Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars’ Deportation and Return – review

Former MRG Europe intern Elvira Nurieva reviews Greta Lynn Uehling’s 2004 book

In her book Beyond Memory: The Crimean Tatars’ Deportation and Return (2004), Greta Lynn Uehling, a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, and Wayne State University, Detroit, explores the question Why did second-generation Tatars who had never lived in Crimea feel compelled to return to their historic homeland after over fifty years in exile in the Soviet Central Asia, primarily Uzbekistan (1944-1967)?

Using archival materials, personal accounts and the findings of her field research, the author contends that the desire to repatriate was sustained by practices of collectively remembering the homeland.

Book cover

Delving into the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars (Turkic-speaking, Sunni Muslim people), Uehling investigates their formation as the ancient, indigenous peoples of the Crimean peninsula who have pre-Mongol origins, which goes in contrast with the conventional theory describing them as descendants of the Golden Horde. The Crimean Tatars identify themselves as indigenous on the grounds of their history, along with the Karaims and Krymchaks (two Turkic Jewish minorities). Arguing that the development of an indigenous group is linked to a specific territory with its atmosphere and landschaft, Uehling advances the claim that a forced relocation of such a group results either in their assimilation or annihilation.

Repatriation, which became possible only in 1967, was indeed painful: not able to obtain a residence permit or become employed in Crimea, or to resist the authorities’ attempts at eviction and re-deportation, the Crimean Tatars resorted to land-seizing and threats of self-immolation.

These events, depicted in Uehling’s book, are as relevant today. The Shadow Report submitted to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination by the Social Action Centre –“No Borders” project (SAC) and Minority Rights Group International to evaluate Ukraine’s performance in July 2011, confirms the perpetual difficulties of daily life that the Crimean Tatars still face.

Part 2: Indigenous languages are important but are they useful?

In the second of two blogs reporting from the Expert Seminar on Indigenous Peoples’ Languages and Cultures, Daniel Openshaw, MRG’s Publications Intern, questions why destruction of intangible culture is often overlooked and what incentive exists to learn an indigenous language.

When the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan in 2001 it sparked international outcry. This was an act of intolerance by a global enemy. The buddhas were massive, tangible representations of Greco-Buddhist art and key examples of 6^th century engineering. It was indisputably a cultural disaster. But according to UNESCO’s endangered languages programme, half of the 6000 languages spoken today, will be lost by the end of the century.

Academics and NGO representatives listen to a panel of experts discussing Indigenous Peoples’ rights to languages and cultures.

Last month I attended the Expert Seminar on Indigenous Peoples’ Language and Cultures at Brunel University. Javier Sanchez, one of the speakers and Director of the National Institute for Indigenous Languages in Mexico, asked participants to imagine how they would feel if they woke up tomorrow and were told that they were not able to use the language they had learned from their parents. This is a situation affecting thousands of indigenous people daily and will inevitably exacerbate UNESCO’s predictions. Is this not a cultural disaster equal to the dynamiting of the Buddhas of Bamiyan?

In my last blog I discussed the importance of preserving and promoting cultural rights (including linguistic rights) and the inseparability of these with land rights. I finished by noting how the African Commission of Human and Peoples’ Rights ruled in favour of the indigenous Endorois in Kenyabased on cultural integrity, but how the definition of this term did not include peoples’ right to language. Language and culture are obviously interlinked, but at the seminar Dr Mark Harris of Adelaide University highlighted that they must be seen as individual rights. In some cases of Aboriginal land rights in Australia, land claims are embedded in language and the lack of indigenous languages has led to restrictions on land rights.

An Ampilatwatja elder sets up camp in the bush to demand their rights to land and self-determination. Credit: Rusty Stewart

This is a recurring issue throughout the seminar. Language rights are important, we were sitting in a room full of people who understood this importance, but not everybody does. Referring to my previous question regarding whether the loss of language is akin to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, the lack of public concern on this issue would suggest not. There is both opposition to and, more dangerously, widespread apathy towards indigenous languages. It is possible that we will be able to preserve them (in the history books) but promoting them will be much more difficult. What is the incentive?

