The voes of writing about Hungarian politics
Observant readers may have noticed a longer break here. Thank you to all 24 paid subscribers of the Muse and everyone else for your patience. Here is some clarification.
In 2023, I had the opportunity to visit the NPR headquarters as an Eisenhower Fellow, where I met some journalists who cover Eastern Europe. My main takeaway was that I needed compelling punchlines and interesting stories to capture attention. Achieving this is more challenging than it seems.
The world is full of dangerous and interesting clowns. Even before facing powerful competition from the White House, they rarely made the headlines. Frankly, what is interesting about the Greatest Ever Leader of Whateveristan, who raised the boiling point of tap water to 120 degrees Celsius by presidential decree?
Make no mistake, the situation in Hungary is far from funny. The country is in a worse condition following the 2008 crisis. The education system, the healthcare system, basically all the systems are struggling, and now, after nurses and teachers, judges are taking to the streets to protest. The government fails to pay its bills and exerts enormous pressure on these professionals to serve its political interests.
This is the point at which I stop to elaborate further.
I was quite relieved that David Pressman, the former US Ambassador to Budapest, couldn't make the situation sound more compelling than I do. In a recent NPR interview, he attempted to provide insight into the System of National Cooperation. He is skilled at presenting this information, yet he gives the same bland description of a dismal country that I often present in these pages.
I hate this for at least two reasons.
First, despite the dismal state of affairs here, the socio-economic crisis, and the through-the-roof stress, it’s good to be Hungarian, and it’s good to live here. I hate to view my country through a fake Netflix-sepia filter used for third-world shitholes. Hungary is not one of those.
I hate to write about my country like it was some hopeless shithole. I decided some weeks ago to stop that. There is no point in writing the umpteenth “What undemocratic thing Orbán did last week” type of article.
But that leaves me with…I have no idea.
I could, of course, write about how the Hungarian government media was cheerleading for the AfD party before the German elections last Sunday, or how they intend to suppress NGOs again. However, those topics have already been covered by others. So now, I am struggling to find my own voice in English.
My Hungarian blog mainly focuses on placing Hungarian issues in an international context, which is relatively straightforward since Hungarian readers often lack this perspective.
So, again, thank you for your patience, and if you have any insights, you are more than welcome to comment.
Wise choice to leave the bleak despot-voyeurism for someone else to cover. I bet your international audience would appreciate reading about what nevertheless makes Hungary a great place to be and to live. Hungarian society has a hard time organizing at the macro-scale like we've been seeing in Serbia and Slovakia lately. However, micro-organization (or medium-sized maybe) still works -- and it's what keep things afloat in spite of every effort from the top. There still is -- imperfect but so far sustainable -- independent media. Schools and hospitals survive on parents and patients rolling up there sleeves. Then in contrast to the Moscow mouthpiece in the Karmelita, we have the Dragon Supplies. And then the cultural scene is still alive and lively, from old school to avantgarde. Movies, theaters, music... anything that manages to escape the touch of the Clan / Dynasty pretty much thrives on creativity and ingenuity. That's the bit that's the hardest to see from abroad, and the most interesting to share.
You made my evening Sándor, this was real fun, I feel getting diagnosed from afar. I have been complaining to foreigners about Hungary for around five decades now, across different local regimes, while trumpeting optimism and encouragement to my fellow Hungarians, to no avail on either fronts. Do not give in to your writer's block, a hold ma oly kerek...