Hungary's Freedom Fight Is Not Yet Over

In Europe, we’re still the minority, but we’re no longer under fire from the White House.

Miklos Szantho, Director General of the Center for Fundamental Rights, warning about the dangers of pseudo-NGOs (Photo: Istvan Mirko)

“The press is the enemy, the press is the enemy, the press is the enemy. Write it on a blackboard a hundred times and never forget it!”

As suggested by this quote, attributed to Richard Nixon in response to the left-wing press of his era, debates about the media's political role are hardly new.

The media, the shaping of public discourse, is not merely a cultural matter. The media — especially when foreign-funded — is an issue of national security, defense policy, and sovereignty.

And sovereignty—like freedom—is an instinct. Together, they form a distinctly Hungarian instinct. Because for us Hungarians, the straitjacket forced upon us by surrounding empires has always felt unbearably tight. It does not suit us; we have no intention of returning to the cell. In fact, we’ve launched such a prison riot that sent the globalist elite ruling our civilization into trembling.

After all, Hungary’s history, for many centuries, has revolved around two closely linked core issues: how to preserve our freedom and how to protect our independence. And once again, we feel the familiar breath of the empire on our faces — just like so many times in the past centuries — only this time, the bad breath is coming from Brussels.

As I said, Hungarians are an instinctive people. We instinctively love our homeland, and we instinctively hate it when someone tries to deny us the right to do so. All the more so when they try to deny us the homeland itself. That, in essence, is the story of Hungarian history over the past thousand years: defending Europe from external invaders—and defending Hungary from European conquerors. That’s the real Hungarian success story, the true Hungarian miracle—the fact that each and every one of our former aggressors has been swallowed by the dustbin of history. That should serve as a warning sign for Brussels as well.

To the citizens of nations held captive by liberalism, the way we have lived in freedom is increasingly appealing: our cities are not terrorized by migrants, because we don’t let them cross our borders. We are not afraid to say that children are more important than the aggressive, insidious campaigns promoting an ever-expanding catalogue of gender deviations. And we dare to assert the conclusion born of a most basic instinct for survival: that peace is better than war.

Yet now, at the beginning of the 21st century, a new form of hegemony is trying to strip us of our freedom: a neoliberal empire composed of opaque, mafia-like networks and their communication tentacles. Because of its global reach, this is perhaps the most expansive power in world history—and also the most dangerous, precisely because of its elusive nature. It says a lot that this octopus has been able to use even the world’s most powerful country—the United States—and its deep state as a tool to achieve its business goals.

But we’re no longer alone in rebellion. In fact, at the start of this year, the strongest prisoner of the entire West broke free. Let’s be honest: it’s a lot easier to resist when the United States is not ruled by the most ruthless leftist-liberal tyrants, but by a president named Donald Trump. So profound is the shift in perspective on the struggle for our freedom that many now feel that the entire liberal penal colony is in ruins. Although that would be nice, reality isn’t a fairy tale, and I suggest we don’t lull ourselves into wishful thinking!

On October 23, 1956, when revolutionaries began toppling the statue of Stalin, one of the kids from Pest allegedly shouted: “Don’t be stubborn, Jóska! Time to lie down!” Well, Jóska’s political cousins in Brussels should probably lie down too — but both the old and the neo-communists never skimp on the iron in their statues. They’ve laid strong foundations for their power once again, sparing no rolling dollars and euros. Still, we must not abandon our rebellious Kuruc (historical Hungarian rebels -ed.) posture born of instinct — because it will take serious effort to rid ourselves of them. As the saying goes: let’s only celebrate, and only cross the bridge once we get there!

Let’s also not forget: the rebellion against the neoliberal empire was first launched by us, Hungarians—by the Hungarian right. Although the Hungarian right has been in government since 2010, the past fifteen years has been one long act of resistance. Yes, it was we Hungarians who set the example for how a nation can defy the Brussels elite — the new colonizers trying to force every European nation into the same woke ideological uniform.  

But, thanks to Providence — and, of course, our effective cooperation — the rebellion has now spread across the Atlantic. Let’s neither overestimate nor underestimate ourselves. Trump is just in the process of draining the Washington swamp that for decades has restricted the freedom and national pride of the American people. A new situation, a new world is emerging. The 20th-century status quo is on the verge of collapse — which is good news for us, because the 20th century was a disaster for Hungary. Our plan is to make sure that the 21st won’t be the same.

We must understand that in Europe we are still the minority, even if we’re no longer under fire from the direction of the White House. Besides, we on the Hungarian Right were never carved from the kind of wood that waits for others to deliver victory. We know full well that the kind of freedom won by others on our behalf only lasts as long as the so-called “liberators” permit. Consequently, we don’t have bosses abroad — as the leftists working in our country do — we have comrades-in-arms. We don’t get a pat on the back for carrying out orders. Instead, we get respect for our performance.

We will keep fighting the jailers and mercenaries of the liberal empire until they come to understand that only the Hungarian people can decide about Hungary’s fate. We’re not asking for money, horses, or weapons — just what we’ve asked for so many times over the past 1100 years: don’t try to assimilate us! Or, to put it in a more Hungarian way: just leave us alone!

One of the most important battlefields of our struggle is, of course, the media, the digital world, and the communications sphere. We know that the opposition once held overwhelming dominance in this area in Hungary. Back then, that situation was called “balanced, fair media conditions.” We know that Hungary was considered a “democracy” when Emilia Rytko was sorting ballots, when the Nepszabadsag newspaper advertised itself with the slogan “There is no other newspaper!”, and when the weekly Heti Hetes TV show reached three million viewers. What frustrates the left today is not the state of democracy, but the loss of their former monopoly on opinion. And yes, Hungarian writer Istvan Csurka was right: it wasn’t even the elections that they deemed important — they just wanted a seat in the jury.

By now, it's also become crystal clear that on the left, “independence” means nothing more than independence from national interest. In their dictionary, freedom of expression means being allowed to say whatever Brussels or Washington’s Democratic handlers dictate. These commissars have captured both traditional and social media, silencing every voice that doesn’t align with their warped ideology or power interests.

The USAID sources and Soros's money have all served — and are still serving — one goal: to buy power over us by conquering the public sphere. This applies to both the old and the new left in Hungary today. What else is this if not corrupt foreign interference?

But we Hungarians have had enough of that. Such things always boil our rebellious Kuruc blood, and we refuse to fall in line. That’s why they haven’t been able to beat us with their algorithms, and why we’ve now created platforms here at home where we can speak and write freely about the truth and our own interests — interests we will pursue through fire and flood. This is thanks, not least, to the colleagues, journalists, and editors sitting here today.

The enemy’s bastions in Brussels are still stand. but so does our rebellion, and we will continue it until we are allowed to live, as citizens of a sovereign country, the way we choose.

We Hungarians have proven time and again that we can resist, that we can defend ourselves. Now we must demonstrate that we can also go on the offensive—and win. In order to do that, we must develop Hungary’s soft power: the ability of a country to influence the course of global affairs through its culture, political ideas, and strategic vision. This is a task we politicians, analysts, journalists, and influencers must accomplish together. The challenges ahead are great—but I’m optimistic, like the Szekler commander who said: “If we’re surrounded on all sides, that just means we can attack in every direction.”

God bless you all. And God bless Hungary!

(Edited version of a speech by Miklos Szantho - general director of the Budapest-based Center for Fundamental Rights - delivered on March 28, 2025, in Budapest at the "Wars of Truth IV: Sovereignty and Freedom of Expression" conference, organized by the Hungarian National Media Association and the Center for Fundamental Rights)