You may have noticed it's been a while since we last updated our website. It's true, we've fallen a little behind on posts in the last few months -- travel and holidays tend to do that to us.
But never fear, we're still here, and we'll be bringing the blog back up to date in the coming days and weeks. Keep checking back for new posts and photos about what we've been up to.
Michael Simmons delivering a speech at a rally of the Citizens Against the Far Right Movement in Hungary, protesting against planned neo-nazi demonstrations on August 15, 2009. Credit for the beautiful photo goes to our good friend JD.
Today, September 4, 2009, marks a 40 year anniversary in a life devoted to fighting for human rights. On September 4, 1969, Michael Simmons began a 30-month prison sentence for his conscientious objection to the Vietnam War. As a Black American, Michael faced a longer prison sentence than white conscientious objectors, because not only did he express a personal opposition to the war in Vietnam, he also fought hard against the oppression of Black Americans in the United States, and actively organized African American opposition against the war.
On this important anniversary, I invite Ráday Salon friends and fans to join me in commemorating Michael's commitment and courage
This week is Pride week in Budapest. The festival hosts film screenings and discussions during the week and will culminate in a march this Saturday. For more information on events, check out the Budapest Pride 2009 website. (Link goes to English version, but a Hungarian version is also available - just look for the Hungarian flag.)
Although the Budapest Pride march was once a fun-filled event, in the last two years it has become the focus of violent extremists, and will be carried on this year (as last year) under heavy police protection. To learn more about the history of the Pride march, and to see videos of attacks on last year's pride march, click the "continue reading" link below.
This year, a number of neo-Nazi organizations had planned a demonstration in Budapest
for August 15, to mark the death of Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess. In
response, a large coalition of groups planned a "Day of Peaceful
Protest against the Far Right". With a week to go, the Budapest police officially banned the neo-Nazi demonstrations, but the Peaceful Protest
events still went on.
The Peaceful Protest events were organized by a group called the "Civelek a Szélsőjobb Ellen" Mozgalom (or the Citizens Against the Far Right Movement). The movement is an umbrella group of over 50 civil society organization including anti-Fascists,
Jewish organizations, Roma organizations, gay rights groups, green
organizations and humanists. The day included music, information tents, and short speeches -- including the one above by Michael.
You can read more (in Hungarian and English) about the day's events on the website linked above or here in PDF (English text near the end). Also, our friend JD, as usual, is on the case: You can find audio (Hungarian) and photos of more of the day's speeches on his blog at http://lmv.hu/redjade.
UPDATE - 3 Sept 09:
After we updated the video above to our blog, Michael's daughter Aishah posted it on her own facebook page. Later, Aishah wrote to Michael to share a comment she had received on the video from a friend on facebook:
Very cool to make the connections between history & contemporary
issues, but odd to speak out against Neo-Nazis in Eastern Europe
without once mentioning Jews or antisemitism ("Roma, lesbian, gay man,
African Muslim..." "racism, sexism, xenophobia Romaphobia"), especially
since the far right he speaks against continue to include Jews as
targets alongside the ethnic, racial and religious groups listed.
Aishah's friend was not the first to raise this point. Michael sent the following response to Aishah, who posted it it for her friend.
(Aishah), she is absolutely right. Most of the speech was done while I
was speaking and I only had a couple of notes. In fact, I significantly
changed my speech right before I spoke because I did not want to just
repeat what others had been saying. However, as soon as I left the
stage I realized my error--and it was an error.
This is not an
excuse but I may have been the only speaker, out of at least 10, who
did not mention antisemitism but also the only speaker who mentioned Muslims, LGBT, and Black and Asian folks. This does not excuse my
personal omission but please assure your friend that antisemitism was
well addressed at the rally.
-- Dad
For those who may be interested, here is some further reading on the attempted neo-Nazi demonstrations:
On Monday, August 3, we awoke to the news that there had been yet another fatal attack on a Roma home here in Hungary. A 45-year-old Roma woman
was killed and her 13-year-old daughter seriously injured in a
shooting by unknown assailants, shortly after midnight on Sunday night
(Monday morning) in the village of Kisleta, in northeastern Hungary. According to data from the European Roma Rights Centre, over 23 violent attacks against Roma have occurred in Hungary since the beginning of 2008, including 8 fatalities.
This past Friday, August 7, on the same day that the latest victim, Ms. Maria Balogh, was buried, a candlelight vigil was held in Budapest's Deak Square. The photo above comes from a slideshow put together by our friend JD, which you can view on his blog at http://lmv.hu/node/4230.
We've posted a new photo album with a few pictures from our last official Salon of the spring -- our Roma Rights salon on June 12, with special guest Mr. Larry Olomoofe, Director of Human Rights Education at the European Roma Rights Centre.
Also, with many thanks to our good friend JD, we also have audio of the event, available below. JD has divided the audio into different sections, but if you notice, the last player link contains the full unedited file. Enjoy!
Introduction to the Raday Salon by Michael Simmons
On Friday, June 19, Linda and Michael joined some of our friends in a demonstration organized by Iranian students in Budapest to show support for those protesting the recent election in Iran. The Budapest demonstration took place at Heroes' Square -- a quiet gathering with photos and signs and folk songs.
On Tuesday, May 19, Amnesty International Hungary activists joined in a Global Day of Action in support of Troy Davis, an African-American man who was sentenced to death for the 1989 murder of a police officer in the United States, despite strong evidence suggesting he is innocent. Carrying signs and wearing pictures of Troy Davis on their white t-shirts, the AI-HU activists led a “Solidarity Walk” through downtown Budapest, from Vorosmarty Square to the US Embassy. They handed out flyers (Eng - Hun) information sheets (Eng - Hun) to passers-by, and paused near the Godor Klub at Deak ter, and in Szent Istvan ter in front of Szent Istvan Basilica, to reach out to as many people as possible. In Szabadsag ter, as the activists assembled in view of the US Embassy, representatives from several news outlets, including Duna TV, Magyar Nemzet, and Hungarian news agency MTI, were on hand to report the story. Duna TV report on Budapest Troy Davis Solidarity Walk
The Global Day of Action mobilized worldwide opposition to the death penalty in support of Davis, whose case is a particularly egregious example of the inherent injustice of the death penalty. There are several serious and fundamental flaws in his case. No murder weapon or direct evidence was ever found connecting Davis to the murder. Many of the “witnesses” at the original trial have since recanted, saying that police pressured them to implicate Davis. Several witnesses have also implicated another man. Nevertheless, throughout Troy Davis’ long battle to fight his conviction, the courts have focused mainly on procedural issues, while important evidence that he is actually innocent of the crime has not been examined.
With their action, the AI-HU activists added their voices to those of thousands of others, from Argentina to Uganda, as well as all 50 US states, united in their opposition to the death penalty, and calling on the US to deliver justice for Troy Davis.
For
our April Salon we will bring back one of our favorite human rights
films, Murder on a Sunday Morning, which we first showed in 2006.
Winner of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Film, Murder on a
Sunday Morning tells the story of a 15-year-old African-American boy
who is arrested and put on trial for the murder of a Florida tourist –
even though the only thing he appears to be guilty of is being an
African-American male walking near the neighborhood where the crime
happened. The one piece of luck the young man has is that he is
assigned a particularly sharp, determined, and committed public
defender as his lawyer – and the story of how they take on a "justice"
system with injustice at every level makes for suspenseful and often
jaw-dropping watching. To repeat what we have said before about the
film, regardless of what you think you know about the racism in the US,
this film will both shock and uplift you.
