Ráday Salon

The Deaf Community: The invisible Community

On Thursday, 17 May, the Ráday Salon was joined by Mark Rust, professor of Deaf Education and Department Chair of the undergraduate American Sign Language minor program at McDaniel College in Maryland. Prof. Rust has spent the Spring 2018 semester as a visiting professor at McDaniel’s Budapest campus, teaching a course called ”The International Deaf Community”.

In his Salon talk, “The Deaf Community: The invisible Community”, Prof. Rust discussed the history of the deaf community and the language it uses. He talked about the history of deaf education in the US, as well as culture and politics related to the deaf community. Prof. Rust discussed attitudes both within and outside the deaf community about teaching sign language, and also shared some basic information about sign language in different countries.  During his stay in Budapest, Professor Rust has also been getting to know the deaf community in Hungary, and he shared some of what he has observed and learned.

 

"NO!" at MigHelp

Our long-time Salon friends have become very familiar with the powerful documentary about race and sexual assault, "NO!", made by Michael's daughter, filmmaker and activist Aishah Shahidah Simmons, as we have screened it at the Salon on many occasions over the years. This year, at the intersection of what is designated in the US as Women’s History Month (March) and Sexual Assault Awareness Month (April) -- and in the era of the #MeToo movement and an intense public focus on sexual harassment and sexual assault -- we took the opportunity to partner with Migrants Help Association of Hungary (MigHelp) to bring "NO!" to a new audience.

 

On Thursday, March 29,the documentary was screened at MigHelp, with a broadly diverse audience in attendance. The post-film Q & A and discussion on the ever-present problem of abuse against women was as intense and thought-provoking as ever, with a wide range of perspectives offered by participants from several different cultural backgrounds.

Photos: Canada's Mobilization for Migrant Justice

In our most recent Salon event, our speaker Sharmeen Khan gave her presentation, Internationalism and Refugees Welcome: Lessons from Canada's Mobilization for Migrant Justice. Sharmeen's topic attracted a big audience, many friends old and new, and we have received lots and lots of positive feedback both about her talk, and the vibrant and challenging discussion that followed.

Many thanks to Sharmeen for her presentation!  To get a sense of the evening, check out the event photo album on Facebook: 
Ráday Salon: Canada's Mobilization for Migrant Justice photo album

 

Photos: Stereotyping and Discrimination Salon and McDaniel College Human Rights Forum

We had a great turnout for our 20 November Salon on Stereotyping and Discrimination.  For those of you who were unable to attend our Salon, or the Human Rights Forum at McDaniel College the following day, photos are available on our Facebook page:

Ráday Salon: Stereotyping and Discrimination photo album

McDaniel College Human Rights Forum photo album

Photos and audio from Roma Rights Salon

 We've posted a new photo album with a few pictures from our last official Salon of the spring -- our Roma Rights salon on June 12, with special guest Mr. Larry Olomoofe, Director of Human Rights Education at the European Roma Rights Centre.

Also, with many thanks to our good friend JD, we also have audio of the event, available below. JD has divided the audio into different sections, but if you notice, the last player link contains the full unedited file. Enjoy!

Introduction to the Raday Salon by Michael Simmons

Introduction of Larry Olomoofe by Michael Simmons

Larry Olomoofe speaks

Questions and Answers with Larry Olomoofe

Full length and unedited Raday Salon Night

• .mp3 + .ogg audio files hosted at Archive.org
• recorded and edited by http://LMV.hu/redjade

Further reading on abortion in Argentina

Maria Lis Baiocchi, who discussed the criminalization of abortion in Argentina at our last Salon, was kind enough to pass along a few links for those who are interested in learning more about the topic. First, she directs us to a report from Human Rights Watch -- Decisions Denied: Women's Access to Contraceptives and Abortion in Argentina, which can be downloaded or read online at the Human Rights Watch website. Those who read Spanish (or are familiar with online translation tools such as Google Translate :o) ) may also want to take a look at despenalizacion.org.ar and abortolegal.com.ar.

Photos from "Women's Rights Are Human Rights" Salon

We've posted a new photo album on the blog with pictures from our "Women's Rights Are Human Rights" Salon.  Enjoy!

US Elections Salon featured on McDaniel College website

Those of you who were able to join us for our Nov. 25th Salon, in which we looked back on the issues raised by the 2008 US Presidential Election, know we owe a great round of applause to the McDaniel College students who so capably led four simultaneous discussions on topics they chose and prepared. We give our warm thanks to the students - Orsolya Bader, Chelsea Blair, Laura Kim, Estefania Luraschi, John Meyers, Jason Norton, Joseph Ogundipe, Philipp Sigrist, and Jenai Towuru. Some of the students will soon be returning to the US campus of McDaniel College. We wish them the very best in their future endeavors -- and they will be missed in Budapest!

Our Salon was featured on the McDaniel College website, in an article with a brief summary and photos. You can also view more photos of the Elections salon on our own photo album.

Ráday Salon on Funzine

Our October 30, 2008 Salon evening, which included a screening of the documentary film Freedom's Fury and a discussion on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, was featured in a story on the website of the Budapest Funzine, one of our favorite sources of English-language information in Budapest.   Click the picture to read the story (with photos!).

1956 Hungarian Revolution Salon -- audio

Dear friends,

We know it's been a long time since you've heard from us, but, as often happens, holiday plans and long-distance travel have intervened to keep the Salon on hold.  But fear not!  We expect to be coming back with our next event in a few weeks.

In the meantime, we do have something new to offer you.  Thanks again to our wonderful friend JD, we now have audio available of our last Salon, in which our friend Gaston Vadász shared his recollections of witnessing and experiencing the 1956 Hungarian Revolution first-hand as a youngster in Budapest.  The feedback we have received about this Salon has been overwhelming -- Gaston thoroughly captivated the crowd with his vivid and moving retelling of the events he lived through, starting with the first spontaneous gatherings on the streets, and leading up to his furtive escape with his mother over the border to Austria across an open field in the middle of the night.

We have two versions of the audio available:  the short version (approx. 30 mins) contains only the main part of Gaston's presentation; whereas the long verson (approx. 1 hr 30 mins) contains Gaston's presentation plus all the discussion that followed, which includes comments and recollections of the events from others as well.  (Also, the story of the midnight border crossing is in this longer version, as it comes up in the discussion section.)

To download the audio, right click on the desired link and select "Save Target As...."  From there you may select the location where you would like to save the file.  To listen online right now, simply (left-)click on the link.

Short version (presentation only) [mp3, 13 MB]
Long version (presentation with discussion)  [mp3, 46 MB]