Magyar Baráti Közösség

Történelmünk  :: Legacy of 1956 and the diaspora ::

(1968 olvasás)     

Ludányi András dr beszéde az okt. 23-ra megemlékező vacsorán, 2002. nov. elsején. Angolul.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends, Oregonians, fellow American-Hungarians and Hungarian-Americans, members of the global diaspora. Thank you for inviting me to be part of your commemoration of the 1956 Hungarian Freedom Fight. As I reflected in my last 1998 visit with you, 1956 was the high point, while Trianon in 1920 was the low point, but together they were the defining events of 20th century Hungary. On the threshold of the 21st century what can we distill from the 1956 experience to provide us sustenance for our road into the future?

With war clouds hanging over the Middle East, with the long shadow cast by 9/11 over all of us, is there a special concern that should be the compass of our existence? I think there should be such! I believe that 1956 can be this guide.

Every people evolves its self-definition from its formative historical experiences. We know this is the case for Americans as well as Hungarians. Who could imagine American history and Americanness without understanding the causes and consequences of the English, Spanish, French, and even Russian colonial legacy in North America, or the Revolutionary War, the impact of the frontier experience, the trauma of the Civil War, the legacy of constant and continuous immigration, and both the domestic inter-ethnic and the international great power challenges of the 20th century. Surely no one! A people is product of its past.

But a people will be a product of its aspirations. So it is with Hungarians, and doubly so for Hungarian-Americans and American-Hungarians. But history does not form and mold us in a deterministic Marxian sense. We too are active agents of history. We help form the history of our peoples, we help set the stage and then perform on that stage in response to the challenges that arise within our lifetimes. In other words, we are not mere driftwood on the waves of a tumultuous sea, we are a conscious, organized, and determined cluster of humanity with collective ideals and dreams which help us to plan and organize, which enable us to become active agents of history. BUT WE MUST WILL IT!

1956 was the shining flame that first shot-up into the dismal gray sky of the Soviet world. There were some glimmers before October 23rd 1956, but these were merely sparks and embers of discontent. 1956 was a full scaled rebellion –a full scaled eruption of the Mt. Etna or Mt. St. Helens variety—against the oppression and injustice that had been imposed on the region by Yalta and Potsdam: Which included the Red Armies occupation! The one-party dictatorships of the Muscovites, the imposition of AVH state terrorism, the deportation of millions into the Gulags of the Soviet state, and the expulsion of thousands because the neighboring states used the momentary chaos to thin the ranks of Hungarian and other minorities, and finally the oppression of kulaks and other enemies of the “new order” through incarceration, torture and death.

Why were the Hungarians of 1956 the first ones to rally against this absurd and cruel nightmare imposed by Stalin’s Soviet Russia?? Because—they possessed a legacy that goes back to the struggles of Eger, Drégely, and Szigetvár,…because they carried in their hearts the spirit of Rákóczi Ferenc, Bethlen Gábor and Bocskay István. Because they honored the memory of 1848-49 and followed the inspiring examples of PetŒfi, Kossuth, Bem and Görgey. For them the fight for freedom was visceral, it was a national gut reaction!

The result of this fight for freedom, however, was to have long-term consequences for Americans, Hungarians, Russians and other peoples as well. It had global reverberations. For the Soviets it began the long slide toward political disintegration, finalized in 1989-91. For Americans it ended the verbal posturing of rolling back the Iron Curtain and convincing both Democrats and Republicans that the more cautious policy of containment would define the American global footprint to the end of the 1980’s. For the British, the French and the Israelis, it provided the distraction which would enable them to attack Egypt in the Suez War, in their tawdry effort to sustain Western colonialism and consolidate the Jewish state in the face of rising Arab nationalism under the leadership of Gamal Abdul Nasser. Finally, for the Hungarians it led to military defeat, the execution and imprisonment of their revolutionary leaders and the re-establishment of their satellite status. However, it also led to a massive flow of refugees out of the country through Austria and Yugoslavia. This produced the third wave of Hungarian emigration in the 20th century. It also became the defining moment for Hungarians throughout the world, and consolidated a new sense of national solidarity on a global basis.

