tt seemed like an unexpected gift for the left-liberal opposition when
Hungary’s rightwing Fidesz government started a propaganda campaign in
June 2015 about the dangers of mass immigration.
There were practically no immigrants coming to the country at the time, so showing how pointless and wasteful it was to be spending public money on billboards about the issue looked like an easy battle to win.
But prime minister Viktor Orbán and his government proved to be far-sighted: later in the summer tens of thousands of migrants traveled through the country until a fence was erected at the southern border.
By then the populist government was systematically and regularly finding new enemies of the state to single out. First a daily newspaper close to Fidesz accused a group of philosophers of improper acquisition of research funding – the academics had raised concerns about the government eroding democratic institutions.
Then came attacks on foreign-owned banks and the excessive profits of multinational utility companies. But immigration has received the most attention, with the European commission, Hungarian-born American businessman George Soros, human rights NGOs and liberal organisations all seemingly implicated in a vast conspiracy.
Read more: Why Viktor Orbán has a problem turning his country against immigrants | Andras Schweitzer | Opinion | The Guardian
There were practically no immigrants coming to the country at the time, so showing how pointless and wasteful it was to be spending public money on billboards about the issue looked like an easy battle to win.
But prime minister Viktor Orbán and his government proved to be far-sighted: later in the summer tens of thousands of migrants traveled through the country until a fence was erected at the southern border.
By then the populist government was systematically and regularly finding new enemies of the state to single out. First a daily newspaper close to Fidesz accused a group of philosophers of improper acquisition of research funding – the academics had raised concerns about the government eroding democratic institutions.
Then came attacks on foreign-owned banks and the excessive profits of multinational utility companies. But immigration has received the most attention, with the European commission, Hungarian-born American businessman George Soros, human rights NGOs and liberal organisations all seemingly implicated in a vast conspiracy.
Read more: Why Viktor Orbán has a problem turning his country against immigrants | Andras Schweitzer | Opinion | The Guardian
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