Landslide Change in Hungary

Magyar promises to undo Orban's changes in Hungary

Finally some good news -- there will be a change in government in Hungary following Viktor Orban's massive loss in elections today, ending 16 years of rule that led to extensive corruption, a stacked judiciary, and control over many media outlets.

What was a surprise was that Orban, 62, was quick to concede defeat, not waiting for the final results that later declared Peter Magyar, 45, the winner.

Orban quickly conceded defeat

"The responsibility and opportunity to govern were not given to us," Orban said, but he also made a vow: "We are not giving up. Never, never, never."

Over 79.5 percent of voters cast their ballots, and with 98 percent of the ballots counted, Magyar of the Tisza party won 138 seats, more than a two-thirds majority compared to Orban's Fidesz, that won 55.

Previously an Orban loyalist, Magyar promises to end corruption that lined the pockets of Orban allies, but he is also not very progressive when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. 

Will Magyar restore the checks and balances that Orban dismantled during his 16-year rule? That will be the big question. He has promised to reverse Orban's changes to education and healthcare, restore independence of the judiciary, and end the squandering of tax dollars.

"You performed a miracle today, Hungary made history today," Magyar told a jubilant crowd.

Magyar will move Hungary away from Russia

Besides Orban, the other big losers are his supporters, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. The latter even sent Vice President JD Vance to Budapest to stump for Orban, but his appearance didn't move the needle at all.

The European Union is cautiously optimistic that things will change, along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose pleas for help were always stymied by Orban.

Nevertheless, we'll celebrate Magyar's win, who said that love triumphs, and that this is a sign of things to come.

Book Review: How to Lose a Country

There are dictators all over the world

Last month I watched Democracy Noir, a documentary about how Viktor Orban rose to power in Hungary which has become an authoritarian state, wiping out press freedom, hobbling the healthcare system, while ingratiating his family's coffers through corruption.

During the Q&A with the director, one audience member suggested people read How to Lose a Country: The 7 Steps from Democracy to Dictatorship by Ece Temelkuran, who talks about what happened in Turkey, led by another dictator, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

So I found a copy from the public library and just finished reading it.

Temelkuran warns readers of dictatorship signs

The book was published in 2019 and Temelkuran, who is a journalist, recounts many anecdotes that show how Turkey slid into authoritarianism and the public either didn't realise it or they did and were helpless in fighting back. She also talks about Donald Trump and his first term in office.

When I read the book as the US election results were coming in, I couldn't help but think what Temelkuran would have thought of a second Trump presidency.

This is what she wrote in the Guardian newspaper:

Dear American friend,

By the time my letter reaches you, you'll have heard all the clever ways of saying, "We are fucked!" Thousands of soundbites will have told you, "Get up and fight." Others will have shared tips on mourning and healing. The strange thing is that even though you'll be in the same dark circus of emotions, everything you hear from your political side will add to your anger. That is what defeat the second time around does: the shame of losing morphs into self-hatred. You begin to be enraged by your ilk more than the opponent. That is why I am writing directly to you. Because in the coming months, your emotional state will impact domestic and global politics.

In her book, How to Lose a Country, she talks about the various ways in which authoritarianism creeps into a country. There is the weaponisation of words, or claiming them as their own, revisionism of history, creating imaginary enemies, and controlling the media.

Early on in the book she talks about Trump, and how he knew that "the ordinary man still needs a shepherd to lead him to greatness. He knew how diminishing and disappointing it can feel to realise that you are only mediocre, in a world where you have constantly been told that you can be anything you want to be."

He also knew that the call to break the imaginary chains of slavery preventing the real people from reaching greatness would resonate with his supporters, regardless of the fact that it sounded absurd to those who had had the chance to become what they wanted to be. 'It's not you,' he told them. 'It's them who prevent us from being great.' He gave them something solid to hate, and they gave him their votes. And once he started speaking in the name of we -- as has happened many times over the course of history -- they were ready to sacrifice themselves.

Sound familiar?

Temelkuran gives a lot of examples about Erdogan and Turkish politics, but doesn't give much context for readers to better understand what she is trying to convey; she seems to assume the reader is on her side, but without an explanation to an audience outside of Turkey, it's hard to have a deeper understanding of her book.

Nevertheless, some of the examples remind me of Hong Kong, like this passage towards the end of the book.

