quite an interesting thing to be a part of. I really enjoy DJ-ing, and playing a mixture of modern indie music, as well as classic rock and roll, Motown and Northern Soul. Those four genres make for a really good evening of music.

Why did Soul become so popular here in the UK, at a time when it was actually dying out in the United States, and was being replaced by other genres? Much of Soul in the UK was transplanted from the US. Why did it catch on here when it was floundering in the States?

Rupert: I think basically it was because of this ’secret organization.’ These kids used to go to Wigan Casino every Saturday to do this all-nighter. There was no alcohol, so people would just go there to listen to music. Most of this was rare Motown and these songs were essentially rejects. They got into dancing to them and a sort of club mentality formed. Other people would wonder about how they could club all night when alcohol was not in the picture and you wouldn’t try to get off with women. People wouldn’t understand that, so it made the music even more special. England has always been a little like this with the US. If you look at music at the moment, bands like Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day are big here, but what we really tap into are things that won’t do so well in America. Yet we almost take them on as our own. We tend to take on the slightly stranger material. The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Green Day might be big, but we won’t embrace them as our own. They will always be imports.

The impression I get is that you see your acting and your music as two separate spheres in your life. Yet Once Upon a Time in Wigan merged your acting with your musical interests. Would you want to do more of this in the future? Would you like to combine your music and acting?

Rupert: As far as I would go in joining the two is doing music videos. I’m looking forward to doing that, because if you’ve got a background in acting, you’re going to be a director’s dream. Many bands struggle, because they might be quite shy and reserved. But I do see my acting and my music as two extremely different things. Musical theatre is not something that I’m particularly interested in.

Turning back to Yellow Dog, your influences include Bob Dylan, the Beatles and-I’m very pleased to see-Leonard Cohen is on your list as well. Dylan was involved in Civil Rights in the 1960s. Then in the seventies he became an evangelical Christian and some of his music reflected his new beliefs. Cohen was involved in social justice and the AIDS struggle. The Beatles were groundbreaking, but perhaps not quite as overtly political. Do you see your music as being political? Is there a political undertone?

Rupert: Yes, there are bits and pieces. If all my ideas were photographs and then I just threw them on the table, only to pick them up in any order and find that each was a cord and a word, then that would be one of my songs. I don’t tend to go in with an agenda, but my music reflects what is inside my mind. I’m not going to start singing “The Times They Are a-Changin,’” or “Bring Our Boys Out of Iraq,” or anything like that. Most of my music tends to be a lot more about how I’m feeling about things, but something might come out of that. Most of our music is very tongue-in-cheek and has a sense of humour. Much of what we do is stream of consciousness. It’s not meaningless, but I let it come out and figure it out later on.

Jonny: Things have changed an awful lot since Dylan, Neil Young and the Woodstock era when people were really angry about different issues. I don’t think that these days people have that much to be ticked off about.

The situation in Iraq a few years ago might have been an exception.

Jonny: Yes, but I don’t think that people are that passionate about specific issues any more. I don’t think that anyone has a serious political agenda in music these days.

Rupert: But that was the popular thing in the sixties, wasn’t it? Revolution and hippies were both popular at the time. At the moment, the popular thing is this country is X-Factor and I’m a Celebrity.

And perhaps EuroVision, that arguably awful show?

Rupert: We actually don’t take that too seriously. Capitalism has taken over and people just want products, to watch television and to be told what to buy, what to wear and what to think. It’s very rare for a guitar band to get a number one album.

Do you think that music should carry a moral message? I am not necessarily thinking about a political message, but rather an ethical one, or some commentary on societal issues?

Jonny: I don’t think that it’s necessary, but everything that I listen to and really pay attention has got something to say. I would lose interest if a song doesn’t have anything at all to say.

You mentioned stream of consciousness just a moment ago and noted that this is something you employ when you write lyrics. When you do this, do you follow the approach taken by many writers during the 1920s and 1930s, where a conscious decision is made to write down their thoughts in the order in which they surface, or do you see this style as something that is more natural, where you might be sitting on a bus, you think of something and then write it down?

Rupert: Yes, sometimes it’s like the second example you gave. But more often then not, it comes from a guitar part. The music will come first and then I will try to come up with a melody vocally that goes along with. If I feel that it’s good, then I’ll just start writing. The music dictates where the vowels and the consonants should be and I fit the words in around that. What I’ve been going on about usually becomes clear later on, so it’s a pretty good system.

Do you have an interest in stream of consciousness in terms of literature as well? There was a time when it was quite popular. James Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man or Finnegan’s Wake, as well as Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying are all prominent examples of this literary style.

Rupert: I did a bit of James Joyce in college and I thought it was cool. But I preferred the Beat poets, such as Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. When I was sixteen, reading On the Road was a really big thing for me. I read most of Kerouac’s works, as well as Allen Ginsberg. This is what really inspired me. I think that David Bowie as well used to write down words, chuck them up and throw them in a bowl. He would then take them out and those would be the words that he stuck in his songs. This is kind of like what I do, without cutting up pieces of paper.

The reason I’m asking this is to find out whether or not you ever find your literary interests reflected in your music?

Jonny: To an extent, yes. That’s partly influenced by the culture that surrounds me. Roo and I have never had this conversation, but I agree about Jack Kerouac and J.D. Salinger.

I was also wondering about why your band is called “Yellow Dog,” and I have three ideas about this, so let me guess. The first possibility is that your band’s name refers to Democratic voters in the southern states who were called yellow dogs. There was a saying that these Americans would sooner vote for a yellow dog than for a Republican. Another possibility is that yellow dog refers to a British group that created bootlegged Beatles records in the sixties. The third option is a book by Martin Amis published around 2003.

Rupert: Correct, but we like all the other options too. We’re taking all of them. There is actually a band from the seventies called Yellow Dog as well and they had one hit. Amis is my absolute number one writer. My favourite book by him is London Fields. There’s a character in the book called Nicholas Six who I wanted to name the band after. But it sounded kind of wrong being five of us. I also thought that Yellow Dog is a really nice sounding name and that it suits that seventies-style, West Coast music that we embrace.

You mentioned London Fields and one of the overarching literary themes in that book is the dichotomy between reality and the imagination. Is music a reflection of reality, or is it a reflection of your personal imagination?

Rupert: It would have to be my imagination, because I don’t have an agenda. Bob Dylan was asked once about writing and he said that the songs already exist and that he’s just the vehicle for getting them out. It’s almost as though he has no control over it. I don’t agree with that necessarily, but I think that I understand what he means. I’m not deliberately writing out a point because I feel that I have to tell the world about something. I think that my music is a mixture of my imagination and things that are happening in life, both personally and socially.

Do you see a connection between poetry and writing lyrics?

Rupert: I wouldn’t really know how to define poetry. Bob Dylan always said that he’s not a poet whenever he was asked about it. If someone said to me that I’m a really good poet, or a really bad one, then I would probably respond by noting that I don’t think of myself as a poet. If you want to read the words in the CD sleeve in your own time that’s fine, but it’s still a song-it has a tune. I would say that it’s not poetry, as far as I’m concerned.

