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Weeklies on the new national curriculum

Monday, February 10th, 2020

The debate over the new national curriculum continues in the weeklies. Left-wing and liberal commentators pour scorn on the government and accuse it of brainwashing kids. Pro-government and conservative commentators, on the other hand, find the critics ideologically biased. READ MORE

The Nyírő saga continues

Monday, July 2nd, 2012

Right and left accuse each other of acting in bad faith in connection with the government-sponsored, but failed reburial of Transylvanian writer József Nyírő. A liberal analyst believes both sides need enemies in order to mobilise their own  troops. READ MORE

Wiesel returns Hungarian award

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

A right-wing columnist downplays the importance of Elie Wiesel’s decision to return the highest Hungarian state honour in protest against what he sees as the government’s efforts to restore anti-Semitic icons. A left-wing pundit, on the other hand, believes that the case will receive international attention and further harm the image of the Orbán government. A centrist commentator notes that the previous socialist-liberal coalitions did much less against anti-Semitism than the current Fidesz government. READ MORE

Interpretation wars around Hungarian history

Monday, June 18th, 2012

Commentators on the left and right trade accusations about hidden agendas and propagating half-truths concerning the charges of anti-Semitism, the heritage of Imre Nagy and the Strasbourg court ruling on wearing the red star in public. READ MORE

House speaker persona almost non grata in Romania

Thursday, June 7th, 2012

Népszabadság accuses Fidesz of trying to draw ethnic Hungarians in Romania under its own political control. Magyar Hírlap rejects Romanian charges of Hungarian interference in the local election campaign in Transylvania. READ MORE

Nyirő as a battlefield in the culture wars

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

A centrist analyst believes that symbolic political debates have real political importance, and should not be seen as something completely irrational. He notes, however, that the government seems to sacrifice its centrist stance in the current culture war. READ MORE

The failed reburial of József Nyirő in Transylvania

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

Commentators across the political spectrum find the Hungarian-Romanian diplomatic incident over writer József Nyirő’s reburial sad but absurd. Right-wing commentators claim that Nyirő was not a National Socialist radical and blame the Romanian government and left-leaning Romanian Hungarians for the conflict. Left-wing columnists suggest that the Hungarian government has exacerbated tensions by commemorating a Fascist writer. READ MORE