Sex workers arrested are sent to “rehabilitation” centers that are basically prisons, where women are held in communal cells with no bathrooms or running water, hardly receive food or water, some are beaten and raped, and are denied Anti-retroviral drug treatment for HIV positive women.

The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers has a series of studies of the perceived results and effects of the 100% Condom Use Program according to sex workers in different countries, such as Cambodia, Thailand and Myanmar. You can also see the video the have uploaded on their Blip.tv channel Sex Workers Present, where a comprehensive video with explanations of the implications of the 100% condom use program, interviews with women who have been arrested or sent to “rehabilitation” facilities where no type of education or training is received, and how these programs that connect condom use exclusively with sex workers are not going to be able to impact HIV and STI propagation among the rest of the population. The Asia pacific Network of Sex Workers recently won the 2008 international Award for Action on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights at the International AIDS conference in Mexico City the first week of August. The organization was founded in 1994 and has been working with sex workers on health and human rights along with other organizations and groups such as Empower Thailand, Sweetly Japan, Pink Triangle Malaysia, the Scarlet Alliance Australia and Sonagachi.

The following video is named Caught between the Tiger and the Crocodile:

SciDev.Net's conference blog reports that:

“An issue widely discussed in the AIDS 2008 conference is the fact that several countries deny the entry, stay or residence of HIV-positive people because of their HIV status.

According to the publication Entry denied, published by UNAIDS in partnership with other organisations and distributed at the conference, at least 67 countries are on the list of those that deny the entry to people living with HIV/AIDS.”

Mexico, where AIDS 2008 was held, has no traveling restrictions for people with HIV/AIDS, but 65 or so other nations enforce some degree of restriction on the estimated 33 million people living with HIV globally. Seven nations, according to the European AIDS Treatment Group, impose a complete entry ban on HIV-positive people: Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Sudan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. Countries with such restrictions often argue that it helps protect public health and avoid costs associated with treating HIV-positive people from other nations.

David Cozac, who blogged about the human rights sessions at AIDS 2008, says that experts disagreed with such arguments.

“During a session on travel restrictions for people living with HIV, participants decried the fact that although there is no evidence that travel restrictions have a positive public health impact, 67 countries still have restrictions in place.”

One of the countries with such restrictions is China. Despite hopes that China would lift its HIV-related traveling restrictions before the Olympics, the country has maintained them, even during the games. Under their current regulations, tourists and short-term visitors must declare their HIV status, and those planning to stay long-term must undergo a blood test; if found to be HIV-positive, they are refused entry.

Denise Patterson, blogging from Thailand, comments on China's ban of visitors with AIDS and other health conditions during the Olympics:

” A ban on people with mental illnesses or sexually transmitted diseases? That is very amusing. If the Chinese government believes they can control every aspect of the Olympics, they are sadly mistaken…

… According to 2007 statistics, published by the World Health Organization, the HIV/AIDS rate in China is 2.9% of the population. The ‘ban' doesn't seem to be working.”

However, China may be responding to the pressure. China Daily reports that Hao Yang, deputy director of the ministry's disease control and prevention bureau, told the publication at AIDS 2008 that the two-decade-old HIV/AIDS travel ban will likely be lifted in 2009.

China may be following America's lead for change. In July U.S. President George W. Bush signed legislation to repeal the statutory ban on entry into the U.S. for HIV-positive tourists, students, and immigrants, taking the first step needed to eliminate the ban. However, for the ban to be completely lifted, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must now remove HIV from a list of diseases that prevent people from entering the U.S. HIV is currently still on the list.

Kevinf, posting on ToTheCenter.com, writes about the positive reaction to this repeal.

“Many AIDS experts and rights activists find the new legislation to be a cause for celebration. Previously, travel restrictions could cause more trouble than they prevented, causing people with HIV to lie about their condition. It was discriminatory and would also lead to many of the infected to lie.”

David Munar posts this video of Rev. Christo Greyling of World Vision International, where he discusses why such travel bans are detrimental and raises questions about the U.S. repeal.

LauraK, blogging for AIDS 2008's youth site, warns that the U.S. repeal is a major step, but not the final one.

