Back to the Cold War

It's back to the 50s, with The Weekend Australian devoting half a page to the Hungarian uprising of 23 October, 1956. To the right - a heading, "Freedom First: Hungary 1956, a Hungarian flag, and the caption: "On the 60th anniversary of the 1956 revolution in Hungary we express our gratitude to our heroes and to those who sheltered and helped them." To the left - a black-and-white period photograph of civilians marching along a (Budapest?) street, preceded by a man carrying a coloured Hungarian flag, and the caption: "New heroes are born where they are not forgotten." No sponsorship notice appears at the foot of the page.

I've never before seen anything like it in The Australian. It will be interesting to see what other Soviet crimes are similarly commemorated from hereon in. Of course, don't expect to see anything similar when it comes to US, British, French or Israeli crimes.

The Hungarian uprising lasted until November 10, crushed by Soviet troops, following their invasion on November 4. Thousands of Hungarians died in its wake.

Around the same time, from 29 October to 7 November, 1956, a tripartite Anglo-French-Israeli aggression was launched against Egypt with the aim of taking control of the Suez Canal. Thousands of Egyptians, military and civilian, died resisting the invaders. But don't expect those heroes to be commemorated in Murdoch's Australian on the 60th anniversary of their resistance to Anglo-French-Israeli aggression.