Indigenous languages are important, but are they useful? Major world languages are useful; of the UN’s 6 working languages, French is the international language, English is the international language of business and Chinese is hot on its heels whilst Spanish, Arabic and Russian are spoken across many states. There is a real incentive to spend a lot of time and effort learning these languages. At the seminar it was addressed that learning an indigenous language as either a second language or alongside a first helps the learning of third, fourth and fifth languages, but still, this might seem an unnecessary hurdle to someone who wants to learn a language as a gateway to opportunity. The problem of incentive is not limited to non-indigenous people. In Norway, perhaps through past forced assimilation but nevertheless, the Saami are integrated into Norwegian society, in the main speak Norwegian as their first language and feel they have no need to learn Saami. They lack incentive.

When I introduced this question of incentive at the seminar Dr Harris suggested that it was simply a question of securing the right for indigenous communities to learn- or not to learn- their mother tongue and for wider society to recognize this right.  Incentive to choose to learn as opposed to not learn came in the form of responsibility. At the heart of the matter this is true. It does come down to a sense of pride in one’s language and responsibility to promote its longevity. But is this enough? People have a responsibility to throw litter in the bin in order to protect and promote the visual appeal of their environment, but not everybody does. Responsibility can be a strong incentive and can be used to persuade people to act in a certain way- look at Mao’s China- but in terms of learning a language and the considerable dedication involved, I’m not sure it’s enough (definitely not outside of indigenous communities) to learn an indigenous language.

Javier Sanchez gave a more optimistic answer to the question of incentive. He recounted how there used to be no incentive to learn one of Mexico’s 364 linguistic variants. However since a change in legislation to promote indigenous languages in 1993 there are now intercultural universities, indigenous media broadcasts and the use of indigenous language in civic and public life. Perhaps this is the incentive people need both within and outside of indigenous communities. If, for example court hearings were heard in Saami, then there would be demand for Saami speaking lawyers. If there were Innu TV channels then there would be demand for Innu-aimun speaking presenters. Dr Sheila Aikmen of the University of East Anglia also suggested that bilingual education, which is fairly widespread, should be available to all, not just indigenous peoples, as this in itself can be marginalizing.

The Expert Seminar and work of the Expert Mechanism are indications that the cultural and linguistic rights of indigenous peoples need to become more prominent. In my view, incentive is the key and it is slowly emerging. A new law is going through the motions in Ukraine that would allow court cases to be heard in minority languages, such as Crimean-Tatar; this is just one example cited in this year’s ‘State of the World’s Minorities and Indigenous Peoples’ to be launched in June. Destruction of language is in large a passive process towards an intangible culture. Bringing the issue to the international stage is an optimistic beginning but there is a long way to go before it is seen in the same way as active destruction of tangible culture.

Enough is enough. Hate speech and discriminatory policies lead to harassment.

MRG Communications intern Claudia Santoro gets hot under the collar about the violent consequences of stereotyping of Italy’s Roma.

In my previous blog posts I have argued that hate speech in the media and politics is both unfair and exposes the weakness of many democracies. It should also be seen however as an alarm bell; a spark that can trigger a dangerous cycle of violence. Even so, I was shocked to learn that, following a 16 year old girl’s declaration that she was raped by two Roma men(an accusation which subsequently turned out to be false) a group of hooded men set fire to a Traveller camp near Turin.

A camp resident the day after the attack. Credit: REPUBBLICA.

According to reports, after the girl’s claim hundreds of residents of the suburb near Turin where she lives took to the streets to take part in an “anti-Roma demonstration”. A group of the demonstrators later split from the main protest and marched towards a nearby Traveller camp. After driving away the only resident who was in the camp at the time, they destroyed houses, cars, and caravans. Only when the girl admitted she had in fact not been raped but had had sexual relations with a friend and wished to hide it from her family, were the police and her brother able to stop the violence.

This tragic story not only illustrates the dangers of stereotyping certain members of society, but also exposes the harsh conditions faced by Roma communities in Italy and highlights the fact that policy for the integration of minorities has not been effective in the country.