“It is now up to the Secretary of Health to change regulations to reflect the new legislation. HIV must be taken off of the list of diseases that mean inadmissibility to the United States, but Congresswoman [Barbara] Lee is confident that this will happen soon.”

She goes on to share how such travel restrictions have impacted those with HIV, as she witnessed at an AIDS 2008 questioning period.

“One man came forward to express the sense of betrayal felt by those forced out by the restrictions, he had personal experience as a US citizen living in Canada with a partner who is HIV-positive. He still loved his country, he told the panel, but he was ashamed and angry with his government for initiating the repressive legislation that forced him to choose between his country and his partner, as well as for taking 20 years to address it.”

Photo of Red Traveling Suitcase by tofutti break on Flickr.

At least seven lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender Anglican (mostly American) organizations attended the meeting in support of “full inclusion of LGBT people in the life and ministry of the churches of the Anglican Communion”. Conservative bishops strongly disapprove of the movement and have even threatened to divide the church. According to the Economist, bishops from Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda with more traditionalist parishes refused to attend the meeting in protest.

One of the most controversial liberal figures is Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay, non-celibate, 61-year-old Episcopalian bishop of New Hampshire, USA. He was not permitted to enter the meeting, but he opened a video blog devoted to the Lambeth event, called The Gene Pool, where he offered almost daily video commentaries.

In one video, he addresses the LGBT Episcopalian community with words of hope and strength.

The bishop's video-posts are paired with a flow of comments, always engaging even when expressing different views.

One commenter, Una, says:

Thank you Gene. I am a straight believer in God's love for ALL people, irrespective of race, religion, sex, gender. I too pray that those of us who live in countries where hush-hush is the order of the day can stand with you in open honesty about who we are as Christians in our own cultures. Like you, I continue to hope, though I am not an optimist in regard to the Lambeth outcome.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has done his best to keep the church together, and not made outspoken statements in support of LGBT rights, in spite of being known to hold more liberal views. Bishop Gene Robinson takes aim at Rowan Williams' “centrist stance” in a post on his other blog Canterbury Tales from the Fringe:

The morning we left Edinburgh, the headlines in the London Times announced the publication of letters sent by +Rowan Williams several years ago, in response to a conservative evangelical, in which he says that after many years of study and prayer, he has concluded that faithful, life-long-intentioned, monogamous love between two people of the same sex is NOT prohibited by scripture — and that scripture simply does not address this new phenomenon. Precisely what I and others have been saying all along.

(…) he has steadfastly done what he has said he would do: set his own personal understandings aside and take a centrist stance “for the good of the whole Church.” This is not news, folks! But it is indeed sad.

There were many other blogs created by liberal participants at the Lambeth meeting, including the Lambeth Conference LGBT Anglican Portal, Walking with Integrity, and the Lambeth News Blog.

In a final official release about the Conference, Episcopal Life Online quotes the Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA, and a parish priest based in Los Angeles:

“…in spite of extraordinary pressure to do otherwise, the Archbishop of Canterbury has managed to achieve his stated goal of a Lambeth Conference of reflection rather than resolutions.

“The long predicted coup d'état that was going to emerge from this Lambeth Conference and vote the Americans and Canadians out of the Anglican Communion failed to materialize. There is much to be grateful for in that.”

Susan Russel also created this interesting photo album showing a great deal of grassroots activism in the Communication Centre, along with other lively behind-the-scene snapshots, during the Conference.

Photo republished from Susan Russell's Lambeth Conference Photo Blog

Acting as “a faithful witness of God's inclusive love to the Episcopal Church and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community”, Integrity USA also made effective use of citizen media in The Lambeth Witness, a daily publication from and about the Canterbury event managed by the coalition Inclusive Church Network.

Photo at top is of Caterbury Cathedral, by Sarah Hecht, republished under Creative Commons license.

