Zsolt Bayer's note is published in its entirety.
As soon as I read the ambassador's speech, which he gave on the occasion that the United States returned the Holy Crown 45 years ago (although really: he could have kept it forever, just as Comrade Lenin could have shot it among the children, he still returned their ball - hand kiss to the brilliant and gracious Defderdars!) – so, as I read the speech, I immediately thought of the Southern Alliance. They say the ambassador is a fine, educated person, so I'm sure he's heard of the aforementioned association. I hope so, because this assumed knowledge will help a lot in what follows.
So, as Mr. Ambassador presumably knows, the Delos Alliance was formed after the end of the Persian wars, after the great victory at Plataia, for the reason that the Persians would never again be able and dare not trouble the Greeks. And our year is 478 before Christ, which I mention only to make it clear: human history did not begin with the invention of Coca-Cola, and not even with that great, brave moment when thirty-nine rebel Dakota were hanged at the same time in Mankato, and then their corpses were desecrated, and pretty little souvenirs were made from the flayed skin of the dead, while the skeleton of Grand Chief Little Crow was displayed for money - in vain, "business as usual" - and then it is extremely difficult to invent anything new in history, especially if it is about human meanness, evil, bestiality it's about
But let's not wander off, let's get back to that particular alliance!
Athens led the Alliance of Delos, Athens called it into existence, Athenian democracy was its guiding force and ethos - and that particular democracy and its "spread" then turned that alliance into a tyranny, and within it, the city-states outside of Athens became colonies. Are you not familiar with the situation, Mr. Ambassador? Isn't the analogy dawning yet? I'll continue then. Athens said that she, as the strongest and most powerful and most democratic, would protect the others from the Persians. Therefore, in return, he only expects taxes, military force, unconditional obedience, and that the members of the alliance do without contradiction what Athens prescribes for them.
I think the ambassador is starting to get confused, but let's dive into the details a little. The trouble started when it became obvious that the Persians had no intention of attacking the Greeks, but Athens still steadfastly defended them, moreover, it placed such a burden on the shoulders of the other members of the alliance that it was already greater than if they had surrendered to the Persians.
But the city-states might have tolerated this, but Athens - I repeat - told them more and more accurately and aggressively what they should and shouldn't do, what they should think, how they should live. Sparta could not tolerate this indefinitely, and the Peloponnesian Alliance, which it had called into being, then got into a war with the Southern Alliance. Let us note here that the European Union could (could have) been the Peloponnesian Union against you, Mr. Ambassador, but it did not become that, because there is neither a Spartan nor an Aiginian in the western part of Europe these days.
The most recent rebellion against you here in the union was in the movie Love Actually, when Hugh Grant, playing the British Prime Minister, dares to say to the actor playing the American President (Bush) at a press conference: “Journalist: Was the meeting successful, Mr. President?
US President: Above was satisfactory, thank you. We got what we came for and our relationship is very special.
Journalist: Prime Minister?
British Prime Minister: Relationship is a good word. It covers all kinds of sins. I think this is a bad relationship now. It's about the president taking everything he wants and ignoring everything that's really important… to us. We may be a small country, but we are also a big one. Shakespeare, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter are at home here. David Beckham's right foot... and his left foot, for that matter. A quarrelsome friend is no longer our friend. Since the basa only knows about strength, I am ready to be stronger, and Mr. President can also prepare for it."
Well, that was Europe's last rebellion against you, Mr. Ambassador, since then there has been silence. The sentences taken from the film are very relevant, aren't they, Mr. Ambassador? Although it is also true that Shakespeare has since been banned in many British schools and university courses, which explains a lot, not to mention the fact that the British have left the EU and have been so stupid since then. So there is silence. To quote a Hungarian poet, Mihály Vörösmarty (according to many, this is the most beautiful Hungarian poem ever written): "Now it is winter and silence and snow and death."
It was as if Athens had won a complete victory.
But you didn't win, Mr. Ambassador, so don't trust yourself. It is true that we are now where the Délos Association was when Antisthenes wrote his animal fable: "Rabbits once demanded equality for all animals in the people's assembly. After the words of the appointed speaker of the rabbits, the lion stood up and answered: "The words of the rabbits lack the claws and teeth of the lions!" This is true, and we certainly know this, as the members of the Délosz Szötség also knew, since on paper everyone had one vote there, and everyone's vote was worth the same.
