Viktor Orbán’s dramatic ousting from power has been hailed as a victory not only for Hungarians but also for liberals in Europe and the United States.
Tiny Hungary, long since departed from its imperial past and relegated to the lower tier of the European community, offered a framework for today’s far right, which is gaining ground at a frightening pace. The centrality of national identity, xenophobia, anti-free press and one-party rule–all achieved through electoral means.
This is the inspiration for Make America Great Again, far-right parties in Europe and Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued domination of Israeli politics. Orbán’s self-defined “illiberalism” has weakened trade union rights, attacked LGBTQ communities and undermined press freedom.
For Anita Zsurzsán, an independent scholar of fascism based in Hungary, his departure is a significant global moment.
“Orbán’s defeat represents a huge blow to the European and the global far right at large, because he was incredibly successful in power patronage and building international networks, not only alliances,” she told The Battleground.
“What this means is that his government bankrolled various reactionary organisations and periodicals based in Budapest, like the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC), the Scruton Cafe, and the Alapjogokért Központ, which were employing and hosting white nationalist ideologues and influencers to promote Orbán’s ambition in unifying the far right globally.”
Hungary’s slide into neofascism under Orbán wasn’t merely an inspirational model for the Western far right. His regime actively incubated political and journalistic ideas aimed at dismantling the liberal consensus. Orbán is a far-right “anti-globalist”, yet his movement is internationalist.
Zsurzsán mentioned Rod Dreher, the American right-wing journalist with close ties to US Vice President J.D. Vance, who has made a base in Budapest.
Christopher Rufo, a crusader against liberal thought and American university culture, also has Hungarian ties.
Tucker Carlson famously showed up in Hungary to give the regime a boost. Douglas Murray is a fellow at the Danube Institute. The list is endless.
“These organisations also funded large publishing and translation enterprises, so many foreign far-right figures had their books translated and published in Hungary, popularising dangerous and divisive ideologies,” Zsurzsán said. “But it’s not only in the ideological sense. Orbán’s defeat also means that notorious war criminals like Putin and Netanyahu might lose a firewall in the EU.”
For a while, it seemed like Orbán had consolidated power to the point of no return. But his ouster shows that if there is still a democratic spirit in a country, all hope is not lost, no matter how many of the guardrails have been removed.
Yes, many Hungarians voted with their wallets. Fascism rises in bad economic times, and can fall that way, too. But there’s more to it, Zsurzsán said.
“Orbán’s ultra-nationalist agenda has exhausted itself, and his usual method of hate-mongering fell flat. His re-election campaign was shaped by anti-Ukraine messages, which did not land well with the majority of Hungarians, who still see Russia as the aggressor, and there are still nationalist grievances over the state socialist era,” she said.
“Promoting Moscow’s interests in Hungary, as well as in the EU, was definitely a hard sell for Orbán, even though his Islamophobic campaign amid the 2016 refugee crisis was highly successful amongst Hungarian voters, even the liberal ones,” Zsurzsán explained.
“Orbán moved on from manufacturing hate against Muslims and immigrants to targeting Ukrainians, no doubt, motivated by his personal feuds with Kyiv,” she added. “Many Hungarians saw this as strengthening ties with the Kremlin, and rejected it based on a campist identity politics, as more Hungarians see themselves cooperating with Brussels and Washington instead.”
The winner, Péter Magyar of the Tisza party, clearly has his work cut out for him in restoring basic democratic order, particularly in addressing the crisis journalists in the country face.
“The damage done to press freedom remains a defining issue in Hungary,” Zsurzsán said. “Orbán, through his cronies, acquired control over not only the state media but many market-based media companies, as well, and in the present moment, it’s uncertain how this could be undone. On his first day in office, Magyar visited the state media TV broadcaster (M1), where he attempted to hold the leadership accountable for broadcasting fake news and Orbánist propaganda. I think the state media could be reformed through a change of leadership; however, Orbán would still have control over other media companies, with his cronies having majority stake shares.”
Does this sound familiar? It should. If a Democrat returns to power in the US, that president would still face a media landscape in which oligarchs like Jeff Bezos, the Ellisons, and the Murdoch family continue to run major media outlets. That’s the kind of lasting impact someone like Orbán–and in the American case, Trump–can have long after they’ve left office.
There’s a long road ahead for antifascists. For one thing, many on the left believe that the rise of authoritarian politics in European Union member states and the US is the result of both the hollowness of mainstream neoliberalism and the lack of any robust left-wing movement, something that even in a liberal capitalist context could anchor multicultural social democracy. The void allows demagogues to make an inroad into mainstream politics.
Without a rival of a class-based, internationalist left in European countries, this type of government is always lurking in the shadows. And other far-right parties in Europe remain undeterred.
“Our victory in the upcoming presidential election is within reach. And we’re getting ready to say goodbye to Macron,” Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s National Rally party, said during a pan-European far-right demonstration in Milan.
“I don’t think Magyar is a centre-right character, but rather a nationalist right-winger similar to Orbán, however, less confrontational and more cooperative with the EU. He is tougher on immigration than Orbán, rejects speaking on LGBTQ issues, and calls the EU an obstacle to pursuing national interests,” Zsurzsán said.
“According to a poll by a Hungarian independent media outlet, Partizán, the Tisza party voters are overwhelmingly centre-left. Despite this political reality, Tisza and Magyar seem to make more amends toward the right than the left, so we are stuck in this situation where we ended up having left-wing people voting for right-wing policies out of necessity to form a united front and oust Orbán.”
Zsurzsán continued, “The new PM also signalled that he wishes to attract more investment to Hungary, but the reason why Western companies open offices in Budapest is because of cheap labour and suppressed unions, so it’s likely that Magyar would continue this policy. On the question of foreign policy, it seems that Magyar will continue Orbán’s policy entirely. In his first week in office, he invited both Netanyahu and Erdoğan to Budapest, with many people expressing concern that he would remain friendly with autocratic leaders.”
(It’s hard to know exactly what’s going on between Magyar and Bibi. One minute, Netanyahu is bragging about their relationship, the next, i24 is reporting that Magyar is declaring that “his government would fulfil its international legal obligations by arresting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should he enter Hungarian territory”.)
If there is going to be a more democratic future, voting for the centre won’t get us there, but rather put us right back in this loop that got us to neofascism to begin with.
Yet, there are signs of hope. In the United Kingdom, the Green Party is gaining traction while both Labour and the Conservatives are crashing. Party leader Zack Polanski’s unabashed Jewish anti-Zionism is causing the right, which has carefully tried to monopolise Antisemitism discourse in defence of Israel and in opposition to liberalism, to tear its hair out.
In the US, the right fears that the New Deal economic policy of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has appeal beyond his hometown.
The future for Hungary is uncertain. But one thing is clear: Orbán’s fall is an opening for a movement to a better political future. It’s up to regular people, not centrist politicians, to make that happen.
Photograph courtesy of Wikimedia. Published under a Creative Commons license.
