Thursday, August 18, 2011

[UPDATED] Meanwhile over in Hungary . . . Parliament has agreed to FORCED labor for the unemployed?

Jesus. H. Christ. My husband just read about this from another source, so I began digging around and have found this piece so far.

Stay tuned. I am looking for more sources on this story.

Meanwhile, 16 churches in Hungary are battling recently legislation that will make it harder for them to help the impoverished, particularly the Roma.

BosNewsLife reports:

Sixteen Hungarian churches have appealed to the country's Constitutional Court to  overturn controversial legislation under which they and hundreds of other groups will lose their church status.

The piece explained:

While no police raids are expected, the law will impact tens of thousands of deeply impoverished Hungarians relying on church support including Roma, also known as gypsies, critics say. The state no longer supports social programs and tax advantages for the non-registered churches.
[UPDATE]

My former Ph.D. advisor, who is Hungarian, responded to my question about this article. She told me that it was probably related to gypies, but she doesn't think it's forced labor. In her view, the article is not well-informed.

I think her response was conservative, and continue to ask experts about the situation there.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Americans seem to forget that the longest natural state of human existance is bondage to another.

Cryn Johannsen said...

Uh, this isn't about Americans and their forgetfulness. The situation is terrifying. The EU needs to step (perhaps they have), and do something about this. If Hungary wants to play with fascist, authoritarian fire again, their asses should be booted from the EU.

Anonymous said...

I have never been in Hungary. But I have just returned from Prague, nad have lived in Paris and travelled in all of the western European countries. Everywhere I've gone in Europe, I've been warned, by locals, about Romas, Gypsies or whatever they're called. The Romas/Gypsies are blamed for crime and other social ills. It just happens that Romas are darker than most other Europeans.