Jonny: I think that if we go back in time, then there’s probably a point where the two came together. But I think that a lot of lyricists would probably struggle to write particularly good poetry and I think that a lot of poets would struggle to stick their poem into a particularly good melody.

Does Yellow Dog have a target audience and if so, who would it be?

Rupert: We have all kinds of people. We had a gig earlier this month at The Academy and there must have been 300 people there. Everyone seemed to really respond well to it. We had a lot of people our age, but a lot older people really liked it, because it harkens back to a period when they would have been young. At the same time, I went back stage and there was a group of maybe five girls who really liked our music and they were only in their teens. Hopefully, we can appeal to a huge range.

Jonny: The band scene in the UK has been growing. Rock and roll has started to come back into fashion, beginning in the nineties. There are now more bands in this country than there ever have been. But it all has to take its natural course as it did in the sixties and seventies when it started off as quite easy going, pop and simple. As it grew, the bands became a lot more introspective. People now want a little more meat on the bones of band music and this development is quite fortunate for us.

Rupert: We’re friends with a band called Elbow. They’ve been struggling for 17 years and now they’ve just one the Mercury music prize. As such, they have become one of the biggest bands in the country. That’s great for us too. We don’t do what they do, but it’s certainly in the same ballpark, in terms of the sound scape, serious lyrics and musicianship. We do want to make our music commercial enough that we can sell it.

Do you have a large contingent of university students at your gigs?

Rupert: Yes, we do sometimes. You will get that in Manchester, because it’s such a big university town. Esther, our keyboard player, has just finished university, so a lot of people who knew her come to our gigs as well.

You do have to sell music at some point and you certainly want an audience. When you are performing or when you are preparing, are you conscious of what might appeal to your audience?

Jonny: Yes, to a point, we do take this into consideration. Whether you’re trying to sell records or get people in and make sure that they come back to the next event, you do have to market the product.

Rupert: We initially went in with songs that were upbeat and lively. At the same time, my instinct told me to write quieter songs. After the first few gigs, people picked out the audience’s favourite songs and invariable it would be the quieter, more introspective and slower ones that were most popular. It kind of works out, because the favourite tunes tend to be the best ones. As long as we keep making the best tunes that we can, I think that the audience will be happy.

Jonny: You always have to listen to your audience to an extent. When you write a song, you always struggle to be objective about it. You kind of need to test drive your songs and see the reaction. If it’s a bit lukewarm, then you should put it on the backburner and move on to something else.

Rupert: It must be tough for those big bands, because they’re going to get cheered loudly for every single song, regardless of how good it is. They don’t have that intimate dialogue with the audience, where people can really come and tell us what they think was good. If you get any success in music, you have to keep your ear to the ground and find out what people think. If you believe your own hype, you’ll just end up writing rubbish and I think that a lot of bands do that.

How much of a problem is the over-saturation of American products in the media here in the UK? Does it really make it difficult for home-grown music and television?

Jonny: It seems to be growing and it’s certainly rubbing off on our culture an awful lot more than when I was growing up. But there were always American TV shows and US products. I don’t know if it’s being pushed more now or if we’re more accepting of it. It may also be linked to the huge rise in hip hop and R&B in this country. I don’t think that it’s necessarily a problem. The bigger problem is the tasteless commercialism–like X-Factor–regardless of where it comes from. The real problem is the spread of general, mindless consumerism.

Rupert: Live music is thriving over here. Despite this global recession, people are still going to gigs and there a lot of them. The record label industry and record sales are rapidly dwindling. What this means is that bands have to be good live, which is how it once was. I think that we would all agree that it’s better to sit back and listen to us play live than to listen to a CD. We’re trying to be the best live band that we possible can be, because I think that’s the immediate future for music. It’s also what we like to do. We don’t want to sit in a studio and spend hundreds of thousands of pounds. All of us just want to get on the road in our little van and drive around the country, playing songs to as many people as possible. That’s how you get a fan base. In the past several years, people have gotten a little lazy and instead of gigging it, they were trying to get TV slots.

I have to return to this point of over-saturation because in Canada this is a major issue for us. We are a country of 32 million people, but there is a market of 300 million Americans just next door to us. Something that Canada does is that it provides the arts with public funding, in order to promote home-grown talent and multiculturalism. Do you think that it might be a good option here in the UK for the government to fund local artists and independent groups more than they currently do?

Jonny: The money that is available is spread very thinly. But there are a lot of initiatives that encourage people to be creative.

Rupert: Britain is a small country. But in this day, everyone is in a band. If you just walk down the street and ask around, you would probably find twenty bands. There’s a lot of support here in Manchester but gigging in London is tough. London has a fair amount of snobbery, but in Manchester independent music is thriving. Yet this also means that there are loads of bands that aren’t very good. If there was going to be some money, it would have to be given selectively.

The problem seems to be that if there is a young artist who wants to get their name out, they may have to take part in a televised reality or talent show. More often than not, these are third rate when it comes to creativity. Some of the best content is found at local gigs and is produced by small, local bands. Yet these groups often stay local, for lack of national or international exposure. Most of the time, the best talent can’t rise to the top.

Jonny: That’s a good point. I think that there is a lot of government funding available. The problem is that many musicians are too preoccupied to think about how to go about getting it. Sometimes much of it will go instead to people, for example, who are trying to restore an art gallery. There is money available, it’s just not widely known how to access it.

Rupert: You would probably need a political agenda. It would have to look as though you were doing something for the community. For example, if you would want to put on a play and it’s going to be about immigration, you would probably get the money. But if you just wanted to do a play about middle class values, you probably wouldn’t get the money for that.

Does public money corrupt the arts?

Rupert: I think that money corrupts everything.

What about public funding specifically?

Rupert: I don’t think that it corrupts as much as the record industry. I don’t understand how it really works, because we’ve talked with record labels and there’s a lot of discussion about what we can’t do and how we won’t get an advance. But then you hear about another band that hasn’t released a single yet, and yet they’re in L.A. recording in the most expensive studio. It gets you thinking about how the record label is paying for all of this, when they haven’t even released a record yet. All that we want is to get into a van in order to go and gig. What I don’t understand about the record industry is that you’ve either got half a million, or you’ve got nothing. There’s also no nurturing. If you don’t make a massive success with your first record, you won’t be making another one. Public funding could really help things, but more often than not, it probably won’t. People don’t like parting with their cash, if they don’t feel that they will get an immediate return. What you need is not just businessmen, but people who can spot good art when they see it. It’s a cruel industry, but you’ve got to hope that somewhere down the line, the cream will rise to the top, that someone will notice you if you’re good and that they will help you along. I think that there are enough people out there who are into good music that it can happen, but it is incredibly tough.

What does British independent music have to offer that is unique?

Rupert: Based on the size of this country, I think that it’s made the best music in the world, at least in the historical sense. I’m not talking about classical, but rather about popular music.