Dr. Nabulo Mabaso, Deputy Medical Director of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Ithembalabantu “People's Hope” Clinic in Durban expresses his satisfaction that support for marginalized communities (sex workers, men who have sex with men, and indigeneous people) was emphasized by conference organizers. However, he explains that this focus should extend to other marginalized communities and even currently isolated nations:

“There is still limited access to treatment. For example, my neighboring country, Zimbabwe, it might be politically unstable, but there are people on the ground who are suffering and because of sanctions that are being imposed funders are not going to Zimbabwe. At the end of the day, it's the lives of individuals and I hope the theme of universal access is really put into practice”.

George Kanuma lives in Bujumbura and is an activist for the France-based association Africa Gay and is a member of ANSS (National Association for HIV-Positive and AIDS patients in Burundi). He is content with the renewed emphasis on MSM (Men having Sex with Men) and sex workers at the conference (fr):

However, in some French-speaking African countries, discrimination is still very strong, he explains (fr):

“Il y a certain pays comme le Cameroun ou le Sénégal qui criminalise encore l’homosexualité [..] Il y a des cas aussi comme au Ruanda, la présidente de l’association gay et lesbienne au Ruanda ne peut toujours pas quitté son pays, parce que la police de l’immigration a pris son passeport.”

A few countries, like Cameroon or Senegal, still criminalize homosexuality. [..] There are also cases like the one in Rwanda, where the president of the LGBT association cannot exit her country because the immigration police is still holding her passport.

The Fimizore project in Madagascar was one of the recipient of the 2008 UNAIDS Red Ribbon Award. Balou, a trans-gendered sexual worker and her colleague Jeannie, are members of the project and they both weighed in on their hope and concerns for the conference. Like Kanuma, they both emphasized the need to end marginalization of sexual workers if we want to effectively fight HIV/AIDS (mg):

“Ny fanilikilhina indrindra no manankana ny MSM sy ny TDS hikarakara ny fahasalamany […] Io moa dia eo ihany ny fomba-drazana antsika malagasy, raha ohatra hoe msm dia tsy tafiditra am-pasan-drazana. Raha amin’ny autorites dia mahafa-po fa raha amin’ny societe civile, mbola mila fivoarana.”

Marginalization is what prevents MSM (men having sex with men) and TDS ( sexual workers) from taking care of their health [..] There are also the walls of traditional Malagasy culture. For instance, if you are a MSM, you will not be allowed to enter the familial cemetery (when you pass away). The official authorities have made great strides but the civil society has still a long way to go (in ending marginalization).

Finally, marginalized communities in the fight against HIV/AIDS are not only products of cultural intolerance or political agendas. They are also the result of economic hardships or plain geographical locations. In this video, on The Hub, Dr. Phillip Njemanze, in Imo State, Nigeria, explains the struggle for HIV positive people in rural areas to monitor their immune system:

“In rural areas in Imo State, CD4 testing is non-existent. This means for 3.5 million people you have only two centers that can measure CD4 count in the whole state [..] The most important thing would be, to be able to move around with the test and go where the patients are.”

The President, elected by popular vote, nominates the Prime Minister, but that nomination must be confirmed by Parliament.  Last week, following the Chamber of Deputies (the Haitian Parliament's lower house), the Senate finally voted in favor of Ms. Pierre-Louis's nomination, after President Préval's first two choices had failed to pass muster.

Ms. Pierre-Louis is founder and current Executive Director of FOKAL, a non-profit funded in part by the Soros foundation that works for economic empowerment.  Kiskeyacity author Alice Backer says Ms. Pierre Louis-'s nomination was welcomed by those “tired of Haitian-style, male-dominated politics as usual.”

Not everyone was ready for such a change.

Jocelyn McCalla, former Executive Director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights, summarizes the attacks against Ms. Pierre-Louis on her blog, JMC Strategies:

Préval’s opponents have seized on the nomination — and the Haitian President’s intriguing silence since then — to launch a full-scale assault on Pierre-Louis’ sexual orientation, moral core and fitness for the position. Blows below the belt have been the norm rather than the exception. They have not questioned her qualifications, reviewed, analyzed and critiqued her record. Innuendos, half-truths, convoluted associations are the tools they have used. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who torpedoed Senator John Kerry’s 2004 bid for the US presidency could learn one thing or two from this band of losers who feed on popular misconceptions and exploit the functional illiteracy that plagues even Haiti’s so-called elite.

