Demonstration in front of the Serbian Embassy in Budapest

In the evening of 29 September the coalition of anarchist movements of Budapest represented by comrades from Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia and Ukraine, as well as LGBT (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender) activists from various countries - Hungary, USA, Serbia, Austria, Russia etc. made a short demonstration in front of the Serbian embassy in Budapest. The major aim was to protest against state repression and governmental policies in Serbia.

The reasons - case studies - were:

a) imprisonment of 6 anarcho-syndicalists in Belgrade:
5, as it turned out later, 6 activists were accused without any evidence in a solidarity action (related to December events in Greece and murder of 15 y.o. anarchist) that took place on 25 August at the Greek embassy in Belgrade. They may get 3-15 years of prison: http://asi.zsp.net.pl/;

b) cancellation of Pride Parade in Belgrade one day before its date:
it was proclaimed that any demonstration is prohibited in Serbia from the date when the Pride Parade should have taken place, although the neo-nazi demo still happened that day.

The demo was supposed to be a short one, as it was not registered.


First, two big transparencies were put on the fence of the embassy


then the info-board of the embassy was covered by flyers (http://anarhobud.blogspot.com/2009/09/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html);


after some messages for the support of LGBT activists in Belgrade were put on stone parts of the fence;


a letter to the ambassador of Serbia in Hungary was put in the mail box together with some flyers. The letter aimed at attracting attention to the cancellation of Belgrade Pride Parade and asking for involvement of the Serbian authorities in LGBT issues and protection of LGBT rights;


finally, the rest of flyers were distributed among the participants (ca. 30) of the demonstration and thrown on the territory of the embassy and around.

This was a peaceful action aiming at attracting authorities' attention to current policies of the Serbian state and calling them to take action and protect rights of the groups that are victims of state repression - anarcho-syndicalists and LGBT activists.

Additional information: http://www.anarhobud.blogspot.com/

The Call!!!

Right to Know Day - September 28th, 2009, Budapest

The Right to Know Day, also known as the Freedom of Information Day is coming up on September 28th. Symbolizes the global movement for promotion of the right to information.
Budapest also celebrates this day in 2009. There will be an action day at Central European University. From 12 to 3 p.m. there will be an informational table at the Octagon, with informational leaflets and a power point.

The aim of having a Right to Know Day is to raise awareness of the right to information. It is a day on which freedom of information activists from around the world can use further to promote this fundamental human right and to campaign for open, democratic societies in which there is full citizen empowerment and participation in government.

Come join us and invite your friends!

HRSI: http://www.hrsi.ceu.hu/
FOIA.net: http://www.foiadvocates.net/es/2009

Freedom not Fear 2009

"Freedom not Fear" 2009 - Protests Against the Surveillance Mania

On Saturday, 12 September 2009, civil liberties activists in many countries again took it to the streets under the motto "Freedom not Fear - Stop the Surveillance Mania". It was the second time these activities took place after the first international action day on 11 October 2008.
The biggest event was held in Berlin, where more than 25 000 people marched through the streets and applauded the speeches and the bands. Frank Bsirske, chairman of the world's largest trade union ver.di, called for a comprehensive law for employee and workplace privacy protection. Patrick Breyer from the working Group against Data Retention (AK Vorrat), which again had initiated the protests, reminded participants of the democratic rallies and events of 1847 and 1989 and called for continuous resistance against the surveillance state. Other speakers included Franziska Heine from the Working Group against Censorship (AK Zensur), who had organized the most successful online petition ever to the German parliament against a recent German law that permits blocking of web sites by the federal police. The event sent a strong signal to the political parties and was widely reported in the context of the upcoming German federal election. At the end of the demonstration, activists from EDRi member Chaos Computer Club were able to film a police assault on a peaceful participant. Public pressure as a result of this has now led to an announcement of the Berlin police that all officers will get mandatory name badges in early 2010.
Other activities took place in Bulgaria, Finland, Italy, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. Activists had organized a plethora of events, including a full week of activities in Prague; demonstrations in Amsterdam, Stockholm and Sofia; public teach-inns in Skopje (co-organized by EDRi member Metamorphosis), Milano, and Helsinki (co-organized by EDRi member EFFi); privacy parties and film screenings, and much more. Activists in Vienna (from EDRi member Vibe.at) reported such big interest from the population that they had to print 1000 more leaflets on the same day.
Outside of Europe, privacy activists in Guatemala joined the action day this year with a reading event from a new volume of fiction stories about surveillance, titled "stop the surveillance mania".

