Christmas ruminations

In their highly partisan reflections on the state of Hungary, a pro-government and a left-wing columnist look back on the past year.

In Magyar Nemzet, József Horváth sees Hungary as an island of peace and security. The pro-government security expert commends the government for securing borders from illegal immigration, providing cheap energy and rapidly rolling out the Covid vaccines. Horváth also sees Hungary as a land of normality where traditional Christian ways of life are alive and unharmed by woke political correctness. In order to maintain peace and stability, Hungarians need to stay vigilant and protect themselves from left-wing efforts ‘to create a federal, pro-LGBTQ and pro-immigration super state in Europe’. In this endeavour, Horváth writes, maintaining Christian culture, including the traditional Christmas, is also crucial.

Népszava’s Péter Németh describes the government’s battle against ‘a mean Europe’ and ‘LGBTQ propaganda’ as a nauseating stunt. The left-wing commentator sharply disagrees with Prime Minister Orbán, who characterised Hungary in his ‘samizdat’ blog series as an island of solidarity and peace, as well as of the rule of law. On the contrary, Németh contends, Hungary has become a land of inequality, unfreedom and poverty. He also accuses the government of having added to the tragic impact of the pandemic by failing to introduce reasonable measures to contain the spread of the virus. Under the current government, Németh fulminates, Hungarians can at best be second class citizens in their own country.

Tags: Christianity, Covid, Gays