Four figures are standing still on a ledge of a building in central Budapest, their poses compelling in their sereneness and quiet resolution (their faces covered by masks, since all of this is happening on the backdrop of a global pandemic). The building is adorned with numerous hand-written banners: a large one behind their backs says: “Kiálunk az egyetemünk szabadságáért (We stand up for our university’s freedom) #freeszfe”. The hashtag #freeszfe, derived from the acronym of The University of Theatre and Film Arts Budapest (Színház- és Filmművészeti Egyetem, SZFE), has been popping up on pavements, walls and custom-made yellow masks around town in the last couple of months.
International support
Hollywood stars and several culture and literary personalities, including Salman Rushdie, Cate Blanchett and many others, have posted selfies with a raised hand and the #freeszfe hashtag scribbled on their palms. On October 23rd, the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian revolution, around 30 000 protesters silently walked through the streets of Budapest in support of #freeszfe, borrowing the slogan - Szabad ország, szabad egyetem – Free country, free university - of the 2012 education reform protests. Subsequently, this slogan appeared at the teacher's protests and the protests in support of Central European University (CEU), which has since relocated to Vienna.
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What the conflict is about
The history of SZFE dates back to 1865. It is thus the oldest higher education art institution in Hungary, having many alumni with illustrious careers, such as Academy Award (Oscar) winners Vilmos Zsigmond and Géza Röhrig, and iconic directors such as Béla Tarr. Early July this year, a law was passed about the handover of the university to a private foundation run by a new management appointed by the ministry. This structural change has taken place at other Hungarian universities, and the artistic ones are supposed to implement this as of January 2021. In the case of SZFE, this was moved to September 2020.
Máté Gáspár, former head of department and tutor, was one of the first to resign from SZFE in the wake of these changes:
"In August, instead of introducing themselves and starting dialogue, this board rewrote the university charter as well as the organisational and operational rules without any preceding negotiations. The Board of Trustees, the highest decision-making body and the University Senate (which represented all university citizens), was taken over by the new board without including any university representatives. In response, the entire hitherto management of the university resigned and the students began a blockade. This dispute has been going on since September 1."
The new board is run by head of the National Theatre Attila Vidnyánszky who appointed former army officer Gábor Szarka as a chancellor and it includes members that are not only from the world of theatre and film, but also the oil industry. “It's an incredible political game from the very first moment,” Vidnyánszky said in an interview with Origo.hu, claiming Amnesty International is apparently helping the student blockade. Later, in an online discourse organised by European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education, he claimed left-wing political parties were fuelling it. In another interview, he mentioned he would like to incorporate themes such as “nation, home and Christianity” into the university curriculum. These themes have also been championed in the National Theatre under his leadership, and as such are more or less in sync with Orbán's illiberal, or as of late, “Christian democracy”.
Inside the blockade
Students occupied the university building on Vas street in downtown Budapest until the new coronavirus restrictions forced them to move the blockade online. They developed a complex system of task-management, discussion forums held inside the occupied building, as well as at other institutions. “There are permanent guards and solidarity ‘guards’ composed of former students and teachers as well as representatives of other institutions who take 30-minute guard shifts on the roof of the Vas street building,” (this lasted until 30 Sept) says Bálint Antal, a 5th year theatre directing student at SZFE.
An autonomous academic system has developed (often called tanköztársaság in this context, which translates as something like "academic republic"). “There's a communications working group, an internal documentation team: there are probably more than 100 such working groups. In addition, tuition is taking place as far as the epidemic situation allows. There are classes that are not affected - despite all the undermining by the newly appointed leadership - we can incorporate other classes into activities around university blockade, but there are also online classes. Organising a 15,000-person protest often requires similar organizational skills to staging a performance (a chorus rehearsal, for instance, could be focused on the songs that are then performed at the blockade happenings, actors learn complex press releases which they then communicate them to the public). Some kind of cooperation has developed between the university occupation and tuition. We've also launched courses that students from other departments can join: film classes can be attended by theatre students, and vice versa - that has been an old dream of ours."