Trailing in the polls, Hungary’s prime minister resorted to his polarizing playbook by attempting to impose a ban. Mass defiance suggests a shift in the political zeitgeist.
In late 1980s Hungary, courageous environmental protests against an unpopular dam project played a part in the eventual collapse of the country’s communist regime. Originally focused on protecting the quality of drinking water for about 3 million Hungarians, some of the largest demonstrations seen since the 1956 Hungarian revolution came also to symbolize a wider rejection of one-party political rule. An era was coming to an end, as authority began to drain away.
It would be premature to predict a similar fate for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s self-styled “illiberal” government, which presides over what the European parliament has described as a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy.”
Orban has ruthlessly consolidated his power since becoming prime minister in 2010, not least through gradually exercising a suffocating hold across the media and civil society.
However, the extraordinary events of the weekend, after his government’s attempts to ban Budapest’s annual pride parade, suggest a new vulnerability.
Organizers had hoped that maybe 40,000 people would brave intimidation, possible fines and the controversial use of facial-recognition technology, after an amendment to Hungary’s constitution allowed LGBTQ+ events to be designated a threat to children. In the event, on a scorching summer’s day in Budapest, they estimated that between 185,000 and 200,000 might have turned up in solidarity. It was, by far, the biggest pride event ever to be held in the city. Out on the streets were large numbers of first-timers, parents with sons and daughters, and demonstrators from across the mainstream political spectrum.
The scale of the backlash points to a significant prime ministerial own-goal. Trailing his former ally turned bitter critic, Peter Magyar, by a substantial margin in polls, Orban chose to target the LGBTQ+ community, just as he has targeted migrants in the past. In attempting to become the first EU leader to ban pride events, his principal aim was to rally support across the right, goad Brussels and set a polarizing trap for Magyar.
However, the outcome was the largest anti-government demonstration since 2010, and a mass mobilization in defense of the broader principles of freedom of assembly and minority rights.
Magyar, who did not attend the march, limited himself on Saturday to criticizing Orban’s perennial efforts to “turn Hungarian against Hungarian, in order to create fear and divide us.”
Eschewing the prime minister’s culture wars, his Tisza party has focused campaigning relentlessly on living standards, healthcare and corruption. In a country that, on Orban’s watch, has become one of the poorest in the EU, that is a sensible approach.
However, the size of the pride turnout should stiffen sinews in Brussels if, as seems inevitable, Orban resorts to ever more desperate tactics to retain power. More than 70 members of the European parliament took part in the march, while European Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib was also in Budapest to meet civil society organizations.
Overall, though, Brussels’ response to Orban’s provocation was constrained by a fear of being seen to interfere in the lead-up to next spring’s election.
That now looks like a misreading of the national mood. Freedom of assembly and non-discrimination are core, non-negotiable values that must be respected by any EU member state. As they passed in such numbers over Erzsebet Bridge, with the Danube below, Saturday’s marchers made that point in unforgettable fashion.
A failure by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to respond to Israel’s brilliant 12-day (June 12-23) bombing and special operations war against Iran, topped by US President Donald Trump’s ordering the June 21 bombing of Iranian deep underground nuclear weapons fuel processing sites, has been noted by some as demonstrating a profound lack of resolve, even “impotence,” by China. However, this would be a dangerous underestimation of CCP ambitions and its broader and more profound military response to the Trump Administration — a challenge that includes an acceleration of its strategies to assist nuclear proxy states, and developing a wide array
Eating at a breakfast shop the other day, I turned to an old man sitting at the table next to mine. “Hey, did you hear that the Legislative Yuan passed a bill to give everyone NT$10,000 [US$340]?” I said, pointing to a newspaper headline. The old man cursed, then said: “Yeah, the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] canceled the NT$100 billion subsidy for Taiwan Power Co and announced they would give everyone NT$10,000 instead. “Nice. Now they are saying that if electricity prices go up, we can just use that cash to pay for it,” he said. “I have no time for drivel like
Twenty-four Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers are facing recall votes on Saturday, prompting nearly all KMT officials and lawmakers to rally their supporters over the past weekend, urging them to vote “no” in a bid to retain their seats and preserve the KMT’s majority in the Legislative Yuan. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which had largely kept its distance from the civic recall campaigns, earlier this month instructed its officials and staff to support the recall groups in a final push to protect the nation. The justification for the recalls has increasingly been framed as a “resistance” movement against China and
Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) reportedly told the EU’s top diplomat that China does not want Russia to lose in Ukraine, because the US could shift its focus to countering Beijing. Wang made the comment while meeting with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas on July 2 at the 13th China-EU High-Level Strategic Dialogue in Brussels, the South China Morning Post and CNN reported. Although contrary to China’s claim of neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, such a frank remark suggests Beijing might prefer a protracted war to keep the US from focusing on
RSS