HUNGARY- RELATIONSHIP TO THE LAND

By Nicholas Kozak

Environmental Status According to the Climate Action Network- International (a non-

governmental organization consisting of over 700 organizations in 95 countries), Hungary is ranked 6th in the Environmental Protection Index. This means that Hungary is one of the best countries in the world at protecting and preserving their land. Hungary ranks higher than Canada, the United States, China, and almost every other country in the world.

Hungary has 2 UNESCO World Heritage sites, 10 National Parks, including the famous Hortobágy, the biggest grassland in Europe, which is home to Hungarian Grey Cattle which are rarely seen anywhere else in the world.

Hungary also has 145 minor nature reserves and 35 landscape protection areas.

According to UNESCO: “[Hortobágy, Hungary] is an outstanding example of a cultural landscape which preserves intact and visible evidence of its traditional pastoral use over more than two millennia and represents the harmonious interaction between people and nature.”

Hungarian National Parks

Pictures

Lake Balaton (the biggest lake in Central Europe)

Danube Bend (visible from Visegrád City)

Bükke Mountains (famous for its skiing facilities)

Climate

Hungary has a continental climate because it’s a landlocked country. Because it’s surrounded by countries on every side and doesn’t have a neighboring body of water, temperatures are less moderate. Because Hungary is closer to bodies of water and closer to the equator than Canada, it experiences milder summers and winters than Canada, but less mild than its neighboring countries that border oceans or lakes, especially to the south.

According to the Hungarian Meteorological Service, the annual precipitation in Hungary ranges from 500-750 millimeters annually- ranging from 800 mm in the southeast corner (close to the Mediterranean Sea) and less than 500 in the eastern portion of the country.

This is remarkable for a landlocked country, and helps the Hungarian climate stay green and healthy.

How is Climate relevant to relationship to the land?

The climate controls crop schedules, the types of plants that they need to grow, the weather that they experience, and the landscape of their land. Knowing the type of climate that they experience gives insight into Hungary, influences tourism, and tells us about the cycles and seasons that Hungarians experience. These things directly relate to Hungarians’ identity.

Tourism According to Hungarian Tourism: At a Crossroad, Hungary’s tourism

industry contributed to 9.3 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 8.7 percent of total employment in 2005. That means that 1 in every 11-12 jobs in Hungary were directly created from the Tourism industry.

According to the article, “Hungarian tourism dates back to 9 BC and started when Roman occupation brought improvements in transportation, economic growth, and a strong tradition of leisure tourism.”

This means that Hungary’s tourist industry started over 2000 years ago. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, access was restored to Hungaria

(which was inaccessible due to the ‘iron wall’), tourism boomed and has been steadily increasing (despite a cease in tourism after the September 11th terrorist attacks).

Tourism is vital to Hungary’s economy. Thus, tourism is a valuable incentive to preserve their land and respect it. If they had less respect of their land and didn’t help preserve National Parks and reserves, tourism would decline and places like Danube and Hortobágy would deteriorate.

Hungary is famous for its ‘Conference Tourism’; bringing in professionals from all over the world to enjoy the scenery and climate of Hungary while on their conference meetings.

Summary Hungarians value and respect their land because of their tourism

industry and the connection between the land and their identity. Because the Hungarian tourism industry has existed for over 2000 years, tourism is directly related to their past and heritage, thus, their identity. Because almost 10% of Hungarian jobs are from the tourism industry, they rely on their ecology and landscapes for monetary and occupational purposes. They also enjoy their 10 national parks and 180 other reserves and protection areas for recreational and statistical purposes. Being ranked 6th in the Climate Action Network- International has its obvious benefits to their tourist industry.

Hungary can also attribute its high life expectancy rate (75 years) to their clean air and environment.

Ultimately, Hungary relies on its land for Tourism and other occupational purposes such as its 22 designated wine-growing regions and Racka sheep herding that would be impossible without care and respect for their environment. It also connects to their identity through their heritage and lineage involved with tourism. Tourism is the main incentive for Hungary to have a protective relationship to their land.

Hungarian Ideology

By Nicholas Kozak

Brief Communist History of Hungary

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Hungary became communist in the August 1947 election.

“…the communists, misjudging feeling in the country, allowed the first elections (November 1945) to be relatively free. Only the parties of the coalition were allowed to contest them; but the adherents of the proscribed parties voted for the Smallholders, who received an absolute majority…”

Although the non-communist party was given control, the communists were given the Interior ministry, which had control of the police. Control of the police was almost as important as the government because they could arrest people who disagreed with them or let communist supporters get away with crimes.

