Drifting through Cityscapes Drifting through Cityscapes MTL final copy | Page 32

GEORGINA DAVIS
Georgina St Pauls Carnival 1968.
This is a photo I took at the recent weeklong student
occupation of Kossuth Tér, right outside parliament
building; a symbolic challenge to authority. After the
2006 protests in Hungary Orban’s government rede-
signed Kossuth Tér in 2012 as a way of discouraging
public action, turning it into a space that could be
controlled easily. The fact that just last week students
occupied this space, providing an open university
and lectures is a great example of how space has
been transformed as a way of resisting this authority.
Although students had to work within a range of laws
and regulations that were restrictive, a movement
has been created within this space that shows soli-
darity against the governments alarming actions in
limiting academic freedom and banning Gender
studies. This movement can be likened to the student
and worker revolts of 1968 as part of a radical move-
ment against democracy. This image, snapshot in
time is particularly powerful and I think shows that the
possibility remains for challenges against existing or-
der, especially important in this context, Hungary,
where there have been recent restriction to this free-
dom of association and expression against the gov-
ernments actions. This photo made me think how
space has been used as a symbolic reaction against
the authority that normally determine and control
what goes on within.
weeklong student occupation of Kossuth Tér in 2012.