‘Young people are interested, but just not familiar enough with Hungarian organizations’ — An Interview with Hungarian American Coalition Fellow Luca Mórocz

Luca Mórocz, who came to the U.S. in 2017 as a Hungarian American Coalition (HAC) intern and has worked as a foreign exchange diplomat at the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assigned to the U.S. State Department’s Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, is currently living and studying in Washington, D.C., organizing various HAC events and a leadership training program. In the interview she talks about her experience in the US, her professional career, and shares her thoughts regarding the challenges of youth engagement Hungarian organizations in the United States face while introducing her new project, the HYPE Network.

Finding a Piece of Hungarian in Ourselves — An Interview with Melissa Katkó Pepin, Executive Director of the American Hungarian Foundation (AHF) in New Brunswick, NJ

‘I’m the Executive Director, but I also know that if there’s garbage, somebody must take it out. Similarly, I’m six feet tall, so if something in the back or on the top needs to be reached, I do it. When I was locked in the elevator once, the repairman showed me how to fix the elevator if I ever got stuck in it again. I am the chief bottle washer or the brain, the archivist, the curator when needed. I wear all these hats. Since I’m approachable, everybody feels they know me from different events in town. For some, I even became the face of the Hungarian community in New Brunswick.’

‘The United States is still the best hope for human beings’ — Minister János Csák’s Book Genius of America Launched

‘Justice, equality before the law, and freedom. I have travelled the world and have not found a combination of values and structures that better support the flourishing of the human soul and human nature,’ János Csák remarked at the launch of his book titled Genius of America. The Minister of Culture and Innovation’s work delves into how liberty, freedom, and equality before the law have become the United States’ three most important values, and how Americans can rediscover happiness by overcoming the current profound divisions in society.

A sign reading 'Globalize The Intifada' is seen on a placard as people demonstrate in support of Palestine in Brooklyn, New York, on 31 July 2021.

The Jewish American Nightmare

‘The progressive side has created a “Jewish question”. The left has discovered the concept of race, merged it with other dimensions of oppression (class, gender), and now they have made the Jews into a new oppressive caste alongside Christian Protestants. After 1967 they focused only on “Zionists” and “Israelis”; now the Jews of the diaspora are the opponents. They don’t even hide their intentions, attacking synagogues, looking for “enemies” who “look Jewish” in the classrooms and in the corridors. The attacks have nothing to do with Israel: they are intended to intimidate the Jewish American community.’

Keep an Eye on America — The American Launch of The Genius of America by Hungarian Minister of Culture and Innovation János Csák

President of the publishing company Angelico Press John Riess expressed his hope that many American readers would find János Csák’s recent book The Genius of America a fresh take on the U.S., stating: ‘We’re always being exhorted to have an honest conversation about the issues of race or gender or privilege. So, let’s also have one about the country itself, what it meant to our ancestors and what it might still mean to us. Read The Genius of America, comment, argue, discuss, contend, debate. That is, at least I hope, still the American way.’

Denisa Bott-Varga

‘Volunteering is about helping a community, it is not about one person’ — An Interview with the President of the Hungarian American Athletic Club of New Brunswick

Denisa Bott-Varga has been an active member of the 110-year-old Hungarian American Athletic Club in New Brunswick and leader of the local Csűrdöngölő Folk Dance Ensemble since the early 2000s, when she arrived to the US from Slovakia. In 2023, she received an Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic for her work in Hungarian diaspora culture and folk dance. In the interview she talks about her passion for folk dance and her efforts to build and preserve the Hungarian community in New Brunswick.

Mark Robinson — American Revolutionary

‘Maintaining and building on Trump’s realignment will require legitimate working-class voices under the GOP tent. Trump is a veritable hero to many working-class Americans, but he is the first to note he is a billionaire real-estate and television mogul. Vance’s life story and personal triumphs are remarkable, but he ultimately sports a Yale law degree and a résumé with corporate-law and venture-capital credentials. The changing Republican Party is short on figures like Mark Robinson.’