Jonny: It’s quite interesting how for the past forty or fifty years, there seems to be a connection across the Atlantic and both sides influence each other. The early blues came over here, but then we had bands that influenced US music as well.

Rupert: My ex-girlfriend is Norwegian and she still sends me material produced by Norwegian artists. A lot of this is incredible, especially since the acoustic scene in Norway is fantastic. There’s one particular guy called Thomas Dybdahl who I’ve become a huge fan of. But he doesn’t have any distribution at all in this country and nobody knows who he is. Yet I consider him one of the greatest artists alive at the moment. It’s pretty naïve to think that great music isn’t being produced everywhere else, it’s just that America and the UK–and Canada, I suppose–monopolize the music scene.

Why has Britain produced so much music, especially after 1945, at a point when it had ceased to be a major superpower? My thesis is that it has a lot to do with some of the social problems and class-based strife that the UK went through during much of the twentieth century.

Jonny: Yes, that’s what I put it down to as well. I think that a lot of it has to do with how this country went through the industrial revolution and how many people were forced into absolute squalor. Many of these people worked seventeen hours a day.

Rupert: We were having class problems and this helped bring out music, but there were class problems in America as well. The slave trade helped bring out blues. In the UK, we were having money and class problems, and out of that came music. I do think that good art does tend to come out of trouble. A good example is how the South American film industry is booming. But what I think really distinguishes British rock music from the American variant is that our rock stars have a sense of humour that American rock stars generally don’t tend to have. If you look at big bands like Oasis, they’ve got a sense of humour.

Jonny: I think that here in the UK maybe what we’ve really got is an ability to laugh at ourselves.

In addition to Rupert Hill and Jonny Booth, Yellow Dog’s other members include Esther Maylor, Andy Travis and Andy Sedon. For a taste of their music, click here.

Christopher Adam

According to a report in Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet daily newspaper, Malév Hungarian Airlines is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Some of the flag carrier’s most important partners and creditors are reportedly waiting for Malév to provide payment for services rendered, including Budapest Airport (BA), the privately-owned company that operates the Hungarian capital’s Ferihegy International Airport. Malév relies in large part on a firm affiliated with BA for the refueling of its airplanes. When Magyar Nemzet contacted BA, the airport authority’s spokesperson reportedly noted that the firm was “flexible” in its dealings with Malév, but the paper discovered that Hungary’s flag carrier is only receiving 200 tons of kerosene per day. Malév is forced to purchase the rest of its fuel from foreign airports, where it must make all payments in cash.

Despite Malév’s precarious financial situation, the centre-right daily quoted sources which claimed that allowing Malév to become insolvent would not be in BA’s best interest. Malév reportedly owes more than five billion forints (€19 million) to the Budapest airport authority. Additionally, the Hungarian carrier is still the most prominent airline operating out of Ferihegy Terminals 2A and 2B, despite recent service cutbacks. Malév canceled its long-haul flights to Toronto’s Pearson Airport, as well as to New York-JFK this past summer, along with its Budapest to Cairo route. In recent months, Malév has tried to re-invent itself as a carrier that connects the “regions of Europe,” and it continues to maintain a prominent presence in Eastern Europe and the Balkans, while offering a handful of Middle East flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Damascus.

Hungary’s Socialist government privatized Malév last year, selling 99.95 percent of the flag carrier’s shares to AirBridge Zrt, a consortium dominated by Russian interests. Boris Abramovich of Russia’s AiRUnion and KrasAir is currently the chairperson of Malév’s board.

As Malév’s future hangs in the balance, it remains to be seen how Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány’s government will respond if the flag carrier does, in fact, become insolvent. Permitting the carrier to collapse would threaten Budapest-Ferihegy Airport’s status as one of East/Central Europe’s largest hubs for air travel. Re-nationalization might be an option, but the country’s budget deficit would almost certainly make this difficult as well.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian monument in Ottawa

Four Canadian historians are set to present at an international conference to take place in Lublin (Poland), entitled “Secret Weapon or the Victims of the Cold War–Central and Eastern European Émigrés.” Lubomyr Luciuk of the Royal Military College in Kingston (Ontario) will present a paper about Anglo-American perspectives on the Ukrainian question, covering the years from 1938 to 1955. Christopher Adam of Carleton University’s Department of History will present his paper on the relationship between the Hungarian-Canadian communist left-wing and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Budapest from 1956 to 1989, while Chris Kostov (University of Ottawa) will examine the actions of Bulgarian state security against western émigré communities. Jan Raska, from the University of Waterloo (Ontario), presents his research on Canada’s Czech communities and the former Czechoslovakia’s state security agency.

This international scholarly conference will take place from 13 to 15 November 2008 at the Hotel Mercure in Lublin, Poland. Organized by Slawomir Lukasiewicz of Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), the conference seeks to explore the ways in which the former communist regimes in Eastern Europe tried to use émigré communities in Western Europe, Canada and the United States to bolster their position during the Cold War.

The Canadian Presentations:

Christopher Adam (Carleton): “Hungarian-Canadian émigré press, the political immigration and conflict with Hungary,” 13 November 2008, 11.30-13.30

Chris Kostov (Ottawa): “The communist Bulgarian state security and their ‘wet jobs’ against political émigrés,” 13 November 2008, 15.00-16.30

Jan Raska (Waterloo): “Forging states of dissent: Czech émigrés, Communist spies and Canadian State Security, 1945-1968,” 13 November 2008, 17.00-18.30

Lubomyr Luciuk (RMC): “Anglo-American Perspectives on the Ukrainian Question, 1938-1955,” 15 November 2008, 14.30-15.45

For the full conference program and a list of all presenters, click here.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

The Budapest Holocaust Memorial, located behind the Dohány Street Synagogue

A Hungarian documentary film entitled Captain Ocskay, the Forgotten Hero will be screened on November 6, 2008, at the Ottawa Public Library. This powerful documentary film tells the story of a Hungarian army officer whose heroic deeds have all but been forgotten. Captain László Ocskay went to extraordinary lengths to save the lives of hundreds of Jews in Budapest. The organizers were very fortunate to have been able to bring Dan Danieli to the screening from California. He is one of the main “characters” in the film; a Holocaust survivor, he was a teenager at the camp about which the film was made. Dan Danieli is also the person without whom the story of Captain Ocskay might have remained forgotten and the film might not have been made. He did the research necessary, prepared a background document,  and published a monograph on the story of the labour battalion and Captain Ocskay.

With little to gain and everything to lose, Captain Ocskay harboured some 2,500 men, women and children from 1944 to 1945, the most dangerous period of World War II. Ocskay ran the Labour Service Company responsible for collecting clothes in the building of the Abonyi street Jewish school (known today as the Miklós Radnóti Secondary School).

In doing so, he hid the workers and their families from both the Hungarian Arrow Cross and the German SS. Unbelievably, Ocskay was able to protect the Abonyi Street building from the constant Arrow Cross threat by arranging for armed SS officers to stand guard outside the building.

