DLC Blog

Commemerating the Hungarian Revolution.....with riots?

Many of you heard in the news in September about the riots and mass demonstrations that have been taking place in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. A rather incriminating videotape was leaked to the media on September 17th, showing Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány in a private meeting with his cabinet. In the videotape, the Prime Minister is talking to his cabinet about how they lied to the Hungarian people about the state of the economy and the policies that his party endorsed order to get elected in the 2006 parliamentary elections. The meeting was videotaped in May, right after his election victory.

The Prime Minister is quoted saying, “We lied in the morning and we lied at night”. Ouch!

Naturally, the Hungarians were not happy to hear about this. There were riots in the first days after the videotapes were released, with scores of riot police beating back violent protesters. The riots were followed by mass demonstrations, but these were more peaceful despite the public’s obvious anger. I was in Budapest a few days after the videotape was leaked, and one of the nights that I was there my roommate and I brought along our own video camera (and cameras) to one of the demonstrations in front of the Parliament building. Neither of us speaks a word of Hungarian, but the sentiment of the protesters was obvious. Here are some of the photos we took:

The story had somewhat faded from the world headlines, as most every story eventually does, until this past week. October 23rd marked the 50th anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against the oppressive Soviet communist rule. Once again the demonstrations and riots reappeared in Budapest in full force, still nursing the wounds from the September 17th incident and at the fact that Prime Minister Gyurcsány refuses to resign despite the incriminating videotape.

It seems as if, 50 years later, the revolutionary spirit is still alive and demonstrating its might among the Hungarian people, albeit in a different light. This time the public is protesting the Social-Liberal government and its economic policies (obviously which are not super; even the Prime Minister admitted this).

For more on the recent riots, click herefor a BBC news article and here for DLC resources

-Becca Lewis
Foreign Language and Humanities Student Mentor

Posted by Becca at October 25, 2006 05:05 PM in .