Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Hungary

"Mr Gyurcsany (prime minister) said the protests, in which dozens of people were hurt, were Hungary's "longest and darkest night" since the end of communism in 1989.

The violence erupted at the state TV building following a largely peaceful rally calling on Mr Gyurcsany to quit.

In a leaked tape, Mr Gyurcsany admitted his government had lied to the public.

His comments, which were recorded just after a general election in April, have prompted calls for his resignation from opposition parties. ... " (the whole article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5359250.stm)

I'm shocked. It's not mocking or anything. I'm very suprised that riots like this broke out in the middle of the Europe (although it's not that different from France a few months ago). But Hungaary is much more similar to Poland. As post-communist country, most of the civil activity should be dead by now, I would think. Apparently things were so bad, that people woke up.
But probably the most important reason why I'm shocked is that during the proccess of joining EU, we would compare Poland to Czech Rep. and Hungary. The latter always seemed to be so much more developed, with much stronger economy. And now what do I hear....

I think it not only shocked me. I am afraid. That there will be a similar situation in Poland, which economy is not growing fast enough and too many people are without jobs. The country ruled by twin brothers, the Ducks, very controversial: very religious, traditional, yearning for "strong" government.
And they are one of the reasons I don't want to go back to Poland.

4 comments:

Lims said...

It surprised me too, but.. do you think that economy is to blame in this case? Maybe those riots show that civil activity is not that dead, as it seems to be and people are more and more consciouss about their right in democracy?
Anyway, ducks... ah yeah. This is the one of the reasons why I want to go away :) (btw, welcome back).

Anonymous said...

eh, don't go away, everybody...

there must be someone still in here, otherwise nothing will change, you see:)

welcome back!

Anonymous said...

Riots? Come on! There were only few hundreds hooligans (mostly football and right extremists) fighting with the police. Most of thousands protesting Hungarians were peaceful. I think it was more similiar to protest again WTO than to any revolution.

Anonymous said...

Are you going to write anything about your geat trip? Please ...