"We would act as if we were living in a democracy"

Inspiring article in New Scientist about "The dam that broke the Berlin Wall": "We announced that we didn't accept censorship. We would act as if we were living in a democracy"

1980: Janos Vargha writes article (supressed) opposing the Hungarian-Czechoslovakian Nagymaros dam construction project for the Danube

1985: Vargha's organisation, the Danube Circle, receives the Right Livelihood award (alternative Nobel Prize)

1988: Hungary and Czechoslovakia sign treaty to speed up the project; 50,000 people march through Budapest in protest

May 1989: Hungarian government backs down; minister for foreign affairs, Gyula Horn, tears up the dam treaty

Sep 1989: Gyula Horn announces the opening of the border between Hungary and Austria, and that East Germans will be allowed through as well as Hungarians

Nov 1989: Berlin Wall is opened