A Jewish-run community centre in Hungary says it is being pressured by local authorities to shut down as part of a sustained government campaign against it.
Auróra, a project of the Masorti youth movement Marom, says it has been subjected to a “discriminatory and purely political” effort to limit its activities and close the venue.
Its building in Budapest’s inner city Józsefváros district plays host to non-governmental organisations and civil society groups, particularly those that work with vulnerable communities such as Budapest Pride and the Roma Press Centre.
The project’s organisers say the district council run by Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party has heightened its campaign against it since national elections in April this year, when Fidesz won half the popular vote.
Adam Schönberger, who helps run the project, told the JC that his collective has had to fight back against repeated administrative harassment by local authorities, including close scrutiny of their rental contracts and business licence, surveillance patrols in front of the building, and petitions against Auróra among local residents.
On September 21, the local council announced its intention to buy the building Auróra is housed in — a move the project says is designed to lead to its permanent eviction.
The following week, the council further restricted Auróra’s activities by revoking its right to operate between 10pm and 6am.
Marom’s Masorti sister organisation in the UK wrote an open letter to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt last week, expressing their “profound concern” at the campaign against Auróra.
The community centre has received hostile coverage in the Hungarian national media.
A recent article in the pro-government outlet Origo labelled Auróra the “Soros drug den”, claiming local residents had been “unable to sleep for years” because of noise disturbances.
The police raids, closures, and administrative harassment have placed a tremendous strain on Auróra, which is run by volunteers, Mr Schönberger said.
He said he finds himself meeting police every other week and consulting lawyers every other day. Meanwhile the money Auróra is able to bring in through crowd-funding does not cover the financial losses they have suffered “as a result of this political aggression against us”.
“It’s not easy to do our work under these circumstances,” he said.
“You feel isolated—and they want to isolate you.”
Auróra does not receive support from the Federation of the Hungarian Jewish Communities, Mr Schönberger added.
The federation’s representatives did not respond to request from the JC for comment.
The sustained pressure against Auróra raises the prospect that the centre will have to close and relocate, although with so much investment tied up in their existing building, they do not have the resources to execute such a move right now.
That Auróra’s future hangs in the balance “is why we continue to fight,” he said — they have no other choice.
