In government circles, the response to the student-faculty revolt that broke out at the University for Theater and Film Arts (SZFE) has been eerie silence. I suspect that Viktor Orbán didn’t expect any challenge by the administration, faculty, and students to the government’s “privatization” of SZFE. After all, several other universities met the same fate in the last year or so, and neither their students nor their administrations protested. As if they didn’t want to face the fact that this reorganization would deprive them of their academic freedom and solidify the leadership of Fidesz loyalists for many years to come.
In the last few years, many students have become apathetic and complacent about the political environment, so they remained largely ignorant of the details of this reorganization and its impact on higher education. As for the administrations of the universities, they surely realized that they were being deprived of their autonomy, but their financial and existential fears kept them quiet.
That wall of silence has now been broken by 600 brave students and their teachers. At the moment, we don’t know whether the rectors of any other universities will dare to join the demand for freedom, but some of their students are finally becoming restless.
Yesterday afternoon, before the imaginatively staged demonstration with about 10,000, mostly young participants, Gergely Gulyás was nonchalant about the forthcoming event. During an interview with Zsolt Bayer on Hír TV, he said: “The university students can certainly go and demonstrate.” He reminded them that “they are lucky because it is not Ferenc Gyurcsány who is the prime minister”; there is no likelihood of anyone losing their eyesight as a result of a policeman’s rubber bullet.
Gulyás affirmed that the government stands fast behind Attila Vidnyánszky. If the students refuse to leave the building, teaching will take place somewhere else. The resisting students can decide whether they want to enroll and study or not. The faculty and students, on the other hand, defiantly announced that “they either go elsewhere and build another university or we will go elsewhere and we will build another one.” Of course, it is not that simple, but this quotation will give the readers a taste of the mood of the crowd.
For the resisting students and faculty of SZFE, autonomy and freedom are the key words. Their demand is that the newly created board headed by Attila Vidnyánszky be dismantled. They quoted a couple of lines from a Petőfi poem, which called on the members of the nobility to extend their hands to take their own. But that’s not all that the poet said. At the end of the poem, he warned that if the members of the nobility fail to take the hands of the commoners, only God can save them from perishing. The positions are set, and for the time being neither side has moved an inch.
The upheaval at SZFE became an international scandal. On September 5, Oliver Reese, director of the famous Berliner Ensemble, originally established by Bertolt Brecht, cancelled the theater’s performance of Euripides’s Medea, which was to be staged in Budapest, as a show of solidarity with the students of SZFE. World famous actors and actresses condemned the government’s treatment of the university, including such luminaries as Cate Blanchett, Helen Mirren, Eddie Redmayne, and Michael Chabon. For good measure, one can find the name of Salman Rushdie among those who expressed their empathy with the students and faculty of SZFE.
Hungary’s entry at the Venice Film Festival is a Hungarian-U.S.-Canadian film called “Pieces of a Woman,” whose director is Kornél Mundruczó. The script was written by Kata Wéber, and the film was produced by Viktória Petrányi. All three of them appeared in “Free SZFE” T-shirts. MTI’s article on the event was accompanied by a photo, which was taken in such a way that “Free SZFE” didn’t show on their T-shirts.
In brief, the whole affair is becoming an increasing embarrassment –and perhaps much more — for the regime.
László Kéri, a keen analyst of Hungarian politics, gave an interview today in which he pointed out that “the developments of the last few days show that the ethos and practice of resistance to the regime as a whole is under revival in today’s Hungarian society.” In addition to the SZFE troubles, civil servants went on a three-day warning strike, although this is a segment of society which normally doesn’t dare to confront the authorities. Also, 58 mostly conservative scientists protested against László Palkovics’s crude interference in the recommended list of scientific projects to be financed by the government. Altogether, Kéri claims that in today’s Hungarian society, the willingness to speak out against the regime and public resistance to its legitimacy are growing and spreading. His conclusion is that “there are more and more reasons for Viktor Orbán to worry about the preservation of his power.”
Another opinion piece was written by György Bodánszky, a journalist, writer, editor, and former student of SZFE, who believes that the government surely doesn’t want the Vidnyánszky affair to become an Orbán affair. But, in his opinion, it is already too late. There is no successful way out of the current standoff between SZFE and the government. Knowing Viktor Orbán’s modus operandi, he will not retreat. But Vidnyánszky is not strong enough to carry out the takeover of SZFE on his own. He would need Orbán’s help. That help isn’t forthcoming as yet, and, given the mood in the university and outside of it, Orbán might find it useful to drop him and find some creative solution to the problem. Developments over the next few days may well determine the outcome of this serious confrontation between civil society and the regime.
