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Anti-elitist revolution envisioned after Brexit vote

July 2nd, 2016

Encouraged by the result of the referendum in the UK, one right-wing pundit writes about an ‘elite-hating’ revolution, while another argues that liberal democracies are under the thumb of aristocracies.

Liberal democracy today is a colossal lie, a manipulative tool manufactured by a tiny minority and their aides for ‘the poor of the ghost’, writes László Tőkéczki in Magyar Idők‘s op-ed piece. Ruling elites right across Europe, he asserts, are now unnerved by referenda. ‘Why is it called democracy, if the people votes the way the elite wants, ‘populism’, if it does not?’ he asks. The author lambasts what he calls ‘George Soros democracy’, where his wealth, he claims, enables the investor to build a hierarchical society where ‘Hillary Clintons’ can decide everything. In this sense, Tőkéczki argues, modern liberal democracies are nothing more than an aristocratic rule with the massive support of the media, where the press has either been bribed or just taught ‘on elitist courses’ to act in a senseless and doctrinaire way. It is no wonder, Mr Tőkéczki suggests, that Viktor Orbán’s remarks on ‘illiberal democracy’ were met with such outrage (the term stirred up debate when Viktor Orbán first used it in a speech in 2014 – see BudaPost August 4, 2014), though the phrase is about no more than reinstating politics that serves the people, and deposing ‘parasitic elite democracy’ the author believes.

In Magyar Hírlap, István Lovas applauds Rodrigo Duterte, the new president of the Philippines sworn in on Thursday. After the Brexit vote and the election of 5 Star Movement candidate Virginia Raggi as Mayor of Rome, he regards Duterte’s victory as the latest development in what he calls the ‘elite-hating’ global revolution, a revolution he now considers unstoppable. At the same time Lovas criticizes Bernard-Henri Lévy’s column published in Hungarian on Wednesday in the left-liberal Népszabadság, in which the French philosopher called Brexit a victory of ignorance over knowledge, and of brutishness over spirit (the article was originally published in Le Monde on June 25th). Lovas enthusiastically welcomes the new Philippine president’s promise to crack down on drug traffickers, and hails Duterte’s vow to kill those suspected of committing a crime. ‘And who cares on this remote island about what pre-eminent western human rights and freedom defenders croak about?’ Lovas notes excitedly.  And adds a rhetorical question: ‘Raggi, Brexit and now Duerte. Who is the next one we, brutes, can greet?’

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