Since this topic is only vaguely related to Hungarian concerns, I will
be brief.  After I wondered aloud about Joe Szalai's use of the word
"corporatist" to describe both present-day North America and Mussolini's
Italy, Joe replies:

> I tend to use the word "corporatism" the same way that John Ralston
> Saul uses it.  In "The Unconscious Civilization", Saul writes: [...]

I humbly confess I have not heard of J.R. Saul before.  The quote
graciously provided by Joe is a polemical piece with a great many
unsupported assertions and sloppy second-hand ideas.  Its main point,
as far as I can see, is to try to hang Marechal Petain and Benito
Mussolini around Newt Gingrich's neck.  Why anyone would want to do
that is a mystery to me.  Goodness knows, there is plenty to criticize
about Gingrich -- but there is no need to go through all this trouble to
imply, without quite coming out and saying so, that he is a fascist.

And now for the Hungary-related stuff:

>> [Soros] gets a kick out of outsmarting the stuffed shirts of
>> the Bank of England, and spend his winnings on the kind of one-man
>> Marshall program he thinks the British should be running in Eastern
>> Europe if they had the brains and imagination to do so.
>
> Do you assume they have the money? Is it time for another Marshall Plan?

Looking at the massive billions Germany is spending to bring the
infrastructure of the ex-DDR up to snuff, it is clear that Eastern Europe
could use massive capital investment in industry, transportation,
communication, and many other areas.  None of this will come from any
Marshall Plan-type aid.  That sort of thing is not fashionable any more.
Eastern Europe has no real moral claim for a massive aid program, and
there are no political forces in the West to push through anything like
a Marshall Plan.  Besides, you don't have to go to Eastern Europe to see
bits of rotten infrastructure: there are plenty of potholes and rusty
bridges right here in the U.S.

What Soros realized in the early 80s, to his eternal credit, is that the
best way to hasten the collapse of the Empire is not by aiming more
cruise missiles at it, but by flooding the place with xerox machines
and laser printers.  About this he was unquestionably right.  He was
also more or less alone in setting up a "corporatist" (?) organization
capable of delivering and distributing the goods on his own, given
the complete lack of government support.

Hungary and the rest of Eastern Europe received precious little
support from the West since 1989, and what they received was mostly
help of the wrong kind.  Much of the aid ended up in the pockets of
Western consultants whose only identifiable output was yet another
feasibility study of some kind.  There is a story about a consultant
who came to Budapest with a grant to help Hungarians convert from the
Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet.  I am sure the story is apocryphal, but
perhaps it is not that far from the truth.

What Hungary needs now in the way of Western help is a not another
Marshall Plan.  I think what would be most helpful is a whole lot
more personal and professional face-to-face contact with Westerners.
Members of every profession would benefit enormously from studying
how things are done elsewhere, what approaches have been tried, what
worked, and what didn't.  Instead of all-knowing consultants telling
locals what to do, people could make their own decisions.  I am thinking
of down-to-earth things: a group of dentists, say, studying the liability
insurance and financing aspects of running a dental practice.  Prosecutors
studying how RICO works in everyday practice to fight organized crime.
How Meals-on-Wheels programs are organized and run.  How to set up a
civilian police review board.  How to run an independent ballet company
on a shoestring.  How ethics committees function in hospitals.  Whatever.

These types of mundane exchanges are, I think, far more useful, and far
cheaper, than most other forms of aid.  Not much along these lines is done
by Western governments or private foundations other than Soros.  This is
why Soros has become such a big fish in a little pond.  If others with
different agendas came in with their own programs, and gave Soros a run
for his money, then the worries about the excessive influence of his
foundation could be put safely to rest.

-----
Gabor Fencsik

I apologize in advance if this question is not in good
standing with the list, but I am trying to find some information.
     I will be in Budapest this summer for about 4 weeks on a work
assignment. Since I am an avid motorcyclist, I would like to know the
availability of motorcycle rental. I would genuinely like to tour
your country in my spare time. If this is not feasible, I would like
to know that also. And if any of you, or if you know someone there
whom is a motorcyclist, please contact me.

Thank-you,
Ben W. White
Direct Software Solutions Corporation
Marietta, Georgia USA
--

For those who haven't seen it:

The 31 May issue of The Economist has an analysis of the Czech economic
situation on p. 73.

Their opinion is that the Czechs (well, the government) have only
themselves
to blame for letting things to get out of hand.  In particular, they
refer to
the deterioration of the balance of payments, currency overvaluation and
the dubious Czech way of privatization that led to a cosy conglomeration
of
banks and industry that resists change.

The article draws a parallel between the situation in the Czech Republic
today and that in Hungary in 1994 in terms of balance problems, while
emphasizing the different approaches to privatization.  In the author's
view Hungary is now on the path of sustainable economic growth after
considerable pain, but the Czechs still need to introduce reforms that
they so far avoided.  While the author is non-committal about the
future, an
observation is made that the Czech government does not seem to have a
Lajos
Bokros and the stomach for the necessary austerity measures.

