October 23rd, the Hungarian national holiday, provided an opportunity for mass political demonstrations and to show off the mobilizing forces of Hungary's different political parties. The holiday marks the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956; however, all the commemorating ceremonies seemed most concentrated on the upcoming elections rather than on interpreting the revolution in the usual right wing-left wing scheme.
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| Photo: www.nepszava.hu |
Whereas most of the parties and movements opposing the current government promised to prove their capability to put aside personal ambitions for the sake of cooperation, the united oppositionist demonstration proved the contrary. Although a wide spectrum of political groups was represented, two speakers harshly criticized Együtt-PM and the Socialist Party (the organizers of the demonstration). The speech of Socialist Party leader Attila Mesterházy was constantly interrupted by people shouting “alliance!” – demonstrating their disappointment with the fragmentation of Hungarian opposition. The Socialist Party blames the Democratic Coalition Party for organizing this alleged sabotage, since this party, having seceded from the Socialist party only two years ago, was not included in the political alliance of liberal Együtt-PM and the Socialists. This overreaction gives the impression that oppositionist leaders do not have at the core of their agenda the fight against the current right-wing government, but against each other.
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| Photo: www.hirado.hu |
However, Wednesday was not the only day to make cleavages in the opposition obvious. On Sunday while allegedly 100-120,000 Hungarians protested against the reform of Romanian public administration, demanding autonomy for the Sekler territories in Transylvania, a few thousand people participated in a demonstration held in front of the Romanian Embassy in Budapest. Liberal party Együtt-PM, was represented in the demonstrations both in Transylvania and in Budapest. Other liberal and leftist politicians claim this was an unforgivable mistake, since the governing Fidesz party’s nationalist policy and tendency to intervene in Romanian politics should not be supported – not to mention the campaign of radical rightist Jobbik party among Transylvanian Hungarians. Actually – as it was unfortunately foreseeable – flags of obviously racist organizations were displayed in abundance in the demonstrations. And indeed, Együtt-PM warned that caring for the ethnic Hungarians beyond the borders should not be left as a privilege of the right-wing.
Ágnes Kelemen,
Hungary,
Nationalism Studies
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