Hungary & the closing down of democracy

"Democracy ends in Hungary today," LMP deputy Benedek Javor told the BBC, before he was taken away by police.

The opposition objects to key laws on elections, taxation and the central bank, set to be adopted by parliament.

They say the laws will tighten the ruling Fidesz party's grip on power.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's centre-right Fidesz has an unprecedented two-thirds majority in parliament. It used a fast-track procedure leaving little time for debate on the new laws...

The European Commission, European Central Bank and credit rating agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) have voiced fears that Mr Orban's planned reforms of the Hungarian central bank could undermine its independence.

The parliament approved several government-proposed changes to the central bank bill on Friday to address the criticisms, Reuters reports. It is set to become law next week. (BBC)

There is more about the demonstration here and here and more about the EU / economic background here.

After the various curbs on press freedom, the demonstration was not merely about the closing down of the greatest remaining opposition voice, Klubrádió, but it certainly offered a focus.

Hungary doesn't have a long tradition of democracy and the fingers of government, and most particularly the present government, Fidesz, are never too far from the trigger. With the closing down of Klubrádió the safety catch is well and truly off and Hungary has entered the next stage of its shift towards authoritarianism and dictatorship. The main opposition in parliament is currently Jobbik, the equivalent of the BNP, so it is not difficult for the prime minister, Victor Orbán, to push through legislation to silence the left and left-of-centre as effectively as possible.

The parliamentary balance being as it is Fidesz has hurried to change the constitutions of the major civil bodies, appointing its members and supporters into long term positions extending well beyond the life of the parliament, so that even should Fidesz lose an election the incoming government would be rendered ineffective.

Hungary has a highly developed, liberal intelligentsia, as well as a decent-sized liberal working urban population that finds itself less and less able to voice its opinion. Klubrádió was an important outlet for such opinion so it had to go.

What is also worrying is that young people in neighbouring Austria are turning in considerable numbers to the right wing (some say, far-right) FPÖ. It seems that 42% of the under thirties support it. (See page 2a here) Thanks to Poet in Residence for the link.

The old Austro-Hungarian Empire is gathering its ragged robes, adjusting its crooked crown, and priming its beer halls.

*

There is a petition to support Klubrádió here with my own statement. Írd alá a peticiót on the left means 'Sign the petition'. I have signed it and have put links to it on both my Facebook page and Twitter. If you care about such things, do sign. The Facebook link carries the following translation of the text of the petition:

*Say No to shutting down Klubrádió*

The panjandrums of the Department of National News and Media led by Annamaria Szalai have obediently followed the instructions of the Victor Orbán regime to close down Klubrádió, one of the last bastions of the free press in Hungary.

The Orbán regime wants to silence all dissent and clear the way to building an autocratic system of government free of all criticism.

We will not yield to the absolutes of power. We will raise our voice against the new despotism, Let us all say NO!

*I am signing this petition to protest against the shutting down of Klubrádió.*

Shakespeare's Songs from the plays: Full fathom five

Vaughan Williams 'Full Fathom Five' (from Three Shakespeare Songs) Performed by Sonitus Chamber Choir



Ariel's song from Shakepeare's 'The Tempest' in Peter Greenaway's 'Prospero's Books'. Music by Michael Nyman, vocal by Sarah Leonard.

      Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 50
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death by water.
I see crowds of people, walking round in a ring....

....

                 'Do
'You know nothing? Do you see nothing? Do you remember
'Nothing?'

        I remember
Those are pearls that were his eyes.
'Are you alive, or not? Is there nothing in your head?'

Full flotsam firth, thy feathers lour / fool flitter fro, thy fillies lay / flee fellows fro, thy fervent lure...

Ariel's song from the play that is most thoroughly a poem. Yes, I know about the colonial aspect and how, in some readings, you might regard Caliban, the slave, as the true hero. You might do that, though a heavily polemical reading sets you facing one way only. Magic and manipulation, the ideal society, lost and usurped power, the ceremony of innocence that is almost drowned, the opposition of mischievous spirit and lusting flesh... All that and more is in there because it is poetry as well as action and idea.

The idea that we become exotic, rich and strange, with pearls for eyes - even to ourselves, at the end - is important to the poem / song. We are, after all strange, very strange, most of all to ourselves. We may drown but we get the music and the pearls.

Late, tomorrow one last Shakespeare song

Late back, a bit more Shakespeare tomorrow, in the meantime some of Michael Wolf's haunting photographs of people on crowded Hong Kong trains, here:



Faces pressed agains windows. Explore more.

Shakespeare's songs from the plays 4: Blow blow thou winter wind X 3 and a death

The New Mexico Music Educators Association All State Mixed Chorus 2003 Conducted by Dr. Janet Galvan...Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind from "When Icicles Hang" by John Rutter


"Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind" (Shakespeare) Gervase Elwes (arranged by Roger Quilter) / Recorded: 1916


"Blow, blow, thou winter wind" by Anna Pope 2011. Performed by Lumina Vocal Ensemble, Musical Director Anna Pope

Blow, Blow thou Winter Wind

Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen
Because thou art not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
Thou dost not bite so nigh
As benefits forgot:
Though thou the waters warp,
Thy sting is not so sharp
As friend remember'd not.
Heigh-ho! sing heigh-ho! unto the green holly:
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly:
Then, heigh-ho! the holly!
This life is most jolly.

