Portside

More than 45,000 took to the streets on March 15th, 2016, as part of a massive demonstration led by teachers, parents and students, but drawing on all demographics of Hungarians who are livid with an intellectually and morally bankrupt, and rhetorically exhausted autocratic regime that has built its power on dividing society against itself and capitalizing on the increased vulnerability of desperate, marginalized people. István Pukli, the 36-year old director of the Teleki Blanka High School in Budapest, has risen to become the de facto leader of a movement that has now organized its second mass demonstration in under one month.

Mr. Pukli handed Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President János Áder an ultimatum: both men must apologize to all Hungarians who the government has “frightened and humiliated over the past six years” no later than March 30th. If Mr. Orbán and Mr. Áder fail to offer a blanket apology which, in this form, would be political suicide for them, then Mr. Pukli and the movement of teachers  would engage in a one hour national, illegal walk-out. And this would be followed by ever longer walk-outs and, ultimately, a general strike. It’s critical to note that legal strikes among teachers in Hungary are all but impossible to get approved, so illegal strikes are the only option.

Mr. Pukli’s ultimatum is a shrewd move. First, he has managed to turn the teachers’ protest into a wider movement that engages all those, from all walks of life, dissatisfied with the Orbán government. Hungary has apparently arrived at the moment when the various disparate sectors and demographics of the opposition are uniting, despite the varied nature of their grievances. The uniting factor, however, is precisely as Mr. Pukli summarized it: Mr. Orbán’s regime is building absolute loyalty through fear and by rendering already vulnerable people even more beholden to the whims of those in power.

I consider the initial responses to the ultimatum on the part of Fidesz to be politically unhelpful for the government. First, Fidesz MEP Tamás Deutsch went onto Twitter and made light of Mr. Pukli and the protesters. “I wouldn’t want to be in the government’s shoes now,” remarked Mr. Deutsch sarcastically.

Then to show just how tone deaf Mr. Orbán has become, he too turned Mr. Pukli’s ultimatum into a joke. “I simply took this as a joke–the whole thing sounded so funny, ” remarked the prime minister. When asked to comment on the impending strike, Mr. Orbán simply said: “I am still going to show up to work.”

Mr. Pukli declared that the regime “does not have power over us,” and he added: “What kind of law is that which protects those in power from the people? It’s now or never. We are living in historical  times. We cannot tell our children that we could have done something for them, but wasted the opportunity. We are no longer asking. We are demanding.”

The high school director then told the protesters that one of his demands is that the government find someone credible who would sit down and negotiate with the teachers and their unions, and that the regime immediately remove both Minister Zoltán Balog and State Secretary László Palkovics from this file.

Mr. Pukli’s message is one of social justice and respect for unions. It is a message that is to the left of the mainstream Hungarian opposition, particularly parties like the Democratic Coalition (DK). In 2012, Mr. Pukli–born in 1979 and originally from the town of Szekszárd–had the following to say about education and society in Hungary:

“The basis and raison d’etre of the consumer society has been called into question in the last few years. The deepening world crisis has made this burst, like a balloon…The worldview, which considers the happiness of the individual above all else, has made those growing up and even their parents greedy, and less sensitive to societal problems. But we have to recognize that we are not independent of each other–society is not built on just separate elements that are insensitive to each other.”

This viewpoint is closest to the views of some of the newer parties and younger members of the Hungarian opposition, notably Dialogue for Hungary (Párbeszéd Magyarországért) and Politics Can Be Different (Lehet Más a Politika). Parties like DK have taken a more classical liberal approach, placing the focus on individual freedoms and liberties, rather than on solidarity and on a more communal approach to society.

Mr. Pukli’s views are much more in tune with those who may have voted for Fidesz or Jobbik in the past, or perhaps did not vote at all, but are now looking for change. Neoliberalism, which has characterized much of the left-centre Hungarian opposition’s rhetoric, is not a winning ticket in Hungary.

The second half of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s second, consecutive term in office may be significantly more difficult for him than the first.