Trialog: EU Enlargement and NGDOs
Lecture on "The Enlargement of EU and the NGDOs" conference (18-20 Nov,
1998, Palace Auersperg, Wien)
Not aid only, but Sustainable Civilisation
(Gyula SIMONYI, Hungary, BOCS Foundation)
1. Decades long history of a
Hungarian NGDO
From the begining of the seventies underground small
Christian communities started to support Christian aid organisations in
Latin-America, Africa, Asia. It was against of the strict communist law on hard
currencies that time, so it was dangerous, we had to find tricky ways to send
the money. Nationalists said Hungary is poor, it's a sin to send the money out.
Church leaders also said: we are a poor church supported by the West, it's
nonsense to support others. But in 1981 the first small church action happened
towards Mother Teresa. 1976: We concentrated our support to a Christian school
network in India. Recently in 90 schools 20.000 poor children are studying
there. 1986: Cedric Prakash SJ, director of this school network, visited us. He
wanted to see this unique case, that money was coming year after year from
behind the iron curtain. 1993: His second visit in Hungary. As the political
changes happened, we established a legal body.
The BOCS Foundation is not a single issue organisation: it is
dealing with peace, environment, justice, religions, civil society, development
education issues. 1996: One of us visited them in India. 1997: We invited Cedric
Prakash SJ to take part on the II. European Ecumenical Assembly in Graz (what we
reported daily on the internet). We made a website for their school network.
2. NGDOs in the world crisis: to develop sustainable
civilisation in the North!
We have a double strategy: not only
support the Third World, but struggle against the structures which always make
the powerful more rich and the weak more poor. The result of the
over-consumption and over-population is growing poverty, environment
destruction, violence. We support appropriate education (e.g. this school
network in India has a "Small family - happy family" program too). But the other
root of the world crisis - the over-consumerism - is here in the North! So we
help to develop a sustainable civilisation in Hungary, in East-Europe. We have
to learn a lot from the well-organised western NGDOs, but also we (and the
South) have something what we can offer to learn for the West. The keyword of
this knowledge is LifeHarmony. It means life quality instead of life standard,
non-material richness instead of material consumerism. It means "to be and not
to have" happiness (E. Fromm) instead of production-consumption-pollution
slavery under the pressure of credits and advertisements. It means less money
but more time. It means more spiritual and intellectual treasures and "luxury of
personal relationships" (phrase of Saint-Exupery): friendship, community,
solidarity, voluntary work, love and sexual love, play, artwork, nature,
silence, peace, joy and many other meaningful values. There is an animation on
our website: an E fall down onto the LifeHarmony and makes LifeHarMONEY, where
the money try to occupy the whole life, but the life resist and kick out the E,
defend the Harmony. The LifeHarmony needs lower life standard but more time,
because happiness comes from non-material richness. So the LifeHarmony makes
possible a sustainable civilisation, less production-consumption-pollution, less
violence, more justice, better integrity of Creation. The network of small
communities is ideal place to live in LifeHarmony and to teach it. These
educational community life makes its members more happy and more wise. It helps
them not to be slaves of credits and advertisements. So they have time for life
and money for the poor. The NGDO not only ask (money and voluntary work) from
them, but gives LifeHarmony, better life quality to them. So the role of NGDOs
is much more than collecting money for the poor. They can and should develop a
sustainable civilisation, which is much better even for the rich. NGDOs can and
should be not only educators but even frames of LifeHarmony.
Recently there are about 1200 texts in 13 languages (mainly English, Hungarian
and German), half a thousand pictures, 50 Mbytes. Special parts on Development
Education, Environment, Peace, Justice, Religions. Guests as Kairos Europa, Church
& Peace, Balaton Group, Budapest Club, Christian Solidarity International,
appropriate TV-programs, etc. The BOCS as Hungarian word has two meanings: a short friendly "forgive me" (refers
to peace work), and "bruin", "bear-cub" (ecology). Our logo is a panda (the only "vegetarian"
bear), playing on the fields: "The cow and the bear eat together, their kids play
together, no one harms, destroy any more..." (Isaiah 11,3)