[lg policy] Hungarians in Slovakia to demonstrate against controversial language law

[Harold Schiffman]

 Forwarded From:
http://www.eblul.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=1


Hungarians in Slovakia to demonstrate against controversial language law

Wednesday, 19 August 2009

Hungarian NGOs in Slovakia are organizing a demonstration on September
1st against the controversial Slovak language law. The organizers have
issued a statement calling on the Slovak President not to give his
assent to the law, matching the call from the Hungarian Government
that Slovakia scraps the law. The demonstration is being organised by
the Hungarian Coalition Party in partnership with Csemadok (Cultural
and Education Association of Hungarians in Slovakia), the Hungarian
Teachers Association of Slovakia, and the Association of Hungarian
Parents in Slovakia. It will be held in Dunaszerdahely (Dunajska
Streda) at 15.00.

The law, adopted by Slovakia's parliament on June 30th, declares the
Slovak language to be the country's "language of public contact" and
requires that it, and Slovak place names, be used in all public
affairs.  Local reports said the law, which goes into effect in
September, also bans use of the Hungarian language in health care and
welfare facilities unless at least 20 percent of the local population
is Hungarian. It calls for sanctioning improper use of the Slovak
language or other violations of the law with fines of up to 5,000
euros

The law has raised international outcry, the Economist magazine ran a
story with the subtitle ‘Slovakia criminalises the use of Hungarian’.
Some critics have pointed out that it harks back to the totalitarian
methods employed by States which used policies to eradicate national
minority languages. Surprisingly, it comes from a State that ratified
various treaties protecting national minorities and their languages in
order to join the EU, a NATO member, and which has only relatively
recently thrown off Soviet rule.

According to Hungarian news agency MTI, the leader of Fidesz,
Hungary's main opposition party, Viktor Orban, called the law "an
absurdity that no country dared to allow itself in the 20th century,
but which the Slovak's have allowed themselves at the end of the first
decade of the 21st!"  Hungary has also recommended that Slovak
citizens turn to relevant forums at the United Nations in the event
that they are fined on the basis of the amended act, reported SITA.

Voluntary Informers

The statement issued by the umbrella NGO, the Round Table of
Hungarians in Slovakia, highlights several problems with the law, some
of which may have quite sinister outcomes. For example, while the
"language supervision" is carried out by only two employees of the
Ministry of Culture, the law stipulates that “state authorities,
authorities of self-governments and other authorities of public
administration are […] obliged to take a proactive approach in order
to ensure compliance with the measures of this act.” The NGO points
out that, “All this can result in is selective penalization of
“inconvenient” subjects, and to create a network of voluntary
informers". They add that, “This may lead to a further deterioration
of interpersonal relationships, especially in ethnically mixed areas.
The mere fact that someone can be fined for applying his or her rights
runs counter to the fundamental principles of the rule of law and
liberal democracy.”

The Round Table also notes the political nature of the law, “The
unconcealed intent of the initiator of the legislation was primarily
to handle the linguistic situation in southern Slovakia. This is
proven, for example, by the words of Prime Minister Robert Fico on 4th
July 2009 in Devín. Mr Fico said that tightening the Law on State
language “is (...) the way to defend oneself from the dangerous
irredentism that is blown from over the Danube (River) ever more
strongly".

There are slightly over half a million ethnic Hungarians living mostly
in southern Slovakia -- on land that was once part of greater Hungary.
They made up 9.7 percent of the country's population in 2001,
according to the census taken that year.  Other national minorities,
such as the Ruthenians, Roma, Ukrainians and Germans, will also be
affected by the law. (Davyth Hicks, Brussels, 2009)

http://www.eblul.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=228&Itemid=1

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone:  (215) 898-7475
Fax:  (215) 573-2138

Email:  haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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