Context: DoDo explains the whole mess here in the comments.
While the state News Agency informed us last night that tens of thousands of demonstrators were getting their throng on downtown, Nádas had the following to say on the shit 'n' fan combo currently being played out on the streets of Budapest:
- post-communist societies of eastern Europe are now experiencing the same thing [no govt. in Czech Republic for 4 months, the horrendous Kaczynski twins running Poland, the Fascist-smelling govt. in Slovakia]: the dynamic that accompanied and followed the 1989 regime changes has come to an end. Societies are deeply divided, and ungovernable
- There is no new idea, not one party can boast of having a new idea, and are leading their countries into the desert [I might add here that they have no choice, they are not allowed an alternative to free market economics and austerity plans]. The countries of Central Europe may have attained economic stability, but the majority of civilians do not know anything about civic responsibility/consciousness, or the responsibilities of the state. The state cannot solve this, so we are entering a new phase.
- Gyurcsány’s speech was a great speech. It was first-class rhetoric, using uncouth words, but everything was in order. He displayed his rhetorical abilities while trying to convince his party/comrades.
- Politics (in Hungary and by extension all post-communist socities) is based on privilege. It is a system based on either feudal or socialist forms of privilege. They divided everything up amongst themselves, believing that it was theirs. Something certainly must be done about the domestic deficit, but the whole state must be reformed, including the practice of corruption, and this is what Gyurcsány wants to change. Privilege must be dismantled, and morality of responsibility addressed.
- The country has not been plunged into a moral crisis: a country cannot experience a moral crisis, only individuals. In a democracy, everyone does their own thing, including lying, and takes responsibility for this. Lies will inevitably become public. Gyurcsány has done the same. But although the rules have been transgressed [the riots], there is no constitutional nor moral crisis, although I am sorry that only the police failed to do their job, which is to protect civilians. The heart of the matter is that the state does not work. If priests used similar language behind closed doors, we would say it is a private affair for Catholics. But a public institution was not defended by the police, nor the Soviet war memorial (which is the property of the Russian government).
- There are no guarantees. There is neither a legal nor a constitutional reason for Gyurcsány to go. The only demand for him to go comes from those massed crowds on the streets, and God preserve us from them.
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