On April 3rd 2022 an election and a referendum were held in Orban’s Hungary. Arguably the closest the Europe has seen to a fascist regime since World War 2. Alas you are unlikely to hear much about this as the European Bloc aims to project a unified stance.
What were the elections about?
Essentially they were a referendum on the right-wing regime of Viktor Orbán and the results were fairly unanimous, a 2/3rd majority and people supporting his often controversial views.
Orban has stood up against a number of things that prior to the conflict in Ukraine had made him somewhat of a pariah, such as his views on too many Islamic immigrants in a predominately Christian country, as well as on the ills homosexuality.
It was for the later that there was also a referendum connected to the main election.
2022 Hungarian LGBTQ in education referendum
The 2022 Hungarian LGBTQ in education referendum was not too dissimilar to Clause 4 that was brought in by the Thatcher government in the UK in the 1980’s, nor that which was passed in Russia prior to it hosting the Olympics.
The difference with the Hungarian one was that Europe and western media largely ignored, while making Russia a pariah state for bringing in similar legislation. I for one personally abhor such legislation, but am much more perplexed by the situation for homosexuals in the Middle-East who face execution rather than constraints on “propaganda”. Again things needs to be seen with context.
It was only recently that Brunei reintroduced the death penalty foe being gay only for the Sultan to be forgiven after saying “We won’t actually kill anyone we promise”.
To read about the anti-gay laws in Brunei click here
Discrimination against homosexuality should always be battled, but again let is not he hypocrites simply because we fear Islam and need the oil of these backwards regimes.
Hungary can dow what it likes and this includes with regards to Russia
One area where Viktor Orbán has to be admired is in his independent foreign policy. Formally a staunch Putin ally we was quick to denounce the invasion of Ukraine, but was also equally as quick to not want to supply arms to Ukraine.
To read about the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republic click here.
His reasoning? Hungary was already dealing with a large number of refugees and that he simply felt that arming a side during a war in his borders was folly. This has brought some muted condemnation from EU countries, but also has thrown the elephant firmly into the room.
The EU can have Hungary, right-wing and led by Orban as an ally, or it can push them into the arms of Russia. This puts Hungary in a win-win situation with regards to the EU and do not be shocked if Hungry is one of the countries still buying Russian oil and gas when the dust finally does decide to settle.