Furthermore, it shows how biased rhetoric about Roma has a deep effect on the public perception of this maligned community. This unacceptable event is the result of discriminatory policies, expressed earlier this year by a series of evictions, and a widespread anti-Roma discourse in Italy, often multiplied in its effect by the media.

Even if just a small group of people are responsible for this attack, it clearly confirms that the Roma minority is seen as a danger by a certain part of the population.

Maybe if both government and local authorities made more responsible and effective decisions rather than just evicting Roma from their camps, people would be less worried about so-called outsiders. And perhaps if the media stopped blaming minorities for the economic crisis and for the lack of security there would also be fewer incidents. What is sure is that racism should never be allowed to raise its head in such an ugly way.

Education against hate

Claudia Santoro, MRG’s Communications intern, continues her series of blogs on discrimination against Roma in Europe and looks this time at initiatives to reverse the worrying trend of increased hostility and hate speech towards the region’s largest minority.

Hate speech used in the mayor of Milan’s electoral campaign was back in the news last week when the Council of Europe published Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg’s report about his visit to Italy.

He expressed his concern about ‘anti-Roma political discourse’, which ‘perpetuates anti-Gypsyism’ and recognised the need for political parties to establish a system of self-regulation to avoid racist behaviour. Among the interesting observations contained in the report, I strongly agree with the need to disseminate unbiased information about Roma, both to be used by journalists as background information for reporting on these issues and also to balance inaccurate coverage about Roma and Travellers, which enhances stereotypes and blocks integration with mainstream society.

Credit: Justice Directorate General of the European Commission

Unfortunately in many EU countries where an anti-Roma/Sinti discourse is present in both the media and political arenas, discrimination follows. In his report Commissioner Hammarberg recalls examples of authorities using hate speech towards minorities in Hungary, Czech Republic, Denmark and France and warns that it ‘should not be underestimated’. It can encourage violence; in the Czech Republic for instance, following the Nový Bydžov Mayor’s public statements on Roma, extremist groups attacked a demonstration of Roma communities.

In the UK, the recent events at Dale Farm, led Janet Burden, the Rabbi of the West Central Liberal Synagogue & Ealing Liberal Synagogue, to compare the current persecution of Roma, Gypsies and Irish Travellers with the discrimination ‘Jews faced in the first half of the 20th century’ and, as reported in a recent Guardian article, she also drew attention to the fact that  the language used about Roma ‘clearly echoes rhetoric of anti-Semitism’.

As Commissioner Hammarberg stated in his speech delivered at the Summit of Mayors on Roma, both media professionals and politicians ‘should avoid using stigmatising speech against the Roma and should not feed the age-old prejudices against this minority. Sweeping generalisations about Roma and Travellers, in particular concerning their involvement in crime, feed the false stereotypes’.

I think that the need to involve Roma representatives in mainstream societies’ public activities is the most powerful way to actively promote a conscientious approach towards this minority. Surely this must also include the recruitment of journalists with Roma and other ethnic backgrounds in order to contribute to a more diverse, higher standard of journalism?

Credit: Decade of Roma Inclusion

The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005–2015, aims to improve Roma’s social inclusion through targeted projects such as the Roma Education Fund, which will develop educational opportunities for Roma communities. The guide ‘Beyond Rhetoric’ includes recommendations to the European Commission based on the experience of the Open Society Foundations as well as country-specific recommendations from independent experts.

Finally, Colorful but Colorblind is a project aimed at remedying anti-Roma stereotyping through the creative use of multimedia in European Union new member states in Central and Eastern Europe. It represents one of the many significant projects necessary to generate change which benefits culture and knowledge.

These initiatives turn words into actions: the creation of opportunities rather than discriminatory rhetoric is a path to create a conscious society. Skilled young Roma can help to eradicate stereotypes, but also mainstream society has to play a role in this integration process. Are we ready to end discrimination?

Italy’s billboards of hate

Claudia Santoro, who recently spent four months as an intern with MRG’s communications team, looks at how the media affects public perception of Roma in Italy and how the Decade of Roma Inclusion is perhaps falling short of its aim to support impoverished and segregated communities.

