Hungarian Review May 2011 [antikvár]

THE GREAT HUNGARIAN DEBATE From the Editors The adoption of a brand new constitution in Hungary has been met with celebrations from Fidesz and its supporters, groans of anguish and theatrical gestures from its opponents, and not a few glances of blank incomprehension from abroad. The argument boils down to this: the government argues that Hungary needs a strong, strict, but compassionate state to lift the still healthy Hungarian infant from its rotten cradle; barely half the population of working age actually work, and this is leading the whole country to ruin; the constitutional architecture built under successive governments since the days of the National Round Table in 1989 is no longer up to the task. Based on these premises, the government has set about rebuilding Hungary with an energy not seen since the great reformers of the Nineteenth Century — István Széchenyi, Ferenc Deák, and Lajos Kossuth. Stop thiefi Bellow its opponents. They argue that its two-thirds majority in Parliament does not bestow on Fidesz the legitimacy to stamp its own ideological imprint on the country - using laws which may prove difficult, if not impossible to change, long after this government has been replaced; the constitutional architecture built up since 1989 has stood the test of time, and did not need root and branch reform; the government's actions resemble a bulldozer, run amok, crushing democratic rights under its tracks. They conclude that it has to be stopped. Fuelling this debate, a plethora of new groups and initiatives ranging from new political parties, interest representation groups, think-tanks and other initiatives take shape every week, many of them based on Facebook and other social media. The weeklies see a chance to survive and update their webpages by the minute, and a furious and often intellectually stimulating battle is waged from blog to blog. What excitement, what ferment! You might comment, gentle reader. A drama worthy of the century, unfolding on the great Pannonian stage! A time of renewal, and God only knows where it will all end! Strangely, with an ancient pessimism born of a time, perhaps, when most of today's Hungary was under water, few Hungarians see it like this. How dare they criticise our vision, when they have no vision of their own! Lament the government's supporters. Democracy is lost! Wail its critics - let us throw ourselves into the Danube before they push us into it! FROM THE EDITORS 3