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Rise against | Csongor Fényes | TEDxBudapestSalon


so what if I say politics no tram please
if you want to leave and don’t want to
listen about politics you can do it now
or you can stay here and listen my real
story why I love this field so much ok
nobody left cool I can still remember I
was seven or eight years old when one
random sunny day I ran home and asked my
mother who the hell is Victor Orbin she
was shocked I can still remember how my
mother could feel in that moment her son
gonna have so much trouble in his life
and she was right but she never answered
my question but thanks to my teachers at
elementary school I could get two things
about Victor Orban and politics they
like to make their friends rich and they
not be loved once when I was around ten
or you have eleven years old they asked
me younger what would you like to do
when you’re gonna be a grow up I had two
dreams one of my dream was to be as good
as basketball player as Michael Jordan
was in the 90s so I replied I want to be
a basketball player and at the same time
I had another answer I wanted to be a
politician who is responsible to make
excuses to matter it’s funny cuz I
coudn’t of any single math and anything
your math examples in classes but I know
what
my classmates lead at elementary school
but after a couple of years I had to
realize Michael Jordan is a gifted
player and no matter what I couldn’t
reach one percent of his level
so I said myself okay John worth just
let it go you won’t be an NBA player who
knows maybe you gonna be a next big
hungarian politician yeah I was pretty
confident in those days I know couple
years later in in high school I joined
to a local government and at the same
time I joined two political party a
green party
because some random politicians wanted
to chop out trees next to my house I
could learn one thing there I don’t want
to be a politician anymore I don’t want
to take part in political parties so I
quit as fast as I could in my last year
at high school we had so many things you
know the through super stressful year
with college applications final exams
and the damn prom you know when you have
to dance and I cannot dance at all
so I said them I won dance no matter
what so I raised against norms and they
weren’t happy at all actually it was a
one-man show nobody enjoyed to my little
poor performance so instead of going to
the prom and dance I went to the
basketball game with my friends we
travelled 200 kilometers but we lost in
overtime I was total alone in that
moment you know just like in politics
maybe if you have a good idea maybe
people will join you and you’re gonna be
the next big thing the next week face of
a social movement or
particle party or you may be alone I was
alone in that moment when I raced
against the powerless in high school all
the people who surrounded me Tony
younger you’re gonna be nothing she was
gonna be a faceless code in the system
so I said them and I said to myself as
well I’m being them wrong and I’m gonna
be someone so I went from the
countryside to Budapest and I started to
study sociology and was in my third year
when I had a super cool class where my
professor started to talk about how
night 90-68 movement affected to
everyday life The Rolling Stones The
Beatles sang about it maybe you heard
these songs all my role models were
there I just write so many pieces and
articles about it
it was so fascinating to hear it so i
said myself okay maybe I can do the same
in that same year my government had an
idea to go back in time and instead of
encourage people to go to university and
be well-educated they just started to
cut places and they started to take all
of the scholarships from us I was so
pissed man I was so pissed I can still
remember when I went home with a train I
can and I literally read the news and I
said I said okay it’s it’s my time I had
to do something so I took her off the
train and got back Budapest as soon as I
could and here in my university there
was a small group maybe 10 or 12 people
who were totally against this idea as I
we organized a big forum like like
Greeks you know thousands of people came
to our university we started to discuss
together what should we do next you know
I just grabbed the mic
it was my moment it really was my moment
but I asked them what what should we do
next actually people wanted to go out to
the street so we went out streets we
occupied bridges we went to the main
square and we just stay there we said
now we want or places at the University
that was the first time of or golden age
after that we build our community from
the zero to not word why but Hungarian
white people joined every single cities
in Hungary after that actually because
of us and because of or governor or
movement now more than 50 thousand
people could still study for free at
university of course we couidn’t reach
all of our goals but that was the main
goal and we reach that because we act
together since then I graduated it
became a social researcher and now I’m
living in Sweden as a balloon or
movement just disappeared all the people
left maybe some of them are living here
some of them are Ian’s we them in Norway
even in Spain
yeah that’s happened and I just became
like it became says what happened there
I just wanted you to to feel what
happened in art or movement why why you
disappeared that fast and I just had a
new idea that
I don’t have to concentrate to the
present I have to concentrate to the
past because the answer is political
socialization it’s a lifelong think it’s
a lifelong yes it’s a lifelong thing
when you start it when you are around
four years old and it’s ended when you
die tonight long process actually so it
focused that and I realized politics and
political things surrounds us when you
you draw your first flag at the age of
four when you roll when you write or
draw it it’s political socialization
when you shout your favorite pant rocks
bands lyrics lyrics it’s political
socialization the problem is here in
Hungary the agents the so-called agents
and not working the family the school
system the peers even the media it’s not
working but there are several people in
this country and there are several
people in the world where something
happened differently and we have to
concentrate in this so I’m not a rebel
I’m not a random rebel my friends are
not random rebels they are the new
generation they are the generation who
are extremely extremely into politics as
I am so if we find those triggers where
they become more active and we make it
for us and we share it then maybe just
maybe we can make life more politically
active so I just ask two things from you
guys
talk about politics and and if you do it
you don’t have to wear ties or I don’t
know fancy clothes suits you know like
politicians you just can do it here or
at home or if you have a child you can
talk with your child if you have friends
you can discuss it at pops I just ask
just do it
thank you
[Music] [Applause]
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