The second Irish referendum and the new Supreme Court of the United Kingdom

Besides other major news this week, like the Samoan and Indonesian catastrophes, the European legal world has experienced two major (I would dare say improvements) events in the legal sphere. And the legal aspect is what concerns me right now. My compassion for all the victims of the earthquakes.

First of all, believe it or not, the UK finally has a Supreme Court! Well some people might say, so what, didn’t it have one? Well you see Britain has a really complicated legal (common law) and judicial institutional system. Bottom line is that, before October 2009, the highest judicial body in Her Majesty’s realm was the House of Lords. For anyone who studied/studies civil law, this is something quite uncommon. Why? Because from Montesquieu  onwards we have the so called separation of powers principle, basically saying that The Legislative (Congress, Parliament etc.), The Executive (Government, Prime Minister, President) and the Judicial (the Courts) have to be separate from each other, especially the Courts cannot be influenced by any other powers! The United Kingdom had quite an odd system, as in its case the highest judicial body (basically meaning the “Supreme Court”) was the House of Lords. Now the House of Lords is the upper chamber of Parliament (the Legislative), technically you could compare it to the Senate in other countries.

As you might think, in this way the highest judicial authority and the upper chamber of the Legislative were pretty much the same. Put it into other words, a section of the Legislative was the “Supreme Court”. So of course, this raised issues of judicial independence and impartiality, even in front of the ECHR and it lead to the adoption of the 2005 Constitutional Reform Act, setting up the Supreme Court of the UK.[1]

I see this as a step forward in the development of the sometimes overly conservative UK judicial system and of course a lot of people can’t wait to see how the new Supreme Court will function.[2]

Second, and even more important, is the second Irish referendum regarding the Lisbon Treaty. Now for all you Lisbon Treaty skeptics, today’s results quite shocked me, as on the second referendum two thirds of the population said YES. Two years ago, the whole ratification process was stopped by the negative, 53% percent referendum, but now it looks like the Irish have changed their mind. Only the Czech president has to sign it, and both the Polish and Czech governments have to deposit the ratifying instruments, and the Lisbon Treaty has a green light.

Why am I so interested in it? Well besides all the other innovations, like the abolition of the pillar system, the entry into force of the Niece Charter of Human Rights etc., the EU judicial setup will sort off change. This is a really delicate matter and I will not dig into it deeply, but I wrote my Bachelor thesis on it. Basically, the EU will accede to the European Convention on Human Rights. Now this is quite interesting, especially from an EU Human Rights protection and an EU Constitutional point of view. If in the EU, the European Court of Justice (Luxemburg) was the highest judicial authority, by acceding to the Convention, in human rights matters the ECJ will be technically lower than the ECtHR, and in human rights matters the ECtHR in theory will have the power to rule against ECJ decisions. Of course this is not so sure, as there is such a thing called the Bosphorus compromise, in which the ECtHR basically said that the ECJ offers equal (“comparable”) protection to the ECtHR in human rights matters, so it will only examine such cases when extreme breaches have occured.[3]

This is an extremely interesting subject (I will not bore you guys with it) as the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty is really near and a lot of people will want to see the new constitutional and institutional changes. It will create a lot of chaos, renumbering articles, restructuring and so on, EU lawyers will curse and administration workers will think twice about their jobs, but it will definitely bring some fresh air into the EU system.

Just wanted to remind all those interested in international and EU legal matters, of the new events.

Maastricht, 3^rd of October 2009

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[1] For further reading on the topic. Dragoljub Popovic, ECHR Justice – European Court of Human Rights and the Concept of Separation of Powers, available at http://www.enelsyn.gr/papers/w4/Paper%20by%20Judge%20Dragoljub%20Popovic.pdf

[2] For the newly functioning UK Supreme Court see the official website http://www.supremecourt.gov.uk/about/history.html

[3] For further reading: and Leonard F.M. Besselink – The European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights – From sovereign immunity in Bosphorus to full scrutiny under the Reform Treaty?, Utrecht Law Review 2008 Kathrin Kuhnert – Bosphorus – Double Standards in European human rights protection? – Utrecht Law Review, Vol.2, 2006

The dwindling external policies of Hungary…

Reading through history I always find one amazingly big loophole in the political life of the Hungarian state, kingdom, republic and so one…The way it handles/handled its external relations and policies is just appalling. The examples are plentiful, but this year alone gave us some examples that were pretty much ignored or were not reacted upon by the Hungarian foreign ministry.

I remember how a couple of months ago there was a small diplomatic scandal, between Romania and Hungary, when the Hungarian presidential airplane was denied the right to land on a Romanian airstrip. If I recall well, the Hungarian president was on an unofficial visit to one of the battle sites of the Hungarian revolution of 1848-1849.

Further on, I recall how some time later there was a meeting between the two heads of state, Băsescu and Sólyom. Of course the question of the Szekler autonomy was razed as well. Now I personally just cannot comprehend how Basescu became the president of any country at all, but from a political point of view his reaction was exceptional. Basically he is the head of state of a country (in this case Romania), on an official visit to another country (Hungary) and he stands up for his country. His reply was straight forward:”Romania is a unitary, national state. Local autonomy’s are a must, but the same decentralization is needed in both Tulcea county and Harghita”. Although I have something against the notion of a “national state” and I am an advocate of autonomy for consistent regional minorities, the Romanian president’s response is straight forward. Where ever he is, he protects the interests of his country.

