I was absolutely stunned and fascinated by a short piece of news from Hungary this morning: Huns are seeking recongnition from the Hungarian Parliament. "Say what? What the hell is going on?!" was my initial gut reaction as I sprang to my feet. I am utterly confused. There is virtually no way of tracing anyone's origins to before the year 500AD in Hungary, chronicles and records were not preserved from that time. Besides, there were many 'identity' talks in the past fourteen years - mostly revolving about the status of the Roma and of the Jews-quibbles whether they are a national minority or an ethnic group, or neither. But the Huns? Where the bazmeg are they coming from? I immediately dove into the web, found the article, and read it closely. Aha. The Parliament is passing a new act on minorities.The newly-found Huns expect that their recognition in the Parliament will fail, but are ready to take their case all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights. Why is this strange new grouping so adamant about their rightful fight? Wham! Here they plunge in out of nowhere without warning and send us scrambling to read up on the old Attila the Hun and his tribes, scratching our heads and cranking our brains about the legitimacy and authenticity of their claimed identity.
Why now? Well, let's see what's out there. If they are recognized, it is likely they would be entitled to some cultural, educational, and financial benefits under the new bill (which I have yet to read, so I am merely speculating). They will also have a chance to organize their own minority local self-government under the Minority self-governments acts (a Hungarian specialty - minorities with significant presence in certain regions can elect their own representatives, gaining autonomy to decide matters pertaining to their minority status - language, primary schools education, cultural activities, you name it). I would suspect that the recent membership of Hungary in the European Union also sped up the budding of the Huns' identity. The pool of available resources to groups of all sorts has widened. EU has funds for ethnic, cultural, religious minorities, for regional development, all of which are up for grabs to the able and willing.
So what? Well, nothing, really. Good for them. I just find it fascinating how much a policy, national or international, can influence people's identities. Ever since we started counting everyone and keep meticulous records of ethnic, cultural, religious groups in national censuses (censi?), identities of those sorts skyrocketed in importance. Whoever was a plain Pressburger, started to feel more and more Slovak, Hungarian, or German. The quantification gridlock, as Benedict Anderson beautifully accounts in his Imagined Communities, plunged colonized countries into turmoil of rampant nationalism and power struggles within the newly formed states. And increasingly in the West and in the 'rest' alike, the numbers represent power in civil rights movements, access to decision-making and resources, legitimization of demands.
None of that makes the sense of identity less genuine to people. It is embraced, becomes personal, attached to our emotional core. It is not to be doubted or questioned. Neither it should be. Whatever drives people to express themselves creatively, to become responsible citizens and take part in shaping their own future, should be heartily encouraged. I assume many of the Huns feel very strongly about being Huns already, or perhaps always did, but no one told me until now. But each time I encounter news of this sort, I wonder: how much are we truly ourselves? How much of how I feel and think about myself is dictated from the outside without me ever realizing it? If all that was taken away, would I still recognize myself? Who am I in a nation-less, religion-less, gender-less, money-less, institution-less and thus formal education-less universe?
Not to get philosophical - it does not lead anywhere. I hate when people get that way, makes me shudder. Just sharing my fascination, wishing the Huns well in their struggle for recognition, and keeping my eyes on Central Europe. Let's see who comes next. I personally would like to see Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Gauls emerge from the ashes. Others are welcome to apply. Perhaps all that plundering and pillaging, killing and raping hundreds of years ago, can be finaly forgiven and these groups reconciled. Salvation could be just around the corner. Hallelujah!
"Hungarian Huns bid for new status"
By Nick Thorpe
BBC correspondent in Budapest
Hungary's MPs will hear an application from a group of people who claim descent from Attila the Hun and want recognition as an ethnic minority.
The Hun swept across Europe from central Asia in the 4th and 5th Centuries AD, conquering territory as far west as modern-day France.
But after Attila's death in 453, they disappeared from the history books.
Attila is still a popular name, but the emergence of a group of 21st Century Hungary Huns is raising eyebrows.
Question of identity
Branded the scourge of God by the peoples he conquered in southern and western Europe, Attila the Hun has had a better press among the Hungarians, the Turks and other related peoples.
Nearly 2,500 people have so far identified themselves as Huns on a petition presented to the Hungarian parliament's national elections committee.
Under Hungary's 1993 rights of national and ethnic minorities act, that is enough for their application to be considered by parliament.
A Hun spokesman, Gyorgy Kisfaludy, told the BBC that to be a Hun today was a matter of feeling and cultural identity.
He expects this attempt at parliamentary recognition to fail.
But he says the effort will have served their long term goal of reclaiming for the Huns their rightful place among the peoples of the world, alongside the Kurds, the Basques and the Scots.
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