Massive protest held in Budapest against state-funded propaganda campaigns

Thousands of people filled Budapest’s Heroes’ Square to the brim on Sunday night to protest the government’s massive propaganda campaigns (on social media, YouTube, billboards and through the so-called national consultations) which have become a regular occurrence in Hungary in the past decade and a half. The protest was organized by the Loupe Theatre Troupe, as they wrote because “we simply refuse to accept that our daily lives should be defined by divisive messages, fearmongering, and hate campaigns.”

They also pointed out that since the appearance of the first blue government propaganda billboards eight years ago, Antal Rogán's ministry has spent a total of more than 257 billion forints (more than 658 million euros) on such communication campaigns. In the event’s announcement, the organizers pointed out among others that “alarming news about the state of our healthcare system and the child protection services have become a daily occurrence, highlighting how severely underfunded these areas are. This money could have been spent on hospitals, children's homes and better pay for experts who can help. It could have been spent on the education system or on promoting social mobility, or on free, independent, critical cultural events”

The protest’s organizers requested that nobody bring any flags or any signage referencing any political parties, as this is a non-partisan event. As they wrote:

“Neither side should use any instrument designed to dehumanize and provoke the other.”

Speaking to Telex previously, the co-founder and artistic director of the Loupe Theatre Troupe, János Antal Hováth explained that it was the recent billboard campaign depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Péter Magyar, the leader of the Tisza Party as two chicks hatched in the same nest that was the last drop for them and which made them decide to do something about this issue. They were all personally affected as they had to explain these billboards to their children.

"This is what lit the fuse, the fact that they spent a huge amount of money on such infantile propaganda and that they were taking people for complete fools. That campaign blended together everything they had used so far. We thought that this was such a low point in terms of public discourse and the use of public spaces that we couldn't just let it pass without doing anything."

Prior to the protest, they asked people to send in their ideas about what kinds of messages they would prefer to see the country flooded with instead. Some of the suggestions included:

• billboards encouraging people to love one another
• billboards suggesting where one can donate to help the elderly, children, or hospitals in need
• billboards with educational content or ones that sensitize people about homelessness or domestic violence
• billboards promoting the importance of regular health screenings

"I am an actress, a practicing Christian, and a mother of two," Rozi Lovas, one of the founders of the Loupe Theatre Troupe said in her speech at the protest on Sunday evening. "I am here because I fear, I am anxious, and I am consumed by the injustice of how the false battles raging above my head are tearing apart my family and my homeland."

"Non-existent people generated by artificial intelligence are talking to us from our screens, they look down at us from billboards, and they parrot lies which are inciting hatred against each other and are destroying our culture. They are creeping into our minds, our souls, our lives," she added.

In his speech, actor and activist Áron Molnár spoke about his frustration with the state of politics and public discourse in the country, as well as the daily threats coming from politicians and propagandists. He also mentioned that he was saddened to hear that some on the right would even be happy to see him dead.

Mental health professional Orsi Tapasztó pointed out that "this hatred is poisoning our society as a whole, it's tearing apart families and friendships, and it's slowly and subtly teaching us to fear each other.... Billions are being spent on building a culture of hatred instead of on children's safety, because there is no immediate political benefit from the latter, she said, adding that our mental health, our children's future, and society's defence mechanism are at stake, and our response to this cannot be silence.

Tamás Lengyel, another actor of the Loupe Theatre Troupe said:

“What kind of nation is one whose members cannot stand to look at each other? Is there anything lower than wishing for the death of one of our compatriots because of politics? Why is all this happening? Because the system we are living in is not only stealing our money, but it is also turning us against each other and wants to make us into fanatics.”

We must rise above partisan politics and see the human being in each other. The first step toward reconciliation is to cleanse our streets and our public spaces of inflammatory, demagogic messages so that we can breathe again."

Fidesz’ communications director Tamás Menczer published a Facebook post about the protest late Sunday afternoon. In it, he wrote that "left-wing activists—who are calling themselves influencers, actors, etc.—are organizing a protest today against hatred, i.e., the government". Addressing the organizers themselves, he then wrote: “You don't care about social climate or public discourse! You are doing political work. After all, what was the original reason for the protest? It was that you didn't like the billboards on which Zelensky and Péter Magyar were shown as being identical. But even a blind man can see that. The Ukrainian comedian and the Hungarian clown are like two peas in a pod.”