September 10th, 2012

Former PM Gyurcsány on week-long hunger strike over Fidesz voter registration plan

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Former prime minister Ferenc Gyurcsány and three other members of the Democratic Coalition started on a week-long hunger strike in Kossuth tér Sunday night.

Vice president Péter Niedermüller, Csaba Molnár, and MP István Kolber are joining Gyurcsány. The demonstration, called Seven Days for Free Elections, is to protest the proposed voter registration plan.

“Dramatic situations call for dramatic reactions, and strong political gestures are needed for apathetic voters to mobilise,” Gyurcsány said, adding that there is nobody in the present democratic opposition who can defeat Orbán in 2014.

Four tents are located outside Parliament, two of which are bedrooms, one is a dining room, and the fourth is a public living space.

The Democratic Coalition will stage a demonstration at the Batthyány Eternal Flame from 3 p.m., on September 15 against the introduction of prior voter registration.

Democratic Coalition MP Ágnes Vadai and Socialist Party MP Tibor Szanyi conferred on ways of boosting co-operation between opposition parties on Friday. The pair expressed certainty that they will have a majority in 2014 to unseat the Orbán cabinet.

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  • oneill

    What’s the the point?

    For maximum impact you don’t limit it to a week- 7 days without pogacsas isn’t a hunger strike, it’s a diet.

    • justasking,

      @oneill,

      ’7 days without pogacsas isn’t a hunger strike, it’s a diet’

      :D :D

  • MagyarViking

    Gyurcsány said, adding that there is nobody in the present democratic opposition who can defeat Orbán in 2014
    —

    Gyurcsány always had a way with words that made his haters go berserk
    And many of his haters are inside the current MSZP

  • Arrested Development

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they are sticking to their diet and principles.

  • sheesh

    I think he’s just getting fat and wants to lose a few pounds.

    • Leto مؤدّب

      Spot on!

      Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

      • MagyarViking

        sheesh says:
        September 10, 2012 at 11:11 am

        I think he’s just getting fat and wants to lose a few pounds.
        ===
        Leto مؤدّب says:
        September 10, 2012 at 12:13 pm

        Spot on!
        —

        Well a certain other politician in dire need of a diet:
        -http://kepviselofunky.blog.hu/2012/08/31/orban_kedvenc_inge

        • Cnut

          I think Mrs Orbán suggested the chips tax.

    • Aloof

      Then OV should certainly join him then… he’s starting to look like lava dripping down the slope. But OV should first address his pretty obvious drug problems;licking lips, stroking his nose and bags under the eyes that he would have pay a fee for if he was climbing on a plane.

      The guy looks absolutely whooped and wiped man.

      • Leto مؤدّب

        You pathetic orbanophobic idiot, have you noticed yet this thread is about Gyurcsány’s “hunger strike”? :D

        Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

        • Aloof

          Oooohhhh… hit a chord with OV’s number one lapdog. OV is the one who NEEDS a hunger strike not Gyurcsany. BTW, does Fidesz have Gyurcsany’s thesis under lock and key like Ibolya David’s CD/DVD?
          At least Gyurcsany recognizes the BS surrounding the voter registration ruse.

          • Leto مؤدّب

            What’s wrong with the voter registration and why should Gyurcsány go an a diet because of that?

            Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

          • MagyarViking

            Leto مؤدّب says:
            September 10, 2012 at 12:40 pm

            What’s wrong with the voter registration
            —

            Because it is as you and ‘maygar’ claim:
            * Fewer Hungarians will vote

            And both you and ‘maygar’ have expressed that the fewer that votes in a General Election, the better, because Democracy will be better
            I am not sure how you get that paradox together, but it works for the two of you

            You should maybe think it over when MSZP seem to support the idea – When did MSZP ever support a Good Idea?

          • Magyar

            “You should maybe think it over when MSZP seem to support the idea – When did MSZP ever support a Good Idea?”

            No, MSZP supports mandatory voting…

          • MagyarViking

            Magyar says:
            September 10, 2012 at 4:51 pm

            No, MSZP supports mandatory voting
            —

            And if MSZP get Fidesz to support mandatory voting, MSZP will vote for mandatory pre-registration…

          • Leto مؤدّب

            @Magyar:

            No, they did that only for a few days. Their latest opinion in this issue has boiled down to the evergreen classic “f*** you, Orbán”. The only thing they can recruit some voters with. :D

            Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

      • justasking,

        @Aloof,

        ‘Then OV should certainly join him then… he’s starting to look like lava dripping down the slope’

        That was quite funny….no, more like really, really funny. I plan on using it, and claiming it as my own.

