Hungary Against Totalitarianism Again

Hungary Against Totalitarianism Again

By: Erreh Svaia

“My parents both defected from communist Hungary and were what most people would today call libertarian. I grew up with a general distaste for taxation and any policy that intruded on our lives.”

David Harsanyi

It amazes me than some nationalist voices within the European Union are claiming the "sovietization" of the EU, apparently the word "Union” brings some bad connotations and they try to profit from bringing memories of the USSR type of iron fist rule, nothing more far from the truth, remember Brexit? The UK got out of the Union without shooting a bullet and without blood shedding, in what seems to be a tricky maneuver of rewriting history, this Nationalist fractions, mainly populist, seem to be driven by the desire, on the contrary, of getting back to totalitarian times, on their own convenience only, just look at Viktor Orbán, the nationalistic populist prime minister of Hungary, a country that suffered as much as other countries in the Eastern Europe, when the iron curtain was created, exactly 60 years ago, students in Hungary started an uprising in order to free their country from their Soviet imposed rulers, the results were the death and arrest of many dissidents, the persecution of priest, and the violent crushing of the uprising when Soviet tanks entered Budapest, Hungary was not able to leave the iron curtain, but the brave example of the Hungarian people helped to severely damage the Soviet global prestige, and exhibited Soviet intervention and communism as another violent form of Imperialism and a dictatorship. 

Today the UK can say goodbye to the European Union, and perhaps Viktor Orbán doesn't want to leave the Union, in fact his dream is to lead that Union, precisely in the illiberal way he is supposedly opposing, in fact Orbán is really close to Russia, a country whose government is slowly going back in time to their totalitarian days, it's not about ideology or communism, it's about power, is about totalitarianism in the pure Orwell narrative style, and Orbán is totally in line with the Kremlin style of authoritarian rule, recently running a referendum in order to gain control over the xenophobic feel within the European Union, but losing in a big way against an opposition that is slowly starting to grow. 

When Orbán speaks against the refugees coming into Hungary, he is forgetting the 1956 uprising movement and how thousands of Hungarians left the country in order to escape death, and found asylum in other countries like Austria and Yugoslavia, outside the iron country, Orbán is also using the defense of "traditional European values"  as an excuse to take the country closer to Russia, is not a matter of ideology, is a matter of Orbán wish to install the type of dictatorship rule that is in charge of Russia in order to perpetuate his power, is a matter of power not of ideology, the refugee crisis is just a tool of the trade for Orbán, and a theme of myopia that Orbán is not able to see how in need is Hungary for young workers, of cheap labor force, and how beneficial the European Union has been for Hungary and other countries. 

60 years after the 1956 Hungarian Uprising, the Hungarian people are fighting again against tyranny, and against foreign forces, civilians have already shown Orbán that xenophobia is not the answer, that authoritarian rule is not their desire for their country, is another struggle for freedom just like 60 years ago, as Russia and Orbán keep coming closer, the Hungarian opposition is also looking for ways to preserve their belonging in the EU.