Another ’Peace March’ ahead?

One of the organisers of a series of pro-government mass demonstrations says that despite the government’s resistance, another so-called ‘Peace March’ will be held in order to react to recent opposition demonstrations against the planned net tax and to show that the majority is on the government’s side.

In Magyar Hírlap, Zsolt Bayer believes a new Peace March will make western critics realise that the government still enjoys overwhelming support at home. Reacting to recent American complaints about suspected corruption cases involving influential officials and businessmen, Bayer writes that if any of this is true, those found guilty “should get the harshest punishment”. In 1995, he recalls, he was paid 20 thousand dollars by Lockheed Martin for a TV documentary on the United States, during which he was required to visit the production line of the F16 fighter bombers and “say nice things about the product”. “If I was worth 20 thousand, how much were they ready to pay to the decision makers?” he asks. He mentions that episode, because he thinks Hungarian-American relations started deteriorating back in 2000, when PM Orbán opted for Swedish Gripen fighters instead of Lockheed F16s. “My dear friends”, he continues, meaning the country’s top leaders, “have an inclination to surround themselves with complete idiots,” and “have never sensed the real danger threatening them”, so it is up to the organisers of the pro-government marches to launch another one, even if the government is opposed to the idea. “When 20 to 30 thousand people”, Bayer argues, “declare that ‘they are the people’, they get the helping hand of the CIA”. But they are just part of the people, he concludes, just like the participants of the future ‘Peace March’. But the latter “comprise a larger part by far.”

After meeting his party’s parliamentary group on Tuesday, PM Orbán said he needed no new Peace March at present. “Let’s not march in times of peace”, he said.

Tags: Orbán, Peace Walk, taxes, US