by Rick Esbenshade

In a “letter to Hungarian farmers,” a candidate for the European Parliament launched her 2009 campaign—in a country reeling from the first and hardest blows of what would become a Europe-wide crisis—with a list of demands: for local ownership of land, preferences for local production, and “human-scale farms that sustain Hungarian families and preserve villages.” However, this was no Green or Socialist candidate, but one from an extreme right-wing party, called Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom, or “The Right Ones’ Movement for Hungary.” Despite never having held office of any kind before, she won her seat, and is now the sixth-most popular politician in the country.

While massive street demonstrations in Greece and Spain have shown the high level of popular resistance to austerity programs imposed as the ‘only viable solution’ by the European Central Bank and political leaders, no major West European party has reflected this opposition. In contrast, the current Hungarian right-wing government and the more extreme Jobbik, echoed by parties in Slovakia and Poland, have largely opposed the oppressive neoliberal demands of the EU. The idea of ‘right-wing’ political forces pushing ‘left-wing’ measures is something difficult to understand in the US and even West European political contexts, but makes sense in light of this region’s different history. In essence, Tea Party-type movements have come to oppose rather than endorse the program of the European economic elite.

Eastern Europeans ended forty years of Communist rule in 1989. Citizens, tired of material shortages and the lack of political choice and national independence, thrilled at the ‘return to Europe.’ They expected the ‘normal’ life, prosperity and democracy, which they envied in their West European counterparts. However, the realities of system change, power and wealth inequalities, domestically and in Europe as a whole, and the role available to the region in the post-Cold War ‘new world order’ quickly led to disappointment and discontent. Privatization of state-owned enterprises and public resources concentrated wealth in the hands of a politically connected few, many of them former Communist officials. Application of strict capitalist criteria resulted in massive layoffs and plant closings, while social benefits such as childcare, subsidized public transport and vacations, and guaranteed employment and health care were scaled back or eliminated. By the time Hungary and seven other former socialist countries were admitted to the European Union in 2004, most East Europeans had become skeptical or downright cynical about the benefits that European integration could offer them. The new members faced significantly lower standards of living than in any of the existing members, generally higher unemployment, deteriorating services, public insecurity, and political and ethnic conflicts at home and across borders. To rub in their clearly inferior status, the promised free movement of people across the Union was delayed for up to seven years, while the immediate free movement of capital allowed German, French and other companies to take over local ones and, often, shut down domestic production in order to take over market share. Political frustration, and even nostalgia for the Communist past—when citizens felt oppressed but at least everyone had a job, a place to live, safe streets, and reliable and free social services—became rampant.

Despite this nostalgia, the complete discrediting of socialism as a political alternative—by Right and Left parties alike—left no easy path for resistance to the neoliberal EU program. In Hungary and several other countries, it was nominally left-liberal governments—led by ‘Socialist’ parties formed from the remnants of the Communist ones—which actually pushed through the harsh restructuring and austerity programs of the 1990s, causing shutdowns of factories and hospitals, withdrawal of subsidies for basic necessities, and general economic pain. Thus the way was open for nationalist parties to, while preserving their rhetorical anti-communism, take on a critical stance towards the imposed demands of EU accession and international markets.

In Hungary, this role has been filled by the Alliance of Young Democrats-Hungarian Citizens’ Party (AYD-HCP), in power since May 2010. AYD-HCP formed in 1989 as a liberal youth party, but beginning in the mid-1990s moved steadily to the right, to the point where it now promotes a “Christian Hungary,” condones racism and even violence against the Roma (Gypsy) underclass, and vilifies political opponents (liberals) as communists and traitors to the nation. Though AYD-HCP gained barely more than 50% of the votes in the last election, electoral rules turned that into a two-thirds majority in Parliament. This dominance has allowed the new government to take full control of all aspects of the state and push through a new Constitution, which has been criticized by the opposition, the EU and independent media as anti-democratic and practically guaranteeing a hold on power for decades. At the same time, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has blocked further cuts to social programs and public employment (after those begun under the previous left-liberal government, and stepped up in response to the 2008 economic crisis), instituted a bank tax, and in general promoted Hungary’s interests against those of bankers and EU policy. Although he and his party’s motivations are more nuanced than just ‘defending the people against the power’—AYD-HCP is itself allied with certain big economic interests—their rhetorical and to some extent actual stance has proven to pay dramatic political benefits.

