How a Liberal Dissident Became a Far-Right Hero, in Hungary and Beyond
How a Liberal Dissident Became a Far-Right Hero, in Hungary and Beyond Photo No one exemplifies the angry direction of post-communist Eastern Europe more than Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary. He is expected to lead his party to victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday. Credit Laszlo Balogh/Getty Images BUDAPEST — During the final days of communism in Hungary, a young, liberal dissident wrote to a foundation run by the Hungarian-American philanthropist George Soros, asking for a grant to finance his research into grass-roots democracy.
Hungary would soon “transition from dictatorship to democracy,” the student wrote in 1988. “One of the main elements of this transition can be the rebirth of civil society.”
The student was Viktor Orban. Now the prime minister, Mr. Orban is expected to lead his party to victory in parliamentary elections on Sunday — not as the pro-Western statesman he once promised to be, but as a hero to the far-right, a scourge of civil society (and of Mr. So..