>I'm more interested in knowing if there are any glimmers of hope left in Hungary.
Absolutely. In my opinion, our lifeline is the EU, as much as Orban is a pain in the ass for them. I believe that as long as Hungary is part of such international organizations, and I'm counting the NATO here as well, Orban can't cross certain borders, or at least not without repercussions, and I believe that he doesn't want any, since his whole shtick is to capitalize on these relations. For example, the same developments would have been (are?) much more scarier in Turkiye, or Belarus.
According to propaganda, Orban is building a family-friendly place. This is proclaimed loudly in the media, and at points where you enter the country (like metal signs saying "Welcome to the family friendly Hungary").
These family values is the usual alt-right dogwhistle, however. Same as how it's used in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_values#Organizations . In reality, the systems that actually support families, healthcare and education, are more strained than ever, due to the gov increasing their responsibility, and underfunding them constantly.
Couples are pushed to marry and have children, by providing discounted loans for them, if they sign contracts that they will bear children. Up to three, the more children they sign up for, the higher the loan will be.
They have amended the hungarian constitution to say explicitly that the mother is a woman, and the father is a man. The particular part now reads: "Hungary protects the institution of marriage as a voluntary union between a man and a woman, and the family as the basis for the survival of the nation. The basis of the family relationship is marriage and the parent-child relationship. The mother is a woman, the father is a man."
"The West" and progressive societal values are actively framed as harmful propaganda that intends to destabilize the country. Values like supporting women and lgbt+, supporting investigative journalism, having a look on migration as anything other than "very harmful".
Abortion laws are strictened. They included things like the mother having to listen to the fetus' heartbeat, before agreeing to the abortion procedure. Frankly, I think this is so evil, that I have a very hard time not to write something that wishes active harm towards these people.
Doctors don't take women seriously, and are often hostile or degrading towards them. This is not a politically directed issue, rather the result of the previous 50-100 years of political climates. For example, a female friend of mine went to a regular checkup, where the PRIVATE, for-profit gynecologist asked her if she has children, and when she said that she doesn't, and that they don't plan to have children with her husband, the doctor recommended that she reconsider, and that he can organize it that she gets pregnant, despite what the husband wants.
Hungary has a significant Roma minority. Many of the Roma people live below the poverty line, and their relation to the Hungarian population, government and law enforcement is a systemic, centuries-old issue. The current government does exactly nothing for them, nor in the short term nor towards their long-term well-being, but uses public figures of their culture to signal their support and association, and buys their votes with cheap gestures right before the elections.
LGBT people, and issues are not just marginalized, but the movement is branded as something that actively destroys society. LGBT families are regarded as unfit to raise children, they can be life partners with some of the marriage benefits, but not in a recognized marriage, and the Pride parade has been floated as something to be outlawed just this year.
These are just from the top of my head, in 30 minutes. Please feel free to ask any follow-up questions or proof, or post clarifications and corrections, I'm sure there are mistakes, and I don't intend to have any, as the well-being of my fellows is dear to my heart. Thanks for reading.
I've always admired Hungary and Hungarians. Very prodigious people. Neumann, Erdős, Teller, Szilard, Grove, Simonyi. Is there a country that breeds more geniuses per capita? How comes Hungary's political situation came to this?
I didn't read them all, but I read enough to think they were lying about it being tweets from 2017. It reads like someone asked ChatGPT to summarize current political news in the US.
History may not repeat, but it absolutely rhymes. If had a nickel for every time I heard about a government proposing to round up and deport thousands of people to a special island just so that their normal Constitution rules wouldn't apply, I'd have two nickels--which isn't a lot, but it's weird it happened twice.
Unfortunately, remote detention camps to "keep the homeland clean" are nothing new, they are tried and tested.
Here in Europe, we have had the UK and Italy actively pursuing rounding up migrants and deporting them to Ruanda/Albania until their claims are processed, and Australia has been doing this for decades now on Nauru and other places.
Possibly the migrants could enter the country using the approved legal process instead of just wandering in?
It isn't reasonable to expect countries to have a generous welfare system, accept all arrivals and exist on the same planet at the billion-odd people who live on a few dollars a day. Something has to give. I vote the welfare system but keep getting overruled; so one of the other two has to go. And we don't have the space tech to pick option 3.
> Possibly the migrants could enter the country using the approved legal process
At least for America, many if not also the majority did just that... And then overstayed the time limit, which is a civil infraction in the same category as a parking ticket.
Republicans have proposed a special "come deport me" registry where not-signing-up is itself a felony, as a roundabout way to retroactively criminalize things.
> Possibly the migrants could enter the country using the approved legal process instead of just wandering in?
For Germany, there is no legal way to enter the country if you're not caught by one of the larger dragnets (evacuation of personnel in Afghanistan, EU-wide assistance for Ukrainians and a few other rare international resettlement efforts). You are not able to apply for asylum outside of Germany, you cannot fly to Germany without a visa (the airline just won't take you as a passenger).
On paper yes you have the right to claim asylum. In practice, you have no way that doesn't make you commit at least one felony along the way.
I know nearly nothing about German law, but I going by what you write if Germany doesn't make it legal to enter the country, then no surprise the people who try anyway run the risk of being deported. I have enormous sympathy for them, but the fact is Germany is famous for having a big welfare system. That means people can't just wander in.
The thing for us to do would be to not make it necessary for people to flee in the first place. Feeding them in Africa is cheaper than feeding them here, the 2015 migration movement was largely caused because of a 100M $ shortfall in UNHCR / UNWFP food supply.
