Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: La rivoluzione Rosso-Verde-Bruna Ungherese

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/neil_clark/2008/03/the_hungarian_revolt.html
The Hungarian revolt
Voters in Hungary have emphatically rejected the government's 'reform'
programme
Neil Clark
What a weekend for underdogs - and those who champion them! I refer
not to the wonderful FA Cup giant-killing exploits of Barnsley,
Portsmouth and Cardiff, but to equally stirring developments in
European politics. In Spain, the progressive anti-war government of
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, which pulled troops out of Iraq and
refused to recognise the illegal US-sponsored breakaway province of
Kosovo, has been re-elected. In France, Nicolas Sarkozy's UMP received
a slap in the face in local elections.
And in Hungary, the ruling neoliberal coalition led by Ferenc
Gyurcsany, the multimillionaire Tony Blair admirer, suffered a
humiliating defeat in a national referendum.
The referendum asked the people's verdict on three key elements of the
government's "reform" programme: the imposition of hospital and
doctor's visit fees and the imposition of higher education tuition
fees. The response could not have been more emphatic. With around 99%
of votes counted, the results showed that 84.08% voted to scrap
hospital visit fees, 82.42% to scrap doctor's visit fees and 82.22% to
scrap tuition fees.
As much as the government tries to make light of this reverse, the
vote threatens to derail the administration's entire "reform"
programme.
Jubilant opposition leader Viktor Orbán warned the government that
unless they repeal the controversial new law to introduce compulsory
private health insurance, they would suffer another defeat in a second
referendum in September.
Hungarians have been told repeatedly that there is no alternative to
mass privatisation and cuts in health care, education and welfare
provision. But more and more people are now waking up to the fact that
far from being part of the solution, the neoliberal "reform" programme
is an integral part of the problem.
Unemployment in Hungary has risen to 8.1% - the highest for 10 years.
Poverty and malnutrition is on the increase: last autumn, the UN's
Food and Agriculture Organisation reported that 200,000 people in
Hungary, including 20,000 children, were under-fed.
And as public anger with the country's corrupt ruling elite
intensifies, a new and exciting political realignment is taking place.
Campaigning for a "yes" vote in yesterday's referendum were the
leading conservative opposition party Fidesz, the Christian Democratic
People's Party (KDNP), the Green Party and the Communist Workers
Party. Hungarian conservatives and progressives may still have their
disagreements, but on the most important issues of the day - such as
the need to protect state health care provision, halt the
privatisation programme, and preserve Hungarian society from
disintegration - they are singing from the same hymn sheet.
"Senkit nem hagyunk az út szélén" ("We don't leave anyone at the
roadside") was the response of KDNP leader Zsolt Semjén to the
referendum result: a noble sentiment that all true progressives would
surely agree with. And for good measure Semjén also praised the
"socialist-hearted" people who went out to vote "yes", and talked of a
new "solidarity camp".
Contrast Semjen's rhetoric with that of János Kóka, the leader of the
fanatically neoliberal Free Democrats (SZDSZ), the junior partner of
the governing coalition. "I would like to reassure the international
money and capital markets that the government upholds its commitment
to reforms and a strict and tight budget," was Kóka's response to
yesterday's vote: the suffering of the Hungarian people under the
government's "reform" programme is clearly of less concern to him than
buttering up foreign investors.
For far too long political parties which represent capital, like the
"Free Democrats", have managed to get their way because anti-
neoliberal conservatives and anti-neoliberal progressives have been
reluctant to join forces. But when they do forget their past
differences and collaborate in campaigns to protect state provision,
the result is emphatic, as it was yesterday in Hungary.
The formation of conservative/leftist/green alliances to oppose
neoliberal extremism and put the interests of people before global
capital, is the most effective way that the anti-democratic rule of
money power can be defeated.
Hungary shows us the way.
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Sarebbe stato interessante sapere quale sarebbe stato il risultato se
la domanda
avesse chiesto di scegliere se spendere i soldi per l'ammodernamento
dell'esercito
richiesto dalla NATO, o per scuole e ospedali.   Referendum del genere
ci vogliono
anche in Italia.

 anche in Italia.
ma per favore, l'italia è un paese di servi fieri di esserlo, mica di
esseri umani...