October 23rd marks the 50th anniversary of the start of the Hungarian revolt against Soviet repression in 1956. This has particular resonance with me, as I've actually been to Budapest (in 2000) and felt and saw the long term ripple effect of this event. One cannot avoid it in Budapest, particularly on the Pest side of the Danube River. Building walls still bear the pock-marks of exploded artillary damage, as well as bullet holes from the fire-fights between Hungarian freedom-fighters* and the repressive Soviet Red Army sent there to crush them. It was a haunting city in that it was only emerging, even in 2000, from forty-five plus years of Soviet repression. This pictoral history tells the story of the Hungarian revolt of 1956.
*Just to clarify: one man's terrorist is not another man's freedom fighter. It's hard to say you're a freedom fighter when your ultimate goal is absolute power over the masses. Ergo, people like Che Guevara and/or Yassir Arafat were not "freedom fighters". They didn't fight for freedom; they fought for repression, power, and the ability to exploit the masses, not to give them a democratic, free life.
No comments:
Post a Comment