In Martinique, le blog de [moi], noting that “this is apparently the first time that a question of a candidate's ‘morality' became obstacle to his or her nomination” [Fr] writes:

Dans un premier temps, l’annonce du choix de l’économiste Michèle Pierre-Louis, fin juin, a donc été vue d’un bon oeil tant son implication dans la société civile semble faire d’elle un personnage incontournable de l’île. L’espoir de voir Haïti se sortir de cette énième crise politique n’était pas loin mais c’était sans compter sur certaines rumeurs…

Malversations ? Meurtres ? Corruption ? Proxénétisme ? Trafic de drogue ? Trafic d’organes ? Trafic d’êtres humains ? Que nenni… Elle vivrait avec une femme se murmure-t-il. Je décode ? Elle serait lesbienne homosexuelle. Un crime ? Non, pire: un pêché.

WK, a reader, responds:

M’enfin il ne faut pas voir la lez partout. :-P Je pense que c’est simplement l’équation femme de pouvoir=lesbienne.

One blogger had a slightly different take on morality's role in selecting politicians.   Joseph Gerald Bataille, Jr. seems to suggest that questions about Ms. Pierre-Louis's private life were fair game, noting that “elected and appointed officials are subject to an assessment of qualification and personal morality (according to the constitution)” even though there is “absolutely zero evidence” of morality in the Haitian government.

So why all the ruckus now with all of the corruption that already exists in our government? Well, several years ago, Mme. Pierre-Louis allegedly had an affair, cheating on her husband with a woman. When confronted by her husband, she allegedly left him, choosing to break her marriage vow to continue her relationship with this woman. This treads on cultural and moral taboos that, in Haiti, go beyond the church.

I don’t believe that Haiti has ever seen such a fight for the personal morality of an official, but I believe that this battle opened the door wide for people to start really considering it. It will become a big issue in the next election, provoking the people to discuss all kinds of political and moral corruption.

Pierre-Louis's confirmation a victory for gay rights?  Women?

Alice Backer decribes an outpouring of support online for Ms. Pierre-Louis among Haitian in the Diaspora, including a Facebook group, Soutenir Michèle Pierre-Louis, which organized a petition.

She reminds readers that Ms. Pierre-Louis is not “out,” and may or may not even be a lesbian.  “My contacts in Haiti who support her feel like her private life is just that and should not be a factor here. If anything, this is a confirmation of the prized values of privacy and discretion in the national psyche rather than an explicit gay rights victory.”  In other words, don't ask don't tell.  Ms. Pierre-Louis's confirmation is less a victory against sexual discrimination or for gay rights, but rather a “triumph of discretion.”

Jocelyn McCalla was dismayed by one petition's attempt to make Ms. Pierre-Louis's confirmation a question of gender discrimination.  She notes that Haiti has had two prominent woman leaders since 1990, Ertha Pascal Trouillot, a Haitian Supreme Court Judge who led the interim government that organized the elections before Aristide's first presidency, and Claudette Werleigh, Prime Minister for four months from 1995 to 1996:

I tried to frame the debate in human rights terms and so urged the petitioners to do so: everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or preference is entitled to seek higher office and to serve their country to the best of their ability. But that did not go down well with the petitioners who chose to frame it in terms of sexual discrimination, i.e. that a woman was being denied the opportunity to lead a government because she was, simply put, a woman. In other words, they chose to walk away from the opportunity to elevate the debate, and bring along the mostly disenfranchised Haitians who suffer from the instability of a political vacuum that is taking its toll on impoverished Haiti.

Guy S. Antoine agrees:

You are right. I don’t think that this is a case of misogyny or sexual discrimination. It’s sheer idiocy. On second thought, if it is not, then it must surely be calculated idiocy with the aim of masking ultra-reactionary impulses that seek to counter her life record of service to the disenfranchised or to settle accounts (read, inflict payback) for her political militancy in a recent past. Those who foolishly want to raise the issue of her sexual orientation should remember that Biblical texts also condemn adultery in no uncertain terms. On that score, how many presidents or prime ministers in our history would have been able to claim those pious moral standards? Would we still be looking in this third century since 1804 for the founders of a nation still to come to grips with the notion that somehow you must crawl before you can run (or even take baby steps).

