HVG Diagnosis: After the pogrom

In Budapest last Saturday, there was a pogrom-like atmosphere. Again - because there was violence at last year's Gay Parade. But this year, it was planned, and the weapons used were capable of killing. Unless the sober majority is able to step in, the trend will become irreversible. Hungary is becoming a country not fit for human dignity, like it was in the past.

We will become a country whose citizens do not enjoy protections and who cannot exercise their rights. A country where it is impossible to speak because you don't know who stands against you. A country where you can't go out onto the streets because you can't show yourself. Where you can't be distinctive, because others will discriminate against you. Where you can't fit in beacause there are no norms. There won't be a moral crisis, because there will be no morals. There'll be no freedom and no responsibility.

We know that some in our society lend silent support to the aggressors. We can't say that we don't see and hear what surrounds us. We see nationalist symbols on our cars, crude speech on our streets, Jew-baiting on our most sacred national holidays, and vicious, murderous anti-minority sentiment.

It can't be claimed that there is no link between the hidden army of black-shirts, the Jobbik movement's SA and what happened on Saturday. Brutal demonstrations of force have become an everyday sight, an accepted means of creating fear, of controlling the streets, of choosing between people.

We can't claim we don't know what led to this situation. We can list the factors.

The hatred embedded deep in our society, which is looking for an outlet.
A lack of self-control, of intelligence, of personal responsibility.
An inability to live with and deal with freedom.
A war of political sloganeering that has grown to hysterical dimensions over the years.
Fidesz's sops to the far right.
The Socialist Party's deceptiveness.
The arrogance of whichever government happens to be in power.
The frustration felt by ordinary citizens.
Unhealed wounds in society.
The example we have all learned of power equaling right.
The inability to come to terms with the pass, the abdication of historical responsibility.
The weakness of judges and the judicial system.
Existential fears stemming from material need.
Indifference.

People have had enough. I agree with the prime minister on this. But I don't agree with his attempts to launch civil initiatives instead of acting immediately. Solidarity needs to be strengthened. We should be vigilant in guarding our laws. We should make sure our laws are enforced.

The Right says we should condemn all forms of violence. Yes. But they say nothing about gays, about minorities - and they say nothing about what happened that weekend. They seek self-justification with every word. They have nothing to say about the fascist symbols that crop up at their rallies. They are happy for their leaders to give interviews to papers which play host to the purest extremism. They have nothing to say about responsibility and solidarity.

It is astonishing that the President has nothing to say. He enjoys making sententious moral pronouncements, but he feels no need to arm-twist the parties into issuing a joint statement, to force them to forge one single point of agreement. He should give a televised address.

That's the kind of thing that happens in civil wars. But we can no longer claim that we are not in the grip of a virtual civil war.

It's not just about how many people are waging their war against the public and the constitution. It's about how many of us are scared.

It's not about how many people are wounded in street battles, but about whether there is a single ambulance whose staff don't want to treat the injured.

It's not just about whether the aggressors throw stones, eggs or Molotov cocktails. It's about whether courts are prepared to regard these acts as attempted murder, as organised violence against a minority.

The most pessimistic commentators expect that this escalating violence will eventually lead to a death, with the result that armed political terrorism will have reared its head in Hungary. We can't go that far. It must be prevented."

By Gergely Nagy

Source: HVG