Later on, at the Tusvanyos summer festival, the leader of the FIDESZ (HU) party, which is going to win the upcoming elections, calls president Basescu a good friend and ally, but his words were said in a hurry, as Basescu was pretty clear that he doesn’t want to hear about the Szekler Autonomy.

Now today one of the newspaper’s headline, put it frankly, shocked me. So two words about the circumstances. In a southern Slovakian town (Komarno) the local government decided to dedicate a statue to Saint Stephen (the 20^th of August is one of the national days of Hungary. Saint Stephen was the founder of the Hungarian Kingdom, in 1000 A.D.) and the president of Hungary was due to attend the unveiling. Now what happened? President Sólyom is stopped on the bridge linking Hungary and Slovakia, and he is denied entrance in Slovakia!! So the president basically turns around and goes home…Now first of all I completely dislike this Slovakian Government as the level of nationalism is sickening, and I just happen to have something with nationalists of any kind. But denying access of a country’s president on your territory is just outrageous. It is not Obama visiting North Korea. It implies two nations that are members of the European Union, who sort off have friendly relations, nations that share 1000 years of common history… So what the … just happened? And even worse, where is the Hungarian Government’s response? It is a clear sign of diplomatic hostility which demands a proper response…It is just like in the previous cases. Hungary seems to be incapable of protecting its own interests on the international forum and it is pretty worrying. A president of a country is still a president of a country and the denial of entry in another country is quite a serious diplomatic misstep that needs to be solved…

Utrecht 2009, 21^st of Aug.

A common Transylvanian identity in a seemingly ignorant Union…

I decided to write this article in English as this question already passes national borders, and I want people to understand what I’m talking about. I just read an article (in Hungarian) about how two parallel identities coexist in Transylvania. There is a Romanian and a Hungarian one (I intentionally wrote the Romanian first in sign of courtesy, as I belong to the Hungarian minority). I honestly support the idea of a common Transylvanian identity of the different ethnicities sharing the same common geographical area. But as the author of this article states, the issue of a common Transylvanian identity is not the most important on the agenda of people in full economical crisis.

I somehow have to base my analysis on Einstein’s great theory of relativity. It is always a question of perspective. I always try to understand and analyze social problems taking real life examples and lately examples from my own life.

Let’s start with the seemingly ignorant EU perspective. Believe me, most of the people you will talk to in Western Europe have absolutely no idea about what is the difference between a Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian. And I am talking about educated people, who go to a university, who enter global student associations and maybe some of them will work in the EU institutions or other global institutions. Try getting later on to people like these and make them understand Eastern European social issues. It is a problem that I face day by day… Let’s say A asks me where do I come from? The answer is: Romania, but I belong do the Hungarian minority and I still keep my heritage…Next day, A will introduce me to his friend B and he will say that here is his Bulgarian friend but he is actually Ukrainian. Now this is the moment when A asks me if that’s right, right? And this is the moment when you honestly feel like punching him in the face.

The question of identity is always a complicated one and each region has its own identity problems. The Carpathian basin is even more complicated and it is quite simple to understand why. It has always been a multicultural region, one of the most multicultural regions in Europe and the question becomes more tangled when in the equation wars, national borders and politics come into hand.

The situation is not that easy in these central European countries. You have important Hungarian minorities living in Slovakia, Romania, Trans-Carpathia (before you ask, it is a province of the Ukraine) and Vojvodina (autonomous region in Serbia). Now the idea of a Hungarian identity, of a Romanian, Serbian, Ukrainian identity has been around for centuries. When you draw a border and one dominant group will try to impose his national identity on a minority group this will cause adverse reactions. This is what happened during the Hungarian policies of “Magyarization” in the 19^th century and the policies of the Serbian, Romanian, Slovakian governments in the 20^th century. It will always lead to the resistance of the minority group, furthering the gap between the two groups and of course the minority group will not identify itself with the dominant group. That’s why people don’t understand why you come from one country but you associate yourself with another group. Now the problem becomes trickier…

Yesterday, in the shop I work in, I met one Hungarian girl from Hungary and later on a Romanian couple from Romania. I helped them out as all of them had problems with their shopping in a new country. Who did I feel closer to? I speak both languages, I was brought up in Romania as a Transylvanian Hungarian and I have no problem moving between the two cultures. Linguistically I felt closer to the girl from Hungary as this is my mother tongue, but our common history stopped almost 90 years ago. One a social, recent historical and political level I felt closer to the Romanian couple, because I was born in Romania and now I share a common recent history.

Is their a common Transylvanian identity? I would say there is and there isn’t. Back in Romania if you travel in certain parts of the country they will say that you come from Transylvania. In Hungary they will do the same thing. But the first one will refer to the Romanian Transylvania and the second to the Hungarian one…Now is there a common notion of a Transylvanian identity? Possibly certain people (including myself) associate with it, but the national identity is stronger in these cases than the regional identity. Believe me in an ignorant EU it doesn’t really matter. When I see a person from Transylvania (Hungarian or Romanian) I do feel like I see someone from home, because I live in that region and I associate myself with that region. I will also feel close to other people form Hungary or Romania, who don’t live in Transylvania…

The Belgians with all their problems would be an example for a common identity. It is an artificially forged country with two dominant groups: the Dutch speaking Flemish and the French speaking Walloons (and a small minority of Germans in the East). Believe me I spoke to a lot of Belgians, traveled there several times and they do believe and live in two parallel worlds. The Flemish live their Flemish world, the Walloons their Walloonian world. Although the country has three official languages, they don’t really speak each others languages and you will hardly find any Walloonians speaking Flemish (Dutch). But besides this they all feel Belgians. They live in two distinctive Belgiums but when they will travel abroad they will still feel that they are Belgians.

