-Caveat Lector- > This made my eyeballs moisten a bit, especially when I recall a faint > childhood memory (I was 4) of watching TV news and seeing Soviet tanks > rolling through Hungary... > > Regards, > Olga > > HONOR THE MEMORY > Hungary: October 22, 1956 > By Bela Liptak > > There must have been a couple of thousand students in the aula that day, > > but > none of us were really paying much attention to what was going on. One > could hear a constant murmur in the hall. It was like any other meeting > in > the communist world. They talked at us and our only defense was not to > listen. > Below our gallery, on the main floor of the aula, the two Rectors of the > > dual university, László Gillemot and Tibor Cholnoky were at the > microphone. > With them were some professors, the Communist Party Secretary, lesser > Party > officials, and the leaders of the Communist Youth Organization, the > DISZ. > It was the DISZ that convened the meeting. In their uniform of blue > jackets, white shirts, and red neckties, the leaders of DISZ appeared > like > a > special breed of penguins or booby birds. They called the meeting to > preempt the spread of MEFESZ3, the new, non-communist student > association. > MEFESZ had just been formed in Szeged and possibly because of that, > suddenly > the DISZ seemed to care a lot about us. They talked about special train > > passes for students, cheaper textbooks, better food and housing. They > did > all the talking; we did not speak up. We never did. It was their > show, > so > they could do all the talking. > And talk they did. I was scraping the rust off my "gold" ring, which > cost > me thirty-six forints and must have had some copper in its heritage, > because > it was turning green. I was spitting, rubbing, and was just beginning > to > make some progress when I felt Attila's elbow in my side. He was > pointing > down to the speakers' platform, where there was some commotion. The > murmur > in the aula stopped. There was total silence. In startled curiosity the > > dozing students were waking up, sitting up and starting to pay > attention. > You could hear a pin drop. Then, from the middle of the tumult at the > microphone, a voice rose: "I represent the MEFESZ of Szeged! I want to > speak!" > It was unprecedented! Extraordinary! The air was thick with tension. > We > didn't know who spoke, didn't understand what was happen-ing. All we > could > see was that the DISZ-penguins were shoving a small fellow away from the > > microphone. He was a student, like us, and he was talking, > gesticulating, > but we heard nothing as the blue-jacketed DISZ people had pushed him all > > the > way to the wall. > Then the Party Secretary, Mrs. Orbán, admonished us, "You have only one > duty! Your duty is to study!" She was almost screaming. "You don't > want > the MEFESZ of Szeged! You don't want any ideas from Szeged!" I could > not > imagine why Szeged was suddenly such a bad place. I didn't particularly > > care what she was saying but was hypnotized by this mini-hero, this > crazy > little guy from Szeged. > I don't understand him. I don't understand what he wants. Is he out of > > his > mind? Does he not know that he will be kicked out of the university? > Not > only that! He will also be thrown in jail, that is, right after they > beat > the shit out of him!? Does he not understand that we are nobodies, that > > our > collective name is "Shut Up?" Does he not under-stand that he is > nothing, > that I am nothing, that we have no say in anything? Does he not > understand > that the microphone is only for the Party collaborators and nobody, but > nobody else talks into it? Does he not know that even the penguins dare > > only to read their prepared statements? And even then they don't dare > to > just speak but they wait until they are told that it is their turn. > Attila muttered my own thoughts, when he said: "I just don't get it!" > Then > we saw the members of the military department, the only people who > possessed > arms at the university, marching onto the speaker's platform and we got > very > quiet. You could have cut the tension with a knife. My throat was dry, > my > breath bated. All eyes were on the officers. Then suddenly, from a > distance, we heard a voice. It was that of a fifth-year architecture > student, a blond, very tall young man by the name of Jancsi Danner, he > yelled: "Let him speak!" > My heart stopped. Nothing like this had ever happened since the Red > Army > had occupied Hungary. I stared at Jancsi. His ears were red, his mouth > > was > trembling, but he did not blink, he faced the bewildered and frightened > stares of two thousand students. > "God, he has lost his marbles!" I said. > In the meantime, a new and angry sort of murmur building, it was > replacing > the