2 years later, in the next election, Hungarian capitalists manipulated the election. According to the article, the capitalists forced the Social Democrats into a coalition, winning the election but failing to gain a majority with only 45% of the total votes. This would trap Hungary in communism for over 40 years.

Communist ideology is left-wing; there is plenty of government intervention and taxes are high. Some other left-wing ideologies include public health care and education, socialist economies, and government grants.

(Above) Hungary is a Former Eastern Bloc and part of the Soviet Union’s periphery; Hungary became part of the edge of communism ‘Iron Wall’ through a manipulated election and a forced coalition.

According to Michigan State University, Hungary remained a communist state until 1991, when Soviet forces left Hungary and the Warsaw pact dissolved.

The Warsaw pact was a treaty of ‘Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance’ signed to maintain communist military dominance in Europe.

World War 2 Role “While ideologically not fascist, Hungary had many radical right-wing

elements at play in its politics, as well as a history of anti-Semitism. Those radical forces saw many common "ideals" with Nazism and believed the future lay with Germany.” –The History Channel

During world war 2, Hungary allied with the axis and tried to help Germany defeat the USSR (several years before it became communist) because it believed it laid in its best interests. Hitler told Miklas Horthy, the dictator of Hungary, that he would either have to ally with Germany or be conquered by it. Motivated by fear, Hungary attacked the USSR but was crushed by Russian forces.

Over half a million Hungarian Jews died during World War 2 According to the Article: “As Soviet troops began to occupy more Hungarian

territory, a desperate Horthy signed an armistice with Moscow. When the regent announced this on radio, he was kidnapped by the Germans and forced to abdicate…Soviet troops finally liberated the bulk of Hungary from German rule in December 1944. On December 31, a Provisional National Assembly, composed of Communists loyal to the USSR, officially declared war on Germany. The Assembly would go on to sign an armistice with all the Allies in January of 1945.”

Individual/ Collectivism Map- Hungary is Individual in a metaphorical sea of Collectivism. How did it abdicate its communist values unlike its neighboring countries?

Present Day Hungary

According to Michigan State University: “…The president of Hungary, elected by the National Assembly every 5 years, has a largely ceremonial role, but powers include requesting the winner of a parliamentary election to form a cabinet. That person then presents his program to Parliament, and is in turn ratified by that body as prime minister. The prime minister selects cabinet ministers and has the exclusive right to dismiss them. Each cabinet nominee appears before one or more parliamentary committees in consultative open hearings and must be formally approved by the president...”

Hungary’s current government is a democratic republic. The main figure of power is the Prime Minister, although the role of the Hungarian President is comparable to Queen Elizabeth’s in Britain’s Government. The main authority in the Hungarian government is the Prime Minister, who’s role is similar to one of a Canadian Prime Minister.

On April 12th, 2003, Hungary took a vote to join the European Union. 83.8% of voters answered ‘yes’ to  ”Egyetért-e azzal, hogy a Magyar Köztársaság az Európai Unió tagjává váljon?” (Do you think that Hungary should become part of the European Union?)

On May 1st, 2004 (just over a year later), Hungary officially became part of the EU.

Hungary’s Present Day Economy According to The World Post, “Given its position at the head of the pack of

countries in the region, Hungary was expected to be the first to make the successful transition to capitalism. And indeed, in the early years of the 1990s, foreign investment flowed into the country. But today, Hungary has fallen behind many of the other countries in the region in terms of growth, employment, debt, and other economic indicators. Many Hungarians are left scratching their heads and trying to figure out what went wrong.”

According to BBC Canada, the first Hungarian stock exchange opened in Budapest in 1990. In 1994, former liberal and communists formed a coalition: the ‘reform communists’, who promised to keep free-market and capitalist policies.

Immediately after the dissolution of the USSR, Hungary switched from a socialist to a market economy. This means that Hungary lessened government intervention within its economy and attempted to join the West in capitalism. Factors that boosted this include the want to join the EU and tourism- after the Cold War, Americans had terrible connotations (feelings and connections) about Communism and socialism. By switching to a more right-wing economy and government, they opened their country to Western tourism.