Now to give some answers to the issues razed by the author of the article…Yes there are two different Transylvanian identities. The Romanians from Transylvania live in their world and the Hungarians of Transylvania also live in their own world. Depending from region to region the interaction declines or intensifies. But there is not one common identity as the Belgians have. Because Transylvania is part of Romania, and the country carries the name of the dominant group, so the minority group will find it difficult to associate with it. That’s why most of Hungarians living in Transylvania will associate themselves with the Hungarian national identity. It is easy for the Belgians and the Americans to associate with these identities because it is a created common identity, not carrying the name of one dominant group. There is some sort of common Transylvanian identity but it is too weak and in a predominantly ignorant Western European society I’m just happy to meet a person from back home, whether he is Hungarian or Romanian.

See the article of Czika Tihamér – Egy Erdély, két világ - “One Transylvania, two worlds. ” – available in Hungarian at http://manna.ro/bedaralo/egy_erdely_ket_vilag_2009_08_18.html

Utrecht 2009, 19^th of August

One international language: “Men”

Through out my high-school years and of course later on, I’d been told and I heard on numerous occasions, the phrase “…. is the international language”. Basically for the music professor music was the international language (or means of communication) that everyone could understand. For the math teacher numbers were the tool of understanding another culture. Then again for the English teacher, English was the international communication device, as “almost everyone speaks English”. Today I came to the conclusion that all of these allegations have certain flaws in them. Maybe an African tribesman will not understand Beethoven or the Mongolian shaman singers make a certain sound that Westerners would not call music. Math can also be written in other characters, then the Arabic ones we use, and com’on how many people do actually like math? English of course is spoken by many people, but then again more then a billion speak Chinese and approx. 700 million speak or understand Spanish, so I would refrain to call English the international communication tool.

So what is then the international means for people to communicate? Well let me tell you a short story. Let’s say that my co-worker’s name is Mohamed (not, but I won’t disclose his real name). He is Dutch-Moroccan. The second character is of course Gashi (me), a Hungarian bloke from Romania. And the third character is of course Miss Double “D”. Maybe even double F , basically a blond woman with a “huge” cleavage. So Mohamed and Gashi are filling the cheese and deli section. Gashi is holding a crate full of cheese and Mohamed is just placing one of the empty crates on a stack of empty ones. Suddenly everything stops!  Both workers’ jaws drop for an instance and their eyes as well. What happened? Well of course Miss Double “D” or anything bigger than “D” passed between them with her waving blond hair. The whole world stopped around them and their eyes were fixed on one thing. Yes…Miss Double “D” ‘s cleavage…. So yeah. Although both of the guys speak English, besides their native tongue, they also speak the international language of Men. It is basically a sign language. Miss Double “D” passes. They look up, look at each other and nod their heads. Aham…They were thinking the same thing. Their day just got better.

So basically what I’m trying to say is… It ain’t math, music or English. Show a pair of big boobs to an African, Native American, European, Aborigine and Asian guy and they will definitely speak the same language And of course 3 billion people speak this language.[1]

P.S. Sorry girls but you know, this work gets to me sometimes, so pardon my moment of insanity

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[1] Approx. 6,75 billion people live on Earth, half of them men. Of course there are gays, but than again there are lesbians, so they sort of equal each other. And of course a baby will look at them as food, but approx. 3 billion will not

You can find stupid people anywhere and everywhere…

…So here is this small story of mine. About a year ago I visited London with one of my good buddies, Sorin. It was just one of those random trips. We finished working for the day, he found an extremely cheap flight and the next thing you know we are on a plain from Eindhoven to Stansted London…

Just in the middle of our second day we decided to visit the British Museum. It is just one of those places where you can see King Ramses, the Mayan Jade Mask, the bog pit “mummies” from Northern Europe, and anything and everything you generally see on Discovery Channel. So I’m going through one of these exhibitions and it’s about the bog pit mummies from Northern Europe. In front of me lies this ancient, 5 or 6 thousand year old mummy. The facial features are still visible, so is the red beard and eyebrows. Supposedly he was strangled, probably for ritual reasons. So basically the poor guy was sacrificed or even murdered, thrown into the bogs and his body preserved. Next to me a gentleman in his late fifties, early sixties, is analyzing this mummy.

-               Excuse me young man – he asked me in the most polite way possible (Daah, he’s British).

-               Yes sir?

-               Do you know if this man was shot?

-               Amm, I bag your pardon? Shot, like with a gun?! (I really hope I misunderstood the question).

-               Yes, yes. Shot with a gun… – he continues quite confident.

-               Ohhh, no way sir. This poor man died millennia before Christ, and gunpowder cam into existence only in the middle ages.

-               Ohh, is that so… (I’m starting to think that this guy is joking with me). So please explain me, how come they didn’t use guns back then?

Now honestly, where should I even start? So I started explaining the guy how warfare evolved over the centuries, and how probably ancient cavemen would’ve started out with a rock, and then a spear and so on until modern guns. The old man was amazed.

-               How come you know so much… – he asked me in a curios tone.

-               Well sir, you know. School, television plus I’m a student. But what exactly do you do for a living, sir?