        I never would have pegged you, as a guy with a sense of humour.

  • Leto مؤدّب

    So they designated a tent to be dining room… after all this is a hunger strike. :D

    Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

  • Aloof

    @Leto مؤدّب says: September 10, 2012 at 12:40 pm

    Well go over there and ask him, you know where he is.
    You should be able to understand him very well, he and OV being absolute certified liars and all.

    • Leto مؤدّب

      Maybe I’ll visit the zoo indeed and I’ll throw a banana to the monkey on diet. :D

      Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

      • Aloof

        Uhhhh… the zoo is inside parliament not outside. Take a BUNCH of bananas in there…

  • Leto مؤدّب

    All right, I’ve been on a hunger strike for the voter registration plan since my late breakfast. Now I’ll suspend it until I’d finish lunch.

    Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

    • Leto مؤدّب

      I am Leto, the one & only. In case you didn’t notice, I am an extremely funny guy.
      Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

      • Anonymous

        I noticed you, impostor don’t have a sense of humor. On the other hand the person who invented the name Leto has some.

  • olga

    @ Viking

    re: “Gyurcsány always had a way with words that made his haters go berserk”

    Oh come on, this article is ridiculous and it is not about Orban it’s about Gyurcsany. I swear people who hate Orban would make negative comments about him if the thread was about goldfish.

    So back to Gyurcsany – has anyone ever heard of a former PM going on a hunger strike? Has anyone ever heard of a PM grandstanding and attending a murder trial to “support the victims’ family” ? Nothing like drawing attention to himself at the expense of grieving relatives

    Anyone in Hungary who is on the “Left” should be outraged how much of a liability he is to any political party he is associated with and I am surprised there is no “Left movement” to get this clown to go away and let others build a proper opposition for the next election.

    As soon as I get a chance I am going to read Eva Balogh’s blog and see how she interprets his never ending publicity stunts and I trust this nonsense makes every FIDESZ supporter’s day

    • Anonymous

      “I trust this nonsense makes every FIDESZ supporter’s day”

      Yes, I do wonder if this Gyurcsany is actually a Fidesz supporter… he helps them so much.

    • Aloof

      Oh come on, this article is ridiculous and it is not about Orban it’s about Gyurcsany. I swear people who hate Orban would make negative comments about him if the thread was about goldfish.
      So back to Gyurcsany – has anyone ever heard of a former PM going on a hunger strike?

      Well that cute babe over in the Ukraine comes to mind, Tymoshenko. Everything in Hungary since 1998 has been about either OV or Gyurcsany.

      Two liars that both completely squandered their opportunities to take Hungary past post communism and corruption and spectacularly failed.

      Gyurcsany is finished and OV is well on his way. If he retains power past 2014 then Hungary will be heading way south of being a 3rd world country like the Jobbos declare what Hungary already is today.

      • Leto مؤدّب

        Chances are Orbán will retain power past 2014 and chances are your wishful drooling would come true so well as your last year’s wishful drooling did about Orbán’s fall this year or your latest “forecast” will about every country leader avoiding Orbán. :D

        Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

        • Aloof

          This year isn’t over yet sock puppet. If Hungary retains a liar and thief then they get whatever they deserve but don’t expect the rest of the world to be fooled so easily as glassy eyed Hungarians.

          The guy is a liar and a thief. You support that, then you’re even worse than he is and don’t really care about the future of Hungary.

          • Magyar

            Aloof, I agree! Which is why we should bring back Gyurcsány. Gyurcsány never lied, and there is no evidence of him lying whatsoever!