Those delivered from the Holocaust included Kossuth Prize-winning writer Gábor Goda, composer Pál Kadosa, fencing world champion Ede Kabos, and actors Dezsõ Kellér and Imre Ráday. Ocskay worked closely with Raoul Wallenberg, even offering him shelter in his own house, and the legendary Miksa Domonkos.

This is a pioneering piece of film about a man whose incredible personal sacrifice is rarely acknowledged. He is an example and inspiration to all people and should rightly be remembered as one of the greatest Hungarians of the twentieth century.

The screening of this Hungarian film (which includes English subtitles) is being organized by the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary, the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation and the Jewish Federation of Ottawa. Admission is free of charge and light refreshments will be served. There will also be a questions and answers session with Dan Danieli following the screening. The event will take place on November 6, 2008, at 6.30pm at the Ottawa Public Library’s Main Branch (120 Metcalfe Street–at the corner of Laurier).

Hungarian-language article | Magyar nyelvű változat

Canadian Hungarian Journal

The Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC) distributed a call for papers earlier this week, as the scholarly organization prepares for its annual conference, to be held on May 29-30, 2009 at Carleton University.  Papers presenting original, unpublished research on any topic or period in Hungarian literature, cinema, art, theatre, music, history, politics, language and language pedagogy are welcome. Papers may be presented in either of Canada’s official languages–English and French–or in Hungarian.

HSAC meets as part of the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Canada, organized by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The largest multidisciplinary conference in Canada, the Congress hosts the meetings of dozens of scholarly associations during an 8-day period, bringing together scholars from across the country and around the world. The overall theme of the 2009 Congress is “Capital Connections / Nation, terroir, territoire.” As such, HSAC is proposing a special panel along the lines of the theme of the Congress, in relation to Hungary and Hungarians: “Identity, diaspora, minorities and multiculturalism.” Presenters are asked to indicate whether they wish to have their proposal considered for inclusion in this panel.

This year, HSAC requires that an abstract or outline (maximum 600 words) be in the hands of the program chair no later than 10 January 2009. Early submissions are welcome. The conference organizers prefer that proposals be submitted electronically, if possible. The proposals will be assessed by the program committee and all prospective participants are asked to include their contact information with their proposal. Decisions will be announced by the end of January 2009.

The Conference Committee for HSAC’s 2009 meeting is comprised of Agatha Schwartz (Ottawa), Christopher Adam (Carleton) and Judy Young, president of the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation.

All papers can be submitted to Professor Schwartz, the conference’s program chair, by e-mail at: agathas@uottawa.ca

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Fraser-Hickson's old Kensington Avenue location (Photo by: FraserFriends)

Montreal’s historic Fraser-Hickson Library, established in 1881, will soon re-open its doors to readers after having closed down last year. The venerable library was forced to sell its iconic Kensington Avenue building in February 2007 due to financial constraints and the inability to secure adequate long-term funding. Fraser-Hickson, one of the most prominent English-language institutions in Montreal, has long served the culturally diverse Borough of Notre Dame de Grâce (NDG) and will resume its mission, once it moves to its new Sherbrooke Street location. The Fraser-Hickson Library’s 105,000 book and video collection will be housed at the Trinity Memorial Anglican Church, a heritage building dating back to 1926. The new library will be located in the church’s lower level and an extension will eventually be built. The project is expected to have a price tag of nearly $6 million and once the initial phase has been completed, library users will have access to an area encompassing 19,000 square feet.

If everything goes according to plan, John Dinsmore, Fraser-Hickson’s chairman, expects that the library will re-open in the second half of 2009. Michael Applebaum, mayor of Côte des Neiges-Notre Dame de Grâce, told journalists that he was pleased to hear that Fraser-Hickson would remain in the borough. Applebaum also observed that the library now has a “great plan and a great place.”

Yet the new location at the corner of Sherbrooke and Marlowe, and near the municipal boundary between Montreal and Westmount, is a lengthy 30 to 40 minute walk from the original Kensington Avenue neighbourhood. The library was frequently used by English schools in the area, as well as seniors living nearby. In many ways, Fraser-Hickson has always been much more than “just” a library. Fraser-Hickson served as a community centre, attracting high school students who used the tens of thousands of books for their school project, or simply enjoyed the library’s safe, multicultural and welcoming environment. Residents of all ages could sign up for computer courses, browse through a rich selection of newspapers and periodicals or access the library’s vintage video collection. The library also offered a special mobile book lending service for shut-ins. For years, one of Fraser-Hickson’s most popular events was its annual book sale and street fair, where locals could browse through thousands of books for sale.

Perhaps it was this sense of community that attracted volunteers of all ages to help keep the library afloat when a financial crisis threatened to shut it down, as well as a dedicated group of supporters who petitioned the borough and municipal authorities for more funding as closure loomed. Fraser Friends, a grassroots community organization based in NDG, collected more than 13,000 signatures as part of a petition that called on Montreal and the borough to save Fraser-Hickson, one of only two English libraries in Notre Dame de Grâce. This campaign was led by local resident Raj Ramtuhol, who petitioned Montreal Mayor Gérard Tremblay’s administration through open letters, a series of e-mails, faxes and protests.

As Fraser-Hickson prepares to re-open next year at the new Trinity Memorial location, Dinsmore noted that the library’s endowment currently stands at around $3 million and he expects that the institution’s annual operating costs may reach around $550,000. The borough will likely cover some of these annual costs, but Applebaum noted that the precise amount has yet to be determined.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Time Magazine's 1956 Man of the Year: "The Hungarian Freedom Fighter."

The Montréal Hungarian community’s annual commemoration of the 1956 Revolution in Hungary, and its eventual suppression by Soviet forces, is quite possibly the most important yearly observance for Hungarian Canadians. The majority of Canadians with Hungarian heritage trace their roots back to 1956, in one way or another. Most members of the older generation arrived in Canada as refugees following the revolt, while many younger Hungarians have a parent or grandparent who fled Hungary following the Soviet re-invasion of 4 November 1956.

Organized by the Hungarian Committee of Montreal, this year’s commemoration of the revolution is set to take place at the Our Lady of Hungary Church on 19 October 2008, at 1:00pm. One of the event’s highlights will be a speech by Balázs Izsák, president of the Szekler National Council, who travelled to Canada from Romania. Balázs’s organization promotes regional autonomy for two adjacent counties in eastern Transylvania where ethnic Hungarians constitute a majority of the population. The event’s keynote speaker will be Dr. János Szanyi, while pianist Éva Csarnay will provide the commemoration’s musical component. The ceremony will also feature the participation of Montreal’s Hungarian scouts and girl guides, the students of the Hungarian School of Montreal and the Bokréta folk dance ensemble.

