Monday, February 20, 2012

Student Demonstration in Budapest on February 15


On February 15, 2012 several thousands students made a rally along the Danube to protest against the new Higher Education Act that destroys publicly funded higher education and obliges students to stay in work in Hungary after graduation. The demonstration ended as a several hours occupation of the law faculty of ELTE (Eötvös Loránd University).
The demonstration was organized by the Network of Students (Hallgatói Hálózat, HAHA), an independent student organization. This organization was protesting against the reform of the Higher Education Law in Hungary. As the HAHA explains, the new law is wrong, because:
"The government drafted the new law without previous public consultation with the academic community (students, professors, and administrative staff). The new legislation on higher education establishes governance and funding mechanisms that significantly limit university autonomy, particularly in domains of organizational structures, decision making and academic employment, also harming academic freedom. The new law significantly jeopardises social mobility and equal access to higher education by severely cutting down on the number of state-funded student places, encouraging student loans and otherwise limiting forms of support to those wishing to study (including vulnerable populations, such as the Roma). The new law obliges those who receive student support to stay in the country for twice as long as they receive it, thus restricting of employment mobility, without securing stable employment prospects".

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Anti-ACTA Protest in Budapest

Several tens of thousands of citizens from an estimated 200 cities in Europe went out in the streets on a cold 11 February 2012, in a massive pan-european protest against ACTA and to support digital civil rights. [EDRI]

In Budapest around a thousand protesters went in the streets in order to protest against ACTA agreement that was signed by the Hungarian administration along with other 22 EU administrations on January 26.
The protest was organized by the Hungarian Anonymous Group and Occupy Budapest, made its way past the Hungarian parliament and ended outside the Hungarian Intellectual Property Office. The demonstration was attended by many young people chanting slogans such as “Internet freedom!”, and “Copy right, Copy left!”, and holding placards proclaiming “Broadband or Death!” and “Stop ACTA!”. The peopel were wearing the Anonymos masks and holding various banners and transparencies. The march was accompanied by the political samba band Rhythms of Resistance and ended by a concert.

Here you can see some videos about the protest in Budapest:
English: VIDEO
Hungarian: VIDEO

Further info: