A bar in Budapest
The Europeans | European news, politics and culture
Katy Lee and Dominic Kraemer
0.0 • 0 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2019
⏱️ 21 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Budapest, going out for a drink can be a political act. For the final episode of 2019, Dominic takes us to Auróra, a very special bar at the heart of the fightback against Hungary's authoritarian government.
This is the second in our new series of original reported podcasts, Postcards from Europe, featuring intimate portraits of lives and places across the continent.
This series was made possible by the European Cultural Foundation, who support initiatives that rethink Europe as an open and democratic space.
Thank you also to our generous Patreon supporters and to Budapest band Jü for the music you heard in this episode.
Looking for the infamous Instagram pics of police officers posted outside the bar? You can find them here. Happily, Gyuri says they haven't had to post on the account for two months.
Reporter and producer: Dominic Kraemer. Assistant producer: Philip Pollak. Editors: Katz Laszlo and Katy Lee. Artwork: La Kingsbeer.
Thanks for listening. We'll see you in 2020!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello Dominic Kramer. |
| 0:17.3 | Hello Katie Lee. |
| 0:18.6 | And hello everyone listening. |
| 0:20.4 | Oh, I feel like I'm in primary school again. |
| 0:23.0 | Hello everybody. We are back with the final episode of the year. Don't cry. Can you believe it, |
| 0:30.9 | Katie? I can believe it and I'm not crying because I need a holiday. It's been quite a year. An amazing year, |
| 0:37.4 | obviously. Don't get me wrong. It's been |
| 0:39.4 | brilliant. But it's time for a bit for rest, frankly. Are you actually getting any holiday? |
| 0:45.1 | I am. And as you know, I am leaving my job at the end of the year to focus more on this podcast, |
| 0:50.2 | which is very exciting. So I'm going to take a proper rest before you begin working me to the bone |
| 0:55.6 | in January. That is exciting and slightly concerning for the finances, I imagine. We'll work that one out later. |
| 1:02.5 | We will somehow. But anyway, I'm getting a bit of a head start on my holiday because I'm actually |
| 1:06.9 | getting to take this week off the podcast, really. And that's because you've got a story for us. |
| 1:12.1 | That's true. Yeah, I took the reins and I went to Budapest to visit a bar. |
| 1:18.5 | Given that when we're actually in the same place and we do go to a bar together, |
| 1:21.8 | you usually order like a green tea. |
| 1:24.7 | I don't really see you as someone that would normally visit a city specifically to go to a bar. |
| 1:28.8 | Yeah, that's true, but this bar is a bit different. It's become a centre point to the resistance |
| 1:34.6 | against the local authorities and in particular against Fides, the party of Victor Orban. |
| 1:43.7 | Orban was first Hungarian Prime Minister in the late 90s and began a second stint in the job in 2010. |
| 1:51.8 | He rose to power initially on a relatively moderate platform but has evolved into a right-wing |
| 1:58.2 | populist anti-migrant leader. |
... |
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