Monday, January 24, 2011

Habermas and Nida-Rümelin: Protect the philosophers in Hungary

In an article in "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (January 25, 2011), Jürgen Habermas and Julian Nida-Rüdelin express their concerns about the situation in Hungary for Agnes Heller, Mihály Vajda and Sándor Radnóti. They have been accused of misusing public funds.

"Schützt die Philosophen!"

See also professor Laszlo Tengelyi's open letter on the situation of philosophers in Hungary.

Update:
See an English translation here:

"Protect the Philosophers!"

Excerpt:
"Given this, we call on the European Commission not only to subject the Hungarian media law to a long-overdue legal assessment, but that, at the same time, in the course of this assessment, it ought also to take into account the general practices of the Hungarian regime and its agents, and in this case especially it ought to examine the treatment of critical academics and intellectuals. In the question of whether, in a country that today represents the European Union, essential principles of a liberal constitutional order may be injured, the European parliament abstains from giving an answer; the Council of the European Union is, as usual, divided; and the German federal government makes merely tight-lipped statements."

And a French translation here:

"Sauvons les philosophes!"

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