Hungary: Fighting Hatred with Humour
Al Jazeera | 25 min
Postproduction script
Time Code (10:00:00:00) |
Description of
Scene |
Audio |
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Wide shot of tower
block and car pulling up LOCATION STRAP: SZOLNOK,
HUNGARY |
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10:00:12 |
Suzi walking by bus
stop with Solznok Dog Party members |
Suzi: Even in this bus stop, the benches look
like s**t. But some paint would fix it, right? This looks like c**p. |
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Suzi: I
pushed in a screw at least. That’s a start! |
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Suzi takes a photo NAME CAPTION: ZSUZSANNA DOME [SUZI DADA], CO-FOUNDER, THE
TWO-TAILED DOG PARTY |
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10:00:34 |
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Suzi IV: I think it's always great when you can make a change in politics, make
it a bit funnier or more colourful. |
10:00:43 |
Looking at the painted
cracks by the bus stop |
Suzi: So
pretty Activist
1: It ended up looking like a bull due to its size. Suzi: Not
a bull, but a strong dog! It truly
has that shape! You’re so
silly. It’s f******g great! |
10:00:57 |
WS Suzi and activists
look at painted cracks |
Suzi IV: In
Szolnok, there is a new branch of the Dog Party doing pavement crack colouring and they are having a big impact. For
example, one of their biggest pavement crack paintings was fixed by the city
authorities within a few weeks. |
10:01:15 |
Suzi takes photos of
the painting from the bus stop |
Suzi: Its crazy good. I hope they’re
not going to fix this, it looks great! Activist 1: they won’t fix it. There’s
no danger of that. Suzi: Yeah, because [the government
party] Fisesz doesn’t have an office near here. |
10:01:29 |
Gyorgy drinking |
Suzi: OK, where to next? |
10:01:31 |
Suzi and the activists walking |
Suzi IV: We call our activists 'Passivists'
and they are those active, creative citizens who will spot solvable problems
in their surroundings, will come up with solutions. |
10:01:45 |
Suzi, Gergo and co put up fake windows around concrete wall
door. Solznock |
Activist
1: Let’s glue the back Activist
2: And did you check which side is up? Suzi?: It doesn’t matter
which ways is up. Activist
2: Or we will glue it upside down! |
10:02:01 |
Pasting paper for park wall stunt |
Suzi IV: There’s a
big concrete wall between this park and the apartments on the other side. There
should be an exit but there's just metal door leading straight to the wall,
with no hole behind it. |
10:02:17 |
Pasting paper for park wall stunt |
Gyorgy: All right, we
shouldn’t be more conspicuous than we need to be! Suzi: The
mosquitos are biting my bum! |
10:02:23 |
Wide of door posters being put up |
Suzi IV: So we
made a doormat and some windows to accompany this ‘door to nowhere’. |
10:02:32 |
Mat being put down |
Activist
1: Shall I put it here like this? Is this good like this? |
10:02:38 |
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Suzi IV:
We are trying to get the authorities to take responsibility. |
10:02:42 |
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SUZI: Its
great! And you can smear it will this goop. Don’t do it would your hands. That might look off. |
10:02:49 |
WS Group look at the door |
All: To
the right! To the right! |
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Man takes pictures |
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10:02:55 |
Text: ‘THE DOOR TO NOWHERE’ |
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10:02:59 |
Park
Manager confronts Dog Party, demanding they take down stunt. (nb: We can’t show his face) NAME CAPTION: GERGELY KOVACS, CO-FOUNDER, THE
TWO-TAILED DOG PARTY |
Park Manager: Take it off! Take
it off, please! Gergő: We don’t want to, it’s much better. There is a
window for the door and stuff, right?! Park Warden: You will take it off anyway! |
10:03:11 |
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Suzi IV: Today those who are responsible are starting to act, instead of
calling the police on us. |
10:03:18 |
Group gathered in park talking
to park manager |
Park
Manager: That that off… please! Suzi: We won’t take it
off! You’ll have to give us an official request! |
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FILM TITLE – THE TWO-TAILED DOG
PARTY // A FILM BY KATA KARATH |
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10:03:32 |
Wide of river and Budapest buildings CAPTION: BUDAPEST, HUNGARY |
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10:03:38 |
Suzi walks down street looking
at phone TEXT:
Following the success of The Dog Party Suzi was invited to become a deputy
mayor of Budapest’s 9th district. |
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10:03:45 |
Suzi walks into municipal
BUILDING TEXT: MAYOR’S OFFICE (DISTRICT
9), BUDAPEST |
Suzi IV: I have a lot of responsibilities. |
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Council meeting |
Man in meeting: So this [drug prevention
policy] comes together as a prevention system. |
10:34:53 |
Suzi in meeting, listening |
Suzi IV: I'm primarily
responsible for culture and social issues. |
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Suzi walking into her office |
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10:04:03 |
Suzi’s office Text: SUZI DOME, DEPUTY MAYOR |
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Suzi working in office Magazine
cover with statue on it. Statue
