Dorottya Karsay

Dorottya "Dodo" Karsay (born 25 April 1985) is a Hungarian human rights activist, researcher, and consultant with a focus on the experiences and rights of historically marginalised groups, particularly LGBTQI people, asylum seekers, and persons with disabilities.

She is best known in Hungary as the singer of the viral protest song "!" ("I Don't Like the System!"), performed at the "Milla" rally in 2011.

Activism and career Karsay graduated from Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Sociology and English, and from Central European University in Human Rights. She also studied at the Afro-American Studies Department of the University of California, Los Angeles.

Karsay has also worked as a trans asylum expert with TGEU (Transgender Europe), co-promoting resources for LGBTI asylum seekers across Europe.

She currently lives in Stockholm, Sweden, where she continues her work as a queer-feminist activist and human rights consultant.

Media coverage Karsay's involvement in the 2011 protests attracted immediate coverage from major Hungarian media. HVG, one of Hungary's leading news magazines, profiled her role in the Milla movement and described the song as capturing the spirit of the demonstrations. She was interviewed by Magyar Narancs, one of Hungary's leading political weeklies, in the days following the protest, explaining her motivation for writing the song. In 2013, the American public radio programme The World (produced by PRX and WGBH) featured Karsay in a report on the soundtrack of Hungary's protest movement, making her one of the few figures from the 2011 demonstrations to receive coverage in international English-language media. In 2016, 168 Óra revisited her trajectory in a feature on former anti-government activists, reporting that she had moved abroad and continued human rights work.

In October 2011, Karsay performed the protest song "! (I Don't Like the System!)" at the mass One Million for the Freedom of the Press in Hungary (Milla) demonstration on Szabad Sajtó Street in Budapest, which drew an estimated 100,000 people. The song, co-written with Norbert Pálfi, Zsolt Máthé, and Tamás Jónás, became a viral hit on YouTube and a symbol of the Hungarian pro-democracy protest movement.