Many bloggers made some allusion to the fact that while many were busy pouring over the details of Ms. Pierre-Louis's private life, the office of prime minister had remained vacant for months, all while Haiti was facing far more urgent issues than a public official's sexual orientation.  JMC Strategies writes:

Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported last week that tons of food aid sent urgently to Haiti a few months ago have yet to reach the poor. Haiti’s allies, fearing the worst after riots spread throughout Haiti last March and caused the government’s fall had supplied the relief assistance. Thus the food deficit remains as much a problem today as it was several months ago. Why hasn’t the country been aflame with riots? The answer may be in the fact that people are filling up their bellies with clay or mud pies. The manufacture and sale of this meal has emerged as one of the most profitable business venture in recent history (see this story in the Guardian).

Should Pierre-Louis become Prime Minister, she will have quite a lot on her plate.

Image of Michèle Pierre-Louis copyright Tequila Minsky 2008. Used with permission

SciDev.Net's blog points out that:

“In the 1980s, when the HIV was identified for the first time, the prevalence of the HIV/AIDS among homosexuals was so high that the disease was called ‘the gay plague.' The scenario changed, and it showed that the virus and the disease can be - how to say – ‘democratic' (!), affecting straight men, women and children.

However, scientific data have been showing that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among ‘men who have sex with men' (MSM) is becoming higher and higher.”

The issue of protecting MSM was brought up by various officials at the opening session of the conference, including leaders from the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and the presidents of Mexico, Botswana, and St. Kitts and Nevis.

It was further reinforced by a report released at the conference by amfAR (American Foundation for AIDS Research). The study shows that globally MSM are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population. In Latin America, where the conference is taking place, MSM are 33 times more likely to be infected than the general population, but programs targeting MSM receive less than 1 percent of total HIV/AIDS spending.

The report also found that data on MSM is scarce. Of the 128 countries examined, 44 percent failed to provide any data at all on gay and bisexual men.

Walt Senterfitt, blogging on aids2008.com, speculates about why there's a lack of information.

“A major reason for our lack of knowledge is the same reason why gay men and other MSM are systematically ignored or downplayed in HIV prevention messages and funding and why gay men are subject to arrest, imprisonment, beatings and death in many parts of the globe: Homophobia, stigma, discrimination.

Peter Piot [UNAIDS Executive Director] highlighted the public information campaigns of the Mexican government health department against homophobia as noteworthy exceptions to most government's either ignoring homophobia or actively promoting it.”

Gus Cairns, also blogging on aids2008.com, shares his hopes for how this conference could impact MSM.

“I hoped this conference would be a turning point in the recognition of gay men/MSM in the countries where we officially don’t exist, or are jailed or beaten up or are just plain to scared to be open.

And I very much hope it will, but it’s going to be a struggle. I was reading Elizabeth Pisani’s book The Wisdom of Whores on the way over and she has a lot of things so say about how the world adopted an ‘AIDS affects everyone' ideology because it was too scary and inconvenient to get politicians to do nice things for the people really affected, namely their ‘vulnerable communities’ or (and I’ll go along with Elizabeth in using the terms that don’t appear in policy pronouncements) their fags, junkies and whores.”

Hope was one of the themes at the first International March against Stigma, Discrimination and Homophobia, which occurred the day before the conference's kickoff to protest discrimination against those with HIV and to highlight homophobia.

Si Soy Gay describes the march:

“Thousands of people marched against Homophobia, beginning at the Angel of Independence on Paseo de la Reforma Avenue in Mexico City’s gay business and continued down Reforma and ended at the Zocala, in front of the México’s Presidential Palace. This was truly an International march because there were people from all over the world: USA, Central and South America, England, Europe, Asia and Africa.”

Charles Long posts this video of the march.

Gus Cairns says that even though great challenges lie ahead in combating HIV/AIDS among MSM globally, the march gave him hope.

