We Want to Live in Peace! We Want an Independent Hungary!

By Endre Simó, World BEYOND War, March 27, 2023

A speech at the Szabadság Square Peace demonstration in Budapest.

The organizers asked me to be the keynote speaker at this demonstration. Thank you for the honor, but I will only speak on the condition that the honorable members of the assembly answer a question. Do you want Hungary to be independent and pursue a sovereign policy in line with our national interests?

Good! So we have a common cause! If you had answered no, I would have had to realize that I had become involved with those who put the American interest before the Hungarian one, consider Zelensky’s power more important than the destiny of the Transcarpathian Hungarians, and who want to continue the war in the hope that they can defeat Russia.

Together with you, I also feared for the peace of our country from these people! They are the ones who, if they had to choose between America and Hungary, would be ready to throw away what was left of Trianon as a spoil. I certainly never thought that we would get to this point, and that we should be afraid that our domestic cosmopolitans, arm in arm with our NATO allies, would plunge our country into war for foreign interests! Against these bastards, let’s shout at the top of our lungs that we want peace! Just peace, because we are tired of unjust peaces!

We hear a lot these days about how they would like to overthrow the Orbán government through internal and external cooperation and replace it with a puppet government that serves American interests. Some would not even shy away from a coup d’état, and are not even averse to the possibility of foreign military intervention.

They do not like the fact that Orbán does not want to allow our NATO allies to drag Hungary into a war against Russia. They cannot digest that, in its search for a peaceful solution, this government not only enjoys the support of the parliamentary majority, but also the support of the vast majority of our peace-loving compatriots.

You don’t want to shed your blood for America and its puppet, Zelensky, do you?!

Do we want to live in peace and on good terms with Russia? With both East and West? Who wants our country to become a parade ground for foreign armies? To become a battlefield again, because the real masters of power decide on the 77th floor of a New York tower block to scrape the chestnuts for themselves with the Hungarians!

The clouds are towering around us! Our Western allies are sending tanks, warplanes, and missiles to Kiev, the British government wants to participate in the supply of ammunition with depleted uranium projectiles, they are planning to deploy 300,000 foreign soldiers in the countries of Eastern Europe, including our country, the first American garrison has already been set up in Poland, and some are seriously considering sending NATO troops to Ukraine if, despite all the support so far, Kiev does not succeed in turning the situation to his advantage. In order to launch a military campaign against Russia, Ukraine would be admitted to NATO, whether Hungary wants it or not. But since the Western alliance no longer respects any international law and norms, including its own founding document, Kiev’s NATO membership is not seen as absolutely necessary to escalate the war.

The Russian response was not long in coming: President Putin announced yesterday that tactical nuclear weapons would be installed in Belarus. Let our Polish friends think about what awaits them if they knew no bounds in their anti-Russian attitude! NATO’s strategic goal is to defeat Russia! Do you understand what this means? It means that our allies are considering the use of military nuclear weapons! Do they seriously think that Russia will wait for the first strike? What do they want against Russia and China? Where is the sense of reality here, dear liberals of our country, and their friends in the European Parliament? Would their unbridled hatred of Russia be greater than their fear of being reduced to ashes, along with us?

With common sense, it is difficult to understand why the Russian peace offer would not be acceptable: to demilitarize Ukraine and turn it into a neutral zone between NATO and Russia, but we know that for finance capital common sense does not mean peace, but profit-making, and if peace stands in the way of profit, he does not hesitate to wade in because he sees it as a mortal danger on the way of his expansion. Nowadays, they think normally only in those states where finance capital does not control politics, but capital is kept on a political leash. Where the goal is not unbridled profit maximization, but the national and international interest of peaceful development and cooperation. That is why Moscow does not hesitate to enforce its legitimate security demands with a weapon if a peaceful agreement has not been reached at the table, indicating at the same time that it is ready to settle at any time, if the West sees it, the end of the world when it could dictate.