The 1956 Hungarian Revolution was by far the bloodiest and the most dramatic rebellion against Soviet domination in Eastern Europe, as well as a stinging rebuke of the country communist leadership. The revolt broke out on 23 October 1956 in Budapest and ultimately led to the re-establishment of multi-party democracy, Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact, its declaration of neutrality and the release of political prisoners. The removal of communist symbols–such as red stars–from public buildings from the Hungarian flag, as well as the demolition of Stalin’s statue in Budapest, became iconic symbols of the revolution. The uprising, however, was crushed when the Soviet army invaded Hungary on 4 November 1956, using 6,000 tanks and approximately 150,000 troops. An estimated 2,500 Hungarians were killed during the revolution and in the days following the Soviet re-invasion, a period often referred to as either the Hungarian “freedom fight” or the Hungarian War of Independence. Hungary’s revolutionary Prime Minister, Imre Nagy, was executed in 1958 for his role in the uprising and was secretly buried in an unmarked grave. Nagy was re-buried and exonerated in 1989, as the country transitioned towards multi-party democracy. The 1956 Hungarian Revolution has often been viewed as the “first crack” in the Iron Curtain that divided continental Europe.

Canada accepted more than 38,000 Hungarian refugees following the suppression of the uprising, out of a total of 200,000 Hungarians who fled to Western Europe, the Americas and Australia. According to some calculations, Canada accepted one out of every six Hungarian refugees following the uprising; proportionally the largest number of any country. The aftermath of the 1956 Revolution was also the first time that the Government of Canada chartered airplanes to transport refugees across the Atlantic. Among the initial wave of refugees was the entire faculty and student body of the University of Sopron’s forestry department. Nearly 200 students and 28 faculty members fled to Canada in January 1957 and continued their forestry studies at the University of British Columbia.

Hungarian 1956 refugees arrive in Canada

Noel Kinsella, Speaker of the Senate of Canada, participated in the fiftieth anniversary commemorations of the 1956 Revolution two years ago, when he spoke about the importance of remembrance. “Those events have since passed into the pages of history, but many of us still remember it well, especially those here today that lived through the ordeal, came to Canada, and in making their new lives here, greatly contributed to the social fabric of our nation; a nation you can proudly call your own. To those of you who were born Canadian-Hungarian, I hope you are proud of the heritage from which you come and the struggle and sacrifice made by your parents and grandparents so that you could enjoy a life free from oppression. Though the revolution may have passed into history, the impact that it had is forever present through people across the world like you,” said Kinsella.

In addition to the commemoration in Montreal, a wreath-laying ceremony will take place at Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery on 26 October 2008, followed by a commemoration at the Ottawa Hungarian Community Centre at 5:00pm on the same day. Toronto’s Hungarian community will begin a series of commemorations by taking part in a flag-raising ceremony in front of the Toronto City Hall on 23 October 2008 at noon, followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at Budapest Park. These two events will be followed by a commemorative celebration at the Hungarian Canadian Cultural Centre on St. Clair Avenue.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Spirit Lake (La Ferme), Québec

The Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras Shevchenko will be administering a $10 million endowment fund aimed at exploring and commemorating the experiences of Eastern Europeans and members of ethno-cultural communities in general, who were interned in Canada during World War I. Jason Kenney, Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, announced the establishment of the fund earlier this year. Christopher Adam, a lecturer in history at Carleton University, president of the Montreal Hungarian Historical Society and secretary of the Canada Hungary Educational Foundation (CHEF), has been appointed to serve on the Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund’s Advisory Council.

The agreement between the Government of Canada and the Shevchenko Foundation was signed by Andrew Hladyshevsky, the organization’s president. Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk, a professor of political geography at the Royal Military College in Kingston and president of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), has long pushed for Canadian authorities to recognize the country’s World War I internment operations. President Hladyshevsky noted that the newly created federal endowment will benefit all Canadians, as light will finally be shed on a neglected chapter of Canadian history. “This symbolic restitution, reflecting a part of the funds previously confiscated from the internees as well as their unpaid labour, is the first step in reconciliation which will bring to light this sad chapter in Canadian history. The plight of the internees, which included the forfeiture of their civil liberties as well as their economic capacity, has been largely ignored by Canadian historians. The signing of this funding agreement allows this journey of knowledge to begin,” said Andrew Hladyshevsky.

Professor Luciuk’s book, Without Just Cause, is among a very small handful of scholarly works that examines Canada’s first national internment operations, which took place between 1914 and 1920. According to this research, federal authorities incarcerated 8,579 so-called “enemy aliens.” What most of these Eastern Europeans had in common was that they were considered to be Austro-Hungarian citizens, since their homeland was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Most of the Ukrainians interned, for example, came from Bukovina or Galicia. While the vast majority of internees were Ukrainians, it is clear that there were also Hungarian, Polish, Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian and Romanian prisoners. Archival documents suggest that prisoners at many of these internment camps were mistreated by guards, and even Sir William D. Otter, a high-ranking officer in charge of internments, admitted as much in his correspondences. On one occasion, Otter noted that “rough conduct” on the part of guards was “by no means an uncommon occurrence.” Dr. Luciuk observed that mistreatment led internees to actively resist camp authorities on a couple of occasions, including during a riot in Kapuskasing (Ontario), which involved 1,200 internees.

The Advisory Council held its first meeting last month in Amos, a small town situated in Québec’s Abitibi region. The municipality’s significance within the context of this project is that it was home to the Spirit Lake Internment Camp. This area is currently referred to as La Ferme and the lake’s name has since been changed to Lac-Beauchamp. Spirit Lake was among the most important of these camps from 1915 to 1917, as nearly 1,200 Ukrainians and other Eastern Europeans were interned here. Spirit Lake was also only one of two camps that was actually surrounded by barbed wire fencing. The Corporation Camp Spirit Lake, an organization based in Trécesson (Québec), has already purchased the Saint Viateur Church in La Ferme, situated directly across from where the camp’s barracks once stood. The group plans to install a permanent exhibit in the building next year.

The Canadian First World War Internment Recognition Fund is a long-term project, lasting for the next 15 years. During this time, a range of proposals aimed at presenting the history of Canada’s first internment operations, as well as commemorative projects, will be examined by the seven member Advisory Council.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Heather Mallick

After receiving more than 300 complaints from viewers, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has issued an apology for an online opinion piece published on the CBC News website, which concluded that Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin looked like a “porn star.” Written by prominent freelance writer Heather Mallick, the column argued that Palin was chosen by Presidential hopeful John McCain, in order to appeal to the Republican Party’s “unlettered” and “white trash” wing. Yet of all the not-too-subtle innuendos and smears, Mallick’s attack on Palin’s family sparked the most outrage. “Seventeen-year-old Bristol has what is known in Britain as the look of the teen mum, the ‘pramface.’ Husband Todd looks like a roughneck; Track, heading off to Iraq, appears terrified. They claim to be family-obsessed while being studiously terrible at parenting. What normal father would want Levi ‘I’m a f-ckin’ redneck’ Johnson prodding his daughter,” wrote Mallik.

