By Justin Spike, originally published at the Budapest Beacon Oct. 16, 2016, reprinted here by permission.
“When those in power believe the media is their opponent, that’s a very big problem. Because it means they are afraid. In my opinion, they should not take up the fight by banning newspapers and media outlets. Rather, they should present counter-arguments. If somebody writes something that is critical in tone, then go ahead and refute it. Don’t shut it down, silence it, and crush it underfoot. You cannot do that in a democracy.” – György Magyar, jurist
A protest was held in Budapest Sunday against the recent closure of leading opposition newspaper Népszabadság, as well as against corruption in the Hungarian government. The demonstration was sponsored by members of Hungarian opposition parties Együtt (Together), Politics Can Be Different (LMP), and Dialogue for Hungary (PM). The demonstrators filled Szabad sajtó (Free Press) street between the Erzsébet bridge and Ferenciek Tere. One estimate put the number of attendees at “between 10,000 and 15,000 people.”
The “They’re stealing our freedom! Kick them out!” demonstration was emceed by its main organizer, Együtt party vice president Péter Juhász. The anti-corruption campaigner told the Budapest Beacon before the start of the demonstration that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party are doing everything they can to keep the truth from reaching the Hungarian people, and that this was their goal in limiting free media and closing down Népszabadság.
“It is obviously the goal of the government that reality not reach the people, only party propaganda,” he said. “A few days after closing the paper, news leaked of plans to re-regulate advertising in public spaces and on billboards. This would practically result in all billboards ending up exclusively in the hands of Fidesz politicians.”
He said the opposition must present a viable alternative to the Orbán government in the 2018 elections. He said it is important to bring people’s attention to what the government is doing, and for people from different political parties to come together to stand up against the corruption in government, which he says is channeling huge amounts of money into the pockets of Orban’s inner circle.
“Theft is his exclusive motivation. Orban’s politics is about nothing more than turning public assets into his own,” Juhász said. “Fidesz is trying in any way they can to channel our money, our taxes and EU support into its own pockets. The point of today’s protest is to talk about this, about reality.”
The anti-corruption campaigner took to the stage where he delivered sharp criticisms of the Orbán government, saying it doesn’t know how to govern, only how to steal. He also spoke about the Hungarian Prime Minister’s increasingly close relationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying that Orbán is “committing the historical sin of driving Hungary straight up Putin’s arse.”
Népszabadság journalist Miklós Hargitai also appeared at the demonstration, saying he was glad to see so many people attend the protest in solidarity. He said that “someone” had taken the jobs away from Népszabadság journalists last week, but promised that in spite of what happened to his newspaper, he and his colleagues would not give up doing their jobs.
“We have to show somehow that we don’t like what is happening,” Hargitai told the Budapest Beacon. “What we have to do is help each other as much as we can in the difficult existential situation which is coming. It is much easier for a person to get lost in this situation alone than if we stick together.”
Hargitai said that it was “laughable” that the paper’s closure was due to rational financial decisions, because closing the paper cost the publisher much more than an entire year of the paper’s financial losses would have. He also criticized the Fidesz government for trying to portray Népszabadság as an organ of the old Communist Party, saying that while Viktor Orbán and Fidesz vice-president Szilárd Németh were preparing for the system change in the Communist Youth, he had been studying around the corner in a Catholic school. He said Orbán had not given an interview to the paper in 10 years, and that there is no European country in which the prime minister will not provide an interview to the leading opposition paper.
Speaking to the Beacon beforehand, Hargitai said that Népszabadság’s editorial staff intended to stay together and continue doing what they have been doing, come what may. He said it was important not to give up on freedom and the rule of law.
LMP vice-chairman Ákos Hadházy also took aim at corruption in the Fidesz government, saying the government stands to steal a further HUF 9 trillion of EU funds which they can use to further solidify their hold on power.
“This stolen money is a huge tool for the political system which steps across a red line which we thought no one would ever cross in Hungary,” Hadházy told the Beacon. “The stolen money hurts, but it also hurts that they can do anything with the stolen money. They can buy voters, they can buy candidates, and they can by any owner of a newspaper.”
Hadházy emphasized the need for the opposition parties to stand together in working to change Hungarian election laws. He said that people believe it is impossible to vote the ruling government out of power, because in spite of numerous corruption scandals they were voted back into power with a 2/3 majority in 2014.
“But this isn’t true,” he said. “40 percent of the country voted for them, and they got 65 percent of parliamentary representatives because that’s how they manipulated the election system.”
PM co-chair and member of the European Parliament Benedek Jávor said that corruption is the system itself in Hungary, and that the system has been perfectly polished by the government so that they can tailor laws to suit themselves, put public institutions into the hands of their family members, and distribute EU money intended for the country among themselves.
“We are fed up with them stealing our country, fighting against the freedom of the media, and oppressing civil society,” Jávor said. “We believe that the majority of Hungarians are not behind the shameful politics of the Hungarian government.”
Jávor said that crackdowns on media freedom should be stopped in Hungary by Hungarian society, but that as a member of the European Parliament, he has a responsibility to inform European institutions of what is happening in media in Hungary.
“This is just the opposite of what we have in the European treaties, and this is a clear violation of European values and rights,” he said.
Speaking to the Budapest Bacon at the conclusion of the demonstration, Hungarian jurist György Magyar had the following to say:
“When those in power believe the media is their opponent, that’s a very big problem. Because it means they are afraid. In my opinion, they should not take up the fight by banning newspapers and media outlets. Rather, they should present counter-arguments.”
The renowned lawyer says the solution, in that case, is not to use force, but rather
“If somebody writes something that is critical in tone, then go ahead and refute it. Don’t shut it down, silence it, and crush it underfoot. You cannot do that in a democracy.”