on display in the park |
Suzi IV: I think independent artists need the chance to create freely,
without being told what to create. So that’s why I organised
a public art contest. One of the pieces was known as the “Black Lives Matter
Statue” |
10:04:30 |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_0akcLkrRg Our Homeland
promotional video TEXT: OUR HOMELAN D
PARTY ARCHIVE STRAP: OUR
HOMELAND FOOTAGE |
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Our Homeland making and erecting the barricade
around the BLM statue (archive is creative commons) Name caption: Janos Lantos, Our Homeland Party |
Our Homeland Spokesperson: It is Gypsy criminals that
are the problem in this country, and racism against white Hungarians is
everywhere. We cannot allow this BLM statue to stand without saying or doing
anything. There will be no BLM in Hungary. There will be no Gypsy Lives
Matter. We cannot allow this to happen. We will stamp it out in its infancy. |
10:04:48 |
Shot of boarded up statue continues – Our Homeland
footage |
László Toroczkai
(Our Homeland): I’m very confident that the disgraceful things happening in
the USA, where there is a subversive, civil war-like atmosphere, won’t happen
in Hungary. The Hungarian national resistance is
fighting it and I hope that this monstrous work will disappear from behind
these panels soon. |
10:05:17 |
Statue footage continues,
destroy statue |
Suzi IV: In the
end, the cordon was removed and a bunch of “very brave” white supremacist
far-rightists kicked it into pieces. |
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Far right video – (fair use/fair
dealing) |
Video of the far right smashing it |
10:05:29 |
Suzi in office NAME CAPTION: ROLAND TERDIK,
TWO-TAILED DOG PARTY |
Suzi (reading
from phone): “The BLM monument kneeling in front of the anarchist terrorist
movement, so adored by Suzi Dome” (laughs) Suzi: Ah, the
photo looks “good” as well. Roland: Yes, this
is from the office of [the governing party] Fidesz. |
10:05:53 |
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Suzi IV: Almost
everything I’ve done so far has triggered attacks. |
10:05:58 |
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Suzi: “The
terrible idea that popped out of the head of Ms
Suzi Dome from the Dog Party.” I thought it was good! (laughs) |
10:06:07 |
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Suzi IV: If the media and the far right
call me a traitor for trying to make this country a better place, well that’s
fine. I can't do anything about that. I think the traitors are those not
helping the country but instead creating hate. |
10:06:27 |
Suzi talks about about Roma /rubbish dump, working at computer |
Suzi IV: I’m doing some more work on
the case of the garbage dump of Alsozsolca town. We learnt that the local municipality
has been dumping rubbish at an empty plot. Our first stunt was actually a
virtual one because we made a photo-shopped image of a billboard saying “An
illegal municipal landfill is being built here”. Many journalists believed
this. |
10:07:04 |
Still image of fake garbage
dump sign |
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10:07:05 |
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Suzi IV: However, the Municipality
has also retaliated. Because the garbage is on private land and its not the council’s responsibility. This is their excuse
for not doing anything. |
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Text: The Alsozsolca municipality is yet to remove the rubbish
heap. Now the Two Tailed Dog Party is stepping up the campaign. |
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10:07:20 |
CAPTION:
REC Archive -
TTDP footage recorded at rubbish dump |
Off camera: Welcome Ladies and Gentlemen. It’s rolling. Suzi: Hi everyone, here
we’re in Alsózsolca, at the feet of the famous rubbish
heap of Alsózsolca. Not far from here is the Sajó river and over there is the Roma settlement. This
field is a protected nature reserve. So we’ve come here to talk to the locals, but they’re
nervous about speaking. They fear for their jobs and their healthcare because
they’re scared of the local politicians. |
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Text: The
Roma community has told Suzi the municipality is dumping its rubbish outside
their homes. |
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10:08:15 |
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Suzi IV: I was
specially approached by these Roma locals as I worked a lot on that town when
I used to be a teacher. So I already have a
relationship with them. |
10:08:28 |
Dog Party archive continues –
talking to locals about rubbish dumping by council |
Suzi: Have you heard that
the council has been dumping rubbish here? Roma man: Oh yes, it’s
definitely happened. The municipality brought stuff like wood waste and I
don’t know what else. Suzi: How did they do that,
with vans? Roma man: Yes, they used vans, when they’re cleaning and I don’t
know... |
10:08:46 |
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Dog Party colleague: Have
you ever tried, I don’t know, to record the people dumping it here or ask
them why they’re doing it and make them take it away? Roma man: No, it would be
pointless. They would attack me and beat me up. |
10:09:02 |
Dog party archive, wide shot of field with rubbish |
Young Roman man: There was a cool football field but it was ruined because of all the rubbish. (Men’s faces blurred) We used to play there with our mates.