CBC News publisher John Cruickshank issued a statement earlier today in which he expressed regret for having published Mallick’s piece. “Mallick’s column is a classic piece of political invective. It is viciously personal, grossly hyperbolic and intensely partisan. And because it is all those things, this column should not have appeared on the CBCNews.ca site,” wrote Cruickshank.

The National Post, Canada’s second largest daily newspaper and a long-time critic of the public funding mechanism which sees tax dollars pay for the CBC’s programming, attacked the piece last week and called into question the public broadcaster’s judgment for publishing it. CBC ombudsman Vince Carlin believes that the public broadcaster must seek to publish material from a more diverse group of writers on its website, as in its current form is “very narrow in range.” Jonathan Kay, a columnist with the National Post, suggested that the CBC had a “subtle, pervasive left-wing tilt” and that Mallick was “turning the public broadcaster into just another left-wing blog.”

Kay’s column, however, raises an old debate on whether or not the CBC–widely perceived on the right of the political spectrum as having a liberal bias–should continue to receive close to a billion dollars in public funding. The Post columnist suggested that incidents such as these, as well as the CBC’s less than amicable relationship with the current Conservative minority government might convince Prime Minister Stephen Harper to re-examine the CBC’s funding should he receive a majority mandate in the October 14th elections. “The folks at the CBC might want to take care of their credibility problem before it’s too late. Otherwise, I suspect, the next government will take care of it for them,” wrote Kay.

The CBC is hardly the only public broadcaster to face scrutiny for its perceived political bias. More familiar to many of our readers might be the long-standing controversy surrounding Hungary’s Magyar Televízió (MTV), the country’s state-funded television station. Originally, the Hungarian broadcaster received funds through a television license paid by all households. A new funding scheme was devised six years ago, and since then MTV is the recipient of various government grants. The station, however, has long been seen by those on the right as having a pro-Socialist bias, and as a result, members of the opposition party Alliance of Young Democrats (Fidesz) have refused to appear on the station’s independently produced morning news show, Napkelte.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian refugees arriving in Canada after the 1956 Revolution (Courtesy of the University of Manitoba Archives)

A new essay competition launched by the Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation (CHEF), aimed at examining the experiences of immigrants, refugees and minorities, offers students a great opportunity to have their work published and win one of six cash prizes. Entitled “Becoming Canadian: A Celebration of Refugee and Immigrant Experiences in Canada,” the competition welcomes not only Hungarian topics, but essays that examine any aspect of Canadian multiculturalism. This can include a look at the preservation of heritage languages in Canada, the issue of multiple identities, what it means to grow up as a second generation Canadian, as well as a range of immigration stories. The first place winner will receive a $1,000 cash prize, while second and third place entrants will receive $500 and $250 respectively. Additionally, the Embassy of the Republic of Hungary in Ottawa will offer special prizes for the best entries depicting Hungarian immigration experiences.

As a sign of the 21st century, CHEF’s competition welcomes both essay and video submissions. Moreover, entrants may produce their work in English, French or Hungarian. All students under 25 years of age are invited to submit their work, including those in high school and undergraduates registered full-time at a Canadian university. Students in these two categories will be judged separately and as such, two sets of prizes will be awarded. All winners will be announced in January 2009.

The deadline for submissions is 31 October 2008 and entrants will be required to submit by traditional post both a printed hard-copy and a digital version of their work on a CD or DVD. For more information on submission guidelines and to download the required forms, click here.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Professor Katalin Kürtösi, a visiting Scholar from the University of Szeged, will be giving a talk on Canadian culture in Hungary at the University of British Columbia (Buchanan Tower, room 599), on Friday, September 26th from 4:00 – 5:00pm.  Admission is free.
Entitled “Voices and Visions of Canadian Culture in Hungary after the Political Changes,”  the paper will examine how a European “small nation’s” cultural life is responding to a “less-known” culture. The research project is a follow-up of a systematization of the Hungarian translations of Canadian literature between 1920 and 1985.

This time the main areas of interest are:

• How the changes in cultural policy (publishing) influenced what kind of books have been translated and published.
• Translatability, personal experiences as translator of Canadian works both from English and from French.
• The role of anthologies.
• Canada on Hungarian stages (Canadian companies visiting – very few Canadian plays staged in Hungarian).
• Canadian Voice: songs by L. Cohen in Hungarian.
• Visions of Canada: exhibitions (sculpture, photos, painting) – active participation in Hungarian cultural festivals.

 
The paper will use a theoretical framework and offer a table of Canadian literature in Hungarian translation.
 
Katalin Kürtösi is associate professor at the Department of Comparative Literature, Faculty of Arts, University of Szeged, Hungary. She studied Canadian literature at Carleton University, Ottawa (1983-84) and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Comparative Literature, Université de Montréal (1993). Her specialization is theatre and drama in Canada (in English, in French and by ethnic playwrights) – her monograph entitled Reality or Illusion? Metadramatic Elements in North American Plays (in Hungarian) was published in November 2007. She has been editor-in-chief of the Central European Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes en Europe Centrale since 2001.

 New Hungarian Voice

Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti

Two young, talented artists from Hungary will delight us with their special multi-media program about Miklós Radnóti, the great Hungarian poet. Miklos Turek, prize-winning actor will perform a dramatized piece about and using the works of Radnoti; Kornel Nagel, visual artist will exhibit 25 graphic works he recently created inspired by Radnoti’s work. This program is the premiere of a North American tour by this team; Ottawa is leading the way!

What: Literary-drama presentation in Hungarian by/about/inspired by Miklos Radnoti, performed by Miklos Turek; accompanied by an exhibition of graphic works by Kornél Nagel. Words of Introduction by our Ottawa friend, Dr Ferenc Andai, historian, writer and fellow prisoner of Radnoti in Bor. Refreshments and conversation with the artists to follow the performance.

When: Thursday, September 25^th 2008 at 7 pm

Where: Dominican University College, 96 Empress Ave, Ottawa (There is a car park attached to the building and also parking on the street)

Tickets: $25.00 at the door or $20.00 if reserved in advance at 613 567-5756 or by writing to editor@hungarianpresence.ca

Please reserve your tickets in advance as seating is limited.

Judy Young Drache

The annual Hungarian Night, a hugely popular tradition in Montreal West, is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 at 6pm, at Davies Park, located on Westminster Avenue, just south of Sherbrooke Street. The event has been spearheaded by Barbara Tekker, a local Montreal West resident and an active member of the Hungarian community. The event has a reputation of being an exciting evening for all ages, with an outdoor BBQ dinner for only $8 and with live Hungarian entertainment. Additionally, it is the only ethnic night where the town gets a liquor license so you can bring your own wine or beer. Bring some lawn chairs! It’s a great way to start the summer! Hungarian Night is rescheduled in case of rain. Call Paula at 514-485-8930 if you are not sure about the weather.

