Well! Is this the beginning of something? One of my Szabadka correspondents has just emailed me his opinion that this is the biggest thing since Trianon. Given that it is so little, it is apparent that the Vajdaság Hungarians do not entertain more hope than that their modest ‘cultural autonomy’ strivings will find external support.
Another candid local view that also reached me today is that the recent Tadić-Sólyom handshake strives to give the impression that all is well for Hungarians in the Vajdaság, and that therefore the issue need concern the world no more. (But it never has concerned the world!)
Strangely, reading today’s Magyar Szó (http://www.magyarszo.com/fex.page:2009-10-13_Erdekunk_a_tortenelmi_nezetelteresek_tisztazasa.xhtml), the only Hungarian newspaper of the region, I find a coverage of this situation that is even less informative than MTI’s. Farkas Lászlo is right, I am evermore convinced, that the explanation of all this reticence is the Vajdaság Hungarians’ fear of violent Serb reaction. My God, I do hope Sólyom and the Hungarian MEPs do not funk this one. Thank goodness for the three Jobbik MEPs in situ.

Hello again Elle,

Thanks for the continuing update. Of course different individuals can have a different take on the whole thing. The repondent who said this was the "biggest thing since Trianon" is given to operatic exaggeration, and might be quite at home in the areas of public relations, advertising or the dramatic arts. Are you sure he wasn't Italian?

The mere fact that there are so few of them down there, and likely to be less in the future, gives their situation all the more a lack of visibility. It will take some major disturbance, with the possibility of a brutal crackdown, to bring the issue to the fore.

Your link did not insert as a Hyperlink. This happened to Vandorlo the other day. I suggested that your anti-virus program may be blocking the copying and pasting of hyperlinks, in which case I would suggest going to the anti-virus program icon on the bottom right of your screen. Right click on it and turn off the pause protection. When you are done pasting the hyperlink again, don't forget to go back and turn on and resume your pause protection, otherwise you have an unprotected computer.

We'll see if this works:

http://www.magyarszo.com/fex.page:2009-10-13_Erdekunk_a_tortenelmi_nezetelteresek_tisztazasa.xhtml

It did indeed! Thanks Elle for providing an interesting and informative link, a Hungarian newspaper in Vojvodina. I will bookmark this site and I hope others here will do so as well. (Site is in Hungarian)

I temporarily turned off my pause protection on my anti virus program, and was able to paste the link.

Hello, Farkas László! Yes, I’m sure my correspondent is not particularly Italian. I suspect, though, that they are all honorary Italians. But to be fair, I think that all my chap had in mind is that this is the first time since Trianon that the Vojvodina Hungarians’ situation is coming to an international forum.

Thanks for the technical advice. I'm not on my own computer, and I'm a technological idiot, so I dare not implement it.

And you are absolutely right in that ‘different individuals can have a different take on the whole thing’. Three of my contacts, writing together, one Hungarian, one Serb and one with mixed parentage, propose that there is no more for the Vojvodina Hungarians to fear than there is for the Vojvodina Serbs. The latter are resented by the mother-country Serbs for trusting their Vojvodina people more than the mainstream Serbs. It is, they say, also true that the Vojvodina Hungarians greatly prefer the Vojvodina Serbs to the mother-country Hungarians. They are ‘Vojvodjanski’ together, and first and foremost.
In all this (and the emails are coming thick and fast), I have yet not have an unequivocal statement of aspiration for reunion with Hungary. When I pose the direct question about its desirability, the inevitable reply is that there is no chance of it. Somehow, I cannot extract anyone’s comment on its desirability per se, independently of its chance of success.

Hi Elle!

What interesting things come up in this discussion! When you relate to us the view that the Voj Hungarians have no more to fear than the Voj Serbs, there are two ways that that can be taken. One is a good way, that all will be well for both, the other way is to assume that if our people are in trouble down there, so will be the local Serbs! When Belgrade is seized by violent paranoia, then nobody is safe, not even the Serbs. Serbs and Croats were also the victims of their respective nationalist leaders in the 90's. Both the Croat Tudjman and the Serb Milosovic took advantage of their state control of the media to lie to their peoples and to whip them into a frenzy.

I think the latter, darker interpretation is borne out by your follow up comment that the Voj Serbs are distrusted by those in Serbia proper. They have been exposed more to non-Serb influences and something akin to multi-culturalism, hence making them untrutworthy to the atavists. I have a feeling that when the shit hits the fan down there, other heads will roll besides just Hungarian ones.

After French shameful defeats in Sedan on 1870, on 1914 and 1940, France is doing whatever it takes to kip down Germany and Austria-Hungary. Since then, France, in a fierce 'struggle for existence, is denying the right of Germans, Austrian, Hungarian, Croatian, Bosnian, and Dardanian to exist. French are enough ignorant to understand that:
The red army, with 360 divisions, equipped with prestigious artillery, supported by armor, and decent air force, would invade them and stop at the Biscay Bay. They ignore the Anglo Americans efforts and ultimate sacrifices to save them. What goes around comes around. One day they will get what are looking for, but this day will be the last day of Europe too.