          • Leto مؤدّب

            You “predicted” Orbán’s fall in this spring at the latest, Yank moron. You were drooling about this especially strongly during the concentrated financial attack after Christmas. :D

            You’d better enjoy Big Macs and the hurricanes in Clear Water Beach and not concern yourself “about the future of Hungary”. :D

            Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

      • Lily

        Timoshenko’s hunger strike is not as much about political activism as a former PM as it is about being mistreated in prison and not getting a fair trial. …big difference between that and Gyurcsany’s effort to gain some kind of voter credibility by playing the martyr. I still remember being in Hungary and seeing things like “F*** Gyurcsany” spray painted on walls (yes, strangely in English). I remember the hatred of him and his government and the enduring bitterness of the swearing speech. It’s either testament to Gyurcsany’s endurance, the depth of his pockets, or the degree of voter apathy in Hungary that allows him to stay in a position where he can still get so much attention. …oh, and don’t I remember correctly that he was the leader of the communist youth? Clearly he is not ‘finished’ just yet, but that is something I don’t see really changing until more Hungarians get out there and vote, and more than that, take a more constructive and active role in pressuring governments between elections. and by the way I support mandatory voting.
        “The cure for the ailments of democracy is more democracy.”
        –John Dewey, The Public and it Problems (1927)

    • MagyarViking

      olga says:
      September 10, 2012 at 2:56 pm

      re: “Gyurcsány always had a way with words that made his haters go berserk”

      Oh come on, this article is ridiculous and it is not about Orban it’s about Gyurcsany
      —

      If you missed it I *clearly* meant the Gyurcsány-haters inside MSZP (it was in the next row), so where did you get this about PimpMaster Whorban, in my 2 line post?

      Gyurcsány is challenging the leadership of MSZP by stating things like:
      * “there is nobody in the present democratic opposition who can defeat Orbán in 2014″

      Given the dreamers and bullshiters there are inside MSZP, Gyurcsány describes the current situation most realistic
      And that is why Gyurcsány is interesting

      If you have not noticed it, Hungarian politics is a bit out of this world. An ex-PM symbolically hunger-striking in front of the Parliament is maybe not so usual in Canada, but Hungary is not like Canada

      Remember that the whole of the Fidesz group of MPs, minus its leader, always went out when Gyurcsány spoke as the PM for2006-2009. In which other Parliament have you seen that?

      It seems like “Jobbik”/Fidesz/MSZP will agree on this new system to make it harder for people to vote in Hungary and as you have seen from both ‘leto’ and ‘maygar’ this is not only the expected effect, but explicitly wanted effect also. Especially that minorities stop voting

      So if you would share the opinion that this is very bad for the Hungarian Democracy and all other parties are for it, what would be YOUR preferred method to maximise throughput in media, etc?
      A petition or a bomb?

  • Magyar

    And nobody gave a fuck that day…

    Hungar strike? It wouldnt be such a bad thing if he starved to death.

  • Leto مؤدّب

    -http://www.facebook.com/events/158947087562274/

    There’ll be a nice big picnic held next to Gyurcsány’s tent on Friday… featuring lotsa yummy, yummy food. :D

    Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

  • Leto مؤدّب

    Like anyone can see, the diet is already very successful after a day! Just look how big that sweater is for the freedom fighter…. :D :D

    -http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=342804622476625&set=a.342804385809982.76433.169599166463839&type=1&theater

    • Magyar

      Somebody should throw 5kg of pork into Gyurcsány’s tent.

      • Leto مؤدّب

        Nope, a banana will do just fine. That costs a lot less.

    • MagyarViking

      Maybe ‘leto’ should advice PimpMaster Whorban to buy a bigger “sweater”?

      He really looks like he needs it nowadays:
      -http://kepviselofunky.blog.hu/2012/08/31/orban_kedvenc_inge

  • Aloof

    @Leto مؤدّب says: September 10, 2012 at 4:56 pm

    There is no future for Hungary as long as OV is PM so we’ll be LOVING Clearwater Beach. Haven’t eaten McDonalds for 30 years, don’t you know that’s no good for you? No we mostly eat the fabulous American seafood, something I incredibly missed while in Hungary. You would have thought the Admiral would have stocked up on some when he was in Rijeka.

    Why don’t you bring OV over with you and I’ll be a good host and take you both for a long boat ride, OK?

    • Leto مؤدّب

      Sorry, no idea how good McDonald’s food would be for me since I used them as public toilets only.
      Thanks for the invitation, several friends (which you are not) have invited me to the States but unfortunately I’ve got severe moral objections to the liberty-infringing procedure one needs to go under in order to enter “the land of the free”.

      Ceterum censeo MSZP delendum est.