-               Well I’m a retired army officer. (WHAATT?? So either he skipped the lessons in military school, he’s joking with me or he just lost his mind )

-               Right……and I slowly walked away.

-               But thanks for the information anyway.

-               Nooooo problem.

E pluribus Unum – Out of many, one….

It seams like one of those contradictory terms that I still cannot fully comprehend. During yesterday’s visit to the U.S. Capitol (The place where Congress meets) we were shown a short film about the history of the building. This is the motto. E pluribus Unum. “Out of many, one”.

As an outsider and European I am sometimes full and sick of this seemingly brainwashing nationalism. Waiting for my Visa, at the American Embassy I was shown the same type of movie as in the Capitol. It starts out with the Bold Eagle (which is almost extinct), then it shows all the amazing and breathtaking landscapes, like the Grand Canyon, the Californian Coasts, the Great Plains and so on. From this it moves on, in the same manner, to presenting the great cities and it ends with a dozen people from all around the world saying that they are proud to be American.

The main idea is always the same. Good life, American dream, hard earned freedom, liberty and so on. Of course I will not try to argue about American democracy, a democracy which did not allow for full rights of black people until the ‘60s and the initial Constitution of which only gave limited rights to slaves.

I was standing there in this theater in the Capitol and I was looking at the faces of the average citizen, of the children, of the people who would like to come or just came to the U.S. Joy, hope, pride emanates from these faces. I feel somewhat of an outsider among these people. Brought up in a nationalist city, this is exactly what I don’t need. Eloquent and uplifting speeches of freedom, prosperity and one nation’s greatness,

But I would be too subjective if I would look at only this side of the story. I honestly was asking myself. How can you keep a nation together, a nation which is made up of hundreds of ethnic groups, where you can find all the people of the world and in many times from parts of the world where they were enemies? I must admit it isn’t an easy job… In many regions of this world the simple fact that you are of a different faith, you come from a different social class or you speak a different language divides regions and nations. Now, honestly how can you keep a nation united where blacks, whites, Indians, Asians, Jews, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, atheists, rich and poor should live in relative peace and prosperity?

Probably this indoctrination from an early age is the key. You have to show all these people that besides their deep and sometimes painful differences, they have to believe in one flag, in one motto, in one country and in one nation. Although as a European for me this seams out of plays and I could look at it as a great infringement of the freedom of thought and so on, but for me it seams like this is the only way the American state can keep so many people united. We can call it indoctrination, brainwashing, the everlasting Red White and Blue, the American Dream or the Realms of Freedom but I have yet to see one country in this world which can keep so many people united under one flag. (Even if sometimes seemingly united).

Washington, 25^th of March 2009

Ţigan, Cigány, Gitan, Gitanos, Gipsy, Zigeuner, Chingene, Ciganos, Mustalaiset, Tzigani, Zigenare, Циганин, Cikánka, Τσιγγάνος, Zingaro, Sigøyner, Циганка, Ciganka

În majoritatea limbilor europene aşa sună unul şi acelaşi cuvânt. Ţigan…pentru mulţi acesta este un termen peiorativ, iar alţii consideră că, această definiţie este corectă şi nu cea de rrom.

Este bine ştiut că ne aflăm în faţa unei teme tabu, pe care mulţi o ignoră. O temă pe care se pare că nimeni nu este dispus s-o prezinte într-o lumină obiectivă. Să admitem că nici în mass-media nu ni se prezintă imaginea cea mai bună. Este de înţeles că această temă nu poate fi dezbătută în câteva rânduri, în câteva zile şi nici în câţiva ani. Dar este o zonă care ne priveşte pe toţi, căci trăim în aceeaşi ţară şi undeva trebuie să începem conversaţia.

Chiar şi pentru mine este dificil să tratez această temă în mod obiectiv din timp ce o mulţime de experienţe personale ar putea provoca o viziune subiectivă. Cel mai probabil, din ambele tabere mulţi vor fi indignaţi, dar haideţi să fie acest post un fel de dialog.

Sunt suficiente argumente pro şi contra. Da, pentru-că fură…Păi de când am venit în Europa toată lumea ne-a persecutat…Da, dar nu le place să lucreze…Mai întâi dă-mi un loc de muncă…Am auzit deja milioane de opinii în viaţa mea şi da, chiar mă interesează soarta acestor oameni pentru-că nu sunt un politician aerian, ci un om care îşi trăieşte viaţa de zi cu zi, care a mai văzut ţigan în viaţa lui, care a ascultat muzică ţigănească, care a mâncat la aceeaşi masă cu un ţigan, a chefuit cu ţigani şi i-a dansat dansurile.

Mă interesează această temă, că fiecare dintre noi e preocupat de problema emoşilor, criza financiară, Boccc sau Băse, asimilarea maghiarilor sau imaginea românilor din Vest. Dar încă nu văd nicio conversaţie liberă pe această temă. Şi eu sunt convins, că nu numai eu, dar şi alţi cetăţeni europeni ar trebui să-şi deschidă ochii. Să punem deoparte neînţelegerile istorice, experienţele personale. Să uităm măcar pentru un minut istoria, tradiţiile, faptele bune sau rele şi chiar numele. Văd dau o speţă simplă care atinge toate sferele societăţii: economie, educaţie, sănătate, drept etc.

Deci dragi miniştrii, şefi de guverne şi cetăţeni simplii, speţa este următoarea:

În statul X trăiesc mai multe sute de mii de oameni aparţinând etniei Y. Majoritatea grupului etnic Y aparţin celui mai inferior rang din societate de mai mulţi ani. Cei mai mulţi sunt şomeri, analfabeţi şi trăiesc în condiţii ca şi în Evul Mediu.