It's just those claws and teeth, isn't it, Ambassador? I am such that when I listen to your speeches, the words of Pericles, the great democrat, come to mind (cited by Thucydides in the second book of his work The Peloponnesian Wars): "You must not think that the fight is only for one thing, for freedom instead of servitude ; it is about the loss of power, about the danger that threatens from those who hate you in your rule. And this can no longer be given up, even if someone, tainted by passivity in the present circumstances, wants to play the good man.
Because this is already a tyranny in the hands, which may seem like an injustice to seize, but to dismiss is a mortal danger." This is how you talk to us, Mr. Ambassador. Educatively, threateningly, with the posture of colonialists, demanding that we do and live as you define. And in their aspirations and intentions, their great ally is the European Union, which, instead of being Sparta, cowardly, sly and self-sacrificingly supports your "democratic tyranny".
I will give a recent example, it contains everything.
The city of Swidnik in Poland declared in 2019 that it is not willing to tolerate any kind of LGBTQ propaganda, and that they will fight against it, because everything that goes on in this area is completely contrary to their own beliefs. Then three years passed and the town of Swidnik created a new ordinance declaring that they are now straight fans of LGBTQ propaganda and will do everything they can to combat discrimination against sexual minorities. Why all this?
Because they were blackmailed into giving up their own principles with the EU money due to them. Now there will be money, but honor, conviction, self-respect and self-determination will be lost.
Do you think the people of Swidnik really fell for LGBTQ propaganda? They didn't fall in love. They do it for money because they were blackmailed. Do you think this will help the alliance and endear Swidnik to “Athens”? Obviously not - but who cares, right, Ambassador? We are right there, as during the Southern Alliance, when, for example, Athens forced a constitution on the city-state of Erüthra, which subjugated them to the will of Athens in full detail, and obliged Erüthra's officials to swear allegiance to Athens.
We live in this, Mr. Ambassador. You and your EU allies would most like to write a new constitution with us (for themselves), they want to prescribe in as much detail as possible what we should think, how we should live, what we should think about faith, family, nation, religion, church, men and women, allies, friends and enemies, how to organize our universities, what to teach and what not to teach, what should be our state order, our market, our energy policy, our industry, with whom we should trade and with whom we should not, and above all, never dare to act according to our own interests. And for all this they blackmail us with money.
Do you know Toldi, Mr. Ambassador? Obviously not. Don't worry, I'll quote you a scene from it, the one when Miklós' brother György visits his parents' house from the royal court, where he "only changes the plate", and soon gets into a fight with his younger brother. Listen, Mr. Ambassador:
"In order not to be under anyone's feet, / I don't mind, yes, even today I will leave;
/ The world is a hundred miles, both this way and that way: / I don't mind, yes, I'll go today too. / But what is mine, I will take from here: / Give me, brother, at once what belongs to me; / Give me my right: money, paripa, weapon: / Immediately - may God bless all people. »Here's your chance, kid; don't say I didn't give it out!« / György shouts and slaps him in the face, he also snaps. / Miklós Toldi doesn't even have pigeon guts, / The soul of revenge moves into him; / His eyes, like steel, throw up the spark, / The bony mace of his fist is about to strike; / György backs away scared, all the way there: / This blow will be the last stroke;"
For some reason, this always comes to mind, Mr. Ambassador, when I listen to you. The juss. Let's go. On the one hand, what you believe to be a donation, on the other hand, you believe that you can make up for it with a slap in the face. And if we wanted to fight back, they would immediately call for a dictatorship in the name of Periclesian "democratic tyranny".
It's not so good. You know, adults live in this country, and most of us are Miklós Toldi. For us, György Toldi, the Athenians, the Periclesian democratic tyranny (that is, you), the unwilling, weak, self-surrendering and self-surrendering, snappy and infinitely stupid EU are unattractive perspectives. Here, Thucydides' report floats before our eyes, according to which Pericles expelled "only" the aristocracy from Chalcis, but already the entire population of the Hestians, and replaced them with Athenians. This is how Athens first became "only" hegemon in the Delos Alliance, and later turned the entire alliance into an Athenian empire. The principle of equality has been replaced by the "democracy" and equality of claws and teeth.
Zsolt Bayer's note in Magyar Nemzet, published here.
Image: Szilárd Koszticsák