      • Liz Aucoin

        Oh, you mean you are not welcome in the USA? Doesn’t suprise me! You are probably on a government watch list!

  • wolfi

    @Aloof, a bit OT:

    When in Clearwater, please visit the little art gallery on the St Pete pier (if it’s still there).

    They had an exhibition of naive art from the Balkan (mainly Croat painters but also some Hungarian ones) last year. We had a nice and interesting conversation with the Russian woman who managed it. Maybe she’ll remember that old Hungarian/German couple she talked to …

  • olga

    @ Magyar Viking

    re: “An ex-PM symbolically hunger-striking in front of the Parliament is maybe not so usual in Canada, but Hungary is not like Canada”

    Give me an example of a European country’s former PM who went on a hunger strike or showed up at a murder trial to “support” the vitims’ family

    My “big agenda” is that I would like Hungary to be as successful as possible given the global economic mess and I would like the electorate to have viable options at the voting booth like Canada has – IMHO Gyurcsany is preventing this.

    I make no bones about being a Leftie but if I had been in that voting booth, by process of elimination, I would have voted for FIDESZ . I might have held my nose just like I held it when I voted for the Conservatives in Canada, but the bottom line is the Conservatives got my vote.

    In fact, the Conservatives knew they could thank their majority to people like me, who were disgusted with the Liberal leadership but unlike Gyurcsany, the Liberal Leader resigned the next day and left politics. (Maybe his Hungarian wife wrote his mea culpa speech but he did come out looking like a gracious looser)

    I don’t think one needs to be a political strategist to figure out that FIDESZ got its huge majority from a combination of FIDESZ supporters and disenchanted MSZP supporters so whether it’s Canada or Hungary there are similarities in voting patterns.

    Off topic but now that our PM severed ties with Iran, I am starting to think he has redeeming qualities :) )

    • Viking

      olga says:
      September 10, 2012 at 5:42 pm

      Give me an example of a European country’s former PM who went on a hunger strike or showed up at a murder trial to “support” the vitims’ family
      —

      I wrote “Hungarian politics is a bit out of this world”, that include the rest of the EU also
      But not Hungary’s neighbours, as Aloof pointed out, the Ukraine comes to mind, but that is maybe not enough ‘European’ for you?

      I really do not understand your angle:
      * “IMHO Gyurcsany is preventing this”
      How?
      Gyurcsány has left the biggest opposition party and created his own, which is the smallest one
      HOW can that fact stop any voters to vote on MSZP or LMP in 2014?

      There is *nothing* that stops MSZP to totally discard Gyurcsány. The reason they do not do it officially, is the hard fact that Gyurcsány is actually still popular among the kernel MSZP-voters, even if the swing-voters may not respect him

      In this sense the problem is not Gyurcsány’s, the problem is MSZP, then they just pussy-foot around Gyurcsány.
      MSZP does not have any one as charismatic as Gyurcsány and that says a lot about MSZP

      In Real Europe, in difference to US/Canada (and the UK-poodle), we actually have several political parties, not just a Left and a Right (with a possible centre to pick up the crumbles), so being ‘Hungarian Left’ is not the same thing as being ‘pro-Gyurcsány’, or it is, depending your choice

    • Viking

      olga says:
      September 10, 2012 at 5:42 pm

      Off topic but now that our PM severed ties with Iran, I am starting to think he has redeeming qualities :) )
      —

      As I understand Canada did not really have any specific reasons for this and in the situation with the worsening situation in Syria, it cannot be seen as a very smart move at the moment that will prevent another war in that region

      On the other hand, one can ask if the average person on the Arab Street ever heard about Canada…

      • justasking,

        @Viking,

        Unlike Olga, I’m pissed that Canada shut down Iran’s embassy. As you said, there was no reason for it.

        They claimed Iran’s shitty human-rights record was one factor…has anybody taken a gander at China’s or Saudi Arabia’s? Will we be shutting those ones down as well?

        • Viking

          true
          If you would go with some kind of Human Right’s standard, Canada would not have many diplomatic relations…

          Normally there is either:
          a) a very specific undiplomatic incident (like spying), or

          b) part of a combined effort among several Nations to push an agenda (like Nuclear weapons)

          As I understand nothing of these two alternatives apply here

          • justasking,

            @Viking,

            ‘As I understand nothing of these two alternatives apply here’

            Exactly…which leaves us with my Government catering to Lobbyists, and not necessarily, what’s best for Canada and the Canadian people.

