Adam Fischer: Hungary will never be a democracy

Adam Fischer: Hungary will never be a democracy

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norman lebrecht

December 29, 2019

The less outspoken of the two conductor brothers (left of picture)has given a rare interview in Vienna, to mark the publication of his biography.

Here’s what Adam says about his home country: ‘I have already said and I repeat: Hungary will never be a democracy, a feudalist instinct will always remain. Whoever rules holds the reins. If Orbán were to lose, two to three million people will immediately say they never voted for him. They just jump over to the other side….

‘[Orban] is intelligent and knows exactly what he is doing, knows that he is poisoning society by keeping out foreigners. He is not interested in how he gets what he needs. He would also be a good Social Democrat if that were in his interest.’

Read on here.

 

Comments

  • Rob says:

    There’s no such thing as democracy. There’s always people at the top controlling everything using religion and money and they’ll give you just a tiny deposit of freedom to brainwash you into thinking you have the freedom YOU deserve!

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      A great number of people from a large number of countries would be very happy with a “tiny deposit of freedom”.

    • John Borstlap says:

      Nonsense. Democracy is a structurally-relative system based upon the rule of law rather than the power of majorities. Therefore, democratic government is representative through political parties. It is far from ideal, but the division of powers help to prevent, or can contain and restrict, unlawful behavior by undermining forces. For people like the author of this comment, it may be helpful to read a bit about the background of their own anger:

      https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v37/n23/pankaj-mishra/bland-fanatics

      • Saxon Broken says:

        Bore-slap. Your definition of “democracy” is just wrong. Most western societies, for good reasons, temper the role of “democracy” in everyday life by ensuring minorities are protected, and that the accused receive a proper trial.

    • John R. says:

      That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t ATTEMPT to put one in place, right??!

  • Communist says:

    Democracy is a scam, so no big loss

    • Sue Sonata Form says:

      Yes, it’s a bloody nuisance – especially when it delivers the leader you didn’t want. You do need a healthy dose of “loser consent” for it to actually survive – and there’s one major democracy where ‘loser consent’ disappeared overnight in 2016.

      • MWnyc says:

        The year after which loser consent disappeared in the US was 1992. And the individual who deserves more blame for it than anyone else is Newt Gingrich.

      • Herr Doktor says:

        Sue, we all REALLY appreciate your weighing in on so many non-musical subjects. But please, you need to think of yourself first, this is taking FAR TOO MUCH TIME AWAY FROM JORDAN PETERSON. The time you spend writing here, is time you’re not watching a Jordan Peterson video. We’re all grateful for your sacrifice on our behalf, but really, it’s too much for us to accept. I think we’ll all be happiest if you just go back to your Jordan Peterson videos. I’m sure it’s not possible to truly be satisfied with watching any of them even only 4800 times.

    • Bill says:

      Because everyone knows what a paradise the Communist Soviet Union was.

    • Nick says:

      You are right, but those who are lucky enough to live in the “free world” do not understand and do not appreciate that. So far, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic proved to be the smartest and safest countries in Europe. And Sweden has a 33% increase in violent rape crime and 8% increase on top only in one year 2019!! Judge for yourself

  • Mustafa Kandan says:

    He may not be as charismatic as his brother, but he is just as good. I find it almost incomprehensible that his brother is trying to run an orchestra, while justifiably being hostile to the regime which ultimately determines its fate. I am a huge admirer of Ivan Fischer as a conductor, less as a composer, but do not envy his situation in relation to the current regime.

  • Sue Sonata Form says:

    Oh…. so whatever Orban chooses to do is wrong.

    • Peter San Diego says:

      In the 1950s, the Hungarian dictator Rakosi called himself “Stalin’s best pupil.”

      Today, Orban could call himself “Putin’s best pupil.”

      And Trump is the class dunce.

      • Sue Sonata Form says:

        The Hungarians have endured centuries of oppression and rule from a distance: from the Austro-Hungarian diktats to the post-war Communists from Russia. As recently as the late 19th century Hungarians were looking to extricate themselves from the Habsburgs. Their reward in the long run was vicious Soviet communism after the dust of WW2 settled. And they weren’t freed from that until recently.

        Like the Russians before them, their transition to ‘democracy’ is proving challenging because so much of repression is imprinted in their DNA.

        Trump gets that and so do I.

        • Nick says:

          Just came back from Budapest…..did not notice much of a repression. People are happy, streets are clean as a whistle, unlike the “wonderful” rule in France, where one cannot safely walk one block in Paris today!

        • Amos says:

          Don’t compare your views with those of trump. He believes in nothing other than monetizing every moment of the day for his personal benefit no matter how illegal or immoral. You, based on your posts here, are the ultimate anachronism desperately trying to hold onto the 1930’s by rationalizing the actions of every two-bit right-wing authoritarian thug on the world stage.

    • Amos says:

      As usual you’ll be enthralled with Orban as long as he vilifies immigrants. Your 1 humane post the other day was as predicted the outlier.

  • Arpod Istvan says:

    Democracy is one valid form of government, but certainly not the only valid form of government.

    • G says:

      5 dislikes versus 2 likes – and thus, democracy votes that democracy is the only valid form of government. There’s something to be learned here but I’m not sure that they would get it…

  • Don Fatale says:

    “Keeping out foreigners” seems to be some kind of code for not accepting its ‘share’ of the EU vast quantity of migrants. There are plenty of foreigners here.

  • Calvin says:

    High time Hungary gets booted out of EU

  • Dennis says:

    As if “democracy” were self-evidently good or something to aspire to. Orban is the finest leader and statesman in Europe today, and his vision for Europe is far deeper and truer than that espoused by the EU and its ilk, which like to claim it its desiccated leftist values are true “European values.”

    That Adam Fischer chastises Orban for “not allowing in foreigners,” i.e. not undermining Hungarian society by inviting in masses of unassimilable third world immigrants, is typical of the leftist, EU-oriented mindset. For him and EU types, “migrants” have more rights than the indigenous people and cultures of Europe. They want nothing less than to undermine and destroy Western culture.

    • G says:

      What absolute, utter, moronic nonsense to suggest that the conscious goal of the leftist EU-oriented mindset is to destroy Western culture. Peace in Europe has been scarce quite literally forever – the EU might not be the reason for the last seventy years of relatively peaceful relations but it certainly has helped maintain the greatest level of peace in centuries. Brexit has certainly not made things more peaceful, and the rampant anti-semitism and xenophobia in Hungary certainly hasn’t brought peace either.

  • Karajon says:

    “he is poisoning society by keeping out foreigners.”
    What the hell this supposed to mean?

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