“The old question emerges again: Do we bow to foreign designs – this time, the designs of Brussels – or do we resist them? It is this grave decision that Hungary must make now,” Mr Orbán said. He suggested that “our answer should be as clear and as evident as it was in 1956.” “We will not take part in any imperial contest, and don’t want to take part in the hostilities of others. We don’t believe in ideologies seeking to make the world a happier place, whether they come from the East or the West. We only want one thing: We want to live in peace here in the Carpathian Basin, according to our own rules and seeking our own advancement,” he said.
He stated that we had already proved a hundred times that we were not scared by the blackmail of the empire of the day. “We know that they want to force us into war. We know that they want to dump migrants on us. We know that they want to push our children into the hands of gender activists,” he pointed out.
In reference to the Tisza Party and its leader Péter Magyar, he added that “we know that they have already picked the replacement puppet government. They have already chosen the party they want to force on us. They even have the man for the job; a regular yes-man who is ready to sign anything. An ideal candidate to head a puppet government.”
The Prime Minister recalled the debate held in the European Parliament two weeks ago in connection with Hungary’s EU presidency, stressing that the whole country could see that the government side defended the Hungarian interest and Hungarian freedom against the imperial policy of the European Union, while the Hungarian opposition “offered its services to the empire.”
Protecting family and defending country is a right-wing national tradition, while selling country and betraying family is an internationalist tradition, he stated, adding that the new opposition is doing exactly what the old one did, meaning that they are inviting in foreigners to help them against the Hungarians; in 1956, it was leaders delegated by Moscow, today it is leaders delegated by Brussels.
“In the duel between David and Goliath, they somehow always choose to side with Goliath. But there is something they always forget, the end of the story. Because the end of this story is always the same. Goliath loses, David wins. And then they can pack and leave. Béla Kun and his cronies for Vienna, Rákosi and his cronies for Moscow, while the latest ones for Brussels,” he added.
Referring to Péter Magyar, he said “the new leader of the opposition is there, at their table, sitting next to Manfred Weber.” In his view, this is not a conspiracy theory, but “a conspiracy in practice, executed before the whole wide world.” “A new 21st century love story. The Brussels master patted the dog on the head, the rest everyone could see. The scent of love filled the room,” he said.
Mr Orbán described 1956 as the fight of David and Goliath, as the freedom fight of Hungary against a world empire. He recalled that as Hungary fought against the Turks at Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) or in 1848 against Vienna, so it did in 1956 against the Soviet troops.
He also stressed that those who were true patriots were fighting for Hungarian freedom also today. At the same time, referring to the Tisza Party, he warned that cutting a hole in the middle of the flag does not make anyone a true patriot in 2024. “Throwing a Molotov cocktail doesn’t make you a hero of 1956. Clothes don’t make a freedom fighter, and neither does empty talk make a freedom fighter. Only deeds count, and deeds speak for themselves,” he said.
Mr Orbán said in 1956 we had unity, we had a shared will, but we did not have enough strength for sovereign action.
He added that today, however, there was robust national unity behind the right-wing government, there was a shared will and this was also combined with strength.
“Today we have scope for sovereign action, and I promise you we will use it,” he said.
He stressed that being Hungarian equalled fighting; this is what the heroes of 1956 teach us and demand of us,. “We won’t tolerate Hungary being reduced to a puppet state again, a vassal of Brussels. They won’t succeed. Here, they won’t be able to break through. We will win, they will lose. We Hungarians are able to do this, and will do it. We will do it again,” he stated.
At the beginning of his speech, Mr Orbán said thank you to those who took part in the flood defence effort and who were the special guests of the family day that followed the commemoration. He described the work accomplished by the water and disaster management personnel, soldiers, police officers and volunteers a month previously as superhuman, adding that the flood on the Danube claimed as many as 24 lives in other countries and losses caused by the flood are above EUR 10 billion. Hungary, however, did not lose a single human life and succeeded in minimising its material losses as well.
The Prime Minster said when “danger approaches,” when the country is in trouble, we must combine forces. Hungarians are a stubborn people: they will not tolerate any superior power interfering with their lives. However, they observe the law of unity because without it there is no freedom, there is no security.
Without unity the forces of nature would knock us off our feet. Without unity alien powers would rule over us who would – sooner or later – rob us of all our possessions and land us in the fate of debt slaves, he added.
He said the 1956 revolution was preceded by multiple blows of fate: in January there was an earthquake, while in March the icy flood inundated the Danube region, killing adults and children. In his view, this was a warning sign that it was time to prepare for great times calling for unity.