The media has the power to turn the spotlight onto emergencies and social issues. At the same time the way it presents reality can strongly influence public opinion. In this context, the way the media portrays minorities can create a hierarchy where there are first and second-class minorities. This is certainly evident in the portrayal of Roma in Europe.

During the past months I’ve found it hard to believe how discrimination against Roma has been publicly addressed in Italy. In May, during the campaign for the election of the mayor of Milan, members of the People of Freedom Party and the anti-immigration Northern League, the parties that retain the majority in the government, created huge billboards with explicit racist attacks targeted against Roma.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi stated on his party website, ‘If Pisapia [the opposition’s candidate] wins, Milan will became a Gypsyville of Roma camps’ and ‘Milan cannot turn into a zingaropoli [Gypsytown].’

A xenophobic billboard used during the election campaign for the Mayor of Milan. Credit: REPUBBLICA

The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Thomas Hammarberg, who was visiting Italy during the political campaign , said he was ‘shocked by the use of xenophobic messages against Romas.’ This statement must be welcomed, but my question is: how long it is going to take to repair the damage caused by the hate speech contained in those billboards?

Just a few weeks before, in Rome, many communities had been evicted from unauthorised settlements in the suburbs of the capital city. These actions affected pregnant women and many children and made some 700 Roma people homeless. But by that time, the arrival of large numbers of migrants from North Africa to the southern island of Lampedusa created a bigger emergency and eventually diverted media attention away from the Roma evictions.

Roma live in very difficult conditions in Italy, and continue to be targeted by the national and local media. The typical “us vs. them” dichotomy dominates the national press as well as in everyday speech. This extends to stereotypes, where Roma are described as ‘dirty’, ‘dishonest’, ‘superstitious’. The Italian media portrayal of migrants forced the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to launch an appeal to create guidelines for journalists reporting about immigrants and asylum seekers. Following this request, the National Council of Journalists’ Association and the Italian National Press Federation established a code of conduct for journalists reporting about migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Recently, the Centro d’ascolto dell’informazione radiotelevisiva, a monitoring body on broadcast information, presented a comprehensive analysis that looked at thousands of cases, both in TV and radio, and confirmed the concerns of minority rights activists of the constant connection made in the media between crime and Roma citizens. The findings of the project were presented in Rome, and the vice president of the Italian Senate, Emma Bonino, stated that it is necessary to create a monitoring body on information and media at a European level.

Indeed, Roma live in dangerous conditions all over Europe. The Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005-2015 is a Europe-wide initiative to help impoverished and segregated Roma communities. European leaders are buoyant about the progress made in the inclusion of Roma, however there are many dissenting voices. Gelu Duminica, executive director of the Impreuna Agency for Community Development, a Roma organization based in Bucharest, believes the decade is a failure, because of the scarce effects of the initiatives promoted in EU member states. In the Balkan Insight article, journalist Nikoleta Popkostadinova calls on European states to put words into action on the ground. The strategy, which has the slogan “Nothing for Roma without Roma”, does not involve enough Roma communities, he says. Adam Ademi, who works at the Decade of Roma Inclusion’s Secretariat in Budapest, believes that ‘many believe that the Decade Action Plans are mainly focused to reach already involved and already aware citizens.’

I think projects for Roma integration should also address the mainstream society, in order to remove barriers that block inclusion. Certainly, the lack of integration of Roma in Europe is not only caused by inaccurate reporting, but also, and principally by the (lack of) policies to address these issues.

Protection of minorities is a condition for joining the European Union, but unfortunately member states are not really setting a good example. They are happy to consider Roma issues as a European issue when it involves integration (so that national governments can wash their hands of the problem), but when it involves expulsion they will argue it is a national issue, preventing any effective regional action.

Bosnia football ban to level the playing field for minorities? (Part 2)

Part 2 of a blog from Michelle Chan, who interns with MRG’s Legal Cases Programme, on UEFA’s controversial decision to ban Bosnia from international football. See Part 1

UEFA has announced that Bosnia will be banned from international football competitions as of 1 April 2011, due to the refusal of the national football federation (NSFBiH) to change its ethnic-based tripartite system, which mirrors the state system by rotating the presidency between a Serb, Croat and ethnic Muslim. A bold move against a promising team, with little control over the state-wide division of powers borne from the Dayton Peace Agreement, which ended the brutal conflict in 1995.

