Danish Ambassador to Hungary Mads Sandau-Jensen laid a wreath at the monument to Danish diplomat Povl Bang-Jensen yesterday at an event organised by organisations that honour the 1956 Uprising against the Soviets.
“We must protect the memory of those who insisted on having their own voice, and were even ready to give up their lives for this,” Sandau-Jensen said.
Bang-Jensen was part of a UN investigative committee into the events of 1956 set up in January 1957, but declined to hand over a list of eyewitnesses to his superiors, fearing immediate reprisals against their relatives in Hungary.
His body was found in a New York park on November 26, 1959, provoking rumours of a faked suicide.
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The ruling MSZP was formed from the Kadar era, MSZMP and inherited the wealth and organization of MSZMP. Many leaders and members of MSZP are implicated in horrific torture, murder and a score of human rights violations. Lately, much is written about “körmös bauer” in the non-Communist Hungarian media whose son is an ardent supporter of current Communist government.
It is no wonder that MSZP, the ruling Communist part is led by a former high-ranking Communist, Lendvai. The methods they are using against Jobbik and the Hungarian Guard are the same methods used during the Rakosi and Kadar Communist terror regimes. Simply put, they accuse of violence, hate and murder those who are not guilty any of it but they, the ruling Communists are.
Young Hungarians, who never experienced the Rakosi and Kadar Communist terror are learning more and more about it and ask their elders how they could elect these criminal brutes into government.
Under the US Constitution, Bill of Rights would protect Jobbik and Hungarian Guard’s right to free association, peaceful assembly and freedom of expression:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bill_of_Rights#Amendments
The basic rights guaranteed by the US Constitution that most Americans take for granted are denied to most people outside of United States and especially to those who live under post-Communist, Communist rule.
This is why there is a fundamental difference of opinion about what is right and what is legal between American-Hungarians and Canadian-Hungarians. American know, understand and live as free people while the rest of the world is afraid of a free society and while claiming to be free, is not.
In addition to the cultural differences, American and Canadian “Hungarians” are different with respect to another fundamental respect, their attitude about Communism, Hungarians right to live as Hungarians and control the destiny of their own country.
At the time of Hungarian Uprising, America had strict laws against admitting Communists while Canada was ambivalent about the Soviets and accepted the Communist trash without question. One should not infer that all Hungarians who immigrated to Canada were Communists because they were not. However, many of those who left Hungary during the first few days of Hungarian Uprising did not escape Communist tyranny but instead they escaped because they were instruments of Communist tyranny. The spirit of Canadian ambivalence about the Soviets and Communists attracted not only those who were out and out Communists but also those who had friends and relatives who were Communists. This explains why posters from America condemn Communists and Communist crimes while posters from Canada either defend or ignore Communist crimes and defend Communists.
Only Communists, Communist sympathizers and fools are intimidated by the uniform of Hungarian Guard and Jobbik patriotic rhetoric while supporting the current Communist government that exploits, terrorizes nonconforming patriotic Hungarians while supporting common Communist criminals.
Hello HA,
Your post was interesting and raised some poignant observations.
I, like you, have often reflected on how so many of the Hungarian people could vote for a party that originates from the old Communist party and whose leaders were influential under the old system.
I think that a large part of the population was ambivalent about seeing that system fall, and continue to yearn for the job and housing security that it provided. Although everyone was glad to see the Russians leave, many people did not know any other way of life except the system the Russians imposed on us. The changes of 1989 left them unprepared for a world ruled by risk and business. Many are still unadapted for a free market world.
Every democracy has a major party that is left of center. It is a great shame that Hungary’s biggest left party derives it’s provenance from the old pre-1989 Communist dictatorship and it’s leaders. Such people need to be exposed and criticised for their complicity in the excesses of that regime. Hungary needs a social democratic party whose leaders are clean of these past involvements, and whose platform officially condems the pre-1989 regime. I don’t believe in “reforming” the current MSZP.
Mention of the US makes me reflect that Hungary lacks much of a rich corporatist right that would use it’s millions to fight and expose the ex-communists. We lack a Wm R. Hearst, or Roger Ailes. It all ended just 20 years ago, and the devil is still among us.
I commend the memory of Povl Bang-Jensen. He did the right thing. He didn’t owe the Russinas any information about his sources.
Taking the stand that he did took courage, as there had to be many people in the Danish govt that either did not agree with his position, or were just terrified of giving the slightest displeasure to the Soviet leaders. Throughout much of the Cold War, many of the Western European states, their leaders and people, were afraid of the Russians and were appeasement minded in many ways.
That he might have been the victim of political assasination and foul play is entirely possible. It would have been in character for the Soviet leaders to take such action. After all, they did it at home, with inpunity towards their own people. Even if the whole thing had been found out, what could the Danes have done? The Russians would have laughed in their faces and dared them to do anything about it.
“Americans know, understand and live as free people while the rest of the world is afraid of a free society and while claiming to be free, is not.”
I don’t know how you can write a sentence like that without any irony. This free society is happy to imprison people at a military prison under conditions of torture for years and years without a shred of evidence being produced against them in a court of law. This free society allows patients to die on beds in hospital corridors because they dont have health insurance. This free society disenfranchised thousands of voters in one its largest states in order to ensure that their preferred man won. This free society sends thousands of its people to fight in a war whose rationale is later exposed as a complete and utter fiction. This free society forces TV presenters to say “vertically challenged” rather than “short”.
I consider myself very pro-American in many respects, but grow up. Every country does its bit to trample on people’s freedoms – just some do it more than others. There are freer societies in this world than the USA…
“I don’t know how you can write a sentence like that without any irony. This free society is happy to imprison people at a military prison under conditions of torture for years and years without a shred of evidence being produced against them in a court of law.”
Bush and his Neoconservatives “neocons” did shame America but he did not bring those prisoners to US soil because they too would have come under the protection of US Constitution. I would cite this as an example of how solid the Bill of Rights protections are, not as a weakness.
“This free society allows patients to die on beds in hospital corridors because they dont have health insurance.”
First, this is not true. Second, it is not a freedom issue.
“This free society disenfranchised thousands of voters in one its largest states in order to ensure that their preferred man won.”
This will be argued forever. I watched the developments very closely and could not say if what you are saying is true or not. Your truth depends on which side you wanted to win but again, this is not a personal freedom issue.
“This free society sends thousands of its people to fight in a war whose rationale is later exposed as a complete and utter fiction.”
Bush and his neocons lied to the American people and to the whole world. I opposed the Iraq war and voted for Obama because I feared that McCain would start a war against Iran also. However, this is not a personal freedom issue either.
“This free society forces TV presenters to say “vertically challenged” rather than “short”.
Not true. PC constraints are not enforced by the government. Ultra-liberal extremists try to control what people may or may not say but they are not successful.
“I consider myself very pro-American in many respects, but grow up. Every country does its bit to trample on people’s freedoms – just some do it more than others. There are freer societies in this world than the USA…”
Please list those countries so that we may decide for ourselves.
In conclusion, it would simply be inconceivable to use the police as a political tool of government to oppress, harass and brutalize the opposition as the Communist (MSZP) government of Hungary does. As a side point, members of Orban government were welcomed by Hungarian-American organizations but representatives of successive Communist made no attempt to visit with Hungarian-Americans and for good reason.
Bunk! What Bill of Rights? What personal freedom?
The anti-Semite, Nazi US Government locked, innocent as a new born baby Bernie Madoff up for 150 years and wants $170 billion from me.
How do they expect Bernie to come up with $170 billion from the $65 billion I earned, fair and honest?