Free speech in Hungary and the recent crackdown on media
8-th October 2016 was the day when free press died in Hungary.
Why is it a big deal for my country?
Although the most controversial part of their rule had just begun. Since the evolution of the European refugee crisis, the Hungarian government have had a different opinion from that of the EU. The country's leaders made it clear: they didn't want migrants. The initially soft words and negotiations turned into harsh action - a new iron fence was built at the Serbian border and a border-control squad was set up to defend the "European borders" from "intruders".
Two weeks after the suspension, Viktor Orbán had a speech in a stadium, where several people started to whistle to protest him. On 23-rd October, during the usual ceremonies to commemorate the 1956 revolution, Orbán was whistled again. This time though, a fight broke out- his followers started to punch everyone in the face, who was whistling or shouting at the prime minister, some people even resulting seriously hurt.
So what's going on today?
For unknown reasons, the country's biggest political and public newspaper Népszabadság (interpreted as "People's freedom") has been suspended. Some interpret this as a total shutdown, though the editors and journalists were not fired, just asked "not to come to work for a while".
Why is it a big deal for my country?
It is a huge blow to Hungarian people and their press, but mostly to the political opposition. Népszabadság has always been known as a left-wing newspaper. Its creation was historic and symbolic: it started its operation on 2-nd November 1956, just couple of days after the start of Hungarian revolution, and two days before the arrival of Soviet tanks to suppress the uprising. During the socialist years, it was the main newspaper of the ruling communist MSZMP party and as such, was object to censorship.
All this changed in 1989 after the regime- change. Hungary gradually
became a democratic republic with a free market and an elected
parliament. The censorship ceased to exist, so many new newspapers
appeared along with a lot of political parties. During the years to
come, Népszabadság became an acknowledged source of reliable and independent information, mostly read by the middle-class.
In 2010, the political party called Fidesz (League of Young Democrats, right-wing) won the elections and Viktor Orbán became prime minister for the second time. His party triumphed at the elections with a two-thirds, so he enjoys a strong support from his voters and a majority in the parliament. Since 2010, Fidesz has made many changes in the electoral system as well as amended the constitution several times. With his controversial acts - changing the tax rate, reducing communal expenses, cutting the powers of the Constitutional Court, eliminating some university faculties - Orbán and his party managed to draw international and mostly, EU attention and - fury. Since their coming to power, there has been a bunch of infringement procedures against Hungary for violating European Union Law, mostly because of economic decisions infavourably affecting the European market.
Although the most controversial part of their rule had just begun. Since the evolution of the European refugee crisis, the Hungarian government have had a different opinion from that of the EU. The country's leaders made it clear: they didn't want migrants. The initially soft words and negotiations turned into harsh action - a new iron fence was built at the Serbian border and a border-control squad was set up to defend the "European borders" from "intruders".
As a response to the EU's plan to place approx. 2000 refugees in Hungary as part of a broader quota- system, the government started a massive anti-migrant campaign across the country. False infromations, misleading facts and hate speech were seen on every billboard of the country. To further distribute the propaganda, the goverment ordered several TV and radio channels - after they have been bought by businessmen known for sympathizing with Fidesz - to broadcast the advertisement of the referendum, which took place on the 2-nd October. People had to answer to an already misleading question, after an intensive year of constant brainwashing. The majority of answers was a "no" to migrants, but the referendum turned invalid since many people decided not to vote as a sign of protest.
After the clear failure of the referendum, Orbán decided to go harder. After several articles criticizing government members and their corrupt actions, Népszabadság was shut down on 8-th October 2016. There were no previous warnings, and the official explanation given by the owner of the journal (Mediaworks) was that the newspaper's sales figures fell significantly during the last 10 years. The only problem with this explanation is that the last 10 years have exactly been the period of transition from offline to online media: readers of Népszabadság preferred to read its articles on its website and Facebook page.
After this shocking event, many people and journalists got onto the streets to protest for a free press and demand the re-opening of Népszabadság. Even those people, who previously didn't care about politics expressed their displeasure. Hungarian and foreign intellectuals - including many judges, lawyers, journalists and politicians - started to discuss about the borders of liberal and illiberal, and whether Hungary crossed it or not. Even the conservative German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung condemned this action, and expressed its view according to which "Orbán breaks down every opposition in the media".
After this shocking event, many people and journalists got onto the streets to protest for a free press and demand the re-opening of Népszabadság. Even those people, who previously didn't care about politics expressed their displeasure. Hungarian and foreign intellectuals - including many judges, lawyers, journalists and politicians - started to discuss about the borders of liberal and illiberal, and whether Hungary crossed it or not. Even the conservative German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung condemned this action, and expressed its view according to which "Orbán breaks down every opposition in the media".
Two weeks after the suspension, Viktor Orbán had a speech in a stadium, where several people started to whistle to protest him. On 23-rd October, during the usual ceremonies to commemorate the 1956 revolution, Orbán was whistled again. This time though, a fight broke out- his followers started to punch everyone in the face, who was whistling or shouting at the prime minister, some people even resulting seriously hurt.
So what's going on today?