In addition, the aforementioned Jobbik surged into Parliament as the third-largest party, barely behind the Socialists who formed the previous government (and are the only notable opposition to the right-wing dominance). The Jobbik are known for their demands for the ‘lost’ Hungarian territory, allocated to neighboring countries in the post-World War I settlement; overt racism and violence against Roma, gays and foreigners; and an associated paramilitary arm that carries out street demonstrations in uniform and employing insignia and a salute reminiscent of the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian fascist movement of the 1930s and ‘40s. Yet they are the only parliamentary party calling outright for withdrawal from the European Union, are harshly critical of the international financial system, and strongly defend (at least rhetorically) the living standards of ordinary Hungarians.

European fascism in the interwar period was famously a mix of authoritarian, repressive politics and the promotion of the welfare of the nation and the ordinary citizen (thus National Socialism). The current Hungarian government, with its attacks on the independent media, political opposition and minorities, feels more and more like a Mussolini-type fascist regime. Its heavy-handed tactics have already alienated many Hungarians from all classes; but the significant support it does retain stems in large part from the fact that, in contrast to the previous government’s unfailing appeals to orthodox Western liberal ideas of the unfettered free market, it does seem willing to stand up to the European and global order and defend ordinary Hungarians in this time of austerity and the dismantling of the welfare state, as demanded of Greece, Italy and other EU ‘crisis cases’. The political situation in Hungary, and other former socialist Eastern European countries, offers no easy choices for an American leftist. But it is a window on contradictory and uncomfortable trends—the convergence of social conservatism with economic nationalism, of intolerance at home with resistance to the neoliberal order—that are also present in our own convoluted political landscape, and are intensifying across the globe as the crisis deepens.

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This is to inform my people about the way they play at the County

Courthouse.  They lock us up, charge us, and indict us on outrageous and unrelated charges just to trick us into “coppin’ a plea.” Everybody plays a role: the arresting officer, the state, the judge, the court appointed attorney as well as a paid attorney. We have to come together just like them. First and foremost, they try to fool us by telling us to ‘waive our preliminary hearing.’ The State has to present evidence and police reports to a selected grand jury that decides whether the claims against you are enough to go forward with your case. This is the first step in the process to get us to waiving our rights, which can be very detrimental in the appeal process if in fact, you lose the case and want to appeal. Never ever waive your rights. Always exercise them no matter the circumstances.

The next step is to always ask for a speedy trial by jury. Never take a trial by judge because remember, they’re always working together.

The reason you ask for a ‘speedy trial’ is because they are counting on most everyone to take a plea and the courts are so backed up, they would not have time to collect, process and examine all evidence in all the cases, let alone contact and prep all witnesses. However, you don’t need to wait on them to act like they are going to take you to trial when they aren’t.  All they want is a copout/plea. So everything else is most likely a bluff. Their assumption is that everyone charged IS guilty and you won’t go to trial unless you can totally prove your innocence.

Now if you are guilty as charged, you may want to take a plea.

There have been cases where you have a person dead to the wrong and the State didn’t care about the victim or the victims’ families; all they want the defendant to do is cop a plea or become an informant for the State.

People can be guilty of heinous crimes and the State will choose to give that individual a 6-year copout plea, which is good for the accused, but not for the victim or the victim’s family. No justice either way is coming out of the “plea factory” of the County Courthouse.

On October 13, 2011, UC-IMC co-founder Danielle Chynoweth was presented with the Woman of the Year Award at an event organized by the News-Gazette. To a packed room of more than 300 people, she gave the speech that appears below.

Thank you.  I feel honored to be named Woman of the Year in our community. When I came here after college, I fell in love with the trees that touch over the streets, the quiet busy-ness of our town where there is encouragement to think and create. This place opened itself as a playground for my imagination. In my first year here, I got the chance to conduct a lesbian feminist chorus singing Bulgarian tunes, produce radio theater on WEFT, and get my first job as a web designer by hauling a portfolio of paintings into the Beckman Institute.

