Political Debate in the Homeland (#2): The Behavior of Colonialists

The unique style of political debate in Hungary was already given ample space on this blog in last week’s post about pro-government journalist Zsolt Bayer’s television show. Continuing what might end up an entire series, this post introduces another talk show, which, just like Bayer’s show, is also a regularly scheduled program on Echo Television.

Political Debate in the Homeland: Hungarian Television Show Analyzes EP Hearing on Hungarian Democracy

The following are excerpts from a broadcast seen on a government-friendly television station in Hungary on February 10, 2012. “Korrektúra” (Editing Proof) provides political commentary during its regularly scheduled 30-minute slot on Echo TV. Last week, the show’s three panelists discussed the hearing held by the European Parliament on the state of civil rights and democratic values in Hungary.

The Malév Story

Upon Malév’s announcement of its bankruptcy on February 3, it was hard not to feel like being caught in an emergency drill. The future holds other, much more challenging defaults for the Hungarian people; air travel is too luxurious and its impact is too limited for the Malév failure to count for anything more than a practice round. Bets are either on BKV, the municipal transportation system in Budapest, or on MÁV, the Hungarian State Railway, but various municipal councils may also be the next to follow suit. These do not have business rivals to step into the void they leave behind, the next Hungarian bankruptcy story is therefore more likely to hold real dramatic potential. Which is not to say that the leaders of the country did not exploit the loss of the national airline for their political pursuing their goals, no matter how easy or difficult these losses would or could have been to avoid.

Neo-Nazi Protesters Clash with Police and Anti-Fascist Protesters over Transfer of Theater to The Far-Right

The artists of Budapest’s New Theater bid farewell to their audience in proper style: their last collaboration was a stage adaptation of Thomas Mann’s novel The Magic Mountain. Given the change of directors, the play will only be seen four times during the month of February. More important, however, is  how life inside and outside the theater met through this choice: in the play, Hans Castorp’s suspension in philosophical contemplation comes to an abrupt interruption by political violence, essentially the same kind of violence that has shattered the company’s creative life.

As of February 1, Budapest’s New Theater is under the directorship of the Hungarian far-right. And while the message of the theater’s artists may have been too subtle, the anti-fascist protesters gathered outside the theater on the same day spoke out in much clearer terms against the political gains of far-right extremism. As if any further proof were required that fascism is more than just a fictional element in Hungarian public discourse, neo-nazi paramilitary groups disturbed the event by their counter-protest.

Hungarian Guards’ Judicial Victory, Jobbik Chairman Considers Armed Conflict Unavoidable

Marching in uniform, as part of a paramilitary formation, is no longer illegal in Hungary. As far-right internet portals report with glee – in posts dated Jan 27, though the judgment is from December - the Budapest Court of Appeals issued a clarification of the legal arguments behind the dispersal of the New Hungarian Guard, one of the paramilitary arms of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik party. What is at issue in the judgment, eventually, is the question of what makes the activities of the paramilitaries illegal, and, by extension, punishable by law: a previous interpretation of the law assumed that wearing the uniform of the dispersed organization and restaging the military formation characteristic of the group would also carry legal consequences.

Pro-Government Rally in Hungary, Jan. 21, 2012

At the urging of pro-government journalists and media owners whose ideological committment is well summarized here, on January 21 a mass demonstration was held in support of Viktor Orbán and his government. “Never has a crowd so sizable demonstrated in Hungary in favor of the government and its policies in living memory. Approximately 400,000 participated in the event held in peace and good spirits,” the Hungarian Ministry of the Interior said in its press release Saturday evening (in 2008, Fidesz estimated that 2 million people showed up at its rally, so this claim is somewhat puzzling). Hungarian MEPs of the European People’s Party also issued a statement thanking participants of the rally. “The mass mobilization of several hundreds of thousands was a worthy and forceful response to the campaign of disparagement by leftist forces,” they wrote.

Hungarian Guards at Flag-burning Protest – On Fidesz and the Hungarian Far-Right

Update to the post on Jan. 22, 2012: source and link to pictures added to ending paragraphs on previous marches of the New Hungarian Guard in the latter half of 2011.

For the last few days, one of the most popular pastimes in Hungary has been the compilation of lists ranking the lies told by the Hungarian prime minister to the European Parliament. Hungarians also compare and contrast Viktor Orbán’s distortions of the truth in the various speeches and press conferences he gave during his visit to Strasbourg on January 18, so that they can cast a vote on online forums on which one is the biggest lie of them all. Here, I only want to focus on one of Orbán’s lies: on his claims that his government put an end to the operations of paramilitary organizations in Hungary.