previously astonished silence and now, a few rows in front of us, > Laci > Zsindely, a classmate of mine, hesitantly started to clap. It was then > that > the miracle occurred! > First one, then two, then four or five students joined in and suddenly > this > sparse clapping turned into a hurricane, a burst of thunderous applause, > > the > likes of which I had never heard. And Attila, clapping like a madman, > shouted to me, "Applaud or I will never speak to you again!" > I had never seen anything like it. As some of the students rose in the > ovation, the Party officials around the microphone became nervous, > surprised, angry--and just a bit uncertain. I had never seen them > uncertain. That was something new. My flesh was creeping and I was > clapping as though I were out of my mind. And yet that mind was racing. > Is > this possible? Can we actually have a say in this? Can we contradict > them > like this, directly to their faces? Is it possible that I matter, that > what > I think matters? Is it possible that I don't have to hold my tongue all > > the > time? Is it possible that I am not alone? > It was now total chaos. The Party Secretary ran to the telephone. The > rest > of his penguins were white as sheets. The hands of the officers of the > military department had moved to the guns on their belts as the chief of > > DISZ screamed into the microphone. And then, through all the > pandemonium > and over the thunderous applause we heard his voice once more, "I > represent > the MEFESZ of Szeged! Allow me to speak!" > Now I really felt hypnotized. I stood and began walking towards that > voice > and saw Attila doing the same thing. From other directions, another > twenty, > then thirty students were also starting to move toward the voice. It > was > all completely spontaneous. We walked without knowing who was walking > with > us; we were drawn toward the speaker's stand, toward the angry but > scared > penguins, which had encircled the boy from MEFESZ. The circle thinned, > as > we got closer and started pushing the whole group toward the > microphone. I > saw my hand rise, reaching for one of the fat penguins. And I saw my > wristwatch indicating that it was 3:40 PM. "My God, the movie!" - > flashed > through my mind. But then I saw the microphone. Five more meters and > we > would have it! I pushed with all my might, the DISZ resistance > faltered, > saw Jancsi Danner grab the microphone and proclaim, "I ask the > representative of the students of Szeged to speak!" > There was a deafening ovation that took quite a while to taper off until > it > changed to total silence. And I saw the six-foot-four Jancsi Danner > reaching down to his waist to give the microphone to the diminutive > delegate > from Szeged. I just stood in the protective ring around him and my eyes > > filled with tears as he started in a strong voice: "Fellow students! > Hungarians!" > I saw the flash of cameras. I saw strangers rushing into the aula as > floodlights started to glare and film cameras begun to buzz. The little > fellow from Szeged was oblivious to it all, as he started to speak: > "Once again, the wind of freedom is blowing in from Poland. The Polish > exchange students at our university are asking for our support. Russian > > troops are surrounding Warsaw, but the Polish Army is also encircling > the > Russians. The city of Poznan is also free, but surround-ed. Poland is > showing the way and is asking for our solidarity. We will not let them > down! We, the students of Szeged, have decided to follow the Poles in > establishing our independent student organization, the MEFESZ. Please > join > us. Please do not believe the lies. Please form your own MEFESZ!" > At that point he seemed to get confused. His voice faltered. And then, > > haltingly, without a tune, he started the words to the song forbidden > and > most hated by the communists: our National Anthem. This anthem had not > been > heard in public for nearly a decade; one could only sing it in church, > after > the mass. This anthem that stood for God, country and liberty, the > things > that the communists most despised. The anthem we Hungarians call our > national prayer and only sing while standing at attention. > As we sang our hearts out, the great chandelier of the aula trembled and > > the > windows shook. We were all weeping as we finished. And while we were > singing, a miracle had occurred in that great hall. We were not the > same > people we were a few minutes earlier! We, these tearful kids who were > still > standing to attention, we have been reborn. We had stopped being > scared. > And therefore we were free! > > > > -- Kathleen Executive Orders = "magnum crapus" just begging for widespread civil disobedience. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
