To: Mark Stevenson
Editor
Maclean’s Magazine
One Mount Pleasant Road, 11th floor
Toronto, ON M4Y 2Y5
Canada
letters@macleans.ca
December 3rd, 2013
Dear Mr. Stevenson,
RE: Hungary’s far-right turn
Anna Porter’s November 18th, 2013 article titled ”Hungary’s far-right turn” on Canada’s granting of political asylum to Hungarian writer Mr. Akos Kertesz did not provide the full context or proper explanation to Mr. Kertesz’s perceived general rejection in Hungary after receiving some of the most prestigious state awards and recognition there. In order to comprehend this issue, it remains prudent to cite the full context of Kertesz’ statement. Mr. Kertesz wrote in February 2012, ”The Hungarian is genetically subserviant”
”…But this is not an excuse for him to feel the slightest remorse for the heaviest of historical crimes, that projects everything on others, always pointing the finger on others, that he happily wallows in the sludge of dictatorship, grunts, and gorges in slop, and does not want to know that it will be slaughtered. That he can neither learn, nor work, nor does he want to, the only thing he is capable of is envy, and if there is any way (to do so), he is ready to kill the one who amounted to something by way of work, study, and innovations.”
Mr. Kertesz’ statements, and particularly the term ”genetically subservient” seems deeply offending and bizarre, given that Hungarians are known as the most rebellious nation in Central Europe, with a major uprising in each of the past three centuries. Hungarians were the first to rise against Communism in 1956, and played a leading role in demolishing communism in 1989-90. On the other hand, Hungarian discoveries and inventions, such as vitamin C, Rubik’s cube or the ball-pen called “Biro”, the more than a dozen Hungarian Nobel-prize winners, or world famous Hungarian artists, such as Liszt, Kodaly, Bartok, to name a few, are the evidence that Mr. Kertesz’s statement that “they can neither learn, nor work” is simply false. The achievements of Canadian-Hungarians also prove Mr. Kertesz wrong: the nearly 40,000 Hungarian refugees accepted by Canada in 1956-57 and their descendants become one of the most successful wave of immigrants to this country. None of them required social assistance after only two years of their arrival, instead providing numerous scientists, engineers, doctors, artists, business people and other productive citizens and nation builders to Canada.
Therefore, for Canadian-Hungarians, Mr. Kertesz’ statements are not only false but deeply offensive and unacceptable as they promote genetically-based hatred bordering racism as well as collectively label Hungarians as individuals of poor work ethic, and, by extension, willingness to kill those who are more successful than them. This is simply a falsehood, and there remain no facts to support Mr. Kertesz’ point-of-view. Although we condemn the physical attacks against Mr. Kertesz, we also condemn any racial or ethnic discrimination against any group or people. Therefore, we remain perplexed of the decision by Canada to grant asylum to Mr. Kertesz. Just imagine how the Canadian public would react if a notable Canadian writer would state similar untruths about Canadians…We would appreciate if you could publish the above viewpoint in the next issue of Maclean’s.
Thank you. Regards,
The 17 members of the BoD of the National Alliance of Hungarians in Canada (NAHC)
an umbrella organization founded by 65 Canadian-Hungarian organizations (www.kmosz.ca)