It seems that in today's Hungary populism is winning over any other ideas, including democracy and constitutionalism. Many parts of the media are censored or ruled by people close to Fidesz, such as commercial channel TV2 which was sold to Andy Vajna in 2015, who is a known multi-millioner and loyal sympathizer of the party. Opposition parties are bound, too: with a 2/3 in parliament, basically every decision is decided already, and the fragmentation of these parties is not helping either. Currently, there is not a single strong opposition leader who could change the status quo, and Hungarian people are divided, too.
Nonetheless, there are some signs of hope. Many intellectuals and human rights organizations are raising awareness; many people are starting to realise that they have been manipulated. Lots of them go to the streets to protest for a free press and free speech, as they did in 1848 or 1956.
Actually we could see a very nice gesture of humanity and sympathy, when recently the journal of homeless people Fedél Nélkül offered free space to journalists of Népszabadság to publish their articles. And they were not the only ones - several more newspapers did the same, too.
Is it an autocracy or still a democracy?
Many people have these questions in their minds, including me. How far can someone go in restricting people and institutions, without turning into a dictatorship? Where are the borderlines of democracy? Can the whole situation be stopped before it will be too late?
There is no democracy without the freedom of expression or the free press. Regular elections and referendums doesn't mean it is a democracy. People are the basis of constitutional power, and if people can't express their voices it cannot be called a real democracy any more.
Hi Szilvia, thank you for this article, it is very interesting, I didn't know about the closing of this newspaper!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that it is questionable whether we should still consider Hungary as a democracy or rather as an authocracy,as well as that the appearance of free elections and referendum doesn't guarantee the well functioning of a democracy.
However on the other hand, we must recognise that Orban was fairly elected by the majority of Hungarian people and this means that he represents the willing of those people. To this point, is it still democratic to have a politician with not-democratic ideas but which are reflecting the people's will?
Hi Melinda, thanks for your comment! And also for the good question! Yes, you are right. Fidesz was elected with a big majority, by people. The problem is, that there is a reason behind it. The previous government was Mszp, left wing. They basically didn't do anything for 4 years, just corruption and stealing. There was a big scandal, where a secret audio file was released, and it can be heard how the PM Gyurcsany admitted all these. After that there were violent protests in 2006, people were sick of them. The only alternative to vote for was Fidesz, so they won. Then, the main electoral base of Fidesz are pensioners over 60, literally. Thus, in Hungary there is a common feeling now, that pensioners are writing the future of us, young people right now. So it's not so true, that they reflect the will of people. They did, back in 2010, when they were elected, but not any more. So I have no.idea how to call Hungary now, but many intellectuals say that it's in the grey zone between democracy and dictatorship. Personally, I don't think it's a dictatorship of course, would be harsh to call it that way. It's just going to an uncertain,wrong direction I think. And it's dangerous!
DeleteHi Melinda, thanks for your comment! And also for the good question! Yes, you are right. Fidesz was elected with a big majority, by people. The problem is, that there is a reason behind it. The previous government was Mszp, left wing. They basically didn't do anything for 4 years, just corruption and stealing. There was a big scandal, where a secret audio file was released, and it can be heard how the PM Gyurcsany admitted all these. After that there were violent protests in 2006, people were sick of them. The only alternative to vote for was Fidesz, so they won. Then, the main electoral base of Fidesz are pensioners over 60, literally. Thus, in Hungary there is a common feeling now, that pensioners are writing the future of us, young people right now. So it's not so true, that they reflect the will of people. They did, back in 2010, when they were elected, but not any more. So I have no.idea how to call Hungary now, but many intellectuals say that it's in the grey zone between democracy and dictatorship. Personally, I don't think it's a dictatorship of course, would be harsh to call it that way. It's just going to an uncertain,wrong direction I think. And it's dangerous!
DeleteHi Szilvia, thank you for your insightful article.
ReplyDeleteThe one in Hungary today is a very worrying situation indeed and it seems that everyday the government is trying to sneak in some little reform to get more and more power and silence oppositions and media. I remember that between 2014 and 2015 there had been a proposal on an Internet tax which was really dangerous as it would have limited internet access in the nation (and we know how much internet today is useful for free information). There had been an enormous protest and the proposal was taken back. Do you think popular protests are going to be useful to strengthen and protect democracy against Orban?
Thank you!
Ciao Giulia, thanks for your reflection!! Yes, good point.. In my blog I forgot to mention the Internet tax, now I see.. That was a ridiculous one, really. I was still in Hungary and I remember how pissed I was, because I knew that the right to Internet access actually was on the agenda of international HR institutions. That time, big protest worked. It worked, because it was an issue where everyone was concerned, on a daily basis. But when they cut the powers of Constitutional Court, there were no such big protests.. I think it's because of ignorance, and forgetting real priorities. So in the future, massive protests may help yes, at least they will scare a bit the government, and they might change their minds..Let's hope so :)
DeleteCiao Giulia, thanks for your reflection!! Yes, good point.. In my blog I forgot to mention the Internet tax, now I see.. That was a ridiculous one, really. I was still in Hungary and I remember how pissed I was, because I knew that the right to Internet access actually was on the agenda of international HR institutions. That time, big protest worked. It worked, because it was an issue where everyone was concerned, on a daily basis. But when they cut the powers of Constitutional Court, there were no such big protests.. I think it's because of ignorance, and forgetting real priorities. So in the future, massive protests may help yes, at least they will scare a bit the government, and they might change their minds..Let's hope so :)
Delete