Conservatives Are Ready for the Fight, Think Tank Director Says

"We have proven that national-minded forces can be unified on the international stage," Miklos Szantho, director general of the Center for Fundamental Rights, told Magyar Nemzet. In the interview, the chief organizer of CPAC Hungary also gave his thoughts on the upcoming EU and US elections, the war and the Western, leftist-liberal elite.

Center for Fundamental Rights Director General Miklos Szantho (Photo: Arpad Kurucz)

Photo: Arpad Kurucz 

This year's CPAC Hungary was another huge success, with speakers from all over the world being received by a full house. What message does this send to the global leftist-liberal mainstream?
To paraphrase John F Kennedy's moon landing quote: we choose to organize CPAC Hungary not because it was easy, but because it is hard. Our aim is to organize a bigger, louder, better jamboree every year, and I am proud to say that we have managed to ratchet it up a few notches again this year. Three thousand guests attended the conference, including five hundred from abroad. Two incumbent prime ministers - Viktor Orban of Hungary and Irakli Kobakidze of Georgia, and three former prime ministers - Tony Abbott, Mateusz Morawiecki and Janez Jansa - addressed CPAC. They were joined by ten leading European right-wing party leaders, including Spain's Santiago Abascal and the Netherlands' Geert Wilders. Three US congressmen - all of whom oppose further support for the war -, South American MPs, Israeli ministers, the secretaries-general and presidents of the two leading right-wing European Parliamentary groups, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID), were present on stage, as were leaders and representatives of the Belgian, Austrian and both major Italian right-wing parties. Donald Trump also sent an exclusive video message. We have concluded the biggest CPAC Hungary ever, which sends a clear message: conservatives are ready for the fight to save Western civilization. Of course, this message was also heard by the globalist Left. That is why they are attacking the conference itself and its speakers with increasing vehemence. However, the more they gnash their teeth and shake their fists, the more we can be sure that we are on the right path to victory.

Hungary is a small country, yet a lot of conservative heavyweights came to Budapest for these two days. What does this mean for our country?
Obviously we have to be wary of grossly miscalculating our weight; we must always have two feet on the ground and keep our modesty, especially after such a great success. It is a fact that Hungary alone will not be able to save Western civilization, because only the citizens of that civilization themselves can do that - no one else. What we can take upon ourselves is to be the turbo engine and the shining spotlight in the battle tank of the international Right. We are living proof that both Eastern and Western Marxism can be defeated. It is the Hungarian Right's performance over the last decade or more that attracts foreign heavyweights to our country: we are part of the West, yet remain normal. There is common sense, pragmatic decision-making based exclusively on national interests. Order, freedom, security, creation and the natural order, national freedom, security and protection for families and borders - all these are also the basis for peace. That is who we are, that is the Hungarian Right, and that is what distinguishes us from the treasonous left wing in Hungary.

Let's not leave it unsaid, that while a conservative conference can be held in Budapest, one can't be held in Brussels. In the light of these recent events, where are the values of the rule of law being violated and where are there dictatorial conditions?
What happened in Brussels is outrageous, but it does not come as a complete surprise to us Hungarians. The woke elite have shown their true colors: they sicced police officers on the National Conservative (NatCon) conference. During the European Parliament election campaign, they refused to tolerate a single conservative political event, and in the mayor's ukase it was written in black and white: NatCon must be banned because people with right-wing views are speaking there. We Hungarians know perfectly well that this is Bolshevik speak. That is why I said at the opening of CPAC Hungary that all that has happened is that they have given their ideology a new name: Bolshevik has become Bolshe-woke. But my hats off to MCC and the organizers, they stood their ground, they didn't flinch, they carried the event through!

One of the greatest achievements was that the pro-peace forces stood together, united in wanting to end the fighting, whether it be in Ukraine or in the Middle East. I wonder what the pro-war forces have to say about this?
It is a paradoxical situation, but the moment of truth has come: it turns out that the leftist-liberal elite, always masquerading as pacifists, are actually great fans of war in a way that belies their inflammatory propaganda preceding the previous world wars - while the Hungarian Right, perpetually accused of "militancy", has been shown - yet again - to be sober-minded, pro-peace and wanting to stay out of the war. With CPAC Hungary, our aim is to make it clear to the world that no one is obliged to dance to the tune of the pro-war, woke elite. In an election super year, the instigators of war psychosis must be defeated, not persuaded. Sadly, there are eerie similarities with the 20th century: as Prime Minister Orban put it, we did not want to be involved in the First nor the Second World War, we were forced into both. Moreover, in both cases, it was the Germans, who were at the forefront of inflammatory propaganda, and I might add, who still are.

"Together we are a force" could be heard from several speakers at the conference . And this is the strength the world needs now to avoid a world war. What do you think?
I refer back to the foreign policy doctrine of the great conservative President Ronald Reagan: "Peace through strength". This is what Donald Trump stands for, this is what he stood for during his first term in office, and I am sure that he will reinstate it when he returns to the White House in January. That is why we say that Trump is the best chance for peace. The essence of this foreign policy strategy is that, in addition to showing real diplomatic and military strength, we take into account the constraints of reality on the one hand, and the current and potential movements of certain geopolitical actors on the other, and try to influence them in line with our own interests - and at least not, for example, push with sanctions the otherwise aggressor, Russia into the embrace of China. This approach recognizes the fact that peace is not the absence of conflict, but the safest - and often most cost-effective - way for everyone to handle conflicts. CPAC Hungary is not only a conference for the Right, but also for geopolitical realists - although in today's world there is a significant overlap between these two categories. We recommend the Reagan doctrine in foreign policy, which the Hungarian government has always pursued. At the same time, the slogan "Together we are a force" also suggests, of course, that we conservatives are interdependent in the fight against radical progressivism and wokeism, in defense of our real values. We can only defeat the globalist enemy through global cooperation.

The Center for Fundamental Rights has undertaken an enormous amount of work to ensure a seamless conference. What do you see as the fruits of this labor?
- I am immensely proud and grateful to my colleagues for the tremendous work they have done at CPAC Hungary. But the result, the creation of a vibrant, capable, international right-wing network, is of course a common achievement of the entire Hungarian right-wing community. For fourteen years now, Hungarian conservative decision-makers, my colleagues, friends and partners have been putting something on the table that has deservedly caught the attention of the whole world. What they may not have noticed, but I certainly did, is the importance of the home: as they say, "this event would not have been possible" without the love, support - and indeed, often superhuman tolerance - of my family: my children and my wife. May God grant you many more happy Mother's Days preceded by successful CPAC Hungary's!

Cover photo: Center for Fundamental Rights Director General Miklos Szantho (Photo: Arpad Kurucz)