Description
PAPLAMENT deals with the criminalization of homeless people and with the segregation and stigmatization of the „ unworthy poor” in Hungary. This tendency has been growing since the system change, ending up in a number of discriminative laws in the past years (e.g. the acceptableness of street homelessness in the new Constitution) campaigns against homeless people on local and national level, illegal evacuations etc. Our action counterattacks the simplifying public opinions and the mechanisms of representing homeless people in the mass media. In connection with the national and European elections and especially with the upcoming municipal election in October 2014 we organize a campaign for an alternative mayor in the 8th district of Budapest. This district was one of the firsts to criminalize street homelessness. Coming from the short story of a homeless writer, Mókus Maxi (Maxi Squirrel) is a giant squirrel that has been constructed and filled with stories in the past years. Pneuma Szöv. works with a growing network of inhabitants, homeless artists and activists.
Summary of project results
PAPLAMENT deals with the criminalisation and stigmatisation of homeless people , the „ unworthy poor” in Hungary. On the occasion of the regional elections in 2014 the open network Pneuma Szöv. and the German performance group Mobile Albania launched a fake campaign for mayor Mókus Maxi (Macky Squirrel) in the 8th district of Budapest. The campaign raised issues of housing crisis, control society and regulation of public spaces. The group reacted on the local electoral campaign with playful & absurde street actions, interviewed inhabitants and social workers, created analogue news channels (local newspaper, „ChalkTV”, nomadic radio performances) and celebrated the 180 new surveillance cameras of the 8th district with a „Camera Opera Ball”. The project raised visibility to Pneuma Szöv., enlarged their network and gave them possibility to collaborate with activist groups around the new community center AURORA. New actions are being planned around AURORA, on the streets and online.
Summary of bilateral results