12/10/2020
The far right Hungarian government continues to flout international norms and democratic values, according to Human Rights groups and the European Union. The state, under Victor Orban, has been trying to navigate a far right wing path, dismantling protections for homosexuals, transgender people, gypsies and cultural minorities. So far, it has met with only limited success. Hungary under communist rule was actually much more liberal than the Soviet Union, and its communist government actually decriminalised homosexuality in the early sixties, and encouraged a more tolerant attitude towards minorities generally. This has stopped the current Hungarian government from wholescale dismantling of past freedoms. However, the state is continuing to chip away at democratic values. Most recently, according to a report on cable channel EuroNews, the hard man Prime Minister waved aloft a book which teaches tolerance towards children, framing traditional fairy tales with LGBTQ, gypsy, Jewish and other minority characters. “Leave our Children Alone” he shrieked. So far, his stance has not gone all his way. The book has apparently climbed into the best sellers list because of the publicity and a vigorous defence of freedom of speech by the federation of Hungarian booksellers has met with some support nationally. But the situation remains precarious in Hungary and observers fear that it is just one more Eastern European state poised to fall into authoritarianism and despotism.
