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It seems not a week or two goes by without the Hungarian government attacking the rights of its citizens.
For 14 years, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his ruling party, Fidesz, have taken a wrecking-ball approach to democracy, rule of law, and human rights in Hungary.
They have “systematically centralized power, hollowed out democratic safeguards, and weakened the rule of law.”
Orbán changes the country’s constitution at his whim, declaring several states of emergency that allow him to rule by decree, side-stepping even the now rubber-stamp parliament.
The ruling party does everything it can to silence critics, attacking independent journalists, media outlets, and civil society organizations.
Orbán’s party has taken control of the majority of the country’s media, using it to pump out pro-government and pro-party lies.
They also constantly vilify minority groups – migrants, LGBT people, and others. They spend large amounts of taxpayers’ money on nationwide media campaigns of fearmongering disinformation against these groups.
They surely do this to stir up hate and create scapegoats to divert people’s attention from their anti-democratic power grab and from the fact that, under Fidesz, Hungary is the most corrupt country in the EU and also the most impoverished.
Which brings us to last week, when Hungary deepened its repression of LGBT people with a draconian new law targeting them.
The law limits the right of assembly when it pertains to supporting LGBT rights. LGBT-related event organizers and attendees face fines of up to €500 for exercising their freedoms of assembly and expression. It also authorizes authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify them.
Orbán made clear the intention of the law is to ban Pride.
The anti-Pride law has rightly sparked widespread criticism. Thousands have gathered on the streets of Budapest to protest it. Despite the ban, organizers plan to go ahead with Pride in late June and Budapest’s Lord Mayor said that Pride will happen in the city.
In other words, people are defending their rights against an authoritarian-minded government. Good.
Watch this space.
