Hunglish.orgIt's a situation that no one in Hungary will talk about -- at least not openly and rationally: The "Gypsy problem." Can anything be done?
Written by Scott Savoie
One problem that nobody in Hungary will speak openly about is the Gypsy problem – at least not publicly.
It seems there is quite a lot of racial tension in modern Hungary. A number of so-called „hate crimes” have been perpetrated recently. I am not sure what the meaning of the expression „hate crime”: Does anybody commit a „crime of affection”?
At any rate, racially motivated crimes have taken place recently.
Cigány is sort of the N-word of this racial debate: Unspeakable, but often spoken.The word itself is probably related to the Hungarian word „szegény,” which means poor.
Poverty, of course, is at the root of the problem, with poor Roma and poor Magyar blaming each other for their poverty. And thus this mutal animosity divides this tiny nation into subfactions with divergent aims and objectives. They bicker amongst themselves about who is to blame rather than addressing the issues at hand.
There is a kind of „blame it on the Gypsies” attitude that mirrors the racial tensions of the American South.
The economy is at the heart of this division, and a vibrant economy would do wonders for Hungary’s race relations.