at my table

Silent and Freedom Becomes Forbidden

I grew up in a small Hungarian village with just 60 people, and although I never truly encountered the law, every moment around me was filled with freedom. The people in our village didn’t engage directly with politics, but they were aware of the world around them. They focused on their work and their families, and we called this political indifference in our community.

I too lived my life without concern for politics, until 2010, when I knew nothing about the events or the Hungarian government. One day, however, my late grandmother, sitting next to me in church, suddenly said:

“They’ve taken Christianity from us”, — holding a Hosanna book in her hands.

In 2024, I stood at a protest in Budapest, opposing the unlawful practices of the same government my grandmother had warned me about years ago. The crowd around me demanded the restoration of the rule of law, the protection of constitutional rights, and an end to abuses of power, fighting for a country that had steadily drifted away from its democratic foundations.

There I stood, no longer a child from a tiny village, but a protester in the heart of the capital, facing a regime whose true nature she had recognized long before I did.

Although I now live in America and my grandmother has long since passed, the insight she once shared with me in church has only grown stronger over the years. In 2025, as I stood in front of the public media headquarters amidst a crowd, I felt the same deep sense of resistance that had stirred past generations, like in 1956, when a nation rose against oppression.

Though the tactics of those in power have changed, their aim remains unchanged: to control the narrative and silence those who speak out or hold differing views.

I came to build a sustainable future for myself, and now I am fighting for the fundamental rights of immigrants. Christian values and my grandmother’s Hosanna continue to guide me as my moral compass. I will not tolerate any government manipulating people’s religious beliefs or legal autonomy through political means. As individuals, we have the right to self-determination and religious freedom, as guaranteed by the Constitution. It is unacceptable for constitutional laws to be amended solely to generate social tension and division within society.

“First they came for the communists, but I did not speak out because I was not a communist.

Then they came for yhe Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

— Martin Niemöller

Now I stand here.

I speak up before there is no one left to speak for me.