Overview of Freedom not Fear activities
http://wiki.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/Freedom_Not_Fear_2009

Press center for the Berlin demonstration
http://wiki.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/Press_center

Report from activities in Skopje - EDRi-gram: Macedonia: Activities for citizen education about their privacy rights (23.09.2009)
http://www.edri.org/edri-gram/number7.18/macedonia-freedom-not-fear-2009

Report from activities in Vienna (only in German, 12.09.2009)
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/foren/S-Bericht-FSA-Wien/forum-165693/msg-17357119/read/

Source: EDRi-Gram, contribution by Ralf Bendrath, EDRi member Netzwerk Neue Medien

Critical Mass in Budapest. Autumn Edition 2009

Critical Mass on 22 September 2009



The autumn edition of Critical Mass in Budapest takes place on 22 September 2009.

Here comes the description:

On Car Free Day 2009, Critical Mass Budapest will again organize a large scale ride to promote bicycling – one of the most environmentally friendly forms of travel – and to raise awareness about the need to improve cycling conditions in the city. Assembling will start at 5:30 PM by encircling the Budapest City Hall block with thousands of locked bikes. The ride will then begin with a bike lift at 6:35 PM, without any specifically set route, to circle around the Big Ring Road (Nagykörút), and end with another bike lift at 8:00 PM at City Hall Park. This ride will allow participants to travel from the start to the finish in normal traffic, without any streets being closed by the police. Traffic laws will be respected.

DATE: Tuesday, September 22, 2009

TIME:

5:30 PM - Bicycle cordon around City Hall & Kidical Mass

6:35 PM - Ride begins with bike lift, circles around Big Ring Road

8:00 PM - Bike lift at City Hall Park

ROUTE: from City Hall Park around The Big Ring Road (Nagykörút) back to City Hall Park

IMPORTANT: Since no streets will be closed off for the event, people not used to bicycling in the capital city traffic should exercise extra caution: it is advised that they follow the larger groups of bicyclists on a safe route. The organisers also request that participants abide by all traffic laws, including the use of appropriate lights during the evening hours and the avoidance of riding on sidewalks.

Source: http://criticalmass.hu/english

Other useful link: http://www.cyclingsolution.blogspot.com/

A Street Party aka. Kálvária Ball in Budapest

Kálvária Square Ball

When

September 26, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Where

Kálvária square, 8th district, Budapest

Program

Kálvária Free Picnic: varios dishes made of the dumpster dived food collected at the market

Free Shop: a possibility to exchange clothes and things, bring something you do not need and take whatever you feel you need

Bad Kids Kálvária program

Discussions about life and future among representatives of NGOs, activists and civil people

Dínom-Dánom concert

Come and participate, taste the free food, share your thoughts, ideas and opinions about life and how to make it better!

Details (in Hungarian): http://kalvariabal.blogspot.com/

Political Arrests in Belgrade: Call for Solidarity

ASI STATEMENT

On September, 4th 2009 District Court in Belgrade decided that arrested members of ASI will be held for thirty days in detention. Our comrades are accused of an act of international terrorism.

Union Confederation “Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative” found out about the attack on Greek embassy, and of the organisation that took the responsibility for this act, through media.

We use this opportunity to remind the public once again that these methods of individual political struggle are not methods of anarcho-syndicalism, quite the contrary – we proclaim our political positions publicly and through our work we seek to bring masses to the syndicalist movement and all the libertarian and progressive organisations.

Wanting to brutally suppress its fierce critics the state, through its mechanism of repression, acts with banal logic and maps as suspects those who explicitly stated their libertarian beliefs, and by their imprisonment ends the case and gives a false picture of its efficiency to the public.

Unscrupulous actions of regime’s organs can be observed from the first moments of arrest, unlawful searches of their apartments, intimidations of their families to extreme charges of international terrorism.

Given the fact that we do not support the acts of now famous anarchist group “Crni Ilija” (Black Iliya) we still cannot characterise what happened as “international terrorism”, because terrorism, by definition, entails threats to the lives of civilians, whereas in this case no one was even hurt and only symbolic material damage was done.