“Just to see the banners on the Mexico march — ranging from the ones saying ‘homophobia is a public health problem’ to the handwritten one carried by a middle aged lady that said, in Spanish and English, ‘I’m proud of my gay son,' — gives me hope that the thing some of us have been most scared of and yet hoped for most: a re-gaying of the struggle against HIV, but this time drawing in the energies of gay men/MSM from around the world, may be starting to happen.”

Walt Senterfitt also posts reflections on the march.

“It reminds me that we have the power to fight homophobia around the world, if we mobilize, and link with all the other struggles for social justice that are also at the root of ending AIDS.”

Photo of AIDS Ribbon on Sidewalk by new1mproved on Flickr.

-When did you start writing for Global Voices?
I joined GV in April 2007, after meeting Boris Anthony [the original designer of the GV website] in Tokyo who told me that the site needed authors to cover the Japanese blogosphere and so I started writing about it. A couple of months later, I decided to start translating Global Voices content in Japanese as well, and now we are a team of 4-regular translators that make the Japanese Lingua site possible.

The last year and a half at Global Voices has been totally crazy. Things just happened. I arrived at the Summit in Budapest not knowing what to expect and all of a sudden I found myself in the middle of all these crazy people. It was probably the strangest experience I've ever had, in a very positive way. For example, I had never met anybody from Macedonia, or from Kazakhstan, or from many other places. I have lots of things to digest.

-What has been your most memorable blogging experience with GV?
A year ago I wrote a post about the Tokyo pride parade and a few of the bloggers that I quoted discovered each other's blogs thanks to the post. Also, a Chinese gay person left a comment in one of the blogs I quoted saying how great it was that there was a pride parade in Tokyo because in China that wouldn't be possible, and I thought it was really nice that these two people from different countries connected thanks to the post on Global Voices. Later on, I also got an email from one of the blogs I quoted saying that he was going to publish a book titled “Coming out letters”, a compilation of letters exchanged between LGTB students and their teachers and parents, and I wrote about it on Global Voices.

-How would you describe the Japanese blogosphere?
It's divided into very small independent blogospheres, for example the LGTB community which is very strong and even organizes meetings and off-line events. Or the tech community, the political community, etc. But the thing is that these blogospheres are not connected. The Japanese blogosphere is very big, probably the largest in the world, but at the end of the day is just a collection of smaller blogospheres.

There was an article in the Washington Post a few months ago titled Humble giants on the web,which was saying that although the Japanese blogosphere is the largest in the world according to Technorati, blogs are basically personal diaries -the ones that talk about what the authors ate, who they went out with, etc. But that's not really true because if you speak Japanese and search blogs on any topic you'll find a really active blogosphere. There's a sterotype about Japanese people being apolitical, not caring about anything, but that's not true in the blogosphere. I think that Japanese people are not good at expressing themselves verbally, but they are good writers. We have a culture of diary writing, and that creates a really good combination with blogging.

-What about your blog, what is it about?
I have one in English and one in Japanese, both called Mamachari, but I haven't written much lately. I still haven't figured out what to write about, but one of the things that interests me is biking. I always bike everywhere, I live in Tokyo and I don't have a driver's license -I could take the bus to go places, but I prefer biking. Another activity I like is gardening, or actually playing with dirt and plants as I don't have a garden. I call it niwa hacking (niwa means garden in Japanese). I grew up in the countryside surrounded by fileds, but now I live in Tokyo, where the space is limited. So out of frustration I take any little patch of soil that I can find and I plant something in it. [She even invented a watering device for her plants when she's travelling!]

I also like taking pictures of cats in the street, although I'm allergic to them, and of three-way junctions :)

-What do you do in the off-Global Voices life?
I'm a professional translator, I'm translating all day long.

-What is your wish for the future of the Global Voices site in Japanese and for the coverage of Japan by Global Voices?
I lived in Canada for 5 years and I became really frustrated with the way media portrayed Japan. The only stories they publish on Japan involve some weird or kinky stuff, or topics such as manga or tech gadgets. But Japan is not only about highly political issues or unusual sexual interests. 125 million people live in this country, and they each have their life to live, so there's a lot more to Japan. So I would like to contribute to telling the world that there are a lot of different stories about Japan.

