[E-rundbrief] Info 978 - Media and social rights in Hungary

[Matthias Reichl]

E-Rundbrief - Info 978 - Press freedom? – an open letter. For free 
media and social rights in Hungary - signed by 23 organisations and 
more than 50 individuals from Hungary.

Bad Ischl, 19.1.2011

Begegnungszentrum für aktive Gewaltlosigkeit

www.begegnungszentrum.at

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Press freedom? – an open letter

Many people do not understand the levels of apathy shown by Hungarian
society towards the media law and the restrictions on freedom of
speech. When finally a mass demonstration was recently held, in a
low-key and rather depressing night in Kossuth Square, it failed to
draw in the many thousands expected. To say there should have been
more people may be true, but this may not be the most important question.

In reality, the organisers of the protest have been campaigning on an
'ideology-free' platform,  failing to appreciate that depriving people
of political rights is only the tip of the iceberg in a climate of
falling living standards.

It appears that, in maintaining the myths surrounding the construction
of the current system in Hungary, these protesters, who are mostly
intellectuals, have not learned anything from the experiences of the
last twenty years. They have failed to understand that press freedom
does not exist atypically, distinct from cultural and political
realities, rather, that the emergence of the media laws reflect a
transformation of the system itself, and the overall impoverishment of
society. The media laws exist to consolidate the current authoritarian
regime in which we live. The decline in formal political rights is
being 'justified' by talk of the right to work and the right to free
health care – in short, social rights. In these areas, though, the
right-wing surgeons are deploying left-wing demagogy. From February,
people on low wages, pensioners and those receiving state benefits
will receive less. While this will  be a bitter awakening for society,
for the 'democratic' intelligentsia, it will be too late.

Those who dare not criticise the entire political and economic system,
but only appear to publicly reject what are for them the most
important laws, should not expect solidarity from those who are
socially and economically excluded or culturally humiliated, if these
critics are themselves not willing to assume solidarity with the
millions of oppressed in this society.

Of course, the restoration of civil freedom of the press would be
welcome, but the system based on internal instability and democratic
deficits would persist. If, under Western pressure, Orbán surrenders
his media law, there still remains a system maintained by social
anomalies.

Even in a democratic political order, the disincentives to participate
remain, in an era when there is no real left-wing mass movements. In
Hungary we do have a social self-protection movement, seeking to gain
sovereignty  over capital, replacing economic exploitation and profit
maximization with a system based on community ownership.

If we want a successful resistance movement to protect the freedom of
the press, then at the same time we must also protect social rights.
This is the only guarantee that a truly democratic mass movement can
be created, that prevents the creation of an inexorable authoritarian
system which threatens to shape  the entire region.

This open letter is signed by 23 civil organisations and more than 50
individuals, including Ákos Kertész writer, Tamás Krausz historian,
Péter Róna economist, Gáspár Miklós Tamás philosopher.

Signatories:

Civil Organisations:

Állástalan Diplomások Országos Bizottsága (National Committee of
Jobless Graduates), ATTAC Magyarország (ATTAC Hungary), Balegyenes
Rádió (Radio Straight Left), Baloldali Alternatíva Egyesülés (Left
Alternative Association), Budai Munkáskör Workers’ Circle of Buda),
Civil Parlament Szövetség (Civil Parliament Alliance), Eszmélet Baráti
Kör (Friends of the Quarterly Consciousness), Eszmélet folyóirat
szerkesztősége (Editorial Board of the Quarterly Consciousness),
Európai Feminista Kezdeményezés egy másmilyen Európáért (European
Feminist Initiative for a Different Europe), Ferencvárosi Munkás
Szabadidős Egylet (Workers’ Free Time Association of Ferencvaros),
Gondolkodjunk Együtt internetes folyóirat szerkesztősége (Editorial
Board of the Internet Journal „Let’s Think Together”), Kékforrás
Egyesület (Blue Spring Association), Magyar Antifasiszta Liga
(Hungarian Antifascist League), Magyar Egyesült Baloldal (Hungarian
United Left), Magyar Vad- és Élőhelyvédelmi Egyesület (Association for
Fauna and Game-preserving), Marx Károly Társaság (Karl Marx Society),
Munkanélküliek és Álláskeresők Budapesti és Regionális Egyesülete
(Budapest and Regional Association of Unemployed and Jobseekers), Népi
Egység Mozgalom (Movement for Popular Unity), Szociális
Fórummozgalmakért Alapítvány (Foundation for the Hungarian Social
Forum Movements), Társadalmi Forradalom internetes újság (Internet
Journal of Social Revolution), Transform! folyóirat klubja (Club of
the Periodical Transform!) , Világszabadság internetes folyóirat
(Editorial Board of Internet Journal of Universal Freedom) , Zöld
Baloldal (Green Left)

Individuals:

Klára Anyiszonyan chemical engineer, Annamária Artner economist,
Ferenc Baki accountant, István Bakos enterprneur sanitary engineer,
Róbert Balázsi unemployed graduate, Gábor Barabás lawyer, Bárdos Gábor
mathematician, Mátyás Benyik economist, Sándor Berki
economist-sociologist, Anna Besenyei social worker, Ferenc Bócz
retired teacher, Péter Farkas economist, György Fekete mental teacher,
Tibor Fogler IT expert, Ilona Gál retired, Károly György, Zsigmond
Harmat college professor, Károly Herczeg ex village guards unemployed,
Magda Horák retired, Mihály Horváth mine technician, Imre Juhász
disabled retired, doorman, János Kálmán retired, Ákos Kertész writer,
István Kerti worker, Lajos Kodela retired, Gábor Koós public servant,
Tamás Krausz historian, István Kriston lawyer, Győző Lugosi historian,
Iván Magyari retired teacher, Attila László Majoros economist, Gyula
Mészáros IT expert, István Mészáros philosopher, Professor Emeritus of
Philosophy University of Sussex, Brighton, England, Éva Katalin Nagy
editor, Gábor Németh, Krisztina Noé special education teacher, Lajos
Frigyes Palotai student of social work, Erika Papp unemployed, Tamás
Raska student, Péter Róna economist, Senior Research Fellow, Oxford
University, England, Ervin Rozsnyai philosopher, Sándor István Ruttkai
retired, András Simor poet, translator, József Sipos historian, Judit
Somi worker activist, Susan Zimmermann historian, Universität Wien,
Austria, professor CEU, Éva Szabóné Farók merchant, Gábor Szász
engineer, Péter Szigeti law philosopher, politologist, Gáspár Miklós
Tamás philosopher, Teréz Terbe translator, Attila Vajnai electrical
engineer-economis

(Delivered by Mátyás Benyik, Budapest, 19.1.2011)


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Matthias Reichl, Pressesprecher/ press speaker,
Begegnungszentrum fuer aktive Gewaltlosigkeit
Center for Encounter and active Non-Violence
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