I left
Hungary, my native country, 60 years ago. I left because we lost the Revolution
of 1956, in which I believed and participated. We lost against our enemy, the evil
empire of the Soviet Union, an overwhelming superpower at that time. We lost,
because the West, and in particular the USA, did not support us, maybe avoiding
wisely a Third World War. In any case, whatever the post-mortem analysis may
find, we lost, I left as a refugee, and became an American. But I still retain
strong feelings and identify with Hungary and profess pan-EU views.
This spring in
Budapest I encountered a growing public sentiment that believes that in fact we
did not lose it, but somehow we were responsible for the collapse of the Soviet
Union. It was not the West led by the USA that won the Cold War, but we
Hungarians did so by our brave act in 1956 by showing to the rest of the world
our strength, our greatness, our willingness to stand up against the evil
Soviet empire. This is now being advocated by a younger generation that was not
of age to be part of the Revolution, nor learned much about in school or at
home. Schools obviously did not teach about it prior to the collapse of the
Soviet Union and Hungarian parents for sensible survival reasons taught nothing
about the 1956 Revolution to their offspring. During the Kadar period that
followed immediately after the merciless oppression of our uprising, a new
slogan was introduced: “who is not against us, is with us”. This was in
contrast to an earlier Stalinist era slogan of “who is not with us, is against
us”. Thus not speaking about the Revolution allowed people to get on with their
lives without getting into conflict with the ruling political system. - - But
now of course history can be reinvented or imagined in new ways.
I also heard
in Budapest much Eurosceptcism and anti-migrant fear-mongering. I heard
lectures about the fundamental values that define the Christian European
nation-states inhabited by white people following common beliefs, possessing common
illiberal values, living in and practicing a homogeneous culture.
In Budapest
I also was told by some that the massive migration headed towards Europe is
motivated, de facto irganized, by the USA and president Obama is actively
involved carrying out the instructions issued by the multi-billionaire
financier George Soros. This is done, it was claimed, because it is in the
interest of US financial powers to weaken and ultimately destroy Europe through
the mass immigration of Asians and Africans, some of who are terrorists. - -
There is in Hungary a certain culture of “victimization”, whereby some view
their perfect and innocent country as the victim of nefarious foreign acts and
plots. However, this takes a xenophobic national paranoia to a new level.
Unfortunately, I also detected a growing anti-American sentiment. When I asked
why, some denied it, saying that there are always fringe groups with strange
ideas. Others acknowledged it and claimed that most ills in the world nowadays,
from the Great Recession to the Syrian war and the rise of Islam terrorism,
were caused by the USA.
Today the
news in America are all about the horrendous mass murder that took place
yesterday in Florida in a gay night club and left a hundred people hurt, half
dead, half shot and hospitalized. The perpetrator was an American son of Afghan
immigrants. The motivation appeared to be a strong anti-LGBT sentiment, though
the perpetrator may have been a highly conflicted gay Muslim. - - But then I
read a quote from Eric Garsetti, the mayor of Los Angeles (cited in an Op-Ed
article by Frank Bruni, “The Scope of the Orlando Carnage”, The New York Times,
Monday, June 13, 2016, p. A19): “Today we know that we are targeted as
Americans, because this is a society where we love broadly and openly, because
we have Jews and Christians and Muslims and atheists and Buddhists marching together,
because we are white, black, brown, Asian, Native American. The whole spectrum
and every hue and every culture is here.”
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