Democracy Digest: Orban Says West Under Attack From ‘Progressive Biological Virus’

Orban reiterated his government's narrative that Hungary was in chaos before he took over in 2010. He paid a backhanded tribute to George Soros, saying that if the Hungarian-born US billionaire "had not launched his migration program, we would never have made it into the headlines". He called all progressive causes - gender ideology, pro-migration, wokeness - a "biological virus" that undermines the nation state, and "if the nation state is defeated, the West will go under." Orban called the foreign policy of the US Democrats part of this virus that is leading us into war, omitting to mention it was Russia that invaded Ukraine. Finally, he advised his fellow politicians in attendance - among them former Czech PM Andrej Babis and Slovenia's Janez Jansa - that if they want to win elections, they need to put this slogan on their flags: "No migration, no gender, no war". He urged participants to take back the liberal strongholds of Brussels and Washington, hoping for Trump's return to the White House and a far-right victory in the European elections in 2024.

Elsewhere in Hungary, protests in Budapest demanding better pay for teachers and a 21st-century education system that includes an Education Ministry not part of the Interior Ministry turned violent on Wednesday evening when students clashed with police in front of Orban's office in the Castle District. The PM's office has been cordoned off for months, purportedly due to "construction work" in the vicinity. Opposition politicians have several times tried to pull down the barricades, which they argue obstructs the media from putting any questions to politicians arriving to see the PM. Journalists are also blocked off from government politicians at the parliament. The students began their protest on Wednesday...

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