“[A]gainst having one president of anything in Bosnia, even a beekeeper’s association,” remarked Milorad Dodik, president of the Bosnian Serb region, to reporters after the announcement.

But Bosnia has made significant developments since 1995, joining the Council of Europe in 2002 and ratifying the European Convention of Human Rights and its Protocol without reservation, thus voluntarily agreeing to meet relevant standards including non-discrimination.

In 2008, Bosnia ratified the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the European Union, committing itself to “amend electoral legislation regarding members of [its] Presidency” within one to two years. The European Court of Human Rights in a 2009 judgment points out these developments, suggesting that although the time may not be ripe for single majority rule in Bosnia, alternatives exist to make the system less discriminatory.

Reactions from football fans and commentators have been mixed: some remarking that football bodies should stay out of state politics, while others lament the corruption perceived to dominate the leadership of the NSFBiH.

It seems until some progress can be made towards alleviating Bosnia’s discriminatory power-sharing mechanisms, everybody loses. As coach, Ivica Osim told Bosnian media: “Only in football have we been able to attain a European level but unfortunately, everything else that’s wrong in the country has caught up with the game.”

Kicked out? Football fights discrimination in Bosnia (Part 1)

Michelle Chan, an intern with MRG’s Legal Cases Programme, wishes the Council of Europe could take ethnic-based politics in Bosnia as seriously as UEFA. See Part 2.

The 2-1 win for Bosnia against Romania on 26 March in the Euro 2012 qualifiers may be the last match Bosnian football fans see unless the Football Federation of Bosnia (NSFBiH) ends their discriminatory presidential system, according to UEFA, football’s governing body in Europe.

Although the NSFBiH’s system of leadership mirrors that of the country’s government, a similar threat to the state system is non-existent. Both systems restrict candidacy for the Presidency to a Serb, Croat and ethnic Muslim – the state’s ‘Constituent Peoples’ – and require that each serve a Presidential term of 18 months on a rotating basis. Bosnia’s national minorities – referred to as ‘Others’ – are therefore excluded, including Roma and Jews, who have lived in Bosnia for centuries, and those who choose not to identify as a Constituent People.

UEFA’s warning to suspend Bosnia from football as from 1 April 2011 for refusing to change this discriminatory practice is a noble move to preserve the sport’s values, including zero-tolerance of racism and the prohibition of discrimination of any kind, as reflected in article 3 of the FIFA Statute.

At the state level, however, the Bosnian parliament faces no such pressures, and has rejected proposals to remove the discriminatory constitutional provisions. This is in spite of a groundbreaking ruling in December 2009 by the European Court of Human Rights secured by MRG in favour of Dervo Sedjic and Jakob Finci, Bosnian citizens of Roma and Jewish ethnicity respectively, who are barred from standing for President or a member of the House of Peoples (part of Bosnia’s Parliament), as a result of their ethnicity/religion.

In April 2010, the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly drew attention to the urgent need for constitutional reform in Bosnia through its Resolution 1725 to prevent further discrimination in the October 2010 general elections. Regrettably, no political consensus has been reached on the amendments to date, as the Council’s Committee of Ministers have noted with concern.

But what the Council of Europe has failed to do is take UEFA’s laudable stance of zero-tolerance. It could in theory exercise similar powers to suspend Member States from their rights to representation on the Consultative Assembly (article 8 of the Council’s Statute). Just as the late goal by Edin Dzeko gave Bosnia the win over Romania, maybe UEFA’s threat to suspend Bosnia is the much needed kick to bring about an end to ethnic-based politics in Bosnia.

Join the walking tour – discovering multi-ethnic Budapest on foot (Part 3)

Kit Dorey who interns in MRG’s Europe office, Budapest, shares his experience from one of the activities organized to mark Action Against Racism week. See Part 1 and Part 2.