Mr Orbán said in October 1956, after the Danube, “history, too, burst its banks” because Hungary could not tolerate the Soviet Empire’s oppression any further. “The Hungarians are a freedom-loving and freedom-fighting people. They don’t take kindly to reins, and it’s only a question of time before they break out of their harnesses. Not a single occupier has as yet succeeded in breaking or taming the Hungarians,” he said.
He stated that the oppression of the Soviet Empire had shackled and also hobbled the Hungarians on whom a puppet government had been imposed. A puppet government led by collaborator Hungarians whose duty it was to treacherously hand over the assets of Hungarians to a foreign power, and to put the hard work and vitality of the Hungarians in the service of imperial interests, he added.
The Prime Minister highlighted that empires liked being invited in, and did everything they could to ensure that there were Hungarians to finally invite them in. This is just what the Soviet Union did as well, he observed, recalling that the Soviets wanted their comrades, the Hungarian communists to constitute the puppet government which would then ask the occupying Soviet troops to stay.
He recalled that they had imprisoned non-communist leaders with trumped-up charges and had cornered the Hungarian people with intimidation, blackmail and violence. What they did not like they locked up, what they liked they occupied, and then pushed their fellow comrades into power with election fraud, he said, adding that as a result, they finally succeeded in forcing Moscow cadres onto the Hungarian people.
Mr Orbán said “they have all the weapons of power in their hands in vain, they outnumber us in vain, there is a world political necessity in vain; the Hungarians don’t tolerate humiliation. In order for all puppet regimes and empires to understand once and for all, and never to forget, we accomplished the brightest freedom fight in world history.” We taught them once and for all not to hurt the Hungarians, he stated.
He said the Soviets and their communist lieutenants understood the lesson, and in the next thirty-four years, they restrained their urges and finally left. This is why we can stand here today, this is why we can be free today, and this is why everyone in the world knows today that they must be careful with the Hungarians. Gloria Victis – Glory to the Heroes, he said.
Mr Orbán pointed out that today history was about to burst its banks again. The writing is on the wall once more, we have seen the signs, and in the year ahead, we will have to keep history, rather than a mere river in its bed, he stressed. He said in our immediate neighbourhood a war has been ongoing for three years which is becoming ever bloodier and ever more desperate, and no one knows how long it will last.
On the frontline hundreds of thousands have already been killed, the European economy, too, has been shot in the lung, money is being sent to Ukraine in uncounted millions, growth has stopped, prices are sky-high, and European businesses are suffering, he listed.
The sanctions are bleeding us dry, investors are moving from Europe to America, and meanwhile European leaders delude themselves with an illusion of war victory. For three years the warring parties have been unable to get the better of each other, the bloodshed has been ongoing, and in the meantime there is an ever increasing chance of the war escalating, he added, observing that if it does escalates and spread, no one knows where it will stop.
He highlighted that in the past seventy years never before had we been closer to a World War. Everyone can see it, but everyone pretends not to see that “the emperor has no clothes,” he added.
He said it is time to say out loud that European leaders, the bureaucrats of Brussels have led the West into a hopeless war. In their heads dizzy with the hope of victory, this war is the war of the West against Russia which we must win; we must bring the enemy to its knees and must maximise its losses, he said, adding that this is their overarching common goal.
Mr Orbán stressed that they now wanted to push the entire European Union into the war in Ukraine. They have even published the new victory plan, the essence of which lies in the escalation of the war, he pointed out.
He said the plan is for NATO to extend an immediate invitation to Ukraine and to transfer the theatre of war to Russian soil. It is also part of the plan that once victory is secured on the Eastern front, Ukraine will agree – standing in for the Americans – to guarantee the security of the whole of Europe with its own reinforced army.
“One morning we Hungarians will wake up to find once again that Slavic soldiers coming from the East are stationed in the territory of Hungary. But we don’t want that,” Mr Orbán stated.
He said pressure from Brussels on both the country and the government is intensifying with every single day. We Hungarians, too, must decide whether we want to go to war against Russia.
According to our political opponents, we must. For them, the lesson of 1956 is that we must fight for Ukraine; what’s more, in Ukraine, he said.
For us, the lesson of 1956 is that we must only fight for one thing: for Hungary and Hungarian freedom, he laid down. He highlighted that we can now do the most for Hungary and Hungarian freedom by not taking part in the war of others, by not allowing anyone to turn our country into a war zone and by preserving Hungary’s freedom, peace and security.
“Let’s not bury our heads in the sand. Let’s face reality. This war is crippling the entire European economy and millions of families will be ruined if we allow things to continue like this. So, we shouldn’t, Dear Friends.”
“Glory to the Hungarian heroes of 1956! The Lord above us all, Hungary before everything. Come on Hungary, come on Hungarians!” the Prime Minister said in conclusion.