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Hungary has always been a destination for immigrants. After World War II, a weird thing happened -- most of our immigrants turned out to be Hungarians. This was because at that time Hungary lost the bigger part of its territory with the Trianon Peace Treaty. Many Hungarians from behind the new frontiers came back to their country.
In Central Europe, and especially in Hungary, the political notions of “right” and “left” have lost their original meanings. Now, the right wing is made up of populists united only by their hatred of the left. The left has little more to offer.
I think people hate and kill each other simply because they do not know each other. The root of ethnic hatred is always a lack of understanding. Palestinians accuse Jews of committing many wrongs, and vice versa. I am sure that if a Jew and a Palestinian had to work together to achieve something they both required and could not do so effectively without the other, they would quickly grow to empathize with each other.
This is the 40th piece I have written for PostGlobal, so to celebrate my own small anniversary, I am happy to discuss the Old Continent. We Hungarians have had a difficult time placing ourselves within Europe, particularly joining the European Union – a club originally formed by so-called “Western” states. Hungary spent much of the last century in the “Eastern Bloc” – the Soviet hemisphere, which is no more.
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