Montreal West is one of the smaller independent municipalities on the Island of Montreal. Informally referred to as “MoWest,” more than 85 percent of the town’s 5,300 residents are Anglophones.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

The Hungarian government has recognized Kosovo’s status as an independent nation. Hungary issued a joint statement with Croatia and Bulgaria, observing that the decision to recognize Europe’s youngest sovereign state was “based on thorough consideration.” All three countries also made clear that they wished to develop closer ties with Serbia as well. This, however, may prove to be a real challenge, as Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic repeated his belief that Kosovo was an “illegal state” and also warned that countries which choose to recognize Kosov’s independence “cannot count on good relations” with Serbia.

According to Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it had “become clear that the status quo in Kosovo was unsustainable and moving forward in the settlement was necessary for the lasting stability and development of the region. It has also become evident that there was no optimal solution acceptable to both sides, and the potential for further negotiations had been exhausted.”

Kinga Göncz, Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, will now submit a request to the country’s President, László Sólyom, concerning the eventual establishment of full diplomatic relations with Kosovo.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract/Magyar kivonat: A nyugati média meglehetősen sokat foglalkozott Koszovóval, az albánok által dominált szerbiai tartománnyal, mely ma kijelenti függetlenségét. De a nyugati lapokban alig találhatunk említést arról a tényről, hogy a koszovói szuverenitásnak fontos következményei lehetnek a vajdasági magyarok számára is. Bár kiemelt demográfiai különbségek vannak Vajdaság és Koszovó között és az északi tartomány teljes függetlensége aligha kerülhet szóba, mégis fennáll az a veszély, hogy Koszovó leszakadása a szerbiai politikai diszkurzus radikálizálodásához vezet és, hogy felkerekednek a szélsőjobboldali, nacionalista erők Szerbiában.

As was expected, much of the media attention around Kosovo’s declaration of independence from Serbia has focused on whether or not this might lead to renewed ethnic conflict among Serbs and Kosovar Albanians, as well as if the European Union will be able to speak in unison in its recognition of the continent’s youngest state. Many pundits also tried to determine how Russia–which has traditionally allied itself with the government in Belgrade–would react to the imminent creation of an EU mission in this Balkan country.

Yet Kosovo’s independence also raises crucial questions about the fate of another multi-ethnic region in this former Yugoslav country, namely the northern province of Vojvodina (Vajdaság), which is home to over 290,000 ethnic Hungarians. Some fear that the declaration of independence will likely strengthen Serbia’s already powerful, nationalist extreme-right , represented by the Serbian Radical Party, which currently forms the largest group in parliament and came within two percentage points of defeating Boris Tadic, the country’s relatively liberal incumbent president, in run-off elections held on February 3, 2008.

It is not likely that Vojvodina’s ethnic minorities would call for independence with the same fervour that has characterized Kosovar Albanian demands to sovereignty, even though some will likely agitate for the strengthening of this northern province’s semi-autonomous status. The demographic composition of these two provinces, however, is drastically different. In Kosovo, ethnic Albanians comprise more than 90 percent of the total population, which stands at around two million. Population estimates for the remaining Serb minority can be anywhere from just under six percent to as much as ten percent. Most Serb residents of Kosovo live in a small handful of enclaves in the north (including Zubin Potok, Leposavic and Zvercari), as well the Strpce region in the south.

Vojvodina’s ethnic and linguistic composition, in contrast, is far more complicated and diverse. Many of the region’s 290,000 Hungarians live near the border with Hungary and form the dominant ethnic group in cities like Szabadka (Subotica). Yet according to census data from 2002, even in this city of just over 99,000 residents, only around 35 percent are of Hungarian origins, while 26 percent identify themselves as Serbs, nearly 11 percent as Bunjevci (a south Slavic group), 10 percent as Croat, 7 percent as “Yugoslav,” and nearly 2 percent as Montenegrin.

Province-wide census results present an even more complicated demographic picture of Vojvodina. Although Serbs form an overall majority with 65 percent, Hungarians comprise over 14 percent of the population, with Slovaks and Croats tied at just under 3 percent, “Yugoslavs” at over 2 percent, Montenegrins at 1.75 percent and Romanians at 1.5 percent. Smaller ethnic groups include the Roma, Macedonians, Ukrainians, Rusyns and Germans.

Vojvodina remains one of Eastern Europe’s most multicultural regions, with a total of 25 minorities making their home in this semi-autonomous province of Serbia. The province, in fact, is also officially multilingual, with six languages–including Hungarian–enjoying special status. Vojvodina’s Hungarians, however, are dispersed in several regions, and this would make it exceedingly difficult for them to try to rally for regional autonomy. Although the Hungarian presence is strong in the northern areas of Subotica, Kanjiza (Kanizsa) and Senta, Hungarian-speakers also live in nearly a dozen other regions and municipalities.

Kosovo’s independence will likely have a profound impact on Serbian politics, since all major political parties on both the left and right view the Albanian-dominated province as the “cradle” of Serbian national identity. The radicalization of the political discourse could spell trouble for Vojvodina’s minorities. Additionally, there is a possibility that the discrimination that was prominent during Slobodan Milosevic’s rule–when the late Serbian president suspended Vojvodina’s autonomy and allegedly conscripted a disproportionately large number of Hungarians to fight in Kosovo–may once again haunt this troubled region.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract/Magyar Kivonat: Borsai Csaba, a budapesti Regnum Marianum iskola földrajz és biológia tanára ezer kilométeres kanadai biciklitúrára viszi diákjait. A diákok megismerkedhetnek Québec és Ontario tartományokkal, valamint az ott élő magyar közösségekkel is találkoznak.

Csaba Borsai, a secondary school teacher at Regnum Marianum High School in Budapest, is set to take his students on a 1000km long bike tour of central Canada this summer. Entitled “A Bridge between the Danube and the Saint Lawrence,” the Catholic school’s tour is not only aimed at introducing these students to the Canadian landscape, but also serves as a type of protest against global warming. Tour participants will make the lengthy, 23-day journey from southern Quebec to southwestern Ontario without being escorted by a car. As such, the students will have to take all their equipment and personal belongings with them on their bikes.

In addition to the tour’s goal of raising awareness of key environmental issues, the students will also use their encounters with Canadians as an opportunity to introduce them to Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and her lifestory. Mr. Borsai’s students will perform short sketches depicting the saint’s life to Hungarian communities in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and will visit a long list of smaller towns in Ontario, including Vankleek Hill, Rockland, Smiths Falls, Portland, Kingston, Picton, Brighton, Oshawa and Pickering. While in the nation’s capital, the Hungarian students will have the opportunity to tour Parliament Hill, as well as visit the Royal Mint, Rideau Hall, the Hungarian 1956 monument on Maple Island, as well as tour Gatineau Park. The students will also put on a short play for Ottawa’s Hungarian community, at the Hungarian Cultural Centre in Nepean.