No matter what adventure I am on – building radio stations in Kenya, teaching media in Burma, reporting on freedom of expression issues in Thailand – I am always so happy to return here. I still don’t think any of us have been able to articulate the recipe for the special sauce of this town – and so, it remains our hidden secret.

The News-Gazette asked me what I attribute my success to and, after some thought, I said the ability to see what isn’t there yet. By that I mean seeing the invisible as well as the possible. This is what is common to my work in media, art, and policy.

To see what isn’t there – what doesn’t yet have an existence in the public consciousness – I/you/we have to go to where the silences are.

One way I approach this is to cultivate a sense of myself as simply a person, who is no more or less than anyone else, who can talk to anyone about anything, and who commits to working with those affected by problems to solve them.

So when my elderly co-worker told me she was facing homelessness because her trailer park was being demolished to make room for an apartment complex, I knocked on doors in her neighborhood and listened people to tell their story. We organized Friends of Lincoln Mobile Home Park, making the problem visible to the community as a whole, and successfully advocated for relocation assistance for hundreds of residents who were losing their homes.

When I was invited to run for city council, as a young outsider up against the old guard, I knocked on 600 doors in my neighborhood, holding conversations about what we want for our city – some of the conversations running for hours into the evening. This was one of the most pleasurable times of my life, when I got to experience the intelligent curiosity of my neighbors. Out of this I saw a series of possibilities – a public arts program, public broadband, civilian oversight of the police, bike paths – all of which we did – as well as things we could still do – set a zero waste goal for the city, develop a grassroots, participatory budget process, help those marked with felony convictions grow their own micro-enterprises.

I was one citizen going to where the silences are and advocating for new possibilities, but I wondered how to develop an infrastructure that would enable many people to do the same.

So a group of twelve gathered in my living room 11 years ago to conceive of an independent media center that would provide the tools and training to surface many unheard voices in our community – to provide a forum to talk about problems and seek solutions together.

A few years into our project, we looked at a nearly empty post office building in downtown Urbana and saw a community media and arts center. We wanted to use the power of creativity to bring white, black and brown together, and provide fertile soil for ordinary people to plant their audacious projects.

Our decentralized structure and Do It Yourself ethos has allowed the IMC to grow to over 1200 volunteers – with a Books to Prisoner program that has shipped over 60,000 free books to inmates, a bike project that has recycled over 1500 bikes into the community, a performance venue and gallery, radio station, newspaper, artist in residence program, and non-profit incubation supporting 59 local and international projects. Out of one vision grew a structure to grow many visions.

I want to live in a community that seeks to reveal, rather than hide, poverty and discrimination, to surface it, to see it, to bring everyone into the conversation, to talk about how it affects every one of us, to seek its roots, to try out solutions, to reflect together, to change our minds, to try again. I want a community that is honest about its history, able to truly see the situation of all of its residents in the present, and has the courage to take on seemingly unsolvable problems towards a shared future.

Can we envision a Champaign-Urbana without a single homeless child? We have at least 163 homeless children amongst us – which would fill about half of this room.

How many years shall we plan to overcome the deep inequalities by race? 2, 5, 10, 20? Can we set our sights on this and chart a course for how to get there?

We do not have to accept unacceptable problems simply because we inherited them.
Local communities, like ours, can be sandboxes where we can learn how to make democracy, where people participate in the decisions that affect their lives, with outcomes that are tangible and motivate them to continue to participate and grow as humans.

I want to end with a poem I wrote about the ability to see what isn’t there yet and locate new possibilities that I wrote one month before I conceived my son, Ezra Shine Chynoweth, last year.

Conception
Thursday, June 10, 2010

Make a decision,
and the consequences
will curl at your feet
like clipped locks of hair,
signaling the effort
towards change.

Words make the world,
so choose them.

Each day,
people turn to me
to make decisions,

to conjure a future
out of the phantom present,

to face impossibility
with confident assertion,

and to make something
through my angry, impatient
longing for it.

Once it is there,
it has always been.

People gather into it
like a boat,

press their paddles
against history,
and push off this
ground -–
traveling to another
place in time.

…

Can a soul be made by wanting it?

This is, perhaps,
how all things, and beings,
are made.

I will seek
at every moment
to make a world
new and
exciting
for all of us.