In the old philosophy of the far East, there is a beautiful principle that essentially says that the only way to fail in life is when you forget, even for an instant, the principles which govern your life and when you act against these principles. Unfortunately, here in the West, we don’t have anything like this and in a world where everything is for sale and nothing seems to be valuable enough to hold on to.

Unfortunately, here in the West very few people tried to change things and those who did try to stand for some right, for some values that actually transcend cultures and political issues were oppressed and beaten down until they got in line with everyone else. In this article I will dig a little through history and present two European events and two from the East in a bid to show that even across continents people can feel alike and fight for the same goals even if most of the time all they get in return is death, pain and oppression.

Chronologically, our first stop is Szeged, in Hungary. The day is October 16 and a group of students present a declaration that basically snubbed the oficial communist organization DISZ and re-established the formerly banned student organization MEFESZ, formerly banned under the Rakosi’s dictatoship. Immediately, students from Pecs, Miskolcs and Sopron followed suit. Galvanized by the death of Stalin three years earlier, the independence and neutrality declaration of Austria and the Polish worker protests that had started earlier, the Writers Union of Hungary decided to show support with the Polish reformists by paying respects at the grave of General Joszef Bem (who was polish-born).

In Budapest, on the 23rd of October, things took a steep turn. Gathered at the statue of Bem, the writers and the students issued reformist declarations which set the crows ablaze, with some people cutting the communist insignia off the hungarian flag and most started to sing the “Zemzeti Dal”. After the protesters clashed with the militia (the AVH) and some of the militia actually joined the revolutionaries and Stalin’s statue was toppled, Secretary General Erno Gero requested Soviet military support which he got soon after midnight. On the streets of Budapest and especially before the Parliament building, the AVH and the revolutionaries clashed brutally after several weapon supplies of the AVH were hijacked.

The dawn of October 24 saw more bloodshed. Though Soviet tanks were already on the streets, clashes with the AVH continued while the Soviets were simply blocking access to government buildings. Many communist support institutions (newspapers, radio, etc) were targeted even though the main focus was against the AVH.

However, on the 25th, things changed again as in the early morning when the AVH opened fire against unarmed revolutionaries at the Parliament. Thinking they were the actual targets (as the protesters there had no guns), the Soviets returned fire on the AVH, joined by armed revolutionaries who had come in the meantime. Under the impression that the Soviets were siding with the revolutionaries, the government fell and the reformist Imre Nagy became Prime Minister, joined by Janos Kadar.

As the confusion dispelled, the revolutionaries began fighting both the AVH and the supporting Soviet tanks mainly with light guns and Molotov cocktails, while more organized groups, such as Joszef Dudas’ brigade, organized guerilla actions. Alongside other resistance points, the revolutionaries managed to fight the Soviets to a standstill which led to an armistice with the Soviets withdrawing from Budapest, armistice which held from October 28 to November 4th.

What came next was a multitude of events which could amount to one of the dirtiest political games in history. First, US president Dwight Eisenhower assured the Nagy government of support and asked for the UN to convene over the situation in Hungary. Assured of support, Nagy prepared two declarations: the independence of Hungary and the withdrawal from the Warsaw pact. Thirdly, in the gathering of the Soviet Politburo in Moscow, Nikita Khruschev supported the Nagy government as being (correctly for the most part) an expression of protest against failed social and economic measures of the Gero administration. Fourthly, the Soviet ambassador in Budapest assured Nagy of non-intervention. Lastly, the leadership of the revolution thought that the Soviets had withdrawn from Hungary as a whole when in fact the invasion force was staging just outside Budapest, in the countryside.

When Moscow found out Nagy’s ambitions, they return and the sky came crashing down in Budapest on November 4 amidst a series of controversial Soviet declarations (who initially deemed Nagy a patriot and Kadar a corrupt fascist, then eventually the situation reversed without any explanation). The rest of the world stood and watched as the Hungarians and the Polish were beaten down. What changed Khruschev’s mind? Some historians say it was Mao Zedong’s advice about the dangers of Hungary withdrawing from the Warsaw pact (though Khruschev saw the advantages of supporting Nagy and thus having a friendly state outside the Pact). Fear of rumored plans by Nagy to make transition to a democratic and possibly capitalist state may also have carried a great deal of influence.

What is certain is that promised help never came. What Nagy did not know is that Nagy had sold Hungary to the Russians for leverage in another area, the second area we will visit today: Egypt. Unknown to most hungarians, another uprising was unfolding in the Arab world where one Gamal Abdel Nasser (one of my personal heroes) decided that the Suez Channel, previously administered by France and Britain, should be returned to Egypt (which makes sense given that Suez is in Egypt and the europeans were nothing more than colonists). Nasser’s revolution promper military invasion from Israel, with support from Britain and France, on October 29, 1956. Although operations Kadesh, Telescope and Musketeer where succesful from a military standpoint, they were political disasters due to Soviet intervention on behalf of Egypt, effectively catching US off-guard on the political scene. Obviously, US could not support the Hungarian revolution while supporting its three allies in their bid for occupation of Egypt. Therefore US pressured the three into withdrawing, but the Soviets managed to buy enough time to crush the european dissidents.