Problematica identităţii grupului Y este una complexă. Mulţi se declară ca făcând parte din grupul majoritar, alţii nu-şi asumă identitatea fiind stigmatizaţi de majoritate iar unii dintre ei îşi asumă identitatea. În cele mai multe cazuri n-au limbă comună, aceasta neexistând în formă scrisă. O sumedenie de dialecte sau limba majoritarilor constituie limba lor maternă.

Majoritatea societăţii le-ar alunga iar infracţiunile minore sunt în număr mai mare în cadrul acestui grup. Şi copiii etniei Y sunt cetăţenii statului X şi sunt supuşi aceloraşi legi.

Întrebare: Cum se poate ameliora situaţia grupului etnic Y, ca şi ei să facă parte integrantă din societate?

(Nu-s interesat de discuţii filozofice. Vreau răspunsuri concrete. Şi să nu fie răspunsuri de gen, trimiterea copiilor în internate speciale, că au mai încercat norvegienii fără succes şi nu ne aflăm în Evul Mediu).

Kusturica reloaded.

Vacak hideg. Hirtelen reggeli zúzmara borítja a szélvédőket. Mindenki didereg az utcákon. Még őszi ruhák a téli hidegben…Egy megsárgult kávéfőző ácsorog a kopott asztalon. Mellette az orvos segéd vadonatúj telefonja. Pár tasak cukor, egy koszos kanál ami a csésze szélére ragadt…9 óra. A doki kell érkezzen. 9 óra 15 perc. A doki még sehol. 9 óra 3O perc. A doki még sehol… A százéves falat vaskos csövek törik át. Nemrég meszelték le őket. A sarokban egy régi orvosi asztal. Talán nálamnál is idősebb. A fogantyúkon lapul a vörös rozsda, a megsárgult festéknek sincs már nyoma. A sarokban kiütött a penész. Vadonatúj számítógép az új irodaasztalon. A váróterembe új alak érkezik. Egyszerű munkás. Fején kucsma, arcát vörösre csípte a hideg. Koszos bakancsa a padlót recsegteti. Fölkelek. Megjárom magam. Az alagsorban egy ötvenes éveiben járó elhízott rendőr. Egy harminc év körüli orvosnővel vihognak. Az asztal fölött újabb fűtő csövek. Ki tudja már milyen régiek? Tovább fecsegnek. Irtó meleg és fülledt levegő hagyja el a csöveket. Nem veszem észre, hogy zavarná őket. A már jóformán elhízott rendőr az asztal szélén ülve fecseg az orvosnővel. Vörösre festett haját néha-néha meglebbenti. Festett körmeivel a kávés poharát fogja. Lábait keresztbetéve beszél a pufuléccel (rendőr). A tag ólmos tett fogait vicsorítja. Bámulja az orvosnő keresztbetett lábait…Visszaülők a székemre. Közben még érkezett egy sovány cigánylány. Kezeit lilára csípte a kinti hideg. Az orvossegéd még mindig a gépnél. Minden két percben egy amerikai akciófilm töri meg a csendet. Kezdem elveszteni a türelmem. A mellettem levő látja, hogy megakarom szólítani. Jaj, ne zavarja uram, hisz az orvos úr dolgozik. Nagyot nézek. Egy francot. Filmet néz. Fölállok és feléje közeledem. Talán huszonöt éves lehet. Nem igazán gondozott. Haja szanaszét áll, fogait sem gyakran mossa. Poros szemüvegei mögött látom, amint szemei a filmet követik. Nem vette észre, hogy előtte vagyok. Köhögök kettőt. Elnézést, de mikor jön már az orvos! – Fölnéz rám. Látom, amint fékezi haragját, hogy mért mertem megzavarni. Fél szájjal megszólal. Majd jön…

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Shivering cold. A sudden morning frost covers the windshields. Everyone is shivering on the streets. Still autumn clothes in the winter cold…A faded coffee machine sits quietly on a shabby table. Next to it, the brand new mobile-phone of the medical assistant. A couple of small sugar bags, a teaspoon that sticks to the dirty cup…9 o’clock. The doctor should arrive. 9:15. The doctor’s nowhere. 9:30. The doctor is still nowhere to be found…Rugged pipes break through the centennial walls. They’ve just painted them. An old surgical table lies in the corner. Maybe it’s older than me. Orange rust lies silently on the handles. There’s no trace of the faded paint. Mold started to form in the corner. A brand new computer on the table. A new bloke walks into the waiting room. Just a simple worker with a cap on his had. The outside frost burnt his face. The floor screeches under his dirty boots. I get up and take a walk. In the basement a fat policeman in his fifties giggles with a thirty year old nurse. Above the table once again heating pipes. Who knows how old are they? They continue chatting. Warm and muggy air flows from the pipes. I don’t notice that they are bothered by it. The somewhat fat officer sits on the edge of the table. The nurse every now and then touches her red dyed hair. With her painted fingernails she holds the coffee cup. One leg over the other and she continues talking to the copper. The lead filled teeth appear at the officer’s every smile. He keeps staring at the nurse’s legs…I sit back on my chair. Meanwhile a skinny gipsy girl arrived. Her hands are violet from the outside cold. The assistant is still in front of his computer. In every minute or so, the sound of an American action movie reaches my ear. I’m starting to loose my patience. The one sitting next to me, notices that I want to ask the assistant a question. Oh, please don’t bother him. He is working. I raze my eyebrows. Working my ass. He’s watching a movie. I get up and approach his desk. He’s about twenty-five. It’s visible that personal hygiene doesn’t really concern him. His hair is all around the place, and his teeth didn’t really see a toothbrush lately. Under his dusty eye-glasses, his eyes follow the movie. He doesn’t notice me. I cough two times. Sorry, but when will the doctor arrive? – He looks at me. I can see that he is controlling his rage. How could I allow myself to bother him? He mutters something. He’ll come…

