Bálint Magyar gave a presentation at the University of California at Berkeley entitled: Parallel System Narratives: Polish and Hungarian Regime Formations Compared. The event took place in one of the older buildings at the Wildavsky Conference Room; the place was packed, standing room only. Mr. Magyar is a sociologist and a former Hungarian Minister of Education. (See invitation here.)
In his presentation he compared the regimes of Poland’s Jarosław Kaczyński (PiS) and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán (Fidesz) and concluded that while at a first glance we may have the impression that we are dealing with similar authoritarian regimes, in reality, these are different types of autocratic regimes. Kaczyński’s regime is better described as a conservative-autocratic experiment driven by ambitions of power and ideological inclinations. Orbán’s regime can be defined as a post-communist mafia state. It is built on the twin motivations of power centralization and family accumulation of wealth. While the Hungarian regime essentially operates with no ideologies, the Polish one is more ideologically driven.
Magyar made a good case for his theory, he is a good English speaker and the audience clearly enjoyed his talk.
The first ten minutes of the Q and A with moderator Jason Wittenberg, a Political Science Professor was uneventful. Then a gentleman wearing a tie in the back, who I had not noticed before, introduced himself as a Hungarian diplomat called Attila. He immediately started a stump speech that SZDSZ (Mr. Magyar’s old party) had denied Hungarian citizenship to ethnic Hungarians living outside Hungary. He also called Mr. Magyar a Social Democrat. It seemed that he was reading his text from his phone. Prof. Wittenberg asked him: What was the question? Then Attila started to attack Magyar’s role in the “corrupt SZDSZ”. Magyar tried to answer, Attila interrupted again and at the end Wittenberg stopped the diplomat’s tirade. It was a strange intermezzo. The man wore a tie but did not exhibit diplomatic finesse or sophistication.
After the event I learned that his name is Attila Danku, at least that is what he told me, and he had travelled to the event from Los Angeles (over 400 miles!). His also said that he works for Mr. Tamás Széles, Consul General of Hungary in Los Angeles and used to live in the Bay Area.
State University lectures in the US are open to the public and I was surprised that the Orbán Government found Mr. Magyar’s lecture so threatening that they decided to shadow him in California. Of course, diplomats may ask a question or make a comment, but it is impolite to waste time in a Q and A with political stump speeches. And it is unacceptable to interrupt, embarrass or try to discredit for political purposes an invited speaker.
It is my understanding that during the Kádár regime in the 1980s Mr. Magyar endured harassment from the Communist authorities and even lost his job. Déjà vu. Now, almost 40 years later Mr. Magyar is harassed by the Orbán regime’s diplomats even here in California.
This incident is a fine demonstration of just how authoritarian regimes operate. It could make a case study in the curriculum since Magyar’s seminar was presented by the Center of Right-Wing Studies.
György Lázár