When you start taking away people’s dignity, that’s pretty bad. But when you deliberately pick on the weak, that’s bullying. And bullying has nothing whatsoever to do with being a good Christian. It’s about masking one’s insecurities, masking the fact that you’re far from great, or even strong.
In Hungary this is a daily thing. Everyone picks on the weak, because no one likes to be reminded of what is lacking. A nation which professes to live by Christian values – to the point of citing those same values as reasons for keeping Muslim refugees out – Hungary has always been known for its lack of compassion. In the Hungarian frame of mind, it’s only logical to pick on minorities and the marginalized, because “why didn’t they do anything to amend their situation.” Now that the “migration scare” has died down, or proven (somewhat) ineffective (whichever you prefer), prime minister Viktor Orbán and his minions needed another project to stoke the fires of fear, another group to dump on. A group which was duly found, and immediately debased to criminal status.
Hungary has never been a friend to the homeless. And instead of helping them, Hungarians tend to kick them even more when they’re down. It’s really not uncommon to hear people refer to the homeless in derogatory terms, even to the point of stating flat out that “this is actually the life they’ve chosen for themselves.” Voices of reason that try to explain why some homeless people are so reluctant to enter the shelters, explaining about the bullying, not allowing dogs, explaining about the thefts occurring, are very few and far between. I’m not talking about the comment section of any given article on the homeless, but also random comments of “what about the homeless who stink and foul up everything” underneath any article about Budapest, no matter how remotely (or not) it is related to the homeless.
Hungary’s leader, usually attacked for his lack of being in touch with the people, is for once on the same page. Orbán hates the homeless, and he will do anything to lead the great nation of Magyars to salvation, or at the very least will “rid the nation off this plague,” to quote the general attitude of the population.
Although frequently accused of dragging his feet on matters regarding the general good of the public, Orbán is swift with his actions when they involve a gross inconvenience towards anyone but himself. As of October 15, “setting up camps in public places” has officially been made illegal. If caught and the clearly homeless person was reluctant to move into a shelter, any and all belongings were immediately confiscated and either trashed or burned. Granted, the homeless may not have much, but some of these items might just be precious to them, a sweater worn when life was still good perhaps, or an item given by someone with a kind word and a smile. To you it might be trash, to the homeless person this might be their most prized possession. Not to mention that this goes against every law of humanity and – especially important in Hungary’s case – basic Christian values.
Two days after the law was made official, the first homeless person was fined 20.000HUF for loitering. The incident occurred in Gödöllő a sleepy town with a suburban railway connecting it to Budapest, famous for the summer palace of Princess Sissi, revered by Hungarians and Austrians alike, the Princess Diana of her day. 20.000HUF translates to just slightly around 60€, which most people in Western Europe can easily spend on a night out without flinching. For most Hungarians, this constitutes a small fortune. To give you an idea of what this means to a Hungarian, a public transportation fine is 16.000HUF, 8.000HUF if you pay on the spot. If you rent a one-room apartment on the HÉV line (Hungary’s suburban railway system) in Budapest, it’ll set you back 60.000HUF, 55.000HUF if you’re renting from a friend and live there without registering with authorities. The famed gratitude money doctors expect in hospitals from their patients is, according to a doctor working in a hospital, 20.000HUF. Where a homeless person is supposed to get the money for this fine, when the reason they are on the street is lack of money, is anyone’s guess.
To hear conservative and Orbán-supporting news portals tell it, the law is actually in place to help the homeless and keep them safe. Gödöllő’s mayor, György Gémesi, was extremely quick to jump on that bandwagon, to the point of staging a press conference in front of an audience, so he could sing the praises of the homeless shelters, after proclaiming that “our town is once again in the news for trivial matters, and nothing to do with the town itself.” The production also included an expert on these matters, whose sole mission it was to state how great these shelters are, paving the way for the good mayor to proudly declare a loud and proud, “I told you so.” The homeless don’t want our help, they prefer to live on the streets, has once again become the tried and tested narrative.
The main reason for Orbán to despise the homeless seems to be that they ruin his perfect image, of himself, the city he governs, and the entire country. With the EU now keeping a very firm eye on Hungarian politics and especially the misappropriation of funds, which should have gone to the poor he is now trying to punish, the homeless serve as a constant reminder that things are not as he wants them to seem. But Orbán’s method of head-in-the-sand is beginning to fail. You can’t call yourself developed when your main contribution to the world is depravity. Because forcibly removing the homeless from their spots on the streets is one thing (already a contemptible act in itself), but burning their personal stuff is beyond contempt. To you that’s just a filthy, smelly rug. But maybe, just maybe it’s the last thing that person ever had that reminded him or her if better times. The last shred of dignity. Maybe, just maybe it was the only thing in the world left to hold on to for them.
So well done, Orbán and friends, for showing us yet again what True Christianity is(n’t).
Photo: Csík-Farkas Dániel/Creative Commons