2008 nov. 11

Teremből hazafele…Veszélyesebb egy rali versenynél/ Going home from the gym…more dangerous than a race

Valami okból kifolyólag, azon emberek közé tartózom, akik a fél kilométerre levő kondi terembe, üzletbe vagy akármibe épp gyalog szeretnek elmenni. Netán, ha egyetemről jövök akkor busszal…Pár perccel ezelőtt toppantam be a szobámba és valóságos kaland volt a fél kilométernyi, 8 perces utat megtenni.

A Gyula Mallnak köszönhetően, a régi épületből (melyben a termem fekszik) való kijövetel is életveszélyessé vált. Három fel-, le-, közép-, meg tudom is én milyen járok veszik körül az épületet. Átlépek a küszöbön, még két méternyi járda és mire letegyem a nagylábujjam (amelyikre épp ma pottyant egy 1O kilós korong) egy otromba mafla ledudál, hogy ne-ne, ne is merjem letenni szegény sebesült lábujjamat, mert elgázol. Oké. Semmi gond. Tovább halasztom utam. Átmegyek a Gyula Mallján, megtekintem az elhízóban lévő tiniket, amint az egyik Food Courtban majszolnak, megtekintem a két japánnak beöltöztetett csajt, akik épp szórólapokat osztogatnak és megállok két percre, hogy megtapsoljam a bejáratnál táncoló pulyákat.

Nagy nehezen lebicegek a lépcsőkön, az átjáró felé veszem az irányt. Vuuuuummmm!!!! Egy vaddisznó teljes gőzzel repeszti az átjárón, kb. 7O-8O-al a vadonatúj bémvééé verdájával. Na megállott kissé a szívdobogás. Mondjam úgy, belém fagyot még a sz..r is. Na semmi gond. Folytatom utam…Péntek kora este. Millió egy kocsi az úton. Mindenki kezdi kihúzni a csíkot a hétvégére. Itt-ott már alakulnak a forgalmi dugok. A régi vám mellett haladok el. Pár TIR leparkolva. Egy köcsög a kis szappanos dobozával akar nagyot mutatni. Meggázolja jól a szappantartóját (őszintén ne kérdezzétek milyen kocsi volt. Akkora és olyan színű volt, mint egy vineta/padlizsán), leereszti a kéziféket és a barom majd belemegy egy törvényesen közlekedő palinak.

Újabb átjáró. Most már a Cantemir egyetemmel szemben. Négy sávos az út, átjáróval ellátva, de úgy látszik sokan nem igazán tanulták meg a Törvénykönyvet, a Ledzsiszlációt. Megállok. Körülnézek erre is arra is. Teszek egy lépést, de még senki sem hajlandó megállni. Közben látom, amint a szappantartós már valahol elől repeszti a kocsik között. Még egy lépést teszek. Most megállnak az egyik sávon, de a másik sávon még nem hajlandók megállni. Szép óvatosan, nagy nehezen átjutok az út túloldalára. Még kétszáz méter és otthon vagyok. A Honvéd utca (Dorobantilor) előtti utcasarkon újabb vérfagyasztás. Az utca sarkon, az út közepén ledudál a barom. Ha jól emlékszem, az utcasarkon, ha nincs átjáró a kocsiknak az elsőbbség, de ha én már elkezdtem az átkelést egy egysávos úton, akkor a baromnak meg kell állnia. Nem vagyok sem béka sem szupermen, hogy őfelsége dudálására átugorjak a járdára.

Hát kb. ennyi minden történt 5OO-6OO m és 8 perc alatt. Ja kihagytam a sofőrök melegebb vidékekre való küldésének idézését. Azt a ti fantáziátokra bízom. Hmmm…nem ártana valami kis radar mütyüket felszerelni az utcákra. Aztán meglátnám még kinek lenne kedve városban, egyetemi és bevásárló központ mellett 8O-al repeszteni…

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For whatever reason I seam to belong to a certain kind of people, those who like to walk to the nearby gym, store or wherever. Or maybe I use the bus coming from the Uny…I’ve stepped into my room only a couple of minutes ago, and boy the half a km, 8 minutes long journey was somewhat of an adventure.

Thanks to the recently built Mall, coming out of the old building (where my gym is located) is almost life threatening. There are new roads going up and down and in the middle, surrounding the building. I cross the doorstep, a couple of feet of pavement and just about when I was prepared to put my big toe (on which I unfortunately dropped a 10 kilo weight) on the asphalt, this dumbass redneck started honking, so that it shouldn’t even cross my mind to make one more step as he will run over my poor injured Big Toe. Okey. No problem. I move on. I cross the Mall; stare at the teenagers eating junk food and getting fat in one of the Food Courts; I also look at two chicks dressed as Japanese women, giving away some fliers and I stop for a second to applaud the kids dancing at the entrance.

