Jakobo.net

Long time no write- I know. I apologize and recognize that if I want any readers on this page, I have to keep postin’… So here goes a long post with several issues:

HUNGARY DEMONSTRATIONS: In October, demonstrations broke out in Budapest, Hungary. The demonstrations were triggeres by the release of some tapes revealing that the Primeminister admitted to have been lying (click here for more detalis). My friend Mezõsi wrote me an email from Budapest, giving his own, first hand perspectives on what happened when the riots broke out. It’s a story of police using violence. Just as we thought the country washeading the right direction, doing well in the EU and everything. Mezõsi says that his country has lost the battle of democracy, but let’s instead hope that the demonstrations were a sign of exactly the opposite. Read his short letter here.

BORAT
By now, I assume everyone should be familiar with Mr. Sagdiyev. I went to see the film the other day. Needles to say, it left the whole theater laughing their behinds off. I thought it lacked a little of the political savviness of the episodes which can be found here , but who can resist the picture of two men with excessive body hair wrestling? I found some clips of deleted scenes from the film- check ‘em out here

US MIDTERM ELECTION.
On Tuesday the 7th, it will be decided whether the US of A will have two more years of Republican ownership of both the House, the Senate and la Casa Blanca. I have talked to a lot of people on the other side of the ocean and they are all very optimistic. If we all cross every finger, the Dems could actually win back both the House of Representatives (where I was doing a fellowship until recently. Click here for more info) . My good buddy Jesper is doing a really good job of blogging home from DC about his endeavors in conquering Pensylvania and campaigning for the Dems. The site’s in Danish, but for those who understand this funny little language, check out this very cool and informative site here.

Bueno, the reson why I haven’t posted much lately is that I’ve been busy with a couple og things:

-Finishing the campaign at Amnesty (which had the result of some 15,000 new members in Denmark)
-Preparing to take the GRE test (is there anything more boring in this world?)
-Preparing for DANMUN. It’s the first socalled Model United Nations held in Denmark. The deal is to gather a bunch of uni students from all over the world (Europe in this case, I believe) and make a simulation of the Security Council of the UN. I will represent the UK, and out topic will be the situation of the Kurds in northern Iraq. I expect a great deal of fun, discussion and polishing of diplomatic skills. for more info on this concept, visit www.nmun.org.

This will all be cramped in between a HIA reunion in Amsterdam (am looking forward to seeing everyone!), so I really haven’t had much time (or energy) for blogging. I will try to keep it coming more fluently from now on. Thanks for stopping by.

Possibly you have heard the news about Monday fighting in Budapest, let me write some words about it also to have an information from first hand.

Basic thing how anything was started, was not on Monday, but last week Thursday, when the police warned the hospitals to have enough 0 type blood ready for infusion for Monday. So police prepared, waited the people to go out to the street for the bank holliday 23 October, which is also a national feast. Each year some houndred thousand people is out all around the city and remember the heros who were fighting against the USSR army in 1956 in Hungary.

This year extra was that the goverment is on a zero level of morality, since the prime minister confessed, that they were telling lies before the elelections this sping. So also Monday the celebration was related to anti-goverment demonstration on many places.

On one place the police attacked a peacefull demonstration - people had only national flags in hands, no stones or any other wappons, there were students, retired people also among - an pushed them through the city. This way the mass in front of the police increased continously, since the city was full of people.

You know, we are not that kind of runaway guys, especially in our own city. So when police loudspeaker told us, that go away, we asked:
1. Where to? - No answer
2. Why? What did we do? We are home here! - No answer
… well, there was answer. Tear-gas. But:

THEY SHOT IT ON THE LEVEL OF THE HEAD.

Also they shot rubber bullets.

This is how started and how the police made the crowd angry. Continuously the police pushed the crowd (with tear-gas) to the direction of a legal celebration, where app. 150.000 people were in a huge mass. You can imagine… The police did not stop and filled the air of the whole city center with pepperoni taste gas.

There was an exhibition soviet T-34 war tank as a part of the decoration of the national feast. There were some fuel in it, someone who could drive a tank (a more than 60 years old veteran soldier) started it and went in front of the police. I simply didn’t belive in my own eyes, when I saw it!

So, democracy has fallen in Hungary on Monday, the goverment attacked the unarmed Hungarian citizens with tear-gas, because some of them told their opinion on the open streets. Yesterday my eyes did still hurt of gas.

This is the thruth, you can look after anything also on CNN and BBC, but anything you can read there is not complete, because also the Hungarian press is cenzored. Please tell it to your friends, that not a small minority is making the trouble in Hungary, but the leaders are defending their position with the power of terror and weapons.

Take care,
Bence

p.s.: I attach some links if you want to see more photos

http://www.stern.de/politik/ausland/574680.html?backref=%2Fpolitik%2Fausland%2F%3AJahrestag-Volksaufstands-Blutiges-Gedenken-Budapest%2F574682.html&nv=fs&cp=1

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6080188.stm

http://www.mno.hu/index.mno?cikk=379917&rvt=61

http://gondola.hu/cikkek/50935