Unless the government gives proper jobs and education to Roma its social welfare system risks becoming insolvent, state secretary for Roma inclusion at the Justice Ministry said in an interview to Austrian daily Der Standard.
Zoltan Balog said the government’s scholarship and public works schemes were beginning to bear fruit, according to the article published on Tuesday.
He said a decree released after paramilitary marches in northeastern Gyongyospata in early 2011 imposed severe fines on uniformed activists who showed intolerance towards the minority. The current problems are connected with the collapse of communist-era industries that had left 1.5 million people jobless, Balog said.
The current problems are connected with the collapse of communist-era industries that had left 1.5 million people jobless, Balog said
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Partly true, then we also have the cutting up of the old state-owned big farms into small private lands, that no longer needed the mainly Roma field-hands to perform
This was part of FKGP-MDF’s policies beginning of the 90s and in historical context come from the 1930s Hungarian Agrarian movement, which never moved Hungary forward
Maybe Mr Balog should wake up and smell the coffee – or the Gypsies? [Farkas Flórián does not count – his criminal records are sealed for awhile]; just like the commie agents list (thanks to the nationalist ZSIDESZ) ‘til 2060. Should I cite other sealed records regarding certain people’s letters, opinions on Germany, Hitler, Holohoax, etc. for decades to come? What’s the use? It will be all dismissed as a rambling of a Nazi conspiracy theorist.
Viking is right though in one regard. The disassembling of TSZ have contributed big time to the immediate unemployment of Gypsies.
My question is though: What’s wrong with working for smaller farms, or God forbid for yourselves? [It has been tried in places to help the Gypsies – not much success.]
DoubleH63 says:
February 15, 2012 at 10:47 am
My question is though: What’s wrong with working for smaller farms, or God forbid for yourselves?
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Nothing is wrong with that on principle, but it killed of part of Hungary’s big agrarian production, then small farms tend to produce what they need and not so much for sales, especially as the plots became too small and the will and experience to work together as farmers done for centuries in other countries was not very big in Hungary, given its recent history
And family farms tend to employ very few people and were after 1990 helped to increase mechanisation
And I understand them – I would probably do the same thing. It is not easy to have employees, it is sometimes the worst part of making business, especially when the employees are your biggest asset
A machine you can kick-start, try doing that with an employee and you end up with a lawsuit
Finally, hardly any Roma were given lands in this cutting up the big communist production units, then they were not the ‘rightful owners’ originally, so the Roma ended up being out of work and out of land
I thought that the Hungarian Presidency of the EU had driven through a solid strategy for the whole of Europe’s Roma. OV certainly held it out as one of his big achievements. Are we hearing now that the strategy has not been effectively applied in Hungary? Surprise, surprise!!
@ Viking
The headline starts with the word “Roma” and the article ends with the word “said”
I wonder which part of the article you could possibly object to because the propesed recommendations not only sound really fair but also sound very “Lefty”
I am just curious what bettter alternatives you could come up with.
“also sound very “Lefty” ”
Maybe to your ears…
BTW, here’s a page about Mr. Balogh:
http://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balog_Zolt%C3%A1n_%28politikus%29
Unfortunately it’s Hungarian only.
olga says:
February 15, 2012 at 10:03 pm
I wonder which part of the article you could possibly object to
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I did not object, I just made the historical picture in my two posts above (original and in response to Mr 8863)
I would look into the actual implementation of the Public Works programmes and the usage of open racist ‘neighbourhood-watch’ organisations
There have been reports that participants in these Public Works programmes (read Roma here) has been paid much less than what was originally communicated, due to deduction of different ‘fees’ and also that dog-shit in your garden can get you excluded from these Works Programmes. In that sense these Programmes just fixates the Roma in their current position and builds up a bigger problem for the future. Obviously the question here is local management of these Programmes and that need to be looked into
As I understand the situation Gyöngöspata the open racist ‘neighbourhood-watch’ group that has been there for a few years, is still there. It was another, not registered as official PolgarÖr organisation that was banned
I still think a lot of things can be done here to stop organised vigilante organisations, like how it now seem to work
Relating toyour ‘Left’ remark – as I have pointed out, on another thread, for me Communism and Fascism, have some common things, ‘Public Works Programmes’ and organised vigilante organisations are 2 of them…
(but that does not mean I claim Fidesz is fascistic)
Sorry, forgot
The official rhetoric from Fidesz, especially to abroad, on Roma issues, is probably as good and correct you can get it
And you hardly (ever?) seen me attack Fidesz on official Roma-policies
Implementation is another thing, but that sadly is not so much related to party-politics in Hungary. If it was, it would be much easier
And also an article on the UN criticising Hungary on policies for homeless people, which can be interesting when discussing Hungary’s Roma policies
(-http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41246&Cr=Rapporteur&Cr1=)
“An estimated 30,000 to 35,000 people, including numerous women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, are thought to be homeless in Hungary. About 8,000 of those live in Budapest, the capital, but the city has only 5,500 available places in public shelters.
Last year police in Budapest evicted hundreds of homeless persons from inner-city underpasses and arrested them following a city council decree criminalizing habitual residence in public spaces”
“Ms. Sepúlveda and Ms. Rolnik noted that many of the existing shelters in Budapest provide dormitory-style accommodation with up to 50 people per room, and no arrangements suitable for families.
“Homeless persons should not be deprived of their basic rights to liberty, or to privacy, personal security and protection of the family, only because they are poor and need shelter.””