Janet Haven

You just can't beat CNN broadcasting burning cars and angry rioters down the street from your flat if you want old friends to get in touch. Thanks, everyone, for writing and calling. Fortunately, there's nothing particularly to report. The truth is, Speak Truth to Power '06 in Budapest was apparently about 150 ultrarightwing nationalists who took the opportunity to disrupt a legitimate and peaceful citizens' demonstration in front of the Parliament building. Yes, people here are really, really mad to hear Prime Minister Gyurcsany remind his party activists that they've been lying through their teeth (''morning, noon, and night"!) to get re-elected. What perhaps did not come across in the international media, however, is that no one is particularly surprised to hear that. It's just that you're not supposed to say it out loud, duh. My impression from talking to Hungarian friends is that people are more offended by Gyurcsany's language: not that saying "fucking" in Magyar is a particularly big deal (Hungarians are famously colorful in their cursing), but the point is that Gyurcsany used the word not in conjunction with his opponents or the bad EU or whatever, but about Szép Magyarország (Beautiful Hungary) itself. Hence, I'm assuming, the psychotic reaction of the ultranationalists. For a little background, thse are the guys who are still seriously plotting how they're going to get back Transylvania (owned by Romania since the Treaty of Trianon, 1920), as well as formerly Austro-Hungarian slices of Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia, Croatia, and Ukraine. The movement, known as "Greater Hungary", breaks bread with the anti-Semites, the anti-Roma, the anti-foreigners, and the skinheads. Nice.

So yes, it was a surprise to see the Hungarian police in riot gear a couple of blocks from Chez Haven-D'Amato, but it all seems to have calmed down quickly, and we're fine. Hungary, on the other hand, is feeling a little bruised, and it will be worth following the story in the coming weeks to see how the government faces up to the fact that they've just announced their own untrustworthyness while facing an economic meltdown which is going to require voter backing to solve. And apart from the rioters who stole the media limelight, they've also got a lot of legitimately angry Hungarians concerned about what seems like an increasingly unstable future. So cross your fingers for us, but for different reasons than you might have thought.