We were in Hungary (learning to) defending Democracy

The Citizenship Academy was in Hungary, from 16 to 17 november, in a reunion between hungarian and international organizations from civil society, and it got to know more about the recent atacks and threats done by the nacionalist right-wing government of Budapest.

We are creating ties and common strategies to fight against this atack (which includes unfounded accusations to NGO’s, police searches without a warrant at their headquarters, constant defamation in the press and trying to block international funds to get to the associations working for the defense of democracy, refugee rights, LGBT people, Roma and other minorities) and to learn how to avoid similar acts in our countries.

A lot of these acquirements will be transmitted in workshops that will be held in severous highschools in Portugal, and they aim to empower youngsters to fight for their civic rights.

This meeting and workshops are part of the project Citizen-Rights of international partnership.

Veronika Móra, director of Okotars Foundation (one of the organizations that distributes in Hungary the EEA funds – Norway, Iceland e Liechtenstein)

We also took part in a protest against the maintenance of unoccupied homes while at the same time the government is preparing a law to criminalize homeless people.