Dancing against corruption at the Sziget Festival

First established in the country in 1996 and achieving official chapter status in 2009, Transparency International (TI) Hungary seeks to appeal to the country’s youth through events and activities organized at high-profile events such as the EFOTT and VOLT music festivals held in June and July. The TI Hungary retinue includes typical outreach and educational efforts – and, in the case of the upcoming Sziget Festival, “dance flashmobs” to impart their message.

As part of TI Hungary’s “It’s time to get moving” publicity campaign, appearances by said flashmobs will occur throughout the festival’s seven days, ultimately resulting in “a gigantic dance event” produced in conjunction with local embassies of Britain, Norway and the Netherlands on the afternoon of Friday, August 9. The organization plans for this event to be held adjacent to the World Music Main Stage, an area with booths devoted to national embassies.

Explains TI Hungary PR: “The dance flashmob aims to shake youngsters up from passivity with the help of dance moves, calling their attention to the importance of the fight against corruption.” Will it catch on? See the video below and judge for yourself.

In announcing and publicizing the event, TI Hungary cites findings from TI’s Global Corruption Barometer for 2013. Hungary proved extreme in at least one aspect of the report, i.e. when asked whether they might be willing to do/participate in any of six “different things people could do to fight corruption” suggested on the TI survey, just 54% of Hungarian respondents answered in the affirmative, a figure lower than any nation except Armenia and dramatically below the world average.