Hungary: uprising against Orbán's "slavery law"

Little time? At the end of the text there is a summary.

It happens very rarely that Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán gets defensive. This was the case for the last time in autumn 2014, when its government wanted to introduce an internet tax. After several major demonstrations Orbán finally took the project back - because the poll numbers of his party had fallen sharply.

Now Hungary is again experiencing a wave of protests - the biggest in a long time. Thousands of people have been demonstrating in the capital Budapest for several days, but also in other cities of the country. Because of individual rioters, the police partly violated the demonstrators with disproportionate force, deployed tear gas massively and indiscriminately arrested participants in the rallies as well as bystanders - which rather fueled the protests.

The trigger is that of the opposition so-called slavery law. This amendment to the Labor Law increases the annual overtime rate from 250 to 400. At the same time, employers can now take three years to pay for additional work instead of the previous one year. The law is the latest in a long list of anti-labor measures adopted by Orbán since 2010. Against the massive protest of unions, opposition and civil organizations, it was decided last Wednesday. In the vote, there were chaotic scenes in parliament, because the opposition had occupied the podium of the Speaker of Parliament.

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The opposition is united for the first time

Since then, street protests have continued in Budapest and elsewhere. On Sunday alone, around 15,000 people demonstrated in the Hungarian capital. Since the night of Monday, protesters have been besieging the public radio building, which reports only very limited attention to the demonstrations.

What's new about the protests is that for the first time in more than eight years, the entire non-governmental spectrum of the Orbán government has appeared - in addition to civil organizations and trade unions, all parliamentary opposition parties, including the formerly extreme right-wing Jobbik party, which have been around for a few years endeavors to a right-conservative people's party. "This consensus is surprising, because after the Orbán two-thirds election victory in April, there was great apathy in the opposition," political scientist Péter Krekó from the Budapest Institute of Political Capital told SPIEGEL. "Now, the much-voted amalgamation of the opposition has come about."

Probably because the "slavery law" provokes as widespread displeasure in public as rarely. In fact, the law is intended to solve serious social problems that Orbán's system has created - in a way that many Hungarians find humiliating. In the country there is a massive labor shortage, due to the strong emigration. This in turn is a result of dissatisfaction with Orbán's system.

Over the past eight years, around 600,000 more well-educated people have left Hungary because the civil service, especially education and health services, are poorly organized and underfunded. In addition, private companies often depend on the goodwill of the government. Added to this is a depressing public climate in which many no longer dare openly express their opinions. Against this background, it seems cynical for many to solve the problem of labor shortage simply by increasing the number of overtime hours.

"Arrogance of power"

But the protests are not just about the "slavery law". Also last Wednesday, a law was passed on the new Administrative Courts to be created. Unlike traditional courts, they are under the control of the Ministry of Justice. Independent lawyers fear that these new courts will be assigned all cases where the government wants a specific verdict. Hungarian civil rights organizations speak of another blow to the already lack of independence of the judiciary.

It is not only these laws that show what the political scientist Péter Krekó describes as the "arrogance of power in an increasingly authoritarian, hybrid system". This year, for example, Orbán's government passed repressive laws against non-governmental organizations, curtailed the right to demonstrate, or banned homeless people from having "a lifelong stay" in public places. Surveys show that even many supporters of the Orbán Fidesz party are in part not in agreement with such measures. There is also general growing discontent about abuses in the country, such as widespread political corruption.

However, the current response of the Orbán government to the protests does not indicate that there will be any kind of relent. Unlike in autumn 2014, politicians from Orbán's party pull Fidesz and pro-government media in a manner about the demonstrators as one would expect in Russia or Turkey. Behind the protests were "provocateurs", "foreign offenders", a "small, aggressive minority", the US billionaire billionaire George Soros and people who wanted to flood Hungary with "migrants".

In summary: Last Wednesday, Parliament passed a law in Hungary that increases the annual overtime rate from 250 to 400 and gives employers more time to pay for overtime work. Since then, thousands of Hungarians have taken to the streets against this novel. For the first time in years, the opposition has been united in the protests. Government-related media are rushing against the protesters.