With some effort and pane, I bounce down the stairs and go straight to the pedestrian crossing. Woooommmm!!! A stupid pig passed me with his brand new Bee Emm Double UUU, doing about 70-80 km/h. My heart stopped for a second. I basically almost shat my pants. Once again…No problem. I’ll just head my way…Early Friday evening. Thousands of cars on the streets. Everyone is leaving the city. At almost every intersection, traffic jams start to form. I pass the old customs office. A couple of trucks parked on the road side. A young yeehaa wants to show off with his “faster than the speed of sound”, automatic soapbox. Full throtel, he lets the hand break loose and almost crashes into another guy (don’t ask me what kind of car was the yeehaa driving , but his soapbox wasn’t bigger than an egg plant, and it even looked like one).

Another crossing. Now it’s just next to the Cantemir Faculty. There’s a four lane road with crossing and everything you need for civilized traffic, but it looks like that not all of the drivers read the Legislation. I stop and take a look to the right and to the left and even see the yehaa with his soapbox up front. I make one step forward, but no one stops. I make another step and they stop on one of the lanes, but not on the other one. Slowly and cosiously I cross the street. A couple of hundred yards and I’m home. Just before Dorobantilor Street, at a smaller street corner I almost have another heart attack. Just as I was crossing the road, being in the middle of it, another asshole honked at me. Yeah, I know that at an unmarked street corner cars have priority, but not on a one lane street, when I already started crossing it. I’m not a frog or superman to jump from the middle of the street on the pavement.

Well this is what happened on 500-600 m long path, in approx. 8 minutes. Oh, I almost forgot the citations of how I sent the drivers to warmer climates. But I think I’ll leave this up to your fantasy. Hmm… It wouldn’t hurt to install some speed radars in this city, as it is intolerable to see guys going with 80 in university-, shopping mall- and residential areas.

Kolozsvár 2OO8 okt. 31…Hállóúúinkor..egy tasak jéggel a nagy lábujjamon

Cluj-Napoca 31 oct. 2008… Just before Halloween, with a bag of ice on my “Big Toe”

Urban Running vs. Kolozsvár/ Urban Running vs. Cluj

Criticizing my city’s living conditions is an ever increasing topic on my blog and I am not about to let it go soon…There’s probably more than one person who hasn’t heard of the term Urban Running. It can be called in many ways, for example the French prefer Parkour (maybe there’s some difference between the two, but only they can tell you). This is one of those urban inventions from the neighborhoods, such as break-dance, street ball or the L.A. crumping. But this is slightly more extreme as the ones who participate in it perform astonishing physical moves, jumping from one building to another; flying over rails while they do a couple of back-flips. For those who haven’t heard of it, I recommend youtube. Madness or not, it definitely caught my attention and admiration.

This afternoon as I was killing of my brain cells with the wonders of Romanian Commercial Law, I looked out the window. And not far from the flat I saw an unfolding wonder. This new sport somehow got to this part of the world to. Two 17, 18 years old teenagers were training on the handrails and pavements of the bridge. It was an absolute joy watching them, but I was slightly worried as the kids had to watch for each passing car. Most probably their parents don’t know about it, as it is not one of those sports that you would recommend to your kid.

I don’t really want to criticize the town’s leadership, but I still do so. Yes, I know. The mayor has done a lot of things (good and bad), but I feel that our city’s living standards are not the greatest. Like for example there aren’t any proper sport facilities in the Marasti and Gheorgheni neighborhoods. Running around the lake is almost suicide nowadays. In the past I would twist my ankle in the enormous holes, now the new shopping Mall customers almost run me over with their cars as no one thought of a side-walk.

The situation is the same with gyms and fitness saloons. While in the States each school is equipped with proper sport facilities, back here there are only a couple of good examples. And the newly built gyms offer their services at staggering prices, where little bimbos go to show of their new sport equipment. I don’t know, but I prefer training in a pair of flip-flops and a shirt.

I came to the conclusion that we are quite lucky in comparison with our fellow Americans, as I know a lot of youngsters who want to perform sports, but they cannot do this because of lack of money, proper facilities or space. No wonder as on each remaining piece of green area a new concrete giant is being built. Let’s not even talk about urban planning. The new office of the tax authority is being built next to a three year old orthodox church, in the vicinities of a glass office building, surrounded by houses and communist flats. Strangely no one notices this. I don’t know?! Don’t the leaders of this city walk on the streets and see all this or is the “pocket money” they receive just so good that it is just not worth the effort?

And why don’t they pay bigger attention to the youngsters? Of course they built a couple of red-yellow-and-blue playgrounds for toddlers and a small Skate-park in the center, but are these enough? Two swings and a couple of rails? The Germans came to a point when they don’t demolish their old factories anymore, as it is part of their history, but instead they turn it into modern art museums or cultural centers. The same is with London’s Tate Gallery, and I’ve seen many cities with special places for those who like graffiti.

I must admit. I love Urban culture and it should be backed up, as not a lot of people see the importance of it. It wouldn’t hurt to rebuild some of the old factories in the Iris and Bulgaria districts. A proper skate-park, walls for graffiti artists, side rails and abandoned buildings for those who love parkour would be an excellent place for youngsters to meet and socialize. This kind of sport and art is the outburst of the modern youngster from the concrete jungle that the urban environment provides. Why shouldn’t we support it? Why shouldn’t we create a social and cultural gathering point for talented young people and remove them from their concrete walls. If we already destroyed most of the green area of this city, why not turn an old industrial complex in something useful for society? (let’s not just look at the money, as now this city has enough).