Hats off to the brave students and faculty for resisting the Fidesz regime. Regardless of the “outcome”, the students and faculty are modeling resistance to the regime. Every end of tyranny is a process, the process only looks fast, let alone short, when tyranny ends. For example, the end of communism in Hungary (and elsewhere in eastern Europe) was clearly a process that took time, often a lot of time. We can’t expect immediate change, but if one does not plant “flowers” in some places, only “weeds”flourish. The “weeds” are in danger even if they are unaware.
Well stated!
I suspect that the brave resistance of students, as well as others, in Belarus has perhps given a cue to the SZFE- time to speak up.
When many are loosing fear it is the beginning of the end of every regime that ever held its citizens in hostage.
Gergely Gulyás scraping the barrel going back to the 2006 Fidesz riots? That was the time when the Fradi Fidesz Faithful were caught on camera hammering away at a police vehicle windshield, right? Good one Gergely! Meanwhile this year the multi-sided Gergely was playing the epidemiologist, predicting the peak of the coronavirus infections in June or July. Somehow he got that wrong and also failed to predict the new peak – about 5 times as high as the first – when Fidesz politicians brought back their infections from Croatia, right here, right now. He also missed the spike in cancer patient deaths as Fidesz emptied the hospitals to make room for an infection surge that never came – more unnecessary deaths. In any case Hungary leads the EU in cancer deaths, so who cares?
Gulyás’s and Fidesz’s incompetence in the medical field knows no bounds. 576 new COVID-19 cases yesterday. Out of control. Take a sip of the humility cup Gergely. Otherwise, SHA DA FA CUP!
Bimbi, we agree.
You can see the lies of the regime never die.
Most restless Hungarians have already left, and the rest is partially passive or partially brain-dead.
Reading the post made me think:
Is it possible to compare Lukashenko & Putin with Vidnyánszky & OV?
It seems farfetched and there are many differences, so I don’t know if really fair, but why care about fairness against OV.
So because of the simultaneousness the protesting SZFE students and their supporters, might seriously think about using the comparison in order to even more strengthen their already strong protests.
It’s possible to compare. However, the big difference is that Hungary (since Kadar’s time, though not before) has always had a “goulash-quality” to it. This means the system is softer and the security state has less respect. To be a policeman or to work for intelligence or the military are not things you can boast about in a way being member of the FSB in Russia is an undisputed source of pride for the employees and their families. Physical violence of the kind we saw in Belarus (opposition people “hanging themselves” in forests, ie. where there are no security cameras available) or in Russia (poisonings and murders of opposition people are regular) does not yet exist in Hungary. Which doesn’t mean that some people like Tamas Welsz or András Váradi and a few others did not die under extremely suspicious circumstances which were never investigated in any transparent way or football hoolingans would not be controlled by Fidesz loyal domestic intelligence using them against the opposition. But in general the system is softer and uses different methods – mostly because these methods also work splendidly. Fidesz successfully coopted and corrupted and threatened most of the opposition, it doesn’t have to… Read more »
Thus spoke Marty – Including the signature final nail in the rhetorical, sympathetically varnished, coffin lid. Short and shallow, but otherwise not unlike the proven classic style of Cato Censorius The Older.
Cheers!
Marty tests his new crystal ball with orbanian Dystopie coating.
Marty is right. It is a storm in a tea cup not a “serious confrontation between civil society and the regime.” Believing otherwise is gasping at straws.
A bunch of wannabe artists who expect, and demand stridently, to be ‘free and autonomous’ on public money. Childish. Countryside people, and working class people, have no sympathy for such characters. Be as ‘free and autonomous’ as you like but on your own (got by working) money.
Marty is overwhelmingly right, and it is advisable to listen to his intelligent words.
We should unite under his leadership.
Be brave and have courage to recognize his truth.
But that would imply turning back time to the late 1700’s and the political debates of the age of enlightenment.
Oh well, could probably be done (the state has been in reggress for more than 10 years) in HU – but outside??
Did you mean Marty he is here for say cheers? I find his “truth” boring.
In fast motion past the human chain of protesters … there are many. https://24.hu/belfold/2020/09/06/video-elolanc-szfe-freszfe-tuntetes-vidnyanszky-egyetem/
Invisible to the eyes of the “saved”, of course.
Which makes sense in the “correct” interpretation of the premises, as we have just been lectured:
When people are allowed to protest without getting shot and civil disobedience is tolerated to an extent, you have ample proof of the benign nature of the Holy Leadership and the invalidity of the basis for the “hissy” public behavior.