George Antony


> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------------------
George Antony

Comprehensive Regional Assessment, Department of Natural Resources
Block C, 80 Meiers Rd, Indooroopilly Qld 4068
ph: (07)/(+61-7) 3896-9448
fax: 3896-9858

---------------------
Forwarded message:
From:    (Dani László)
Reply-to:       
To:     , , ,
, , ,
, , ,
, , ,

Date: 97-06-05 10:03:20 EDT

Partium és Erdély oktatásügyének támogatására jött létre a 

                    Szent László Alapítvány
           http://www.hungary.com/mvsz/laszlo.html

Az alapítvány célkitűzései 

    A magyar anyanyelvű oktatásügy támogatása: iskolák létesítése,
működtetésének támogatása a
    következő fokozatokon: 
       általános iskolai oktatás, 
       szakirányú oktatás (ipari, mezőgazdasági), 
       posztgraduális képzés (mind elméleti, mind szakirányú
tartalommal), 
    Szent László, mint névadó emlékére és tiszteletére szervezett
iskolai és egyéb rendezvények támogatása. 

A jelzett célok érdekében az alapítvány - vallásfelekezeti
hovatartozásától függetlenül - tanulmányi ösztöndíjjal támogatja az arra
érdemeseket. 

                            "Ne hagyjátok a templomot,
                             A templomot s az iskolát!"

                                                 Reményik Sándor:
Templom és iskola 

Szent László király neve Nagyvárad nevével összenőtt és püspökségeink
székvárosának lakói és egyházaink hívei számára neve fogalom. Szent
László az alapítója "boldog Váradunknak" s az ősi Nagyváradi Római
Katolikus Egyházmegyének, s Ő az, akinek nevében és szellemében a
szabadulás kezdetét jelentő 1989-es esztendőt követően egyházaink
ökumenikus testvéri egyetértésben egymásra találtak. Történelmi
nagyságára és keresztényi szentségére vall, hogy 900 évvel halála után
is egységre és összefogásra indítja kései alattvalóit. Alapítványunk
Szent László nevét vette fel. Egy régi legenda azt tartja, hogy nagy
veszély idején az kegyes élet király kikelt sírjából, és szorongatott
népének a segítségére sietett. Alapítványunkat azért kereszteltük az Ő
nevéről, mert a nagy magyar király Romániában élő, kisebbségi sorsra
jutott népe manapság is veszedelemben él és segítségre szorul . A
többségi román nacionalista hatalom már háromnegyed évszázad óta
elnyomás alatt tartja népünket, szívós következetességgel arra
törekszik, hogy megfossza nemzeti-vallási identitásától, vagy
szülőföldjének elhagyására kényszerítse. Ennek tulajdonítható, hogy
szinte valamennyi magyar és egyházi iskolánkat elkobozta, kiterjedt
anyanyelvű oktatási hálózatunkat elsorvasztotta, sőt az új román tanügyi
törvény által végleg le
akar számolni a nemzeti megmaradásunk legfőbb támaszát jelentő egyházi
és - megmaradt - polgári iskoláinkkal. 

Az egyház- és iskolaalapító, nemzete felemelkedéséért cselekvő Szent
László király példáját követve, mi sem nézhetjük tétlenül romániai
magyarságunk pusztulását, népünk, egyházaink és iskoláink elnyomatását.
A Szent László Alapítvány célkitűzéseinek értelmében, az Alapító
valamint a Támogatók segítségével készek vagyunk minden lehetőt megtenni
iskoláink megmentése, nemzeti önazonosságunk megőrzése, népünk és
híveink tanítás és tudomány általi szolgálata és megmaradása érdekében.
Hitünk és hagyományaink szellemében nevelő iskoláinkat Isten "veteményes
kertjeiként" műveljük, óvjuk és ápoljuk, hogy ott tanuló gyermekeink a
jó és a jövendő gyümölcseit teremjék - Istennek dicsőségére és
társadalmunk javára. 

Ehhez kérjük velünk együttérző Testvéreink imádságos és adakozó
támogatását szerte a
nagyvilágban, Szent László népének és hitének megtartó közösségében. 

1997. 
       Tőkés László                           Tempfli József 
     református püspök                római katolikus megyéspüspök 
          s. k.                                  s.k.

At 08:33 AM 6/6/97 +1000, George Antony wrote:

>For those who haven't seen it:
>
>The 31 May issue of The Economist has an analysis of the Czech economic
>situation on p. 73.

        The New York Times also has a long article on the Czech economic
troubles (in the Business Section--I hope Gabor Fencsik is
listening/reading!!) which I downloaded for those who are interested in
reading it. Foreigners--meaning people not living in the United
States--unfortunately cannot read the Internet edition of the New York Times
free and therefore just write to me privately for a copy. Another
interesting article was on the problems of the German welfare state. I also
have a copy of that.

>In the author's
>view Hungary is now on the path of sustainable economic growth after
>considerable pain, but the Czechs still need to introduce reforms that
>they so far avoided.

        By the way, I just began reading Janos Kornai's new book, "Vergodes
es remeny" (Budapest: Kozgazdasagi es Jogi Konyvkiado, 1996). According to
the blurb, quoting Janos Kornai himself, "Today the situation is no longer
hopeless.... From a pessimist I have become an optimist." By the way, the
latest economic indicators are very promising.
        Eva Balogh