Out third stop is close enough to Britain, the Ireland of 1980. Ironically enough the month is still October, the 27th. In the HM Prison Maze, 7 prisoners (resembling the 7 signataries of the Declaration of Independence from 1916 when Ireland separated from the UK). The prisoners names were: Brendan Hughes, Tommy McKearney, Raymond McCartney, Tom McFeeley and Sean McKenna. Their demands were a series of concession regarding prisoner rights, such as the right to refuse to do prison work or wearing uniform. On December 1, several prisoners from Armagh Women Prison (among them Mairead Farrel – one of the Gibraltar Three, shot dead by the british forces while standing unarmed on a street in Gibraltar) joined the hunger strike by refusing food and later more prisoners from the HMPM joined in. With McKenna lapsing in and out of coma, the UK government initially declared they would grant the prisoner’s request. Without a signed document however and out of concern for McKenna’s life, Hughes called off the strike after 53 days on December 18.

But soon it was clear that the demands were not met as in January 1981, the measures were still not implemented. In February, a group of prisoners issued a statement that the government had failed to act and announced they intended to go on a strike once more. On March 1st, under the leadership of Bobby Sands, several prisoners refused to take food, but this time they joined the strike at various intervals in a bid to gather more media attention to their cause. Although the government refused to give in, following statements by Primer Minister Margaret Thatcher, the shock came in April, when Bobby Sands was elected into the House of Commons chamber of the British Parliament. Many hoped that this would force the government to change their stance but this did not happen and a very determined Bobby Sands died on May 5 1981 after 66 days without food. Overall, 10 irish revolutionaries died over the hunger strike, with Kieran Doherty lasting the most, 73 days of hunger.

However, the strike ended at 3:15 pm, on October 3rd 1981, after the month of August saw breakups among the prisoners as their families began to intervene in order to save their lives. This outcome was a partial success as some demands were later granted, but it was a disaster for the leadership of Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” who was percieved as a murderer in the public opinion.

Our last stop is China. The day is April 15, 1989. The place: Tiananmen Square, Beijing. Possibly the most famous event of all those presented here, the protests of 1989 gave birth to “the most influential figure of the 20th century” acording to Times Magazine, the famous Tank Man – the iconic image of a man in a white shirt refusing to move away from a column of four chinese tanks thus delaying their entry in the Square. The student protests agains the communist leadership of the People’s Republic of China were widely mediatized in the West as press was there to cover the visit of Mikhail Gorbachev and many reporters were in a good position to cover the events unfolding in the square, letting the world know about the protests which took place between April 15 and June 4.

What began as a march for mourning reformist Hu Yaobang soon turned into a protest for democracy headed by students from Peking and Tsinghua universities, which gave birth to the famous “Goddess of Democracy” statues, a statue made from metal and paper, 10 meters high. Although initially the government took a moderate stance with Zhao Ziyang trying to peacefully calm down the spirits which, until May, were expressing themselves in daily marches and strikes.

Despite that, on May 20, the army intervened in full force despite resistance from almost the entire Beijing population who tried to isolate the city and prevent the army from entering. The Chinese Red Cross reported 2600 dead, much above the official figure of 241. Today “Tiananmen” is a banned word in China and companies like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft help the communist government to make sure that information about “Tiananmen” doesn’t reach the common people.

There are people that shouldn’t be forgotten. Men of will who stood up for what they believed, men who would never break and never bend over for anyone. Men like Joszef Dudas, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Bobby Sands, Mairead Farrell, the Tank Man and Zhao Ziyang (who is still under house arrest by the communist party). Was their fight right? I believe so. Maybe I’m not necessarely right but the one thing that should command everyone’s respect is that they never backed down from what they believed. How many can claim they never faltered from their path? Imre Nagy tried to appease the Soviets by arresting revolutionaries and so he sold out the revolution. The Soviets eventually sold out Nasser. Mairead Farrell was betrayed by people claiming to be irish revolutionaires. Which one would  you choose as a model for inspiration?

I already chose Nasser. I would also choose The Tank Man since his moment is truly exceptional. Before those few minutes that launched him into public conscience, nobody heard him speak, nobody knew his name, nobody knew his face … and after that moment the situation was largely the same anda even today nothing more is known except that he’s the man who defied a column of tanks and refused to move aside.