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A left-wing take on the US turmoil

June 17th, 2020

A left-wing sociologist believes the most forsaken elements of Hungarian society would have ample reason to revolt, just like disempowered blacks in the US – and the day may come when they will.

In Népszava, veteran sociologist Pál Tamás agrees with participants in the US protests who assert that despite all the progress over the past 60 years, African Americans are still ‘criminalised and brutalised’. Although Hungary has never experienced slavery in her history, he continues, the vastly underprivileged Roma do endure situations comparable to the plight of American blacks. He lays the blame for that on the doorstep of all the governments of the past 30 years. But while Hungarian and Western elites have become increasingly similar in their attitudes and lifestyles, on the bottom rung of Hungarian society there is no sign of anything like the rebellion underway in American cities. However, through television and the Internet, they do follow events in the world and might one day decide to follow the example set by African Americans. “It looks like nothing else works at this conjuncture”, Tamás concludes.

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