you MUST read this

you may be vaguely aware of the current unrest in hungary (most recent articles here):
EU seeks Hungary unrest 'facts'
Hungary divided on uprising anniversary

basically a tape was leaked over a month ago of the socialist prime minister telling quite clearly how the socialist party has been lying to the hungarian people and screwing over the economy, etc. he's vowed to change, but far right parties have been protesting for the past month.

fuel was added to the fire on october 23, the 50 year anniversary of when the hungarians protested control by soviet russia... in october 1956 they succeeded in driving russia out for a bit, had 5 days of freedom, and then, in early november, the russians came back in and pulverized the city with tanks. hundreds of thousands of hungarians fled the country.

the 50th anniversary celebrations were held on monday, and as had been true for years, the leading political camps refused to mark the day together. the opposition continued their protest outside parliament, while the leading parties tried to carry out the festivities that had been planned for over 2 years for the national day. when police tried to clear out protesters for the event, protesters commandeered a soviet-era tank that was on display for the holiday, and led it toward police lines until police disabled it. meanwhile, the protesters have been comparing the current government to that of 50 years ago, and claiming that their protest is in the same spirit of the revolutionists of 1956.

things are a mess.

only time will tell how things fall out with the current unrest and frustration. as one of the articles i posted says, the saddest thing about the state of the current hungarian democracy is that it has divided the country even more than before rather than uniting it.

however, enough time HAS passed to look soberly at the '56 revolution (something both sides of the current disagreement look back to as their heritage). in fact, historians are fairly united in their portrayal of it.

you learn more about it with impressive pictures and videos here at: http://www.hungary1956.com/

and if you're still intrigued by a country that the russians had every reason to believe they'd successfully indoctrinated as good communists, who instead when given the chance nearly uniformly fought the system to the death and escaped, you should definitely read The Bridge at Andau (by James Michener). This is what I just finished reading 2 days ago. Having not read Michener before, I was impressed by how documentary-like the book is. Michener stood at the Hungary-Austria border in November 1956 as 200,000 Hungarians fled their homeland post-revolution and interviewed thousands to compile this book. He tells the story of the revolution from the point of view of young students and laborers, the intellectuals, the Hungarian soliders, a typical small family, the AVO (the secret police), the factory workers, and more (with at least a chapter dedicated to each). A large chunk of the penultimate chapter (entitled "the Russian defeat") analyzes America's (non)-reaction to the revolution, American rationalization for why we stood by while a whole nation was blown to smitherines by Russia for trying to stand up for freedom, and Hungarian reaction to America after our lack of action. For me it was also sobering to read about these things happening in bloody detail in places I've been to many times and have come to know well and love. It's a REALLY well written work and it will make you think, and it will fill you with respect for the thousands of people who had the courage to stand up and fight the way they did. I highly recommend it.

the end.