African students want #BLM in Hungary…WTF?!
OK, so it’s come to this. Politico, that political mess of a magazine that is convinced that independent journalism lies somewhere to the left of centre. Quite a way to the left of centre, if we’re being honest.
Anyway, forget the embarrassment of the BLM support demonstration in the summer, where we were treated to a glimpse of the abilities of those involved. One prominent sign was held up behind a man speaking on stage, bearing the message: BML.
Yes. Black Mives Latter. Well, for all I know and understand about the sign, mives might well latter. I have no information to the contrary.
Moving on from the problems of dyslexic demonstrators, we learn in the Politico piece that:
“For African students studying in Hungarian universities, the recent wave of protests that swept across Europe in response to the killing of George Floyd in the United States was a reminder of the uneasy position they occupy in their adopted country.”
So, it’s only here, in backward Central Europe, in the dark ages still occupied by countries like Hungary where black people are obliged to worry about the uneasy position that they occupy in society?
The woman who wrote the article, a freelance journalist based in London and Budapest, presumably didn’t notice that George Floyd was unlawfully killed not in Budapest, not even in some far-flung corner of Hungary, but rather in the United States. Isn't that a rather large mistake? I mean, we all know that he was killed in the US, not in Hungary, don't we?
So, once again, ignoring that racism exists around the globe, ignoring that we can find racists in London, and inside the USA as well, what we have to concentrate on, as Politico would have it, is that African students, invited to come and study in Hungary in
“…prestigious higher-education programs...”
“…funded by tax-payer money…”
feel uneasy as black people living in frighteningly white Hungary.
She states that the programme
“…has brought thousands of African students to the country on scholarships for the past 50 years.”
Well, isn't that a positive thing?
Still, once a liberal journalist gets the bit between their teeth, they're away, with little chance of stopping them. According to the article, we’re talking about approximately 7,200 people, but we’re informed that
“…a general lack of diversity, coupled with anti-immigrant sentiment stoked by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing government means racism is an everyday reality for many of them.”
2020. 1970. And then, of course, 1965. That was the year when the US passed a law allowing African Americans to vote and preventing racial discrimination in voting. So, Hungary has been providing tax-payer funded scholarships for almost as long as African Americans have been able to vote without suffering harassment at the ballot box. I think that reflects better on Hungary than it does on the US. And let me think back to my life in the UK. Stephen Lawrence, a black British teenager was murdered in a racially-motivated attack in Greater London in 1993. Due to general cultural attitudes to race and racism both in society and within the police, of the original five suspects, only two were convicted, and that was in 2012.
So, should we really be crowing from the rooftops that the West has defeated the scourge of racism, and all that remains is to clean it from the less socially-aware parts of society, like Hungary? Surely that can't be justified?
As we progress, it becomes clear that the author of this article has forgotten, or not bothered to think about certain important historical facts. This is revealed when the author highlights a
Fine, we get it, our society, being in the vast majority made up of Caucasians, means that it’s full of white people. That’s a fact. But, in the author’s sentence, there is an undertone of disapproval. Once again, we’re presented with the question of why we’re not more like them, over there, in the West. Further, why aren’t we trying to remedy this problem?
Once again, these people ignore the history behind us. Did we enthusiastically build an iron curtain between us and the West to stop the spread of capitalism, democracy, jeans, and go-go girls? No, I don’t think we did, did we? I think, if you check, that that was imposed upon us by the Soviets.
So, once again, forgetting your history leads you to level the standard liberal charge at us; that we are, in some way, shape, or form, responsible for the actions of those who sold us down the river.
Piss off. I reject that accusation in whichever form you choose to deliver it. What’s next, are you going to complain that the Hungarians all speak fucking Hungarian!? That accusation, that charge would, let’s face it, hold about as much water as the idea that we are somehow responsible for the lack of diversity in our own homeland.
But, this matters not, this is, after all, a journalist writing for Politico. There’s not the slightest doubt in my mind that there’s an elastic yardstick by her side, just itching to be used.
I can predict, with a good degree of certainty, that any second now we’ll hear the old chestnut relating to why Hungary doesn’t need a fence to keep illegal migrants out:
They don’t want to stay here, after all, do they? No, these people merely want to cross over our territory to get to Germany, France, the UK, and the North.
So, we’re to blame for not being diverse enough. And we’re also to blame for not having a country which would be attractive enough to encourage diversity.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Love that elastic yardstick!