March 23rd: Downtown and the Jewish Quarter
A Tour of the Jewish Quarter would not make sense without stopping outside the Grand Synagogue of Dohany utca, which is where we met today. Now the setting for the Hungarian Jewish Museum and the Raoul Wallenberg Holocaust Memorial Park, it was built as the centre of Neolog Judaism. This is a form of Judaism that began in the late 19th Century as a response to the modernism of the period, and as a foil to the predominately Orthodox population. In fact, thanks to Zoltan’s expert knowledge of the area, we were able to see for ourselves the development of Jewish theology in the city, represented by the variety of synagogues serving different religious branches.

Firstly, we were lucky to be allowed to investigate the Orthodox Jewish compound on Dob utca, hidden from the main street and equipped with kosher butcher, yeshiva (Jewish school) and place of worship.

We also went to see the remains of the synagogue that lies on Rumbach utca. This particular synagogue was built as a place for those who did not want to follow the stricter rules of Orthodoxy, but also did not appreciate the modernity of the Neologs, perhaps taking a position comparable to the one that Anglicans and Episcopalians take in relation to Catholics and Lutherans. This building, pictured here, has an especially emotive significance, as it was used to collect the Hungarian Jews before they were taken to concentration camps in May 1944. Nowadays, robbed of all its fittings, it stands empty and unused.

Synagogue on Rumbach street

As Zoltan told us at the beginning of the tour, the existence of the so-called “Jewish Quarter” is owed to the laws of the time when Jews began to settle on the other side of the river from the Castle District. The city walls of Pest stood all the way until the middle of the 19th Century, and no Jew was allowed to traverse them. When the walls were taken down, the rules of settlement became less strict, but already by this time there was a thriving community in the seventh district that was happy where it was. Even today, as a greater number of people (descendants of Hungarian Jewish émigrés) return to the city, they tend to repopulate the same area in which their ancestors lived. After visiting four synagogues, three of which still operate and host thriving congregations, it is a validating experience to see how Jewish culture and religion continue to shape the atmosphere of this district to such a large extent.

Romanian Orthodox Church, Budapest

After leaving the old Jewish Quarter, we made our way downtown, towards the Danube River, where we set about exploring the history of the various strands of Orthodox Christianity, which came with the centuries-old settlement of an assortment of national minorities. We started with the Romanian Orthodox Church on Hollo utca, where Zoltan’s contact, Father David (pictured with Zoltan here), met us to talk about his congregation and the history of the building. The church is hidden in what looks from the outside like a regular apartment building, so it was extremely strange to pass through the gate and be faced with nuns and icons. Father David told us that he regularly gets a congregation of around 200, who come from all around the city, and it was refreshing to hear that the political antagonism that sometimes appears between Romania and Hungary had not transferred itself into relations with his community.

Our next stop was the Greek Orthodox Church, only a couple of streets away, to meet Father Kirill. The Greek Orthodox Church is an extremely grand affair: the front wall of the nave is absolutely covered in beautifully painted icons and towers above decorated lecterns. The Greeks, as Father Kirill pointed out to us, have a very long history of settlement in Hungary, and there are many Hungarians around today who can claim Greek ancestry.

However, the history of Greek settlement in Hungary is not quite as long as the history the Serbs, which dates back to the Middle Ages, as we learnt when we met Borislav Rusz, from the Centre for Serbian Minority Self-Government, at the Serbian Orthodox Church. The largest number of Serb immigrants arrived in 1690, after the Hapsburgs took control of this territory. After the arrival of about 40,000 families, for a short while Serbs were the ethnic majority in Buda, Pecs, Szeged and Sezentendre, and many of these families stayed in order to integrate with the local Hungarian population. Although the numbers are not as high as they once were, Serbians still have a long and dignified history of settlement in and relations with Hungary and, ever since 1993, when the Minority Act of the Hungarian Constitution recognized the Serbs as one of the 13 official national and ethnic minorities of Hungary, the Serbs (along with the Greeks and Romanians) have shared rights to a certain level of independent governance and cultural autonomy. This autonomy has ensured the survival of their traditions to the current day.