Out of the trauma and the glory of 1956 was born the diaspora consciousness that currently still acts as a bond between us whether we live in Portland Oregon, Ada Ohio, Sydney Australia, or Budapest Hungary. The retention of this consciousness combined with our dispersal particularly in the United States, gives us the opportunity to influence the course of events better than we could if we lived anywhere else. However, it demands a steadfast commitment on our part to continue the struggle for human rights and national self-determination for all who are oppressed in the world — and there are many. Every 6th person in the world lives in minority status, many or most as oppressed minorities.

This means first and foremost a commitment to lobby and intercede for those who fight oppression. Whoever the oppressors are, they must be opposed: Whether the Russian oppressors of the Chechens, the Chinese oppressors of the Tibetans, the Serb oppressors of Hungarians, or the Israeli oppressors of Palestinians. OPPRESSION IS OPPRESSION! We must be able to press for a recognition of distinctions by our government in Washington, DC, even in the midst of the frenzy of fighting terrorism. Our government cannot become the source of the problem; it must become the solution.

The shadow cast over us by recent events is disconcerting and disorienting. It can be so confusing that it has a debilitating effect on our actions and makes otherwise rational individuals behave irrationally. But that is of course the objective of terrorism. It is an old tactic but with new methods, resorted to by the weak, to draw attention to their suffering, through the horror and the panic created in society by their actions. As Cindy Combs points out in “Terrorism at the Beginning of the 21st Century”, terrorism’s objective is to publicize a cause through an outrageous act that draws attention to it and crates an atmosphere of intense fear. It is always carried out in front of an audience, and the victims are frequently innocent people who are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Others, however, are specifically targeted because they wear uniforms or are employed by the establishment of the official power structure. Still—the audience is the one that is terrorized, via the publicity of the act—through the extensive coverage provided by the mass media. The impact has a great “2x4” effect, but it also leads to a negative reaction against the cause of the terrorists. Just take as a case study the recent Chechen theatre hostage taking in Moscow. Those who know the history of the conflict and have followed developments in Chechnya for the past ten years,…know that the Chechens have a just cause. Like the Hungarians in 1956, they are struggling for the re-establishment of their independence.

Their resorting to terrorism must be condemned, but not their quest for national independence. When Vladimir Putin says we had no choice, we had only two alternatives,…he is lying through his teeth. The third alternative would have been to negotiate, and to begin the withdrawal of Russian troops from Chechnya, the termination of a bloody and military escapade that still has no end in sight. Our own government’s feeble and shameful response—almost apologetic posture for the Russian’s action is something that we should not tolerate. We should be in the forefront of those who do not let the war on terrorism become a pretext for stifling the just national independence struggles of the Chechens or of any other peoples. The legacy of 1956 demands this of us.

Our leaders need to learn that of the 6 billion inhabitants of the world, one billion is composed of peoples like the Hungarians of Transylvania and Vojvodina, the Chechens of the Caucasus, Palestinians or Kurds of the Middle East, or the Indios of Chiapas, Mexico. Their commitment to a better life, to self-determination, to the end of persecution, abuse, humiliation, ethnic cleansing and systematic oppression, cannot be stopped simply by calling them terrorists. Their needs must be addressed and then you will have a better and a safer world. Fighting “terrorism” as a pretext for continuing a world of oppression is only going to lead to the creation of more terrorists,…like the sorcerer’s apprentice according to Walt Disney’s rendition. We must have the courage of 1956 to oppose a course of using force to perpetuate force.

After 9/11 it has become evident that a whole year has been squandered in fighting the symptoms of terrorism, rather than addressing its root causes. And the latter must be understood and confronted. We as a people can contribute, by helping to identify these root causes and getting our government to recognize them also. We cannot, we must not fail, the destiny of too many is tied to our success!

Andrew Ludanyi
Ada, Ohio