Thousands of Hungarians gathered outside the headquarters of the country’s state television on Saturday, protesting against what they described as the government’s “propaganda machine” and calling for an independent public service media.
The protestors, from the opposition TISZA party, say that the state broadcaster MTVA is running biased propaganda, featuring only politicians from Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s party and government, and analysts repeating their narrative.
The centre-right TISZA party, led by media-savvy political newcomer, Peter Magyar, is posing the biggest challenge to right-wing nationalist Orban since he swept to power in 2010.
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While the public media primarily serves as a government mouthpiece, private media is largely controlled by allies of Orban’s Fidesz.
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The UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression Irene Khan has said there was “a distorted media environment in Hungary where pluralism, diversity and independence of media is being questioned.”
I am cheering Hungarian for this.
Poland managed to stop PiS implementing similar policies, although Poland didn’t get as far as Hungary with the control, but definitively used Hungary as the blueprint.
Just want to say here, something is happening in Hungary that has not happened for 20 years, there is a credible opposition for Orbán. This is different from all the earlier protests, there is actual popular support behind this, even in the countryside.
That said, Magyar is basically Macron to Orbán’s Le Pen. No credible leftists exist in Hungary.
Given the brutal soviet oppression they endured for decades that’s understandable
The stupid thing is it wasn’t even that, the Hungarian Socialist Party got elected multiple times even this century. It’s just that the party leader of the socialists had this awful leaked speech to his party members, basically admitting they are doing fuck all but steal what they could.
Orbán was elected with a supermajority as a protest vote against the socialists, and immediately changed the constitution and voting laws, and that’s how this mess got started. Unlimited EU funds to steal, and the migrant crisis in 2015 cemented that.
The reason there has been no credible opposition is that this ex-prime minister has stayed in politics and tainted all opposition attempts since, since he still has some support from a small but stable base, nobody could form an opposition block with or without him.
Oh yeah, I’m sure Orban is going to be convinced by this and will change things.
Of course he won’t, they aren’t trying to convince Orban, they are trying to convince the people of Hungary to vote him out in the next election
Does Hungarian democracy (ie voting) still work though?
Yes, it largely does. Orbán so far worked through rewriting the rules, not breaking them. To be honest, I am not sure that he has enough support to break them, he’s relying on nobody giving a shit.
The government still has outsized influence, but Péter Magyar, who organized this protest, accumulated enough support to actually credibly challenge the government. He went from 0 to 37% in 5 months, with the government being a steady 40%.
So good question, there is a lot of entrenchment Orbán has, like the fact most public and private property in the country is concentrated in private funds he ultimately owns. So an election victory would only be the beginning, but still, it can happen.
Orbán is funding his empire with public money, even closing off the EU grants are having dramatic effects. If he loses even Hungarian public funds, his people will definitely revolt. The problem with all the stolen property is that none of it brings any revenue, because they are all run by idiots, since Orbán can’t trust someone smarter than himself.
What should Hungarians do to prevent a further drift into dictatorship? Sitting at home and watching propaganda TV?
Those protesting are what might saves Hungarian democracy long-term regardless of success, but their success would only count short-term if elections themselves aren’t rigged, which I cannot prove or disprove.
Cute of you to think they still have a functioning and fair election, or that people are going to be convinced by this when they actually want exactly what they have.
Elections in Hungary are still free (although not very fair), Orban has held on largely through state propaganda (what they are protesting) and the fact that previous opposition groups have been incompetent and unpopular, while the new Tisza group is much more united and popular
Good luck!
Yessss! I wish you success!
Small reminder that the Orbanified™ election rules require that the opposition win with a very large majority, or else orbans party keeps their 75%. Last election, the opposition coalition won the abolute majority of over 50% but it didnt matter. Good luck to them.
edit: hmm, apparently I misremembered, according to wikipedia at least, the opposition lost by a lot, however, I remember cries of vote manipulation and poll forcasts showing an Opposition victory, so I dont know what actually happened.
Hungary uses an odd voting system which basically gives the winning party a large majority no matter what. The reason the opposition keeps losing is because of Orban’s state propaganda, voter manipulation, and the fact that previous opposition alliances have been incompetent and unpopular. There is more hope now with the Tisza party, which is already much more popular and had a surprisingly good showing at the 2024 European Parliament elections
