March 15: Hungary’s national holiday commemorating the outbreak of the 1848 revolution against Habsburg rule.

Always a lot of street politics on this date, especially this year with the general election just over three weeks away.

Orange Files covered simultaneous events in Budapest on this day: the Civil Cooperation Forum (CÖF)–organized pro–Orbán government Peace March (Békemenet) and the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party (Kétfarkú Kutya Párt, or MKKP)–organized anti–Orbán government Peace March.

It was the seventh Peace March that the government-organized non-governmental organization CÖF has organized since 2012.

It was the first Peace March that the extra-parliamentary joke party MKKP has organized.

The official and unofficial slogans, respectively, of the Civil Cooperation Forum’s Peace March: “The Homeland Before All Else!” (A Haza Minden Előtt!); and “Hungary Protects Europe!” (in English).

The official and unofficial slogans, respectively, of the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party’s Peace March: “The Banner Before All Else!” (A Molinó Minden Előtt!) and “Let Hungary Be the Land of Two Peace Marches!” (Legyen Magyarország a Két Békemenet Országa!).

Below are some of the photographs that Orange Files and his assistant (wife) took at the CÖF and MKKP Peace Marches held on March 15, 2018.  Many tens of thousands of demonstrators participated in the Civil Cooperation Forum Peace March. Around 10,000 people participated in the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party Peace March.

Click on any photo to see gallery view.

See all photographs from seventh Civil Cooperation Forum Peace March.

See all photographs from the Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party Peace March. Most of the photographs of the MKKP Peace March focus on signs that display absurd or punny Hungarian-language text or refer to current scandals involving Fidesz and Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP) officials and their family members.

Below are two short videos taken at the dual Peace Marches in Budapest. The video on the top shows the CÖF Peace March proceeding past a stage on which an opposition group placed loudspeakers playing Stalinist-era communist anthems. The video on the bottom shows the MKKP Peace March proceeding with communist anthems of the same type playing from a loudspeaker on an accompanying truck. Both refer to the playing of such anthems at May Day parades during the communist era in Hungary. The communist anthem played at the CÖF Peace March was a serious reference to the communist-like authoritarianism of the Orbán government and the Fidesz-KDNP alliance. The communist anthem played at the MKKP Peace March was an absurd reference to the restoration of authoritarian government in Hungary two decades after the fall of communism.

 

Last updated: March 15, 2018.

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