Row over “totalitarian street names”
Friday, April 26th, 2013A left-wing columnist believes that the government wants to entrench the political divisions in the country by reopening the symbolic debate around the names of public spaces. READ MORE
Two weeks of student unrest: a political turning point?
Monday, December 24th, 2012Left-wing analysts suggest that the student demonstrations of the last two weeks have signalled the beginning of the end for the governing right wing. A conservative pundit suspects that left wing forces are trying to manipulate the student movement. READ MORE
Debate over anti-Communist heritage
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012A pro-government commentator marks the foundation of the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) 25 years ago, and suggests that throughout that period the centre-right parties have been united by their common anti-Communist stance. A liberal pundit, on the other hand, claims that the liberals were the first to openly criticise Communists and demand democracy. READ MORE
Béla Biszku under investigation for war crimes in December 1956
Thursday, September 13th, 2012Right-wing pundits believe that the criminal inquiry into the suspected war crimes of the former Communist politician is an important symbolic act which could serve historical reconciliation. Liberal columnists, however, worry that the government wants to use Biszku’s case against the opposition parties. READ MORE
Former communist persecutor to face prosecution
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012A pro-government columnist finds it disturbing that the left-wing media, which is quick to demand the prosecution of alleged Nazi-era criminals, is silent in the case of György Mátsik, an iconic figure of the Communist purges in the aftermath of the 1956 revolution. The right-wing commentator believes that crimes against humanity should not be distinguished frome one another on an ideological basis. READ MORE
The street name ban game
Tuesday, June 26th, 2012Left-wing newspapers fear that a ban envisaged on Communist style street names could lead to a ban on their own titles. A centrist conservative blogger sees the bill submitted by right-wing MPs as a new step in the war over historical symbols. READ MORE
The long shadow of Communism
Monday, February 27th, 2012Remembering the victims of the Communist past, conservative intellectuals blame left-wing and liberal elites for trying to relativize the crimes of the Communist dictatorships. A liberal commentator, on the other hand, accuses the right-wing government of only symbolically distancing itself from post-Communism. READ MORE