Ambassadors, parliamentarians, journalists: there are more than 50 of us in total, and we are running from floor to floor in the gigantic Palace of Justice in Istanbul. It is 2010, and this is the new technique of ridiculing the opposition in courtrooms. Whenever there is a political case that is monitored by dissidents, like this one today, we are first told to wait outside a particular courtroom, and then, at the last minute, they change it so that all those attending, many of them middle-aged, have to run to a different floor. And then they do it again, and we run again. Most of the crowd end up gasping for breath, and when we finally find the mystery courtroom it turns out to be the smallest one in the whole building, so even if we squeeze in like sardines, many still end up stranded outside.

She goes on to say:

More often than not, the hearing will be the first time we have seen our imprisoned friend in over a year, for he or she will have been held in a prison cell without a court hearing through all that time. Meanwhile, the prosecutor laughs at the panting observers, and sometimes the judge throws out anyone who takes exception to being the butt of this particular joke in the so-called 'Palace of Justice'.

It's eerie how it's so familiar.

Another refrain is "This is not my country!"

So while I would like to recommend the How to Lose a Country, it's a string of anecdotes that jump around in time and place without much context unless you are familiar with the country or authoritarian leader Temelkuran is talking about.

But in general she warns readers to look out for the signs of their country to see if it is falling into dictatorship and encourages them to fight back, though she admits it can be tiring and demoralising. 

VIFF Review: Democracy Noir

Orban's power has been unchecked for the past 14 years

If you want to study the disintegration of democracy in Europe, Hungary is the place to be.

Since 2010, Victor Orban and his political party Fidesz has been in power. In the 2018 election Fidesz won a two-third majority, giving it the mandate to change the constitution.

Led by Orban, Fidesz dismantled rule of law, took control of publicly-funded media, and forced workers to work overtime without extra pay.

Orban confronted by sharp whistling by Szabo

This is what Democracy Noir is about, exposing how Orban fundamentally changed Hungary and how three women are trying to push back.

The documentary is directed by Connie Field, an American who lives in Berkeley, California, but her husband is Hungarian.

After the screening she explained that she has been going to Hungary every year since 2010 and it was in 2014 that she started filming what was going on; she could not get interest in her project at the time so she kept filming and only now the film has been released.

Field follows three women trying to stop Orban in their own ways: Timea Szabo an opposition politician; Nikoletta Antal, a nurse and activist; and Babett Oroszi, a journalist.

Szabo speaks fluent English and explains a lot of what is going on in English, while the other two speak Hungarian. 

When I asked her why she chose three women in the film, instead of say a mix of men and women, Field didn't have an answer... she seemed to think it was not important. But in the film, the three are very fierce and determined. There is a scene where Orban announces families won't have to pay income tax forever if they have four children, which echoes what China is trying to do without success. 

Antal is a nurse who demonstrates regularly

But apparently this policy has resulted in people willing to have kids because the state will help them pay for them, and in this regard are Orban supporters.

Like Donald Trump, Orban creates enemies of the state, and it is the LGBTQ+ community, and falsely accusing politician Szabo of being a drug dealer, as she has worked in Afghanistan and at Harvard.

Oroszi explains the rampant corruption that is happening in Hungary. The European Union poured a lot of money into Hungary to bring it up to developed country standards. However, Orban didn't use the money to improve healthcare, education and so on, but instead spent it on pet projects like a big, shiny stadium next to his country home, a rundown cottage to show his humble roots.

The contractors chosen in the bids were friends of Orban's; the bricks or stones used to build these big construction projects came from the quarries owned by Orban's father. Orban's father is building a massive complex of his own, while nurse Antal says she spent some of her own money to buy medicine for her patients who couldn't afford it.

Field was at tonight's VIFF screening

The media is completely gutted so that the vast majority are controlled by the government and they all use the same wording in their reports, while alternative media like the one Oroszi works for are few and far between; she says it's like musical chairs working for these few places that are left.

While opposition politician Szabo does well in Budapest, her party is unable to get votes in the countryside; Field explains after the screening that Orban looked to the rural areas to get votes and tailored his platform to what they wanted to hear. Sound familiar with Trump?

She says in fact Project 2025 has ideas borrowed from Orban which makes Democracy Noir required viewing not only in the United States but around the world.

What happened in Hungary also mirrors what has happened in Hong Kong, though Field notes that Orban isn't like Putin who feels the need to jail and poison opposition; Orban is so comfortable in his power that he knows he will win regardless and so opposing voices don't bother him.

And like Hong Kong, a lot of young people have left Hungary to work elsewhere in western Europe. When it's voting day and they need to go to the Hungarian consulate to cast their ballot, strangely the consulate is closed...

Democracy Noir

Directed by Connie Field

90 minutes