Riots in Budapest demand government's resignation

i wrote it from corporate sources (reuters & bbc mostly), trying to read between the lines a bit

yeah i honestly don't know. but from what i can tell even the national flags are not ubiquitous, let alone the far-right, who seem to be about as relevant as the BNP were on the anti-war marches.

the only poll so far (a snap poll of 500) shows the country split down the middle on whether the government should go. if the protests grow its clearly not a far-right thing, since they're pretty marginal. if they don't its likely to just bolster the opposition parties ahead of the upcoming local elections.

another possibility, which is pure conjecture at the moment, would be that the mysterious leaking of the 'we lied' tape is part of another 'orange revolution' type effort by the CIA (or an emulation by a rival intelligence agency etc).

I wouldn't be surpised in any case - but certainly with people chanting '56!, 56!' and burning down a government building there might possibilities there, though of course there is certainly a way for nationalists to try and recuperate '56 as a national liberation uprising as opposed to a proletarian insurrection ...

i'll have to keep an eye on this i think - but of course if things get interesting this time there's no-one around to send in the tanks ...

Seeing as the current 'socialist' government in Hungary is pretty bang on neo-liberal I don't see what reason the CIA would have for interfering.

This is a bit of a bolt from the blue really. I mean, if Blair admitted to lying the public would simply go "DUH!". I'm guessing Eastern Europe has more of a post-Soviet consensus about liberal democracy, and thus invest more faith in it. Which then would indicate that whatever the result of this, the proletariat would mature somewhat.

Or does that sound too determinist?

Very good Joseph. Excellently politicised.

I don't think thats the case really. I'm no expert on Hungary, but I'd say that Eastern Europe has a level of cynicism that matches up to most of Western Europe.

That's why I'm glad I live in the US, where our government never lies...

Hi

You’d have thought so. We’ll no doubt soon find out by gauging their reaction to the even more rightwing Hungarian Civic Union, who stand to gain most from this Ratneresque episode.

Love

LR

good point.

Second night of violence in Budapest
just demos riots at the time being, which may bring down the government but will only let in the even more neoliberal opposition ...

nice one si, i'll check out the link later

Here's another link from the "Barricades" group. http://www.anarkismo.net/newswire.php?story_id=363 from Anarkismo. They have a real good class analyses from what I can tell. I especially like the jokes.

Here's another link to the "September 18 group". I have no other information of them other than this 10 point "platform" from them. http://www.indymedia.hu/cikk.shtml?

admin edit - really, really long url edited - try tinyurl.com ;)

A reasonably interesting piece from (so far as I can tell) some Korean paper.

It's got some nice detail in the first few sections but rapidly gets pretty dull and irrelevant once the guy starts voicing opinions and 'critique'.

here

yeah, reading it again this morning it's not quite as convincing.

New text from the barricades collecgtive. Not sure if it's on the net yet so here it is in full. The english is a bit rough but you'll get the idea - I just emailed back asking if he wanted a hand cleaning it up a bit. Maybe there'll be a revised version in a few days.

I think I'll publish this for the bookfair and do donations, too - apparently they're pretty badly short of money atm. Their distro point is badly in debt etc.

anyway:

Rouse?!

The left-wing-liberal bourgeoisie have continued the chess game with a wrong move. The prime minister’s confession, which had passed in May at a meeting of the MSZP faction (Hungarian Socialist Party) was published, wherein he announced that his party had won the elections with falsehood and it’s time they politicized frankly and full of responsible. Previously they had communicated much better data about the Hungarian economics than the real situation was. In our previous text entitled Spend your blood! we had described the „new” exploiting measures of the government. Some of them have already become operative, others will be implemented in the near future. But we have to clarify why the social democrat-liberal bloc is enforced to take these steps.

The Gurcsány-government had wanted to delude us that their economic policy is sustainable while they had been opposed to the general capitalist trend. In the last years they had increased the wages, had given old-age pension for the 13rd month, had made the living wage untaxed, had been sponsoring the enterprises (for example the BKV-Budapest Transport Company and MÁV-Hungarian State Railway – We have to go work somehow after all!) operating with deficit. The government had been playing at being a welfare state while due to the pressure of the international moving of capital they should have taken opposite measures. The deficit of the state estimate is over 20 thousand milliard forints, which is the 60% of the Hungarian GDP. The deficit of the budget is more than the 10% of the Hungarian GDP and in this way the bourgeoisie in Hungary can’t join the Euro-zone and can’t get financial support from the EU. The MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party) had wanted to win the elections and seemingly had wanted to answer the working class, too and thus they had run into debt. The so-called „welfare functions” add up 60% of the budget and the expenses of the operation of the state add up 12%. But till the elections they were croaking that the level of the deficit of the budget was acceptable.

Then the „penitent” confession arrived like a bolt form the blue. The government has to implement restrictions to gain more money, so they have to explain for the working class why they are going to rot our life. The right-wing opposition, which flirts with the fascists directly, had based his strategy on the economic data given by the government and had promised Canaan. So they had lied just as their social democrat copy. We don’t moralize on the dirty practices of the bourgeoisie, because we think that falsification, lies, manipulation are basic instruments of the ruling class, requirements of the bourgeois class terror. The bourgeoisie, however, were taken short by the reaction of the mass, because they thought that the mass acclimatized totally to the bipolar political régime. It’s visible that this is only a half-truth, so their consciousness-industry is not effective enough. We can see that neither the government nor the opposition expected that the wave of discontent would in part sweep over them. In the last decades the bourgeoisie and their organizations had become very confident, their dirty democracy had cradled the working class and had outlawed the social struggle, the direct conflicts with the power from the streets. They had considered the working class in Hungary totally idiot and had presumed that the exploited would accept all their lies what they tell in their fancy house, in the parliament.

