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My story about how Hungary has changed in the decade since Orban returned to power is in this weekend's @FTMag. I spoke to Hungarians who've been shaped & affected by the past 10 years about Orban's strategy to reshape society and how they feel about it. 1/ https://www.ft.com/content/414f202e-9996-11ea-8b5b-63f7c5c86bef
2006-2009, 
was struggling under painful austerity measures. About 3/4 of the population said they’d been better off under communism. Less than half felt the transition to capitalism had been the right path. Far right militias were marching, and there were some intense riots. 2/
was struggling under painful austerity measures. About 3/4 of the population said they’d been better off under communism. Less than half felt the transition to capitalism had been the right path. Far right militias were marching, and there were some intense riots. 2/
In 2010, Mr Orban won a supermajority, giving him a mandate to reshape the economy and the political scene, including electoral laws, and to significantly amend the constitution at least 7 times. 3/
Orban saw his 3rd consecutive victory in 2018 as a mandate to build a "new era" that would transcend politics. “An era is a spiritual order, a kind of prevailing mood, perhaps even taste–a form of attitude...determined by cultural trends, collective beliefs & social customs.” 4/
This means being more active in setting the cultural agenda regarding education, academia, media, theatres, museums, history curricula, etc.
“They want to take over all aspects of Hungarian life, and I think they have gone pretty far,” @BiroNagyAndras @Pol_SolutionsHU told me. 5/
“They want to take over all aspects of Hungarian life, and I think they have gone pretty far,” @BiroNagyAndras @Pol_SolutionsHU told me. 5/
It also has meant precarity for academics, researchers, journalists, theatre directors and actors, teachers, and more.
“The biggest lesson in this decade is that life can change from one moment to another,” @peterkreko of @Pol_Cap told me. 6/
“The biggest lesson in this decade is that life can change from one moment to another,” @peterkreko of @Pol_Cap told me. 6/
“You can lose your job [due to political reasons]. Universities can be pushed out from one moment to another. Orban’s policy and politics is not conservative. This is about a permanent illiberal revolution,” he continued. 7/
Many conservatives in Hungary are pleased. Marton Bekes, who edits conservative journal Kommentar, told me Mr Orban had done more to increase cultural space for right wing ideas than he could have imagined when he celebrated his victory in 2010 at a party at pro-gov HirTV. 8/
With power over culture and and a prevailing attitude, says Mr Bekes, “You can lose elections – it is better if you don’t – but even if you do, cultural hegemony is yours,”. 9/
But people who don't share the government's prevailing views have been vilified. Zsolt Szekeres, a human rights lawyer with @hhc_helsinki, told me what it was like to wake up and find himself on a list of "Soros Mercenaries" in 2018, four days after Mr Orban was re-elected. 10/
“I felt a very big psychological burden that it wasn’t just about the organisation any more but it was about me personally and that every aspect of my personal life was in danger,” he said. 11/
He said he worried that with regular fear mongering campaigns against George Soros, migrants, Roma, and sexual minorities (the parliament just made it legally impossible for transgender people to register a change in gender), society can fray. 12/
“When you are exposed to years of wilful, targeted hate propaganda, when you train people to be receptive to it, even when they have sympathy for individual stories, they will still buy your message, if it’s about generalised masses that they don’t know,” he told me. 13/
He said the attitude the targeted campaigns foster seems reminiscent of the bargain communist-era Janos Kadar had struck with the people, which he described as: "If you mind your own business and let us conduct the affairs of the state as we see fit, you will be fine…" 14/
So will we have a 2nd decade of Orban? Mr Bekes certainly hopes so. Mr @BiroNagyAndras said that the Covid-19 pandemic could be a "turning point" for Mr Orban because acc to a recent poll, society most worried about poor healthcare and rising inequality. Both are tested now. 15/