Russia wants to build the new world order based on the principle of indivisibility of security. He wants no one to assert his own safety at the expense of others. As happened with the eastern expansion of NATO, and is happening now with the inclusion of Finland. The Hungarian Parliament is preparing to ratify the relevant agreement tomorrow. We asked him not to do it in vain, because he does not serve peace, but confrontation. Our Finnish partners also asked in vain in their petition to the Parliament, insisting on the neutrality of their country! The ruling parties decided to vote together with the pro-war opposition. It is rumored that only one party will stand against NATO expansion in the parliament: Mi Hazánk. And we the anti-war majority outside of the Parliament. How is this? Didn’t the people give the government the mandate for peace? Is power separated from the people and even turned against them? A majority supporting confrontation inside, a majority wanting peace outside? The Orbán government has never put an obstacle in the way of arms and ammunition shipments from the European Union and NATO, despite the fact that Hungary does not directly supply Kyiv with either arms or ammunition. The government of Viktor Orbán never vetoed the anti-Russian sanctions, but only asked for an exemption from them in order to ensure the domestic energy supply. It is costing us billions to downgrade our trade, financial and tourist relations with Russia. We are making ourselves ridiculous by trying to win laurels by excluding Russian athletes!

While our government stuns the people with loud voices of peace, it did not consider it necessary to distance itself from the statement of Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of the NATO military commission, that “NATO is ready for a direct confrontation with Russia”. The Hungarian government is letting EU pay the price of the war with our peoples. That is why our basic foods cost two or three times as much as a year ago. Bread becomes a luxury item. Millions can’t eat decently because they can’t afford it! Hundreds of thousands of children go to bed with rumbling stomachs. Those who have had no problems making a living until now are also becoming poor. The country is divided into rich and poor, but they also blame the war for which they themselves are guilty. Well, you can’t make love and remain virgin at the same time! You can’t want peace and give in to war! Maneuvering instead of a consistent peace policy, giving the appearance of independence to Biden and his deputy in Budapest. Signing a contract with the Russians today and breaking it tomorrow because Brussels wants it that way. Our government is unable to change NATO’s pro-war policy, but does it really want to? Or is he secretly hoping that NATO can win the war?

Some people make a principle out of dexterity and think there is no other way! As a clear proof of the unprincipled Kállay double policy dance, they finance the Kyiv regime despite the fact that the Zelenskiys even deprive our Transcarpathian compatriots of their right to use their mother tongue, incite hatred against them and terrorize them. They use our blood as cannon fodder and send them by the hundreds to sure death. I am telling our Transcarpathian Hungarian brothers, from here in Budapest’s Szabadság Square, that the war they were forced into is not our war! The enemy of Transcarpathian Hungarians is not the Russians, but the neo-Nazi power in Kiev! The time will come when suffering will be replaced by a celebration of joy, and justice will be served to a people that was torn apart in Trianon by those who are now our allies in NATO.

Dear everyone, Being neither pro-government nor oppositional, but independent of parties, the Hungarian Community for Peace political organization and the Forum for Peace movement support all the government’s actions aimed at peace, but criticize all actions that do not serve peace, but the confrontation! Our goal is to preserve the peace of our country, to protect our independence and national sovereignty. Fate has given us the task, all of us, to protect what is ours and what others want to attack and take away from us! We can fulfill our task by putting aside our worldview and party political differences and focusing on what we have in common! Together we can be great, but divided we are easy prey. The Hungarian name was always bright when we did not assert our national interests at the expense of others, but respected others in the spirit of equality and sought cooperation in the spirit of reciprocity. Here, in the heart of Europe, we are equally connected to East and West. We conduct 80 percent of our trade with the European Union, and 80 percent of energy carriers come from Russia.

There is no other country on this continent whose double bond is as strong as our country’s! We are not interested in confrontation, but in cooperation! Not for military blocs, but for non-alignment and neutrality! Not for war, but for peace! This is what we believe, this is our truth!We want to live in peace! We want an independent Hungary! Let’s protect our sovereignty! Let’s fight for it, for the survival of our nation, for our honor, for our future!