Summary How has Hungary’s Identity changed? In the last 100 years, the Hungarian’s identity has changed drastically. In the 1940s, it had

Hitler’s imperialist and discriminative ideology forced on them through threat of conquest. Russia helped free Hungary from German control, and gained Hungary as an Eastern Bloc through a manipulated election and forced coalition with the Social democrats during the rise of the Soviet Union. Their ideology turned to socialist and left-wing communist ideals. In the past, Hungary has had many ideologies forced on them by superpowers like WW 2 Germany and the Soviet Union. Since then, Hungary has switched from a socialist market to a market economy, representing countries like the United States rather than its Eastern counterparts. Today, Hungary is very individualist rather than collectivist.

How is history, government, and economy relevant to identity? Hungary’s ideology is related to its identity through history, wars, elections, forced beliefs,

and the will to change and adapt. Through the years, Hungary has embraced German imperialism, Russian socialism, and Western capitalism which have left their metaphorical fingerprints on the ideology and Identity of Hungarians and their view of the world. It has past ties with countries such as Russia, Albania, Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech republic through the Warsaw Pact as well as former axis countries such as Germany, Japan, and Italy, as well as Individualist capitalist countries such as the US, and central European countries through their tourism.

Why is Hungary’s heritage so diverse? Hungary’s diverse ideology can be attributed to the wide varieties of nations it has allied

with or been occupied by in their history, as well as the switch from a socialist market to a market economy and government change to a democratic republic which prompted a more individualist society.

Personal Response (1 of 2)  Why it is important for a group to express, promote, and celebrate their

culture, and why is it important to respect other peoples cultures?

Their culture could be dying or almost extinct, in which case expressing, promoting, and celebrating their culture would be one of the only ways to preserve it. In cases of the receiving end of imperialism, like many First Nations’ cultures, their culture was wiped out and their identities were lost because they had no way to express, promote, or celebrate their cultures to others before they were wiped out due to diseases or wars.

The group(s) may want to spread their culture to others , in which case expressing, promoting, and celebrating their cultures would be the primary way to do so. When in contact with a new group of people, such as explorers to new continents or territories, communicating with a previously unknown group is very difficult if not impossible to do without sharing some part of their culture- language and gestures related to communication. If they don’t make their culture/language to the other group(s), an unnecessary war or conflict may begin due to a misunderstanding.

Historical purposes- because history is directly related to heritage which is a part of our cultures and identities, sharing knowledge about history is related to expressing, promoting, and celebrating culture. Expressing historical knowledge to children, along ancestral lines, or to foreigners interested in the history of your group is necessary to pass on the roots and lineage of your group, state, or country.

Personal Response (2 of 2) Why is it important to respect other peoples’ cultures?

Our cultures and identities are beyond our control. I can’t choose whether I’m born to an individualist or collectivist society, neither a communist or capitalist one. Canada’s past and history is beyond our control, and it’s unfair to disrespect somebody because of where or to whom they were born. Disrespecting somebody because of their lineage is no more relevant than disrespecting them on their height, or eye or skin colour.

Disrespecting other people’s identities or cultures will almost certainly be taken personally. People think of their heritage as part of themselves- if you disrespect their heritage, you disrespect them. Your cultures and identities are not necessarily better than theirs. Everybody has a reason behind what they do, and just because you cannot understand the reasoning behind their culture doesn’t necessarily mean that there isn’t any. What looks like a stupid belief or practice to the perceiver may have a good explanation behind it.

Too many conflicts have been started over simple disrespect. Other people’s cultures and practices probably won’t seem logical to you at first glance. However, disrespect directed towards a group can cause anger or frustration, which can lead to physical violence or a sudden end to a friendship or unnecessary hostility.

Bibliography Hungarian Tourism: At a Crossroads Hungarian Meteorological Service Climate Action Network- International Encyclopedia Britannica http://globaledge.msu.edu/countries/hungary/histo

ry http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hungary

-declares-war-on-germany (Above: The History Channel) http://

www.oecd.org/economy/economic-survey-hungary.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/1054642.stm

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/474

Test Questions 1 of 2

What is Hungary’s main incentive(s) to preserve and respect their land?

A) It connects them to their ancestors. B) It helps boost their tourism industry. C) It allows them to grow crops and wine for food and to and

export. D) Both A and C E) Both B and C

Test Question 2 of 2

Which superpowers occupied or greatly influenced Hungary? A) Germany B) USSR C) Romania D) Britain E) Both A and B F) All of the above