Despite all this, I hope that one day the barrel will be full and the last drop will make it overflow. Orban will say look, that’s proof of democracy.
Orbán doesn’t need the students. He redesigned the state so much that he is happy with about 25% sustaining his dictatorship (no matter whether by enthusiasm or just as “smaller evil”), this will be together with the usual cheating enough to keep his so much desired 2/3 in parliament. He can be generous with some students protesting – even giving him a chance to prove both “how democratic” Orbánistan is and how mislead these students are with their actions against “the nation”.
Things will change at the very moment protests will not be held by one small group only. No matter whether the reason is “robbed enough” or “cheated enough” as in Belarus or whatever.
The power crumbles, if there is a universal wisdom then it is the movement. Hungarianvoice was also a Fidesz apologist until he ran out of conservative arguments and began to become right-wing nationalist. Finally he was smart enough not to continue the argumentation. He once said that he liked the goal of the Greens, why not to have a healthy environment. Well maybe this is a solution a common goal outside of the “Orban and Fidesz must go away”. Because “away with everything I don’t like” is an ancient Hungarian tradition that should be broken with.
Re: “away with everything I don’t like”
The nature of far-right philosophy. Also runs along the lines of ‘‘We only are right”. Church and state melded so well together they clasp hands in fervent ‘infallibility’: “We cannot be wrong”.
Just another storm in a teacup I am afraid. It will blow over while the rest of the Hungarian population sits and watches silently.
“while the rest of the Hungarian population sits and watches silently”
In fact most media hardly report or even not at all. Watching is not that easy, you need to fetch the information actively from opposition media.
OT – Corona testing
Yesterday DK held a press conference in which they stated that the current testing, from deciding to test till informing about the result, take too much time [for contact persons it can take to upto 4 days]. Furthermore that the test capacity should urgently be increased.
Source: https://hir.ma/belfold/dk-tul-hosszu-ideig-tart-a-tesztek-kiertekelese/762717
“Of course” OV private media immediately started to attacking DK’s statement with “arguments” like “kamu” [Hungarian slang for “fake news”].
As I stated before there are everywhere typical variations going through the days of the week [5 workdays followed by a 2-day weekend]. So I checked reporting of Daily New Cases in both Hungary and Austria:
–typical dips in reporting of Daily New Cases for Austria is on Monday [sometimes even on Sunday]
–same for Hungary is on Tuesday
My conclusion: as typical weeks in Austria and Hungary are the same, this means that the whole testing procedure [from decision till reporting result] in Hungary takes at least a full day more time!
So OV’s pandemic team is strongly recommended to more closely follow “their laboratory” [being Austria as stated by the myghti lidur earlier this year!]
Whatever the political/technical strategy behind the infection -statistic configuration may be, the figures give the appearance of the virus behaving differently with the tested Hungarians, than it does with the tested Austrians.
Appearently, it spreads at rates with more variety.
A good basis for the construction of conspirational explanations.
It’s a pity that common EU testing-standards haven’t been implemented.
“Common EU testing-standards” would be nice, but most likely take too much time to be agreed and therefore implemented.
Much more important is imho tranparancy in everything related to the Corona Virus. That is done in most countries by releasing regular full reports with all sorts of details [e.g.infections, hospital care and deaths for municipalities, age groups, type of work etc; most likely setting where infection occured; actual R-value; etc.].
In Hungary I haven’t seen even one such a report!
Also peculiar is that in Hungary measurements of virus residu in sewage water are done, but the reporting is so unprofessionally poor. Only qualifying results as:
low – modest – high – very high for concentration
decreasing – stagnating – increasing – rising very strong for frend
Now this is really bollocks, giving such qualifications without giving any real data. This is pretending to follow the latest developments, but incapable [or unwilling] to show the real figures [because these could be checked and followed by others?]
A member of one of our neighbour’s family is involved in Bp in the “tests paper war” and he told his mother that he was really unhappy with the data crap that he was supposed to write down/publish – but of course he couldn’t give her any facts …
So there might be some ugly surprises waiting.
All shows the poorly hidden agenda of pretending responsibility by simply “going through the motions” and “looking technical”.
No public organization can rise above it’s political leadership.
So glad the students and their teachers ‘spoke‘ up for academic and intellectual freedom and protect it. Ironic they have to do this is an ‘egyetem’ atmosphere where whole point is free inquiry into the human imagination and constructions. Strange how students have to go to school in Magyarorszag with clamp and chain clippers.