[…] Admittedly, there are some English-language internet papers, but I don't know any English-language blog devoted to an analysis of daily political events. Most of the time Google Alerts call my attention to some Hungarian recipe. Or to some girl who was an exchange student and tells the world about her experiences in Hungary. These, of course, are important and have their own audiences, but I thought that there were also people who would like to follow Hungarian politics but either didn't speak the language or just wanted to hear another voice. […]

Here are some of Eva's general observations about Hungary's political scene, which she shared in the same first-anniversary post:

[…] I have been quite amazed at the political transformation of some people. Formerly very important party cadres like [Imre Pozsgay] or [Mátyás Szűrös] today are enthusiastic followers of a right-wing [Fidesz]. […] Ordinary party secretaries who were reporting on people in the [János Kádár] regime now teach religion in the local school. People who worked for the secret police are nowadays the most vehement enemies of the old regime. They scream and holler and go to court. One such person is [Katalin Kondor], former head of the Hungarian Radio, who most likely was an informer, but who managed to convince the court that the documents historians claimed were genuine were simply not enough to prove her service to the secret police. […]

Many of the posts on Hungarian Spectrum are devoted to the politics of Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union, the country's largest opposition party, and its supporters. Below is a roundup of some of the recent entries.

On June 29, Eva wrote about the tense situation in Budapest on the eve of this year's gay pride parade:

[…] While a year ago the anti-gay groups were mostly satisfied with verbal abuse and only at the end was there physical violence, this year at least one attack has already taken place. Not just a few guys bloodying the faces of some of the participants but a very dangerous incident that might have ended in tragedy. What happened is the following. A far-right internet site apparently listed a number of gay bars in Budapest. A few days later, the best-known such establishment received a telephone call asking about their hours. That happened around 2 o'clock in the morning. One of the owners informed the caller that they were still open. The callers appeared and threw some Molotov cocktails into the bar while there were still about a dozen customers inside. Fire broke out. The people inside managed to contain the fire and luckily no one was hurt. So that's where we are at the moment, and there is at least another week before the actual parade. […]

Ignorance, including that of the politicians, is one of the reasons for intolerance, according to Eva:

[…] Almost fifteen years ago there was a Hungarian-language list on the internet where the topic was discussed. There was a doctor on the list. He claimed that he was a psychiatrist. He came up with the brilliant idea that homosexuality is like smoking: one can get addicted to it. However, a homosexual can quit his homosexuality just as a smoker can overcome his addiction. Not long ago a Catholic bishop offered another fantastic theory: homosexuality has become fashionable so young people decide to become gay. A Fidesz local politician who is a member of the committee on health issues in a Budapest district just announced that he would like to find out whether homosexuality is an illness or not. He knows nothing about it.

Thus one cannot be surprised that guys with an eighth-grade education attack participants of the gay parade or throw Molotov cocktails into a gay bar when the doctor, the bishop, and the politician say such extraordinary things.

Clashes between police and a few demonstrators during the Budapest Pride Parade last June. Photos by Sompetenator

On July 5, Eva wrote about the violence that took place during the gay pride parade in Budapest that day (a Blinkx.com video from the scene is here):

This morning I heard one of the right-wing organizers explain that his organization is a peaceful group of concerned citizens. They just want to defend family values. Their only aim is to stop the yearly gay pride parade in Budapest because they consider it a form of advertising for homosexuality. But they will never resort to force. The organization's name is Rendszerváltó Fórum. And what do I see in the online edition of Népszabadság tonight? “The most forceful attack against the demonstrators came from Rendszerváltó Fórum's meeting at Franz Liszt Square.” Well, well! The report continues: “On the square the demonstrators tried to break the cordon [the police had erected] and attacked the police, who answered with tear gas.” At the far end of Andrássy Street, on Heroes' Square, hooded and often masked demonstrators attacked the policemen, using Molotov cocktails, rocks, eggs, whatever. Here the police used water cannons as well as tear gas. Because of the “battle” on Heroes' Square the police diverted the participants in the parade off the main road. In order to make sure that they were not attacked after the parade was over, as happened last year, the police directed the gays into the old nineteenth-century metro that was closed to the public for the duration. That way they could leave the scene without insults or bodily harm.