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Egyre gyakoribb témám a kolozsvári életminőség kritizálása és ezt nincs kedvem egyhamar abba hagyni… Biztos nem egy ember létezik, aki még nem hallott az Urban Running-ról. Több fajta megnevezése is létezik, pl. a franciáknak a Parkour jött be jobban (biztos van valami különbség a kettő között, de azt ők tudják csak megmondani). Ez is egy amolyan városi, kül-negyedi találmány, mint a break-dance, street-ball vagy netán a kaliforniai crumping. Csak ez kissé extrémebb. Ugyanis az illetők, hosszas edzés után, lélegzet elállító mozdulatokkal ugrabugrálnak egyik épületről a másikra, korlátokon keresztül repülnek és közben még párszor a fejük fölött is megfordulnak. Aki még nem halott erről, az keresse csak meg a youtube-on. Őrület vagy nem, de ezek a fiatalok minden esetre megnyerték elismerésem.

Ma délután miközben a román kereskedelmi joggal kínoztam agy sejtjeimet, kissé kipillantottam az ablakon. Nem messze a tömbháztól csodát látok. Már itt is elterjedt ez a sportág. Két amolyan 17, 18 éves srác a Marasti-tér híd melletti aluljárókon, korlátokon és járdákon edztek. Valóságos öröm volt nézni őket, csak kissé aggasztott, hogy a szegény kölykök, minden két percben kellett figyeljék az elmenő autókat. Valószínűleg a szüleik nem tudnak minderről, hiszen nem afféle sport, amit gyermekének javasolna valaki.

Nos nincs kedvem megint a város vezetőségét kritizálni, de még is azt teszem. Igen, tudom, hogy sok mindent tett Bokk (jót is meg nem is), de úgy érzem, hogy városunk életminősége nem a legjobb. Leszámolva például azt, hogy nincs egy kellő sportpálya az egész Marasti-téren és Györgyfalvi negyedben. A tó körüli szaladás már maholnap életveszélyessé válik. Eddig a gödrökben ficamítottam ki a bokám, most pedig a Mallba igyekezők gázolnak el, mert ugyebár elfelejtettek egy járdát is tenni.

A konditermekkel a helyzet hasonló. Míg Amerikában minden suli felszerelt sport termekkel várja a dagi mekis gyerekeket, addig nálunk csak egy két pozitív példa létezik. Az új konditermek pedig egyszerűen égbe kiáltó árakkal várják a kis pláza cicákat, akik inkább azért mennek terembe, hogy megmutogassák vadonatúj márkás sportcuccaikat. Nem tudom de nekem jobban esik egy majóban és egy pár csoszogóban edzeni.

Arra a következtetésre jutottam, hogy mi elég szerencsések vagyunk az amcsi testvéreinkhez képest, hisz rengeteg fiatalt ismerek, akik szeretnének valamiféle sportot űzni. De nem tudják kellő képen azt tenni, hisz vagy nincs elegendő pénz, vagy nincs kellő felszerelés vagy egyáltalán hely. Amikor minden tenyérnyi zöldet kivágnak és valami beton kolosszust húznak a helyébe nem is csoda. Várostervezésről ne is beszéljünk. Az új vámhivatal székhelye egy három éves ortodox templom mellett (ring a bell? Biblia), nem messze egy üveg irodaépület, és ezek háta mögött egy pár ház meg régi komcsi tömbház. Ezeket valahogy senki sem látja. Nem tudom?! A város vezetői nem járnak az utcákon, vagy akkorák a kis „zsebpénzek”, hogy nem éri meg a fáradtságot?

Úgyszintén mért nem figyelnek jobban a fiatalokra is? Persze, hogy építettek pár piros-sárga-kék játszóteret csecsemőknek, és egy Skate-parkot a Széki parkban, de elég mindez? Két csúszda és három bicikli lejtő? A németek már egy olyan pontba jutottak, amikor a Ruhr vidéki gyárakat nem rombolják le, hisz ez is történelmük része. Ezeket az épületeket átalakítják és sport meg kulturális centrumokat hoznak létre. A londoni Tate Galéria is hasonló példa, meg nem egy várost láttam, ahol egész falakat ajánlottak fel a grafitiseknek.

Bevallom szeretem az Urban kultúrát és fel kéne karolni, hisz sokan nem veszik észre a hasznosságát is. Nem ártana egy Írisz vagy Bulgária telepi régi gyárat átalakítani, ahova egy kellő skate parkot tudnának berendezni illetve festő falakat azoknak, akik tehetségesek ezen a téren. Kellő korlátokat és falakat azoknak, akik a parkourt művelik és mért ne pár tánc pódiumot is. Fiatalokat hoz össze. Mindezen sport illetve művészeti ágak a modern fiatal lázadását képezik a városi bezárt beton tömegek ellen. Hát mért ne karoljuk fel? Mért ne teremtsünk meg egy helyet, ahol fiatalok összegyűlnek és társalognak (és leszedik seggüket a számítógép székéről), tehetségeiket fejlesztik és a nap végén egy mosollyal mennek haza. Ha már úgyis kivágtunk majdnem minden talp-alattnyi zöldet, akkor legalább egy régi lerobbant ipartelepet alakítsunk át ezáltal egy társadalmi célt szolgálva. (ne csak a pénzt nézzük, mert az most hál’Istennek van elég a városban).

Kolozsvár (Cluj) okt. 3