The first time I went to Budapest was in 1987. Things were a lot different then. I was only eight years old but I remember some parts of this trip vividly.
I remember the strict border control that took forever and ever, the crowds standing around staring at our car each time we parked it and the inefficiency among the hotel staff that symbolises a communist country.
Coming back to Budapest in 2007, I could see things had changed a lot and that the country had grown into a full-fledged democracy. It felt very uplifting seeing the Hungarian democracy with my own eyes.
The reason I went to Budapest this time was to co-organize the IFLRY study session: "Respect religious diversity: Fighting Islamophobia". For a week we held discussions, listened to lectures and presentations on Islamophobia. At the end of the week, the participants were asked to create campaign material on the topic for the seminar for the member organizations to use in their respective countries and for IFLRY’s online campaign. I was very impressed by the products that were produced.
During the week we also visited the parliament were we met with Dr. Janos Koka, President of SZDSZ (Alliance of Free Democrats - Hungary), minister of Economy and Transportation and Dr. Matyas Eorsi – the president of SZDSZ Group in the Hungarian Parliament, also the president of the liberal group of the CoE Parliamentary Assembly.
New Generation is the youth wing of SZDSZ and in 1987, when I first visited Budapest, SZDSZ was active in opposition to the communist regime. At the beginning of the 1980’s members of the organization were harassed and beaten up by the police according to Daniel Kaderjak, International Officer New Generation. At the end of the 1980’s they were a part of round table talks regarding a peaceful transition to democracy and now in 2007 one of its member is a minister.
Another member who was active in the opposition during the 1980’s is now the mayor of Budapest. New Generation and post-totalitarian Hungary should give us hope for the future of opposition movements in totalitarian states such as Belarus and Cuba.
/ Daniel W