[…]

How can this happen? Why is it that until two years ago these gay pride parades went off without any trouble? First and foremost, I blame Fidesz and its leader for encouraging “civil disobedience” against the “illegitimate” government. Fidesz often called people to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the government. And once a large group of people assembles trouble is near. Especially if there is alcohol involved. And it seems that alcohol is always involved. Yes, but one could say: this attack on the gays wasn't against the government. By the end, however, the slogans were directed against Gyurcsány and his government, and the whole atmosphere reminded the reporters present of the [September-October events of 2006]. One of the favorite slogans was: “Gyurcsány takarodj, vidd a buzi haverod” (Gyurcsány get lost and take your queer crony with you.” […]

Three days later, Eva commented on the sorry state of the Hungarian law enforcement and judicial system:

[…] Ever since September-October 2006 there has been a systematic effort on the part of Fidesz […] to make the police a useless instrument. I'll bet that if [Viktor Orbán, leader of Fidesz] managed to take over the reins of government tomorrow Hungary would instantly have a police force whose members wouldn't be spat on; no stones, no eggs, no cucumbers or tomatoes would be thrown at them. Or if somebody did any of these things he would be duly and severely punished. […] For now, however, undermining the police and showing that this government cannot even provide domestic tranquility is part of the opposition's political strategy.

[…]

There is confusion in the heads of the judges when it comes to deciding the limits of freedom of speech, for example. A few months ago the courts decided that throwing eggs at people one doesn't like is perfectly acceptable behavior: it is simply a form of freedom of expression. There were altogether 57 people who were arrested during the disturbances on Saturday and seven of them had to appear today in the Budapest courthouse. They were all accused of throwing eggs. Four were fined and three were acquitted. […]

In her July 11 post, Eva cited the results of an opinion poll conducted “two days after the the ill-fated gay pride parade in Budapest.” Among other things, she noted:

[…] Apparently political sympathy deeply influenced people's answers to the questions posed by the pollsters. To give an example: at least twenty-five percent of Fidesz sympathizers believed that the counterdemonstrators went there to express their opinions while the great majority of [MSZP, the ruling Hungarian Socialist Party] voters were convinced that most of the anti-gay demonstrators simply intended to cause trouble and that their actions had nothing to do with expressing their opinions about anything. […]

On July 23, Eva compared Hungary's violent past with today's situation:

[…] There is a frightening parallel between right radicalism in the summer and fall of 1920 and Hungary today where groups are targeted and representatives of those groups attacked. In 1920 the primary targets were Jews, today mostly Gypsies and gays (though Jews aren't immune).

To go back in time and flesh out the story a bit. Radical groups comprised of former officers, young no-goods, and university students became especially active after the Treaty of Trianon was signed during the summer of 1920. In July, for example, about 30 right radicals broke into the Café Club and attacked the patrons. One of the victims, a bank director, died as a result of the eight dagger wounds he received. A lawyer who happened to be walking nearby was shot to death. Considering that Café Club was situated on Lipót körút, in the middle of a heavily Jewish district of Pest, it was clear who the targets were. At least the perpetrators were caught a month later and received sentences of more than ten years. However, a few months later another mob attack occurred at the same Café Club. Members of the “patriotic mob” badly beat the customers.

As I was reading about these horrendous stories from 1920 it was hard not to think of the repeated atrocities committed in our time. Then, largely due to the efforts of Teleki and his successor Bethlen, the murderous activities of these radical groups were stopped and the Hungarian radicals were pushed into the background. One can only hope that the same will happen now, but such an outcome would need the active support of the opposition. I'm really curious when Viktor Orbán will realize that it's in his best interest to help put an end to the activities of the extreme right-wing groups. Perhaps at the moment he thinks that the government's inability to act forcefully will help his party. However, today's political advantage might turn into a serious disadvantage later. Most of these radicals are almost as dissatisfied with Viktor Orbán as they are with Ferenc Gyurcsány. They consider him too liberal, too beholden to Israel, the United States, and the multinationals. One day they might turn against him and then what? […]