Not sure how the rectors outside of SFZE view how politics completely eroding the university mission but it has to cross their minds as to how long they can stay off the Fidesz chopping block. So they too might have to make sure they reconsider and pick up their heads from the books for a second and look out for their pure existence in a time of intellectual and political upheaval. Or else their whole enterprise will be another window front for a creeping autocracy.
And that’s a bad way to talk about an entire societal function which would be ‘losing their minds’ to some other culturalists who have another agenda in theIr propagation of the arts and sciences. When it comes to curiosity and thinking , ‘minds are a terrible thing to waste’.
Off topic, but in the news. Magyar Nemzet has an interesting article today https://magyarnemzet.hu/gazdasag/a-mesterseges-intelligencia-elvonalaba-repitene-magyarorszagot-az-uj-strategia-8632320/ . The article discusses Hungary’s Artificial Intelligence (MI) strategy and work that is being done in Hungary relating to AI. I read this passage: “Among the elements of the strategy, the Minister (László Palkovics) highlighted participation in the development of automatic, self-driving vehicles, as Hungary has already made great strides in this area : a test track has been built, educational and research programs have been launched and a research center has been established.” (my translation) I have to say if Hungary is at this late stage in working on self driving cars, why is it bothering? Volvo working with Uber’s self-driving division was far beyond this stage of development over one year ago (see https://www.engadget.com/2019-06-12-volvo-and-uber-self-driving-production-car.html ). Google Self-Driving Car Project started in 2009, and it is now called Waymo LLC an American autonomous driving technology development company. Waymo operates a commercial self driving taxi service in Phoenix Arizona called “Waymo One”; users in the Phoenix area use an app to request a pick-up. As of November 2019, Waymo offered the only commercial self-driving car service that operated fully autonomously, without safety backup drivers in the vehicle. Waymo is also working on the Volvo project. “Waymo… Read more »
I think that these are Potemkin villages that are sent to us directly from the State Theater. It is supposed to suggest that we are at the forefront of technology. Or simply wishful thinking. If there are a handful of Hungarian specialists, it does not mean that Hungary has mastered AI. What use is AI when the level of education is so low and full of mistakes.
Orsolya “Orsi” Ferenczy is a former Hungarian swimmer who specializes in butterfly swimming. She won a bronze medal at the European Junior Championships and later represented Hungary at the 2000 Summer Olympics when she was 16 years old. She announced that Hungary will launch its first satellite into geostationary orbit in 2024. This satellite will be used for research and “governmental tasks”. I wonder if there is a Hungarian bicycle manufacturer, then the rocket technology would not be so far.
https://m.hvg.hu/tudomany/20200817_4ig_kereskedelmi_muhold_carpathiasat_antenna_hungaria_zrt_magyar_kormany_urkutatas
Obvious and silly propaganda.
Most EU capitals and large cities have driverless busses on certain routes, and the testing of different models of driverless transportation doesn’t need specially constructed test-tracks. Closed driver-training facilities, race tracks, and obsolete stretches of road are more than enough for that purpose.
This article is about the relaunch of Radio Free Europe in Hungarian https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qj455m/the-cold-war-is-over-but-radio-free-europe-is-back-in-hungary requires no explanation of Eva’s readers. But there must be some really huge back story to the lobbying efforts by Orban allies in the USA to prevent this, in particular by a group like the American Hungarian Federation (AHF) which has claimed repeatedly that there is full freedom of the press in Hungary today. By the way the AHF has never reported on the restart of Radio Free Europe in Hungarian. I am surprised Orban’s best buddy Trump could not block this embarrassing development. The US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) which controls Radio Free Europe was purged by team Trump and an associate of the now indicted Steve Bannon named Michael Pack is now its director. Yet even this sycophant Pack has failed to protect Orban, hopefully Biden can purge Pack and his mad associate Frank Wuco who specializes in a wide variety of conspiracy theories if he wins the election. According to 24.hu, after a long preparation period, the new edition of Radio Free Europe will operate as a news site named szabadeuropa.hu. this month. The leaders of the new media house will be Gyula… Read more »
https://www.szabadeuropa.hu/a/30820821.html this is an impressive story about American religious volunteers who may have helped the Ukrainian oligarch launder money. A good start for szabadeuropa.hu to be honest.
the red-white cordon tape has become the symbol of the SZFE protests; herewith the SZFE loge with such tape:
all who like to express their support of the protests are free to use this [and publish it in their websites, blogs, replies, comments, etc]