Not just a change of goverment

After a long time, something really happened. Here’s a little summary from my perspective of what lies ahead. You can place your bets at the end of the document.

The victory of the TISZA party, the end of Orbán's 16 years (and even more), a strange, collective feeling of hope and distrust all at once. Péter Magyar's party won a two-thirds majority in the elections, thus ending the long era of Fidesz, but it is also clear that this was not a left-wing turn, but rather a shift to the center-right. Personally, I would not give anyone the opportunity for such a large advantage, nor for so long, although the latter may change now. I would have been happy if the lineup was a little more mixed, from moderate center to neo-Nazis, but the fact is that a massive amount of experts will soon be sitting behind the wheel. However, since I am not one, this is not really a political commentary, but rather a personal, thinking out loud.

The government that is now emerging, seems to be a very well-assembled operating team, which is perhaps even more important than any revolutionary spirit. My impression is that there will be tidying up and fine-tuning, but it is also important that this small country, which is currently bleeding from many wounds, remains functional. This is of course no coincidence, after an election the most important question is rarely who can make the biggest change, but who can avoid big mistakes and this team is perfectly tuned to that… Everyone who voted for them expects full responsibility and governance, and the expectation is obviously realistic, although many people might be satisfied with that if the situation were simply not worse.

In the meantime, the question arises in my mind, and I await your answers to it - how much caution is worth remaining if we want real change? I could describe my feeling about this political roller coaster by saying that I think there is a long, straight section ahead. It will be more stable, more predictable and perhaps not as exciting. But the big question is how much scope there is for significant changes in the efforts to maintain stability (which I think is a bigger task than we laymen think). I am not saying that I do not consider them suitable, in fact if I consider anyone suitable, it is them. It’s just that relatively rarely does anyone face what it feels to take over the government after 15+ Fidesz. I always forget about the KDNP, even though they actively contributed to the program.

I have been watching this from abroad for ten years. I currently live and work in Vienna, but most of my family and friends are in Budapest. Hungary is not just “domestic news” for me.

In my opinion, the victory of TISZA was primarily an anti-system vote. Just like Pride, it contained only traces of queer joy. Many people voted for them not because they identify with them in everything, but because Fidesz finally had to be replaced. Many left-wing, liberal, otherwise not voting in this direction, decided not out of enthusiasm, but out of strategic survival.

However, there are many who voted for them with great pleasure, and almost all of them have sympathy for Péter. I hope they are right, and we will see successful governance in such a divided country. But I think that many of those affected can already breathe easier, the air seems cleaner.

History is very rarely creative. It usually finds the same group of people first. This is not new, it is a pattern. This is what feminist history is about, this is what LGBTQ history is about, this is what punk culture is about. And it is always the same question: Who gets to decide how you live?

If there is truly an opening now, we won’t just feel it in GDP, but in whether it is possible to talk again. Is it possible to debate again? Is it possible to not be afraid again that your existence in itself is a political statement?

I would like to make a digression here, namely art is never just decoration. That is why culture is important. Art begins where someone says: I see this differently, regardless and if it’s even ironic... That is why setting boundaries, information hygiene, awareness, building communities, holding each other and creating our own autonomous spaces is so important. You don’t have to let all of it into your living room but politics doesn’t just happen in parliament. Just know that it’s also in who dares to speak up, who dares to love, who dares to create and who dares to imagine another future for themselves.

Hungarians are punks these days.

There may be disappointment in this too and there will be certainly compromises and there will probably be many moments when we will feel that we didn’t want this. But still, the air matters and also it’s enough first. We can build on that because we don’t have to wait for the perfect system.

See you on the other side,

Ivett