Human Rights Festival 2018: reflections of a film student

Film studies student Vladimir Stoilkov writes:

Angela Hatherell came to one of our first Film Festivals and Exhibition classes and talked about the Oxford Human Rights Festival. What she said about the previous year's festival made me very interested. I did some research when I got home and decided to contact her and ask to join this year's committee and shortly after this I was a member. 

Clara Blackings from the Brookes School of Nursing

chairs a panel discussion on mental health

after the screening of Loving Vincent

In the beginning, I did not know what to expect from the festival but when I arrived at the first meeting everyone was very friendly and very passionate about the issues the festival was concerned with. This made it very easy for me to fit in and come up with my own ideas. The main one that I came up with was a screening of the first fully painted animation film Loving Vincent. I believe Vincent Van Gogh is a very important figure that I look up to and his story is very relevant to the festival's theme - Identity. The rest of the committee was equally excited about the idea of screening this film and were very encouraging. This way, I believed I was doing something important and looked forward to each meeting and would talk to my friends about the festival all the time.

Film studies students make a trailer for the festival, featuring DEP students

During the actual festival from 12-17 March, I had some of my most fulfilling and exciting time from all of my three years of uni. Together with two other committee members, Luigi and Alex, we were in charge of filming and photographing most of the events. This was very exhausting but the three of us enjoyed it a lot since we are film students. We met a load of great people during this time such as Sonam Anjatsang (director of Little Tibet documentary) and Sherwan Haji (lead actor, The Other Side Of Hope) with whom I am now personal friends. 

Listening to all the discussions, talks and Q&As made me even more interested in spreading awareness about human rights issues and art. I think being part of this year's festival provided me with a valuable learning experience. I have strong faith in this festival and I hope I am able to join again next year.

Hungary: refugees and civil society under threat

Richard Carver writes:

“Congratulations to Fidesz and Viktor Orbán on winning the elections in Hungary. We look forward to working with our Hungarian friends to further develop our close partnership.” These are the words of Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in response to last Sunday’s election, presumably reflecting the official British view (although in these strange times it is not always easy to tell).

This, by contrast, was the verdict of the monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe:

The 8 April parliamentary elections were characterized by a pervasive overlap between state and ruling party resources, undermining contestants’ ability to compete on an equal basis. Voters had a wide range of political options but intimidating and xenophobic rhetoric, media bias and opaque campaign financing constricted the space for genuine political debate, hindering voters’ ability to make a fully-informed choice.

European elections are not usual territory for CENDEP’s work, but as I explained in an earlier blog post, the result in Hungary has extraordinary and threatening implications for minorities in Hungary, as well as the civil society organizations that defend them. It is no exaggeration to say that the very existence of groups such as the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, our partner in Budapest, is under threat. Any group working on migration issues will have to submit to vetting by the interior ministry and security agencies, while those receiving foreign funding to assist refugees and other migrants will be subject to a 25% tax. These proposed measures are a response to a completely fictitious plot by the financier and philanthropist George Soros to flood Hungary and Europe with Muslim immigrants. The proposed attacks on civil society are contained in a legislative package known as “Stop Soros,” which has been promoted in a thinly-veiled anti-Semitic campaign. The victory of the ruling Fidesz party is seen as a popular vindication of “Stop Soros.”

According to Prime Minister Orbán:

The reason we submitted this package before the elections is in order to allow the Hungarian voters to cast their vote knowing our intention on this. This has happened and we believe we are mandated by this election to pass this law.

Please look at the earlier post for suggestions on possible steps to protect civil society and migrants in Hungary and read what our friends at the Helsinki Committee have to say. You can also donate to support the work of the Hungarian Helsinki Committee. 

UPDATE: This article by Catherine Woollard of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE)  offers an excellent summary of the post-election situation and the steps that should be taken.