Mr. Borsai is a biology and geography teacher at the Regnum Marianum school. “When I first started working as a teacher, I decided that I would try to show my students things that they would not find in their textbooks. We have been just about everywhere within Hungary and over the years, I have also taken my students on tours of Denmark, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States,” said Mr. Borsai in an interview.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Hungarian Abstract/Magyar kivonat: Tom Lantos, amerikai kongresszusi képviselő bejelentette, hogy az év végén visszavonul az aktív politikából 27 éves karrierje után. A 80 éves magyar származású demokrata párti képviselő haladó politikát folytatott a társadalmi kérdésekben. Támogatta az azonosnemű házasságot, a kisebbségi jogokat, a marihuana legalizációját és az abortuszt. Lantos a napokban jelentette be, hogy nem indul a novemberi választáson, mivel orvosai nyelőcsőrákot fedeztek fel nála.

Tom Lantos, the Hungarian-born veteran US congressman, has announced that he will not seek re-election later this year, following 27 years in office, after having been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus. The Democratic member of the House of Representatives has been known as an outspoken proponent of progressive social issues, including same-sex marriage, the decriminalization of marijuana for medical purposes, abortion rights and civil liberties. As a congressman, Mr. Lantos voted in favour of stronger hate crime legislation and has been a prominent critic of foreign governments that turn a blind eye to human rights violations. The congressman’s record on defence and security issues, however, is mixed.  Lantos supported the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and stood by President George W. Bush’s administration at the start of the Iraq War in 2003, along with many other prominent Democrats.

Although Mr. Lantos only became a Member of the US Congress in 1981, his experience in political issues stretches back all the way to the Second World War.  Mr. Lantos was born into a middle-class Jewish family. At age 17, he participated in the Hungarian resistance movement, after having escaped from a forced labour camp in rural Hungary. While in Budapest during the final months of the war, the young Mr. Lantos lived with an aunt in a safe house sponsored by Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Dressed in an inconspicuous cadet’s uniform, Mr. Lantos travelled around Budapest providing other Hungarian Jews in safe houses with basic food and medical supplies.

Mr. Lantos immigrated to the US in 1947, after receiving a university scholarship and completed both a BA and an MA degree. He eventually moved to the San Francisco area, where he completed a PhD in economics at Berkeley and later served as a lecturer at San Francisco State University.

Mr. Lantos seems to present his life story as the explemplification of the ‘American Dream.’ The veteran congressman observed that “it is only in the United States that a penniless survivor of the Holocaust and a fighter in the anti-Nazi underground could have received an education, raised a family, and had the privilege of serving the last three decades of his life as a Member of Congress.”

Upon his election to the House of Representatives, Mr. Lantos made history by becoming the first Holocaust survivor ever to serve as a US congressman.

Canadian Hungarian Journal

Update:

•February 11, 2008: Tom Lantos dies at age 80 (Hungarian Article)

A new website about Hungarian-Canadians went live in June. The site, www.hungarianpresence.ca, features the richness and diversity of Canadian culture by showcasing Hungarian-Canadian artistic and intellectual contributions, both past and present. The first phase of the website displays work by and about a number of notable artists, musicians, writers, scientists, business people and athletes who came to Canada or who are second generation Hungarian Canadians.

“From theatre and the arts to business and to sport, Hungarian-Canadians have had a visible impact on Canadian society,” remarks Judy Young-Drache, President of the Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation. “Now we can use an interactive medium, the internet, to share the stories of these remarkable people not only with the general public, but also with young Canadians who may never have heard about the events of 1956.”

Ms. Young-Drache, who is also a member of the editorial board for the website, says the idea for the project originated from the activities that took place in fall 2006 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Hungarian revolution in 1956. Its suppression by the Soviet army was the main reason why more than 38,000 Hungarian refugees arrived in Canada to find freedom and safety in 1956 and 1957.

While the website already offers access to hundreds of webpages about the contributions of Hungarian-Canadians, the project will be updated and enriched on a continuous basis for the next three years at least.

The Canada-Hungary Educational Foundation/Fondation éducative Canada-Hongrie (CHEF) is a registered educational charity set up in December 2005 to create awareness for Canada’s role in accepting more than 38,000 Hungarian refugees in 1956-57 and highlighting the contributions those refugees eventually made to Canadian life.

The website’s editorial board includes: Christopher Adam, Mark Curfoot-Mollington, John Miska, and Judy Young-Drache.

A few days ago, the Galerie d’Arts Contemporains presented an exhibition of Andrea Blanar’s latest work at 2140 Crescent street in Montreal.The exhibition is on from 18th of October to 31st of October. The gallery is situated near the unofficial hub of “latest trends“ in Art. It is a short walking distance from the Museum of Fine Arts. Descending a few steps from the street, entering the gallery, one enters another world of the mysterious silence of New Brunswick marshes.

The paintings are mostly landscapes. The themes of the artworks are landscapes enriched by a suggestion of magic are the locale of Andrea’s studio at the maritimes. The formats of the pictures are subtly innovative; the rectangular format of the tableaux are extended beyond frontal plane of the pictures onto its sides, lifting it out of the wall surface. It guarantees its being as a slice of reality, and not just a window opening. There is a suggestion of other worldliness in the other formats presented in pictures that are shaped like gothic arches of church windows, framing a view of the marshes with swaying rushes rendered with loving care.

While a few paintings are in the conventional format others are presented in a playful mode, inviting the viewer to contemplate on many levels of concepts offered. There are also a few truly imaginative pieces of ex-furniture, that have been granted a new sphere of existence by enshrouding in a landscape – thus (almost ) becoming an icon to be worshipped. All pieces of art presented are witness to the technical excellence of the artist in the various kind of art; either in two or three dimensions.

Andrea Blanar is an artist of notable achievements; She had, up to date, 31 solo shows, in group exhibitions in Canada, USA and China and has been the recipient of a number of awards. Andrea has served as a lecturer at our three universities in Montreal and, above all, as the founder and guiding spirit of the Canadian Hungarian Artists’ Collective.

Rose Szasz

Montreal Mayor Gérard Tremblay responded to the Canadian Hungarian Artist Collective’s (CHAC) request to hold a major event that celebrates the 50th Anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, as Hungarians had come here in large numbers. CHAC was asked to organize an exhibit at City Hall that would tell the story of Hungarians and Hungarian associations in Montreal. I concluded that this was a project that went beyond the mandate of CHAC. Thus, not wishing to lose this great offer to honour Hungarians, I spearheaded the creation of “MHHS” by gathering together many leaders in Montreal, to create the “Montreal Hungarian Historical Society” under the Co- Presidencies of Mária Mailáth and Christopher Adam.

With an almost impossible deadline two months away, and in the summer months, when people are away vacationing, $10,000 was raised and an exhibition was mounted. Of course, all would have wished for more time to do a better more comprehensive research. But, considering the realities, I am amazed that the MHHS group was able to do this and that CHAC was an important player in this project, providing manpower and artistic expertise. Miklos Rogan was of critical importance, as he did all the artwork for the exhibits.

Andrea Blanar

For more information on the Montreal Hungarian Historical Society’s exhibit, click here.