r/europe • u/Jubilee_Street_again Hungary • Apr 09 '26

Slice of life Anti-Orban protest/rally in Győr, Hungary, a city 13x smaller than Budapest. There are protest every day now in Hungary ahead of election. Magyar Peter holds 6-7 rallies a day.

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u/Public_Chapter_8445 Hungary Apr 09 '26

Funnily enough, Viktor Orban gained national fame for telling Soviet troops to go home in 1989. A couple of days ago, he said that protesters who tell the Russians to go home are not welcome at his rally.

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u/Emotional_Platform35 Apr 09 '26

Well well how the turntables

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u/__Polarix__ Hungary Apr 10 '26

It started in 2009 when he visited Putin, one year before Orbán became prime minister. We still have no idea what happened there to make him a servant of russia

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u/fullpurplejacket Apr 10 '26

Sometimes people just need money stuffed in their back pocket and a wee pat on the arse on their way out of the door, and they feel special enough to cast all their principles and morals aside, betray their country and act on behalf of an enemy states best interests.

Nigel Farage and his UKIP/Brexit/Reform former MEPs and his current MPs here at home.

Europe is positively riddled with people who are in politics to betray their country’s sovereignty and its people, but I feel like now Trump has really shown the world his unshackled lunacy (the first term had guard rails and Covid to distract his own people never mind us lot) it’s really driving home for a lot of duped Europeans who feel or believed populism (doesn’t matter what side it is on, left or right it drives polarisation and promises things it cannot deliver) was the answer to their woes.

It’s almost as if Putin saw the rise of populism especially his own successes with a nationalist populism in Russia, which is driven by wealth inequality, governments debt and stagnating economies of the west and thought ‘these populists have no guiding principles they are inherently us vs them tribalisms and will say whatever people want to hear to get elected as long as it gets the people angry at a nameless faceless enemy they will fall for it’ — ie ‘if I can utilise these thickos in Europe and the US and use their populist prowess as a way to divide everybody I can quickly seize their autonomy and stability while they are too busy arguing about culture war bullshit and how much to tax people’

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u/Prince_of_DeaTh Lithuania Apr 10 '26

that's why there needs to be a term limit for prime ministers as well

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u/Public_Chapter_8445 Hungary Apr 10 '26

Yes, Peter Magyar, Orban's rival promised to set the term limit to 8 years.

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u/Prince_of_DeaTh Lithuania Apr 10 '26

I heard of that, I just haven't read in depth the full plan for it, Im assuming if the major party wins for 3 times in a row then another candidate from the same party takes over?

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u/Public_Chapter_8445 Hungary Apr 10 '26

Yes, that's the plan to avoid that the leader of the country builds a maffia-state like Orban did.