Coronavirus kills its first democracy

[waves]

You could say that Hungary was already “immunocompromised.” A decade under the nation’s illiberal nationalist prime minister, Viktor Orban, has corroded the state’s checks and balances, cowed the judiciary, enfeebled civil society and the free press, and reconfigured electoral politics to the advantage of Orban’s ruling Fidesz party. So, when the coronavirus pandemic hit, Budapest’s ailing democracy proved all too vulnerable.

On Monday, Hungary’s parliament passed a controversial bill that gave Orban sweeping emergency powers for an indefinite period of time. Parliament is closed, future elections were called off, existing laws can be suspended and the prime minister is now entitled to rule by decree. Opposition lawmakers had tried to set a time limit on the legislation but failed. Orban’s commanding two-thirds parliamentary majority made his new powers a fait accompli.

The measures were invoked as part of the government’s response to the global pandemic. Hungary had reported close to 450 cases as of Monday evening, and Orban has already cast the threat of the virus in politically convenient terms, labeling it a menace carried by unwelcome foreign migrants and yet more justification for his aggressive efforts to police the country’s borders. “Changing our lives is now unavoidable,” Orban told lawmakers last week when justifying the proposed bill. “Everyone has to leave their comfort zone. This law gives the government the power and means to defend Hungary.”

The emergency law also stipulates five-year prison sentences for Hungarians found to be spreading “false” information, as well as prison terms for those defying mandated quarantines. Critics argue that vital support for the country’s health-care system is still lacking, while Orban has given himself carte blanche to exercise even more domineering control.

“I don’t know of another democracy where the government has effectively asked for a free hand to do anything for however long,” Renata Uitz, director of the comparative constitutional law program at Central European University in Budapest, said to Bloomberg News.

Coronavirus kills its first democracy

 

[solid_core]

Coronavirus kills its first democracy

Its an overhyped article.

In reality, the state of emergency could only last for 15 days and after it, it must be approved in parliament again.

Now, the bill makes it "indifinetly", but meanig for the time needed to combat with the virus. So its not necessary to still approve it after two weeks.

It does not mean that Hungary is not a democracy anymore. The state of emergency will not last forever.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Coronavirus kills its first democracy

We shall see if it happens in America soon.

 

[pitabread]

We shall see if it happens in America soon.

Not likely. This is hardly the first time the U.S. (indeed most countries) have been faced with this type of crisis.

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

Not likely. This is hardly the first time the U.S. (indeed most countries) have been faced with this type of crisis.

Really? I am in my sixth decade of life and I was born in the U.S. I don't recall ever being locked down the way we are now with civil liberties suspended.

 

[pitabread]

Really? I am in my sixth decade of life and I was born in the U.S. I don't recall ever being locked down the way we are now with civil liberties suspended.

There were lockdowns during the Spanish flu pandemic as well. Democracy survived.

 

[Jesse Johnson]

There were lockdowns during the Spanish flu pandemic as well. Democracy survived.

And that was only a little over 100 years ago, right?

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

And that was only a little over 100 years ago, right?

There was no lock down then in the U.S.

 

[Jesse Johnson]

There was no lock down then in the U.S.

I kinda figured as much.

 

[Jesse Johnson]

Really? I am in my sixth decade of life and I was born in the U.S. I don't recall ever being locked down the way we are now with civil liberties suspended.

Same here, exactly.

 

[Kessa]

I don't think many would've considered Hungary a showcase of democracy even before the coronavirus outbreak. There is a long history of malignant socialism and fascism which has been creeping back even though Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are gone. It's a gorgeous country with friendly people, at least if you're blonde like me, but there isn't a lot of political openness. Since Orban started his second term as prime minister, there have been many complaints about citizen disenfranchisement: accusations that the disabled were prevented from voting in 2013, using intimidation and misinformation, corrupt changes in voting law that gave his party significant advantages, Orban's party controlling the media, bringing in illegal voters from neighboring countries, and no international or citizen oversight of the 2018 elections. Everything in Orban's past and character suggests increasing his power grab is part of a natural trajectory for him. It's nothing new.

 

[Jesse Johnson]

I don't think many would've considered Hungary a showcase of democracy even before the coronavirus outbreak. There is a long history of malignant socialism and fascism which has been creeping back even though Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union are gone. It's a gorgeous country with friendly people, at least if you're blonde like me, but there isn't a lot of political openness. Since Orban started his second term as prime minister, there have been many complaints about citizen disenfranchisement: accusations that the disabled were prevented from voting in 2013, using intimidation and misinformation, corrupt changes in voting law that gave his party significant advantages, Orban's party controlling the media, bringing in illegal voters from neighboring countries, and no international or citizen oversight of the 2018 elections. Everything in Orban's past and character suggests increasing his power grab is part of a natural trajectory for him. It's nothing new.

The article referred to in the OP is a bit over-emphatic, but not altogether different from the urgency of the situation in what's coming from nearly all the other news outlets. Orban is being opportunistic and ambitious, to say the least. The Syrian refugee crisis and now the stealthy attack on respiratory and immune systems have given him lots of yardage on the field.

I spent a few years in West Germany (as it was called) in the mid-'80s, and I observed a strange (to me) political climate. It seemed like a vast majority of folks had strong partisan political convictions but also exercised a very disciplined restraint from voicing them in public. Privately, I saw a lot of unapologetic racism on one hand, yet just as much apparent tolerance from other people. Heads always hung low at the mere mention of words like "nazi" (which the Britons used almost relentlessly) and "Hitler" (which was a favorite among American servicemen--usually drunk).

I think a lot of people (especially us Yanks) don't realize the turmoil brewing beneath the surface of the European Union facade. When God said "they shall not cleave one to another," I believe He meant it. Inter-marriage didn't work; neither did wars of conquest; I don't think diplomatic and financial accords will, either, as we're slowly finding out.

And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure.
Daniel 2:44-45
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