It was better for the kids too. |
10:09:16 |
Suzi watches the videos on her laptop I office |
Suzi IV: [Roma]
issues are not popular. They might not vote for you afterwards, they do this,
they do that, so political parties and powers don’t invest their energies in
them. Let's face it, the council is thinking “very well”, if we create an
illegal rubbish heap between the Roma settlements and the river, everyone
will think it was the “Gypsies” who created it. |
10:09:48 |
Suzi in
offices watches Dog Party footage on laptop, moves to full screen |
Suzi: I’d like to show you
something. Is this van owned by the local council? Older Roma man: This one? Yes it could be a council van. Suzi: Is this a council
worker’s van? Property of Alsózsolca? Young Roma man: Yeah. Suzi: Ok, so we’ve got a photograph of the council bringing the rubbish
here. Where could we find these vans? |
10:10:11 |
Dog party footage, Suzi filming as they look around
management office exterior |
Colleague reads lettering on wall: “Town Management
Office of Alsózsolca” Suzi: Yes! Suzi: Well, this is the
council property and we’ve found the van which was photographed on the dump
site |
10:10:36 |
Dog Party footage – exterior of town management office Suzi working on laptop in Dog Party
office |
Suzi: We expect the council
to have a change of heart as a result of the publicity from this video. |
10:10:50 |
Suzi at office uploading gypgy
village garbage issue video |
Suzi: I’m so excited! Will this result in a lawsuit…? Suzi: This is war, Alsózsolca! |
10:11:05 |
Budapest streets, graffiti, peeling posters |
Suzi IV: We founded the Two-Tailed Dog Party because there were no
political parties in Hungary we could vote for with good conscience. |
10:11:22 |
Strap: Archive Orban rally archive: AFP TV_20180315_POL_HUN_DemonstrationOrban_ VID1155991_EN_en.mp4 Text: Since the election of Viktor Orban in
2010, he has moved the country to the right and his vision of an “illiberal
democracy.” Source: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Viktor-Orban |
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Archive as above: Orban speaking at the rally |
Orban: We must
keep our country Hungarian or our lives will lose their meaning. |
10:11:40 |
TEXT: In 2015, as more than a https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-34131911 |
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10:11:48 |
ARCHIVE STRAP: GOVERNMENT BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN Government poster with translation: “Did you know the Paris attacks were
done by migrants.” Reuters: 2016-09 22T172137Z_2_LVA00250NEMH3_RTRWNEC_0_4204-EUROPE-MIGRANTS-HUNGARY-LEAFLETS-CLIP2.mp4 |
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10:11:52 |
Govt poster with translation: “If you come to Hungary, you must respect our
culture!” Reuters:
2020-05-13T024313Z_5_LVA5IUCNZD2HZJ3T2TGVXNQZPLV9_ RTRWNEC_0_D100-3145WD-EUROPE-MIGRANTSHUNGARYPOSTERS-CLIP2.mp4 Govt poster with translation: “Soros wants to bring millions from Africa and
the Middle East” Reuters: 2020-07-09T191923Z_2_LVA0028HX9E13_RTRWNEC_0_2117-HUNGARY-SOROS-LAW-CLIP2.mp4 |
Suzi IV: The government was pushing this hate campaign quite
hard. |
10:12:00 |
Govt poster of Orban with translation: “For us Hungary is first!” “The UN wants us to pay for the resettlement and employment of migrants.
