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Latest (hopeful) developments concerning the CEU in Budapest

Brian Leiter

Philosopher Katalin Balog (Rutgers) shares some recent news and links:

Apparently the government is backing down.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-soros-university-idUSKBN17E0QC

Some speculate that this only means they will now concentrate their energies on eliminating civil organizations which they hope will receive less attention but perhaps has more political significance as the last checks on  the government. This is speculation. But the CEU situation is definitely more hopeful today.

A bit later she shared this:

[A] lengthy but very informative blogpost about latest developments re: CEU. Some good developments from the American side, and bat-shit crazy responses (and ominous warnings) from the Fidesz government:

http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/04/11/viktor-orbans-plans-foiled-the-u-s-government-wont-negotiate/

Comments are open for more information, links etc.

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5 responses to “Latest (hopeful) developments concerning the CEU in Budapest”

  1. Katalin Balog

    Here is an informative article about the background of Orbán’s animus against the CEU. Also interesting parallels between the psychologies of our respective autocrats.

    http://index.hu/belfold/2017/04/12/ceu_embodies_everything_orban_is_against/

    Also, further update from Hungarian Spectrum on the widening of the anti-government protests:

    http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/04/12/viktor-orbans-regime-under-fire-at-home-and-abroad/

    Reply
  2. Balazs

    I would hope, but I don't really think these linked news can be properly construed as "the government backing down". In my understanding the linked remarks of the Hungarian Education Secretary fit very well into the FUD strategy of Fidesz; the Secretary's claim about the existence of an "easy administrative solution" is going to be endlessly repeated in the media to calm the nerves of Fidesz supporters but does not have much relevance in the face of a signed law which hovers above CEU's neck from now on. I'm also not sure Orban cares much about the current protests either; truth be told up until now they rather look like cheerful Spring festivities than angry protests and the government is quite aware of this, which also materializes in the remarkably (and unusually) low police presence in/around them.

    Also, some articles linked by Kati partially blame Orban for blatant misunderstanding of the workings of US politics and diplomacy, to be explained by the sheer incompetence of the party loyalists whom diplomatic positions got filled up with in recent years. While the incompetence charge for many in the middle-man positions is quite likely to be true, I would be cautious betting against Orban's understanding of political power-games. Although career diplomats of the US State Department might react as expected, Orban, who last year was the first country leader to express support for then-nominee Trump, seems to have several ties with high ranking officials in the Trump administration, and he might know something which we don't. Take, for instance, his ties to Sebastian Gorka, Trump's deputy assistant and chief counter-terrorism adviser. Gorka, who now works quite closely with Trump, previously served as an adviser of Orban himself, and he is known to have taken positions in Hungarian politics that fall even to the *right* of Fidesz – for instance in 2007 he even expressed support of Hungarian Guard, the now-banned openly anti-semite paramilitary group (see i.e. http://forward.com/news/366339/sebastian-gorka-what-is-the-evidence-and-why-does-it-matter/ ). I have not seen these links explored in the media yet but they would certainly deserve a closer look. I also think it's hard to get an estimate of how measures that are consistently (and misleadingly) dressed up as an attack on George Soros, who is also in the top of people-hated-by-Trump, are going to be taken by Trump himself. Trump certainly neither minds his ego being fanned nor would he (I imagine) be troubled by some Eastern-European mini-dictator doing something for him that would be inconvenient for him to publicly support.

    I don't want to start a pissing contest, but as I have said before I believe that, overall, Trump's ascendency is going to have worse consequences for the rest of the world than for the US. I very much doubt that CEU would now be under attack if Clinton had been elected president. But let's hope I'm only connecting dots that exist independently.

    Reply
  3. Kati Farkas (CEU)

    I fear it's too early to say that the developments are hopeful. The situation certainly hasn't got worse, but nothing has been done officially to avert the effects of the law which requires that CEU meets certain conditions (which are virtually impossible to meet) by September. True, the state secretary for higher education made a comment yesterday in a much more conciliatory tone than before. But then he proceeded to suggest a legal solution that is expressly forbidden by the new law. One possible worrying consequence of this is that those who are interested in CEU's fate may feel reassured that the case is solved – when it's far from clear that it is…

    Reply
  4. Katalin Balog

    Pro-CEU, anti-government demonstrations has spread to Szeged, the second largest city in Hungary, as well as smaller, provincial towns. The demonstration in Szeged was described in local media as the largest since 1956. Some pictures:

    http://www.delmagyar.hu/kepek/nem_csak_az_egyetemistak_tuntettek_szegeden_/2051962/3179034/

    Reply
  5. Balazs

    Here is a new video message from CEU President and Rector Michael Ignatieff



    asking CEU supporters to

    – write to European Commission leaders and European Parliament representatives, urging them to defend academic freedom,
    – write to U.S. Members of Congress and Senators, calling on them to support freedom of an American institution abroad,

    etc., ahead of an April 26th debate in Brussels.

    —–
    KEYWORDS:
    Primary Blog

    Reply

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