Hungary Plan That Could Shutter Soros’s University Is Called ‘Political Vandalism’

[Dan Stubbs]

A law put forward by the Hungarian government would force a university founded by the Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros to shut its doors, the school’s top official said on Wednesday.

The move, according to observers, was the latest development in a crackdown on free expression and liberal values under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has embraced President Trump and vociferously denounced Mr. Soros, a billionaire who is a frequent target of attacks by the right-wing news media in both the United States and Europe.

The school, the Central European University, opened in Mr. Soros’s native Budapest in 1991, not long after the fall of communism and the start of Hungary’s uneven transition to democracy. The school is known as a center for research in the social sciences, with programs led by internationally prominent educators.

The university has also given a platform to dissident voices, particularly in the period since Mr. Orban, who helped popularize the term “illiberal democracy,” came to power in 2010. Proponents of illiberal democracy place majority rule over civil liberties and minority rights, and they say that financiers like Mr. Soros are part of an elite capitalist class that puts cosmopolitan values over national interests.

 

[Stratford57]

Victor Orban, Hungarian president:” In recent years Soros’ NGOs encompassed all determinant levels of decision making process. Soros’ soldiers want to determine for us what we should do. For so long the things were so simple: a human being was a man or a woman, a mother, a father, Hungarian, German or Russian, Christian or Muslim. Now they want to drag us into a world where these natural and clear concepts are definitely missing. That world has no sure boundaries. It’s not clear who’s a man or a woman, what a family is, what it means to be Hungarian and Christian. They qualify families as unnecessary, nations as outdated."

 

[Pogo]

A law put forward by the Hungarian government would force a university founded by the Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros to shut its doors, the school’s top official said on Wednesday.

The move, according to observers, was the latest development in a crackdown on free expression and liberal values under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has embraced President Trump and vociferously denounced Mr. Soros, a billionaire who is a frequent target of attacks by the right-wing news media in both the United States and Europe.

The school, the Central European University, opened in Mr. Soros’s native Budapest in 1991, not long after the fall of communism and the start of Hungary’s uneven transition to democracy. The school is known as a center for research in the social sciences, with programs led by internationally prominent educators.

The university has also given a platform to dissident voices, particularly in the period since Mr. Orban, who helped popularize the term “illiberal democracy,” came to power in 2010. Proponents of illiberal democracy place majority rule over civil liberties and minority rights, and they say that financiers like Mr. Soros are part of an elite capitalist class that puts cosmopolitan values over national interests.

Yet another uncredited cut-and-paste article. NYT

You can't just plagiarize newspapers, Dan.

 

[Auld Phart]

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