Serbian Orthodox Church, Budapest

However, a serious point came out of Borislav’s words. The new government of Hungary is set to reevaluate the constitutional protection of the relative independence of minority groups. No one is yet sure what will come out of these discussions, but there is a concern that they will impinge on the historical freedom of many of the minority citizens of Hungary, including the Romanian, Greek and Serbian communities we have been privileged to investigate today. For all those that understand the significance and value of diversity in political life, let us hope that whatever comes out of these talks does not impinge too heavily on the national and ethnic minorities, of all kinds, that live in Hungary today.

This was the last of our guided tours to mark the EU Action-Week Against Racism. For all those who live in Budapest, please take the time to view these places for yourself, as well as other parts of the city we have not been able to visit. For all those who live outside Budapest, I would encourage you to discover the history of minority communities in your own country and to explore both their historical traces and their present situation.

These tours were developed and delivered by Minority Rights Group, Szubjektív Értékek Alapítvány and Rockhoppers. Please view www.rockhoppers.hu if you are interested in exploring minority Budapest further.

Join the walking tour – discovering multi-ethnic Budapest on foot (Part 2)

Kit Dorey who interns in MRG’s Europe office, Budapest, shares his experience from one of the activities organized to mark this week. See Part 1.

March 20th: The 8th District
The overlooked 8th District was our destination for the second of our guided tours celebrating minority Budapest, for the EU Action Week Against Racism. Overlooked because it is mistakenly presumed by many (tourist and Hungarian alike) to be not worth visiting and devoid of historical interest. The aim of our tour today was to demonstrate that this is simply not the case and, in addition, to meet, in person, representatives of the most numerous minority populations in this region of the city.

Our tour guide Zoltan Nagy

A sizeable group met at ten o’clock this morning, at Blaha Lujza square, the square that was the destination of many of the immigrant populations that began to arrive after 1989, including those from Africa and East Asia. We began by heading straight into the heart of the 8th district, going directly to Köztársaság square, the scene of uprisings in 1956, and the historical setting of a thriving Jewish community, the synagogues of which were dismantled long ago. One of the most tragic aspects of the 8th district is how few synagogues actually remain, in an area that used to host several in each locale. The open space that exists now does not provide much evidence of the thriving markets and settlement blocks that used to fill it up.

It was in this setting that we stopped to talk to Bela Radics, who had accompanied us for the first part of the tour. Bela is an independent Roma rights activist, who took the time to tell us all about the victimisation of his community. The majority of the Roma population in Budapest live in the 8th district, and it is not wholly a coincidence that this is the area of the city that gets the least attention from authorities when it comes to development. Bela spoke to us about the persistent lack of political representation and opportunities that continue to affect the Roma. It was a great opportunity to question an experienced activist in the field of Roma rights, and it was a stark reminder of the difficulties facing the largest minority group in Hungary.

The alter of one of the synagogues we visited

Another excellent opportunity for a face to face discussion was provided by Zoltan, as we were taken to see the synagogue on Teleki square. In contrast to grand synagogue that lies in the centre of the capital, this one was located in a converted apartment within a residential block. Set up at the beginning of the 20th Century by Jewish communities emigrating from Ukraine, Poland and Russia, the decor has not changed since then. The beautiful old benches, books and altars were breathtaking, and, after the men donned their skullcaps, we were able to sit in the pews as our host, Gabor, told us about the history of this place of worship and the revival of Jewish identity in recent years.

We then made our way further away from the city centre, paying attention to the examples of art nouveau on the walls of the buildings that we passed. Our tour culminated with the Józsefváros Market, also called the Chinese market for the high proportion of Chinese-Hungarian shopkeepers there. In clear view of the Chinese University of Budapest, the market is the business place of Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Turkish, Arabic and Roma stall-owners, and is one of the best places to go if you want an overview of the minority and immigrant populations of the city. It is a great shame that it exists so far away from the administrative centre of Budapest and the life of most of the citizens, but an excellent place to stop for some noodle-soup, which is exactly what many of us did as soon as we reached the end of our excursion.

In contrast to yesterday’s tour, which was a valuable insight into the historical influence of minority communities, today was very much about the present . The 8th district is home to a lively symbiosis of many different communities, and the tour we embarked on today showed clearly that it deserves to be seen as a precious and vital aspect of the capital, in a way that it is currently not by the general population.