The democrats of the oppostion seemingly condemn the bloody events in the streets, but in secret they back the revolters who are usually enfired by fascist organizations like Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom (Movement for Right Hungary), 64 Vármegye Ifjúsági Mozgalom (64 Hundreds Youth Movement). On the other hand they got frightened because they lost control over the right-wing mass and due to this, by now there are struggles between the fascists and the state. The voice of the real class struggle is damped by the nostalgic nationalism of the Székely-hymn and for the present the outlet of exploitation dissolves into pseudo-revolutionary nationalist comedy. Fascism is using those members of the working class who are demanding immediate change of régime / of power to lenghten the counter-revolutionary period. Pseudo-Mussolinies are roaring their speeches. The people don’t outcast them but they don’t identify themselves totally with the spokesmen. Thousands of people have been demonstrating but there were serious street fightings with the police only on Monday and on Tuesday. By now only the reformist demands of the trade unions, the democratic demonstrations of the student self-government and the actual nationalist-fascist events answered the present situation – while the exploited people are in the streets after all. On the other hand it’s conspicuous that there are no social demands, protestive voices at all thus the conflict deflects from the direct exploitation and only focuses on the clash between the government and the opposition. The demonstrators declared that they would use roadblocks and civil disobedience to exert an influence on the government.

Parts of Ferenc Gyurcsány’s cretin, „penitent”, but denunciative confession was published on 17th of September. Afterwards the whole speech was published. On that day the mass started to demonstrate in front of the parliament with their national clouts and were shouting slogans reffering to the speech of the prostitute of capital with some changes: „You fucked up!”, „You fucked up!”. Then they demanded the resignation of the government: „Get away with Gyurcsány!”. There were other demands, too: „Change of régime!”, „Call off!”, „Down with Trianon peace-treaty!”. Some people from the mass went to the hall of the state television and wanted to advertise their demands. The mass, directed by boneheads (fascist skins), laid siege to the building. The different groups of football hooligans, who are irreconcilable enemies in general, united their strength. They inveighed against Jews and most of the people shouted together: „Down with Trianon peace-treaty!”, „Down with Trianon peace-treaty!”. The singing of the national anthem, nationalist slogans from the revolution of 1956 and national flags celebrated these events. There were a lot of Hungarist flags with the colours of House of Árpád (it had been the sign of the first Hungarian dynasty and later was used by the Hungarian nazis in the time of World War II.). Near to the spot the demonstrators damaged the Soviet memorial, too. They were not monolithic, because some of them observed that it shouldn’t be done. The police were totally unprovided, were standing blankly and tried to defend the hall of the state television, but they were not able to arrest the fuglemen. They were not so full-mouthed as usually, because they were not superior in numbers.

If there were pure class struggle in the streets, the fascists would fight united with the police against us! It’s a civil war in the literal sense of the word. The voice of the class struggle is damped, while one stratum of the working class is striking and keeping up the walls of alienation. The nationalism of self-confining is mixing the fascist with the right-wing mass who could recognize the manipulation of the bourgeoisie and would become conscious of their proletarian existence. Now they only maintain capitalism, because they are taken in by politics and media manipulation and they take the nationalist myths as a basis instead of their injured life. They still believe in the opposition which only wants to govern and exploit us just as the social democrats. They can achieve it only by the legal voting of the mass. Nevertheless the first three floors of the television hall were looted. It’s not done only by fascists but homeless people, old ladies, students, punks, roma. They whacked up the loot taken from the smashed buffet, cigarettes, coolers became free of charge. It’s so that the looting was done mostly by the poor since it’s the tradition of the proletariat not of the counter-revolution. The spirit of the revolution shot through the nationalist night in this way at least. Several policemen were injured but finally things were settling into shape.

The next day, on Tuesday the revolters, led by fascist groups, attacked the police at Blaha Lujza square. One of their target was the hall of the MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party). Their slogans were: „Treasonists!”, „Ry-Ry, Hungary!”. The police were more alert, there were a lot of provided riot squads. They started to arrest the revolters by the former tv recordings and photos. The police atrocity were increasing, they attacked the passive viewers if they were bored. Meanwhile the student demonstration against the university tuition and the electoral gathering of the party in opposition Fidesz (Alliance of Young Democrats) were put off. Bay day hundreds of people, nightly thousands of people have been demonstrating against the government. They are demanding conventional assembly and new elections. There are demonstrations in the country towns, too, for example in Szeged, Miskolc, Debrecen, Szombathely, Győr, Zalaegerszeg. On Wednesday there were less revolters in the streets, the police were superiror in numbers. A matter of 150 revolters were arrested, 500 persons have been looked for yet. There are several injured persons, 138 of them are policemen.

The politicians and the media continue their manipulations when they state that „anarchist dirty lot” are raging in the streets. The fascists, behind them their own bourgeoisie, came alive. They are spreading illusions of 1956, because they want to expropriate the heritage of the communist revolution in order to make it out as a nationalist event. They are shouting their slogans with this in view. The right-wing politician and the „heaven-born peoples” are hoping together for the promising future of the nation meanwhile the government and the opposition have been continuing their electoral campaign. The situation has livened up, there remains no more but to wake the proletariat up during the „nights of long knives”…

Barricade Collective

September 2006