It is clear that this state produced farce is just one way of intimidating anyone who decides to point out the injustice and hopelessness of contemporary society.

In times of general social numbness individuals reach for the most unbelievable, sometimes even self-destructive, actions in order to break through the media blockade and to put their case in the centre of attention – let us remember the workers who cut off and eat their own fingers, or, for example, the unlucky, distressed man who threatened to activate a hand grenade in the building of the Presidency of Serbia – that is, trying to shed some light on their problems in a broader social space.

Lets not allow them to persuade us that one symbolic act of solidarity, even if expressed in a certainly ill manner, together with any other act of rebellion of those who are left with no rights should be treated as an antisocial act and an act of terrorism.

We express solidarity with the arrested comrades and their families and demand the truth about this case!

FREEDOM FOR ANARCHO-SYNDICALISTS!

ANARCHO-SYNDICALIST INITIATIVE

Sept. 5, 2009

Anarcho-syndicalist Initiative calls on people around the world to take action now! To get more details, send a protest letter and see the news about the demos or announce a demo in your city - go to http://asi.zsp.net.pl/political-arrests-in-belgrade/

Budapest Pride Parade 2009

This year's Pride Parade in Budapest was calm and rather boring, as fewer people showed up compared to the previous year. Indeed, Pride Parade 2008 was rather violent with neo-nazis and average observers, apparently homophobes, throwing eggs, tomatoes and bottles into the participants of Pride Parade 2008.

>> By the way, this violence is caused by the government headed by ex-prime minister Gyrcsany (who visited the Pride Parade 2009!) as before 2007 and 2008 the Pride Parade was peaceful and boring for the media. <<

The only positive thing about 2008 Pride was high attention of the media and increased security (Not all cops are bastards after all) this year. Not only Andrassy avenue, where the Parade took place this year, but also parallel streets were closed and surrounded by fences. Basically, a big part of central Budapest including metro was closed.

>> The righ to free assembly is a basic constituinal right. But in gulyas democracy of Hungary this right has to be protected by hundreds of policemen and rows of fences. <<

Crowds of people were to be observed outside the fences, apparently not as many as previous year. Moreover, this day was a football match between Hungary and Sweden and most probably most hooligans were already at the stadium by the end of the Parade. The Parade participants turned out to be hard nuts for those willing to attack them, as police was escorting them even after the end of the Parade at Deak sq. and Blaha Lujza sq., as all the participants were recommended to go to Blaha Lujza by metro.
This decision was based on previous year's accident when at the end of Pride Parade it turned out that the participants were trapped because most of neo-nazis gathered at the end point of the Pride 2008, Heroes' sq.

To the Pride 2009 itself: there were a number of groups and individual people from both Hungary and abroad. The opening speeches were delivered by Juris Lavrikovs, Paata Sabelashvili (ILGA Europe) who welcomed the participants and shared tehir thoughts of the importance of the Pride. There were two cars with sound systems, a froup of people carrying a rainbow flag, and a number of smaller groups including Amnesty-Hungary (the yellow group) and the pink-black bloc.

Overall, it was just another good opportunity for queer people to claim for their right for equality and for their supporters to express their solidarity. Hopefully, the peacefulness of Pride Parade 2009 will become a good tradition and the tolerance in Hungarian society to queer people will grow to the level that no fences will be needed in the future.

Long Live Pride Parade in Budapest!

>> More pictures from the Pride Parade 2009 are to be found here <<

>> Hungarian Media:

http://www.origo.hu/itthon/20090905-meleg-meltosag-menete-fokozott-ellenorzes-korlatozasok.html http://nol.hu/belfold/hangosan_tragarkodo_csoport_a_kordonokon_belul <<

Pride Parade in Budapest!

Event type: March
Assembly: 1pm Saturday, September 5th, 2009
Meeting Place: Budapest, end of Andrássy st. at Hősök sq.

Opening Speeches: 1:30pm

Start of the Gay Pride March: 2pm End of March: 3:30pm, Erzsébet tér.

Route of the March: end of Andrássy út (between Rippl-Rónay and Munkácsy utca) – Kodály körönd – Oktogon – Opera – Erzsébet tér

For further information visit: http://budapestpride.hu/en/

Speakers: Juris Lavrikovs, Paata Sabelashvili (ILGA Europe)

Come to Budapest and support the rainbow!!!

A Cute Message from the Past