            This is going to snowball…WWIII, here we come!

  • Magyar

    EXCELLENT news.
    Another commie charged:
    -http://www.hungarianambiance.com/2012/09/police-took-bela-biszku-butcher-of-1956.html

    I am looking forward to hearing Red Eva, Viking, Olga, Liz, etc etc defend Béla Biszku.

    • Viking

      If his crimes can be proven, let him have his day in Court, as Csatary and others should have

      • Magyar

        There is no “if”, he is guilty, the evidence is there, he needs to be put in prison.

        • Viking

          So why have a trial?

          Or that is only for show?
          Will he be able to have a defence lawyer, like Csatary would?

  • Focus on the bigger picture

    For the ol’Gyurhanyo – What is the absolute sovany?
    Someone that fits through the hole in the 2 filler.
    (About as much as Gyurhany was and is worth)
    Now that’s an old one. Someone please pass the makos teszta.

  • justasking,

    ‘Dramatic situations call for dramatic reactions, and strong political gestures are needed for apathetic voters to mobilise,” Gyurcsány said’

    Which is why, he should not have a cap on the length of his hunger strike…he should stay with it UNTIL ‘apathetic voters are mobilized’.

    Go Feri, go Feri!
    ———

    ‘Four tents are located outside Parliament, two of which are bedrooms, one is a dining room, and the fourth is a public living space’

    Why the need for a ‘dining room’, if you’re on a hunger strike?

    • Viking

      I drink in my “dining room”
      Do you have a special “drinking room”

      It happens even that I socialize there, you know watch TV and so

      Maybe there is a problem with translation here
      If you check the pictures there is a big plastic table there, so you do not need to be too afraid

      • justasking,

        @Viking,

        ‘I drink in my “dining room”…

        1) I thought that hunger strikes included no fluids of any kind?

        2) They have a public living space
        ———-

        ‘Do you have a special “drinking room”..It happens even that I socialize there, you know watch TV and so’

        No specific room, people are welcome to drink anywhere in my home….maybe not the bathrooms though.

        If someone were to do that…they can keep whatever glass/mug/cup/bottle etc, that they’re drinking out of…I insist.

        • Viking

          justasking, says:
          September 10, 2012 at 8:04 pm

          1) I thought that hunger strikes included no fluids of any kind?
          —

          No, that would be killing of any participant
          Hunger-strike is just a fast with sufficient fluid under some type of medical control (if available)

          Remember this Indian guy who fasted against corruption:
          “Mr. Hazare, 74, has been waging a hunger strike for 12 days, refusing to call it off unless Parliament adopted his proposed legislation to fight graft rather than a bill put forward by the government. Huge crowds of supporters have participated in peaceful protests and rallies across India in what became an outpouring of public disgust over corruption”
          (-http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/world/asia/28india.html?_r=1)

          And especially this line:
          “After Parliament accepted some of his demands in a nonbinding “sense of the house” vote, Mr. Hazare ended his fast on Sunday”

          So, sometimes only one person’s action without food can change the course of politics

          • justasking,

            @Viking,

            ‘No, that would be killing of any participant’

            And your point would be….? :D

  • Freedom

    A week long hunger strike?

    There have been weeks I have ate nothing, surviving just fine on milk and water. If he was really serious he should make it a month long hunger strike like those Irish activist in the 1980s.

    Can we seriously take such stunt as serious, especially when we all know that after he is done fasting for the week he will be eating at a fancy place with all the money he has from years of selling out to the IMF bank.

  • Magyar

    Here is a picture of the event

    -http://2.bp.blogspot.com/–rdSlmwKzn4/UE-QOSFPjiI/AAAAAAAAQfw/EvEKSlDQxfE/s1600/gyuradmirer.jpg

    Notice the DK supporters.

    I will give it 5 years before their number reduces to about 10% of what it was.

    • Magyar

      Remember people, Gyurcsány spent 90% of his life on a diet of Kosher Caviar, Kosher Lobster while drinking the most expensive wine Hungarian tax money could buy.

      Even a week of this new diet will be such a shock to his body that it will kill him.

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