Hungary decide, not the UN!”. |
Suzi: but the other
parties remained silent |
10:12:05 |
Street corner |
Suzi I IV: At this point, we got really involved in daily politics with
our billboard campaign. |
10:12:11 |
TTDP Poster
– “Welcome to Hungary: closed on Sundays” Text: TWO-TAILED DOG PARTY BILLBOARD CAMPAIGN |
Sound up - Music |
10:12:17 |
POSTER: “Come to Hungary, we’ve got jobs in London!” |
|
10:12:22 |
POSTER:
“Sorry about our Prime Minister!” |
Suzi: A lot of people who were not Dog Party voters participated in this
because we were the only party taking action. |
10:12:35 |
Dog party march. Suzie on the truck TEXT: IN 2017-2018 the Dog Party organised
protests against the government’s various intolerant propaganda campaigns. |
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10:12:46 |
Exterior, Suzi’s office |
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10:12:48 |
Suzi and Roland looking at
phone in office |
“Gate to nowhere put on concrete wall.’ Suzi: It was actually very lucky that the park manager got
angry. |
10:13:04 |
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Roland: If I remember correctly there was an article from (Hungarian
Magazine) 444 as well. Suzi: Unlike the garbage heap at Alsózsolca…
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10:13:15 |
Suzi and Roland looking at
phone |
Suzi: They covered the previous stunt but not
this one, even though it’s also an important issue. Suzi: Well yeah, at least it was shared… Suzi: One person commented ’Make electricity from the
garbage’. What a great idea from the public! |
10:13:32 |
CU typewriter in office |
Phone rings: Phone: You have called the Mayor’s Office in Alsozsolca… Suzi: You must press something, so then let’s try the secretary. |
10:13:43 |
Suzi on phone in office |
Suzi: Good morning! I’m Zsuzsanna Dome, from
the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party. I’m calling about this garbage heap
situation. I visited the village a few
weeks ago and we tried to find out what the locals know about it. // And I
received information that the council dumped garbage there and told the
locals to do the same, promising the council will clean it up. |
10:14:17 |
Roland gestures, Suzi listens NB: We don’t have permission to use mayor’s his end of the
phone call. TEXT: The municipality told Al Jazeera that
the Dog Party’s accusations are false. They say in their experience the
garbage is dumped by the residents themselves. This creates environmental and health issues which the municipality
is trying to resolve, within the law. |
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10:14:32 |
Suzi talks on phone |
Suzi on phone: All right, then I
would be grateful if you could keep me updated, we are following this issue
and are trying to help (Hangs up) Suzi: Well, I think they’ll fine the owner. (laughs) |
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Exterior, Suzi’s office |
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10:14:52 |
TEXT: As Suzi awaits the outcome
of her garbage campaign she has to organize a council vote for a new theatre
director. |
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10:14:59 |
Suzi
office GVs |
Suzi IV: We inherited The Basement
Theatre from the previous administration and it is run by my district. There are
very few of these independent ones left in the country. Theatre has also become a field of
politics. |
10:15:23 |
Suzi meets with colleague |
Suzi IV: |
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SOT: Usually theatre tenders only receive two to
four applications, because they’re not independent. And those who get chosen
by the government committee only make proper Catholic plays and nothing
controversial. Ours had 15 applicants. Practically the whole theatre world is
applying even though it’s a tiny theatre. |
10:15:54 |
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Suzi IV: Now I just have to trust my fellow
council members to make a wise decision and not a political one. Because
that’s very important, as they can still mess it up. But we won’t. |
10:16:09 |
The Council meeting, people take their seats |
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10:16:22 |
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Suzi IV: As I see it, while my
colleagues on the council do not have so many of their own ideas, I do.
However, when I present my ideas they ignore them or try to tear them apart. |
10:16:43 |
Deputy
Mayor Roland Reiner starts the council meeting. NAME
CAPTION: ROLAND REINER, 9TH DISTRICT DEPUTY MAYOR |
Reiner: The first item on the
agenda is the appointment of the director of the Basement Theatre. This is
tabled by Deputy Mayor Zsuzsanna Dome. I’ll give
the floor to the Deputy Mayor. |
10:16:55 |
Suzi speaking to council Gyorgy Komaromi
sits down |
Suzi: I
know politicians think they are experts in everything, but I ask that our
cultural decisions are not controlled by our political agendas. Gyorgy Komaromi’s application
offers exactly the programme of plays and
activities that we asked for in the tender. |
10:17:25 |
NAME CAPTION: GYORGY KOMAROMI, THEATRE DIRECTOR CANDIDATE |
Komaromi: Not only do we want a contemporary
theatre, but a theatre with contemporary, fresh plays. This is a unique programme as there are no theatres like this Budapest. |
10:17:43 |
NAME CAPTION: PAL SZTARENKI, THEATRE DIRECTOR
CANDIDATE |
Sztarenki: We have to understand
the theatre cannot be more than what it is now. Our desires are limited by
reality. So, we can dream big, but it would be a swindle, and I wouldn't want
to do that. I’m not capable of doing that. |
10:18:05 |
Council to vote about candidates, Suzi is upset. |
Deputy Mayor Roland: So please be prepared to make
a decision, and vote about the application of Pal Sztarenki. (‘VOTING’
screen) Thank you. That is ten ‘yes, two
‘no’ and three absent. |
10:18:25 |
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Deputy Mayor Roland: And now
we’ll vote on the application of Gyorgy Komaromi. (‘VOTING’ screen) Thank you. Seven vote
‘yes’, six vote ‘no’, and three absent. |
10:18:42 |
Suzi looks disappointed about the outcome of the theatre
director vote. |
Deputy Mayor Roland: Pál Sztarenki is the new director. |
10:18:50 |
Sztarenki, the new director, stands up looking
proud. Text:
Suzi’s preferred candidate, Gyorgy Komaromi, loses the vote. |
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10:19:00 |
Suzi
walks out of meeting, down stairs |
Suzi IV:
These council members really don't care about the interests of the district.
