Is Hungary still a democracy? It was a question I posed to Nora Koves, an activist with the pro-democracy Eotvos Karoly Institute, in the Castro Bistro cafe in central Budapest. “I wouldn’t say that, no. Not, I think, any more. We are heading to a kind of dictatorship, but we are not there yet. We are somewhere between.”
That was in the winter of 2016, a few months after the institute had discovered that it had been professionally bugged. A year-and-a-half later, on the eve of Hungary’s general election today, the situation has only deteriorated further. Hungary has been ruled by the authoritarian Fidesz and its leader Viktor Orban for eight years. Fidesz is a party that combines contempt for democracy with xenophobia and crude antisemitic tropes. George Soros has long been a demonic figure for the far-Right, playing the traditional caricatured role of sinister Jewish puppetmaster.
In Hungary, Soros adorns pro-government billboards, accused by Orban of conspiring to overwhelm the country with immigrants and refugees. His regime is cracking down on foreign-funded NGOs — particularly those linked to Soros. BuzzFeed has just exposed how an undercover operation is seeking to undermine and neutralise Soros-linked NGOs. It’s not surprising: Soros-funded NGOS “must be pushed back with all available tools”, says Fidesz deputy chairman Szilard Nemeth, “and I think they must be swept out”. The use of state-sanctioned antisemitic tropes is profoundly disturbing in a country in which nearly a third hold “strong or moderate” antisemitic views, against a backdrop of 400,000 Hungarian Jews having been exterminated in the Holocaust.
Orban brags of creating an “illiberal democracy”. It is indeed evolving in the direction of other states, such as Russia and Turkey, which maintain the pretence, the trappings if you like, of democracy: There are elections, there are different political parties, there are different media outlets. But the actual substance of democracy is hollowed out.
For example, after the largest independent newspaper, Nepszabadsag, uncovered scandals involving Fidesz, it was suspended and sold to a pro-Orban firm. Pro-government businesses have bought up other media outlets, while public broadcasters echo the regime’s line. An electoral system that exploits the fragmentation of Hungary’s opposition hands a dramatic advantage to the ruling regime.
Democracy is dying not just in Hungary, but in neighbouring Poland as well, where another authoritarian government is rigging the political system in its favour. It is scandalous that the British government is attempting to cosy up to Orban’s autocratic regime in order to court support for a favourable Brexit deal. By these means, authoritarian populists are emboldened everywhere to assault democracy and civil liberties. For those of us who believe in solidarity, the war on democracy in Hungary is a war on democracy everywhere.
— Guardian News & Media Ltd
Owen Jones is a Guardian columnist.
