The rise of the far-right in Hungary: How Orbán ended democracy
"Featuring special guest Attila Antal author of “The Rise of Hungarian Populism: State Autocracy and the Orbán Regime", and editor of Hungarian Marxist journal, Eszmélet (Consciousness). Attila will be providing an account of the rise of Orbán and the far right in Hungary as well as the grassroots resistance. It's been hard to miss the rise of far right politics in Hungary, where racist, misogynistic, anti-worker and anti-democratic rhetoric and policies have become totally mainstream. This has been driven by Viktor Orbán, a far right politician who has positioned himself as a fighter against European elites. Even before this crisis, there were huge dangers as a result of far-right consolidation. In elections in 2018, Orbán's far right party won 49% of the vote, on top of which the only fascist Jobbik got 1 million votes, or 20%. This year Orbán has moved to use the panic created by the pandemic to essentially suspend parliamentary democracy, giving himself enormous executive power while criminalising dissent. He's also continued and extend hardline neoliberal measures, including emptying 50% of public hospital beds under the guise of preparing for the pandemic."
Happy May Day!