All they do is frustrate the plans of me and the mayor, even when we’re doing
the right thing …but
whatever...whatever. |
10:19:31 |
Suzi
enters office |
Assistant
Peter: Did you win? Suzi:
Forget about it. Suzi: I
just don’t know how I’m supposed to manage these tenders. Suzi: I
don’t know. Let’s have a beer. Suzi:
Yes, once again. Off
camera: How do you feel? Suzi:
‘Great’! |
10:20:10 |
Suzi speaks to camera. |
Suzi: Now
I’m just going to encourage people not to give up. That’s all I can do now. Look,
I don’t know, you can also do culture in guerrilla as well. |
10:20:26 |
Various paints and art equipment at Dog Party HQ TEXT: THE TWO-TAILED DOG PARTY HQ Sign being put in car by Suzi and other |
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10:21:01 |
Countryside GVs / travelling shots from car Suzi’s face in sunset |
Suzi IV: We've been called to a joke party several times, people describe
what we do as ridiculous. What does it matter if we paint a cracked sidewalk
in four colours? What does any of that matter? |
10:21:26 |
Alsózsolca sign from the car window |
Suzi IV: I think a political party must
understand that the road towards greatness starts with a tiny step. |
10:21:35 |
Suzi in
car Gvs of street, Roma families TEXT: ALSOZSOLCA, HUNGARY |
|
10:21:47 |
Suzi walking with children |
Suzi: Let’s check out the garbage
heap. It would be great if it wasn’t there any more.
I’m guessing you are not attached to it. I think this didn’t get smaller,
it got bigger! Roma
girl out of shot: Yes, it got bigger. Dog party activist: Or
taller...it’s more dense, and spreads out more. |
10:22:11 |
Suzi and
co take sign to the garbage heap |
Suzi
IV: Now we have a new sign saying that the illegal garbage heap will be
cleaned up by us via crowd funding. Converting people to 'active-creative citizens' is the goal of the Dog Party.
Our mission is to show people what making a difference looks and feels
like. This is really the most important thing for us. |
10:22:53 |
Putting up sign with crowd around, hammering |
Man: I’ll hammer it down here a bit to see if it fits. Suzi: This side fits here. |
10:23:10 |
Suzi
walking across field |
Suzi: There is a lot of work to do, we are trying
to get this garbage heap taken away. We have given up on getting it taken away
by the municipality. Old friend: You're really something! You are real
heroes! |
10:23:29 |
Suzi makes children read the sign |
Suzi: OK,
you can definitely read this for us! I’m asking those in 6th grade
to ready this sign out loudly. Girl: “The
clean-up...of the illegal ... garbage heap ... from the residential area of Alsozsolca.” Suzi: You
embarrassed the sixth graders! You won’t get away either, there is more above
it! Girls
together: “Thank you to everyone who wants to help.” Suzi:
That's right! The fifth and sixth graders managed to get it right. And what
does “those who want to help” mean? What do you think we are asking people to
do? Children:
To clean up the garbage! Suzi: Oh,
that’s right! And what do we need that $2,000 USD for? Girl: To
bring the containers here! Suzi:
That’s right! To bring the containers here and get it taken away! Well, I
think we all understand now! (Little
boy looks at sign, Suzi takes photos) |
10:24:44 |
TEXT: It took
four months to crowdfund the $2,000 USD needed to remove the rubbish It was finally removed in January 2022 |
|