It has been a terrible year in the world by most counts and this song seems appropriate. For a reminder of that see this marvellous horrifying set of photographs (via Norm's tweet).

I love the Elwes / Quilter best but it's cheating by crackling in the background which always does for me. Mortality clearing its throat again.

All those deaths, not just at the end of the year, but throughout the year!

Last night, in macabre fashion, a phone call from C's cousin to say that C's aunt - her father's sister - has died, suddenly, at 99, falling out of her bed. Mentally top condition, no carer, in a flat by herself. It is so sudden that, at 99, it is almost cheering. One roll out of bed and out for ever. She was full of life, came to any gig I did in Bath, was interested in everything and made her own Christmas cards. She drew rather well. Sharp eyed and sharp minded.

And of course, this morning, the card from her duly arrives, saying she didn't make the one this year because the ends of her fingers were numb. Our card to her will be unopened by her. So three Blow Blows for her. Let it blow. Sing heigh-ho unto the green holly.

Meanwhile in Hungary...

...the political clocks go back neatly bridging the gap between 1944 and 1949. From Adam Le Bor in The Economist:

GYÖRGY MATOLCSY, Hungary’s economy minister, wanted a war with the International Monetary Fund, and now he has got one.

Officials from the fund and the European Union have broken off preliminary talks with the Hungarian government over a financial safety net for the country. Why? Because the parliament, where the ruling Fidesz party has a two-thirds majority, has accelerated plans to change the management of the central bank and to expand membership of the monetary council, which sets interest rates....

...Fidesz allies have now been appointed to the presidency, the State Audit Office, the State Prosecutor, the National Media Authority, the new fiscal council and the new National Courts Authority, among others. Officials say that party backgrounds are irrelevant and that office-holders will exercise their mandates independently. Democracy in Hungary, they claim, is safe.

Opposition politicians, international watchdogs, the EU and the United States disagree. They argue that the government's attempt to limit the independence of the central bank near-completes Fidesz's steady undermining of Hungary's formerly independent institutions and its removal of the checks and balances found in most European democracies.

An overwhelming victory at the polls, which Fidesz won last year, does not, say Western officials, give the party a mandate for a long-term (the new appointees will hold office for between nine and 12 years) takeover of legislative and executive functions. Government officials have not explained why it seems that only Fidesz allies can be trusted to exercise their mandates independently....

...Wags in the capital joke that the Hungarian legislative process works as follows. The prime minister has an idea in the morning, Mr Matolcsy announces it as policy in the afternoon, by the end of the week Mr Lázár is piloting it through parliament and it becomes law on Monday. An exaggeration, to be sure, but not by much.

The bold type is mine. My poor country of which I had hoped rather better.

Shakespeare's songs from the plays 3: It was a lover and his lass

Martha Tilton in 1943.

I have loved this Arthur Young arrangement since I heard Cleo Laine singing it with Johnny Dankworth. So much fun, just as it should be. Go for it, pretty country folk! The rest, in any case, is all hey nonino and ding ding. I'd also like to know who put the bomp in the bomp bah bomp bah bomp and who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong? I'd like to thank the guy. I'd like to shake his hand.

It was a Lover and his Lass

It was a lover and his lass,
    With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
That o'er the green corn-field did pass,
    In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

Between the acres of the rye,
    With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
These pretty country folks would lie,
    In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

This carol they began that hour,
    With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
How that life was but a flower
    In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

And, therefore, take the present time
    With a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino,
For love is crown`d with the prime
    In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding, ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring.

So therefore take the present time has a personal meaning too. Our current house, when we bought it, was a gift shop trading under the name Present Time. We found the house by accident having come into town to look at another one we didn't like so much. It was a Sunday and the estate agent was open. The house was advertised in the window. Can we see it? we asked. The owner, young Kate with the husky voice, was in. She had sublet two of the rooms, and she took us into her room, the biggest, with a view of the romantic ruined abbey behind. It was sunny. We fell in love with it. It seemed perfect but we hesitated. As we left I looked up at the shop sign and there was the cue for the song. Carpe diem, it said and meant it. So we took it.

Shakespeare's songs from the plays 2: Gerald Finzi (for Vaclav Havel)

Bryn Terfel singing Gerald Finzi's composition. How fitting for Havel's death! Perhaps more than anyone Havel was the emblem of hope and light in 1989 and the few years following. I am much moved by his death.

This song is possibly Shakespeare's greatest, right down - and precisely because of - the pun on chimney sweepers 'coming to dust'. Genius comprises lightness and humour, however dark.

More on Havel in due course.

Fear No More

Fear no more the heat o' the sun;
    Nor the furious winter's rages,
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
    Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney sweepers come to dust.

Fear no more the frown of the great,
    Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
    To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
    Nor the all-dread thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
    Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
    Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
    Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renowned be thy grave!

- from Cymbeline Act Iv, Scene 2

And renowned be thy grave indeed.