Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Local News News

For many years I have been the English language voice of Csikszereda, the place that people discovered when they searched for English language information about the town. I have been contacted by ice hockey fans, by Hungarian-Americans, by people who adopted children from this area in 1990, by tourists (not so many of them, I confess), and by various others from around the world who have come across my rambling nonsense and thought I might be able to provide them with some insight into the mysterious world of the Csik/Ciuc Depression.

Now there are some problems with this obviously - (a) I'm not a local and so what insight/information I can offer is not quite as insightful as it might be (though arguably, I suppose, it could be more objective); (b) I'm a 43 year old bloke with kids, and therefore do not necessarily represent a hugely diverse body of opinion. (What do women think of this place? Young people? People with social lives? etc etc); (c) Is my opinion to be trusted? On the internet it's always hard to tell. I'm not sure if I would trust my opinion, so why anyone else should is beyond me.

But now, I can exclusively reveal, there are more English language bloggers in the Csiki-blogosphere (Blogo-depression?). These bloggers are not outsiders, but real live locals, with lives and everything. I have not made them up. They are all part of a competition being organised by the Soros Educational Center here - and are listed here (and you can vote for them too). More might be appearing in the next few days, so keep checking that page (I'm hoping that at least one Romanian (by which I mean Romanian Romanian rather than Hungarian Romanian) will join up, because that perspective would be really interesting and valuable too)

So here they all are:
Enjoy. And vote. And, if you live in the town, sign up for the contest.

In other local news news, the town's most historic newspaper "Harghita Nepe" has, as far as I can tell, vanished as a commercial entity, and been bought up by the County Council as a place where it can sing the praises of its works, and especially those of the "Dear Leader", one Borboly Csaba, whose tenure at the helm of the County Council has not so far been one of unalloyed success (and who has, it is rumoured, attempted to drag Harghita County Council into the 21st Centruy by, wait for it, signing the staff up for a Yahoo group. Rock and roll.). So, I suspect the interest in Harghita Nepe will be soon no greater than that for the Pyongyang Daily News.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just so you've said...not sure your opinion is worth to be trusted

Anonymous said...

your oppinion doesn't cover the truth entirely. in the case of Hargita Nepe it happened just that the chief redactor and the executive director were removed, but the rest of the crew suffered no harm. neither the caracter and style of Hargita Népe hasn't change. it still publishes articles pro and contra about Borboly Csaba. on its pages there's still place for everyones oppinion.
moreover you write your blog for people who cannot examine the truth of your words because i hardly believe that they understand Hungarian.

Andy said...

Thanks anonymous. That's not really my opinion so much as what I've been told. I hope your version of the truth is correct as it sounds much more palatable than the UDMR one-party-state Pravda version I'd heard about.

However, as the people who told me this news were people I trust (though of course they too could have been misinformed), and you are hiding behind internet anonymity, I'm still leaning towards the version I've reported here. No offense.

Anonymous said...

Andy, perhaps you should read the Hargita Népe, or check your informations at two or more independent sources.
The meaning of writing blog,is to share your own oppinion othervise with or without anonymity you'll be nothing more than you asume I am. No offense.

Andy said...

I've assumed nothing about who you are. I literally have no idea. I'm not sure what you think I've assumed. Until such time as you stop being so anonymous, I will continue to have no idea. Care to help out?

Anonymous said...

This Hargita Pepe issue was never that simple, and never will be... Emese, who is now a PSD-fan director of the Environment Dept. was put there by the former county council president. And the newcomer leaders really do harm the staff -- some of them former RMDSZ campaign activists.
You cannot tell it as a story, as it has no reason or meaning :)