A fight for freedom
Freedom is never guaranteed. A liberal society should never be taken for granted.
A generation ago, Hungary was a shining example of a country shaking off autocratic rule and joining the ranks of full-fledged democracies. Now, however, it is moving rapidly in reverse.
The latest disturbing move by the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban is a law designed to shut down one of the remaining bastions of intellectual freedom in the country. Central European University, headed by former federal Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff, is threatened with closure by a government that makes no bones about its desire to build what it calls an “illiberal state.”
The stakes are big for Hungary: The Orban government has already clamped down on non-governmental organizations, the judiciary and the media, and extended its control over the economy. Its attempt to put the independent Central European University out of business is another attack on a free institution and part of a slide towards authoritarianism.
There’s much at stake for the wider world, as well. In Europe, anti-liberal forces are on the march as part of the backlash against immigration and globalization. Governments in countries like Russia and Turkey have turned their back on liberal democracy. It’s a troubling trend.
In Hungary, the focus of the backlash is the university founded in 1991 by George Soros, the Hungarian-American billionaire who has spent some $12 billion U.S. to promote liberal institutions and values after the fall of communism in eastern Europe.
Nationalist leaders like Orban see that as a threat to their domination and demonize Soros as a meddling outsider. The new law, which went into effect this past week, would effectively shut Central European University by requiring it to have a campus in the country where its degrees are accredited, the United States.
Orban is outspoken about where he wants to take his country. He has said the 2008 financial crisis showed that “liberal democratic states can’t remain globally competitive.” Instead, he wants to establish “an illiberal new state built on national foundations” — along the lines of Russia, Turkey or China.
In practice that has meant repressing independent institutions and making Hungary one of the most refugee-unfriendly countries in Europe.
Still, the spirit of liberal democracy still lives in Central Europe. Ten thousand Hungarians took to the streets this week in support of the university’s independence, while the U.S., Canada and the European Community have spoken out for it as well.
It’s a small institution in a relatively small country, but to see it forced to close would be another sign that democratic values are on the retreat. Ignatieff, who has been the university’s rector since last year, puts it this way: “I fear that if Orban takes us down it will be a darker, grimmer, more repressive period for those institutions that remain.”
It is tragic to see a country like Hungary sliding backwards so soon after reclaiming its freedom from dictatorship. Its government should reverse course and stop persecuting independent thinking.
A generation ago, Hungary was a shining example of a country shaking off autocratic rule and joining the ranks of full-fledged democracies