Jack and I weren't quite sure what to do about the demonstrations. We were in the same part of town for an English language church service, and we were curious to see -- though also wary of the possible dangers. I've attended my fair share of protests in the U.S., and they've never been scary, but this had potential to be different, and we were very sobered by that fact. Otilia, our host mom, was terrified to go outside yesterday afternoon, and bought two extra loaves of bread just in case the city closed down. She said that in the 1989 revolution and ethnic riots that followed in 1990, shops were closed for a few days, and she wasn't allowed to buy bread from the Hungarian owners of the few bakeries that remained open -- she had to send her husband, who spoke a bit of Hungarian, to try and fool the owners into letting him buy bread. She was afraid the same could happen again, so there in the cupboard they sat, visible markers of her fear that the past is repeating itself: two giant loaves of freshly-baked bread, just in case. She said that twenty years ago the streets were blockaded so no one could get through by bus or car -- only on foot, and even that was dangerous, with the hoards of people, many of whom were from out of town.
It's the out-of-towners who made the people we talked to nervous. In Târgu Mureș the population is about 50% Romanian and 50% Hungarian, and they seem to co-exist quite well, though of course tensions flare to the surface occasionally. But Târgu Mureș is also seen as the central city for the Hungarian population of Romania, the majority of whom live in three districts: Mureș (where Târgu Mureș is located), Harghita, and Covasna. In these districts there is actually a Hungarian majority, meaning that in some small isolated villages there, children grow up speaking only Hungarian, unable to communicate in Romanian at all. These three provinces form the so-called Székely land. There have been calls in the past from Hungarians in these districts for them to be autonomous -- either self-ruling or connected to Hungary (despite the fact that none of them are geographically on the border). These same nationalistic demands are echoed by the Jobbik party inside Hungary (Jobbik is an extremely nationalistic, anti-Roma, anti-Semitic, "Hungarian purity" party that has gained much power in the Hungarian Parliament in recent years -- some call them neo-Nazis. They would love to have "Greater Hungary" back, which includes Transylvania and parts of Slovakia... but that history deserves its own post). Inside Romania, these demands for autonomy largely come from the Székelys, a subgroup of ethnic Hungarians who actually did have autonomous regions from 1952 to 1968, which were then abolished by Ceaușescu. Our host mom Otilia adamantly declared yesterday that Hungarians are good people but that the Székelys are dangerous and troublemakers -- an interesting opinion to come from our gentle hostess, who also believes adamantly that people's common humanity should matter more than their nationality. The demonstrations were supposed to bring in Székelys and Hungarian nationalists from around Romania. It was a bit scary to consider the prospect of angry out-of-towners descending upon a city we have grown fond of, unconcerned for its wellbeing. Hungarians from Târgu Mureș love this city too; they are good neighbors and active citizens and have to live here once the protest is over. But those people who come in from out of town and don't have the same concern for this city, its welfare and its inhabitants -- that can be a bit scary.
So yesterday we were on the lookout, curious as to what we'd see. There had been police and jandarms (soldiers in the Romanian army) patrolling the streets the last few days in higher numbers than usual, especially in the center. We woke up Sunday morning to overcast, rainy skies and a sense of foreboding throughout the city -- and yet life seemed to go on as normal, despite the common knowledge of what was to happen in the afternoon. The police presence and the sense of wariness it created make me wonder what it must have been like to live here under Ceaușescu's authoritarian communist rule... but that's another post as well. However, they seemed well-prepared, and we were praying hard for peace and productive conversation and understanding between the Hungarian demonstrators and any Romanian counter-protesters who showed up.
The march was supposed to start at 4pm and arrive in the center by 6pm or so. Jack and I got to the center around 6:20, wandered for a while without seeing anything other than a hundred or so jandarms with helmets and nightsticks at the ready, and a small group of Romanian 20-something guys with Romanian flags draped over their shoulders, loitering and waiting for something to happen. We ended up eating dinner at a restaurant downtown, watching, waiting, wondering. And at about 7:15 they arrived: a huge line of demonstrators walking down the street through the center, waving Hungarian and Székely flags, carrying torches, singing patriotic anthems and chanting "Székelyföld! Székelyföld!" (Székely land) or "Autonómiá!" (autonomy). It was a bit eery to see the Jobbik flag mixed in among the flags of the Székelys and Hungary -- nationalism is something I can start to wrap my head around (though being from the American cultural melting pot, even that is hard for me to really understand) -- but the fascist, anti-Semitic, anti-Roma, extreme nationalism of Jobbik sent shivers down my spine and makes me, quite frankly, angry.
But for the most part, everything seemed peaceful -- at least until the time when we left, around 8pm. The huge parade marched to the end of the center, gathered in a crowd around the Cultural Palace (a beautiful monument of Hungarian architecture), sang patriotic songs to the accompaniment of a brass band, and then slowly demonstrators walked away, boarding the enormous line of buses (at least 50) which would carry them back across Romania or Hungary to their hometowns. When we left, the line of people was still marching through the center, with no end in sight -- it really was a huge demonstration.
The line of protestors extended down the entire center, and they just kept coming...
At the end of the marching route was a crowd of protestors: this is only a small glimpse.
Marchers demanding autonomy.
We took the maxi taxi back home, catching it from a stop outside the center, since the roads through the center were blocked off by police and full of demonstrators. As we boarded the maxi, a few older men who had been at the protest got on as well, carrying their Székely flags proudly in hand. It was an interesting ride home, as the Hungarians on the maxi taxi talked openly but the Romanian speakers kept silent. We all got off at the same stop, neighbors in Tudor -- but how strange it is to think that some of our neighbors want autonomy from this city, want legal and political freedom from the community of Târgu Mureș which seems so healthy and inclusive and well-functioning. It was a bit disturbing, to be frank, particularly after seeing the Jobbik influence at the march. But we got home safely, and today the police officers on our street corner are gone. Life is back to normal... whatever that means.
We're praying that in the later hours of the night, yesterday's demonstrations remained peaceful. We haven't yet heard otherwise, so we are optimistic about the civility of the whole affair. But more than that, we even dare to pray that these demonstrations may have been productive and somehow led the conversation in the direction of reconciliation and peace. Maybe it's a crazy thing to pray, when we know full well that resentment, hostility, and violence so often win the day, and that things are so unlikely to change -- but we believe in a crazy God who already defeated death and evil and is coming back to restore all things, so we dare to pray for this now. And we'd love to have you pray with us.
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