GYULA: Hi! I am Gyula Balog, a homeless activist in The City is for All. I am the coordinator of our sensitizing school program.
TESSZA: My name is Tessza Udvarhelyi. I am one of the founders of The City is for All. I am a cultural anthropologist and I live in stable housing.
GYULA: We are homeless, so we have to sleep in public spaces. For four years now, the authorities have used the law to harass and persecute us.
TESSZA: I live in one of the green districts of Budapest in my own home. Every night I go to bed in peace as I know that I have secure housing for the rest of my life.
GYULA: When we have to go the bathroom, we have to use public spaces as there are no free public bathrooms in the city and they won’t let us enter the Hilton Hotel either. We can be fined for up to 100 Euros for this.
TESSZA: If I need to go the bathroom in the city, I can easily go into a nearby café and use theirs for free. If I have time, I can grab a coffee and a cookie, too.
GYULA: We have to stand in line for hours when we try to get our food at a soup kitchen. In the meantime, the police may check my identity twice.
TESSZA: I often spend time at outdoor places where I can order whatever I want. Nobody every asks me why I am there and what I am doing.
GYULA: When we rest on a bench in a park or sell the local streetnewspaper, we are almost always checked by the police. Why don’t they check people in suits?
TESSZA: I often hang out with my friends on a bench in a park or on the street. The police has never asked me for my identity card.
GYULA: When we ask for help regarding our housing, we are sent to mass shelters.
TESSZA: When I ask for help regarding out housing, the state offers me a subsidized mortgage.
2015.06.24. 06:00 •
Címkék:
english nemzetközi