Our last tour, on Wednesday, will focus on the downtown area of Pest, the home of Serbians, Roma, Romanians, Jewish and Turkish people, both past and present. These tours were developed and delivered by Minority Rights Group, Szubjektív Értékek Alapítvány, and Rockhoppers (please view www.rockhoppers.hu if you are interested in exploring minority Budapest further!).

Stay tuned for news of tomorrow’s exhibition, for “Comics Against Racism”, to be held at the EU-pont in the Millenáris after 7.00.

Kit Dorey

• Continue to Part 3

Join the walking tour – discovering multi-ethnic Budapest on foot (Part 1)

Kit Dorey who interns in MRG’s Europe office, Budapest, shares his experience from one of the activities organized to mark this week.

For this year’s European Action Week Against Racism (14th-27th March), Minority Rights Group is marking the occasion with a set of three tours that focus on the multiplicity of minority specific influences on Budapest, both throughout history and in the modern day. With the aid of the tour company, Rockhoppers, and the knowledge and experience of Zoltan Nagy, our guide, we aimed to draw attention to the many cultural, religious and international factors that have shaped this beautiful city. Marketed to both tourists and city-dwellers, the tour demonstrates even lifelong Budapestians may not realise how much diversity has enriched their environment and continues to do so today.

March 19th: The Castle District and the Upper Thermal Springs- We began our series of tours, fittingly, with the 1st district, also known as the Castle District. Those who were not put off by the slightly unfortunate weather were not to be disappointed, as we meandered our way through the ancient streets.

The Castle has become a symbol for Hungarian independence and identity, built in the 14th Century, rebuilt many times, reclaimed from the Ottomans in 1669 and surviving 31 armed assaults on its walls. Those with a narrow view of what it means to be truly “Hungarian” could well underplay the influence of minority communities in this part of the city. In fact, from the first, Zoltan made it clear how misrepresentative this impression is. Even the magnificent Church of St. Matthias spent the Ottoman occupation as a mosque, a balcony being built around it so that the muezzin could call people to prayer.

The clear dividing lines within this relatively small area have existed for a very long time. A good example of this is the disparity between the two main places of prayer, St. Matthias and The Church of Mary Magdalene (pictured left), only a short walk from each other. Before Ottoman rule, the congregations were split into German and Hungarian worshippers; afterwards, between Muslim and Christian. Similarly, we were able to stand at the intersection of two perpendicular streets that were designated for the “Germans” and “Italians”, ensuring their separation in domestic life.

The presence of ancient Jewish populations is also surprising for those who presume that the first populations lived downtown, on the other side of the river: in fact, the earliest Jewish settlers, in the 11th Century, lived on the hill that was to become the Castle. Evicted from Budapest in 1360, the (probably quite sheepish) King Louis was forced to officially invite them back a few years later, due to economic turmoil. Evidence of their history there can be seen from the remains of an ancient synagogue, one of the walls of which are still visible on the north eastern side.

Other bits of information, which cannot be gleaned from simply walking through the area, include the fact that the long-standing Hilton hotel was a Franciscan monastery and a Turkish stable in past lives, a fact only in evidence externally from a section of wall on the left hand side of the entrance.

We finished our tour by leaving the castle and travelling down the hill towards the Upper Thermal Springs: the Ottomans left several of the extant baths behind as their legacy, one of which you can see pictured here. The focus of the tour really made it clear, in the most historically preserved part of the Budapest, how much minority populations (especially the Jewish, Italian, German and Turkish settlers) have built the city and contributed to its rich historical background.

Tomorrow, we will travel to one of the least explored parts of the city, the 8th District, to examine the influence of the Roma, Chinese, the Jewish and many others. These tours were developed and delivered by Minority Rights Group (www.minorityrights.org), Szubjektív Értékek Alapítvány (www.szubjektiv.org), and Rockhoppers (please view www.rockhoppers.hu if you are interested in exploring minority Budapest further!).

Kit Dorey

• Continue to Part 2