Thousands Protest Hungarian Government “Takeover” of Universities
By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – A tense calm returned to Budapest on Monday after thousands of Hungarians protested against what they view as a nationalist government takeover of public education.
Among those rallying were thousands of students and supporters of Hungary’s University of Theater and Film Arts, most of whom were wearing masks and gloves amid a Coronavirus outbreak.
They formed a massive human chain across downtown between their institution and parliament to protest alleged attempts by Hungary’s longtime Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to end the University’s autonomy.
SZFE, the university’s Hungarian acronym, is 155 years old and counts several Oscar winners among its graduates, including Michael Curtiz, the director of “Casablanca,” and Vilmos Zsigmond, the cinematographer for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Those at the protest passed from hand to hand a document declaring the school’s principles and goals, which was to be given to legislators.
PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS
In recent years, Prime Minister Orbán’s nationalist, conservative government has transferred several significant universities to private foundations ruled by boards of directors loyal to the government.
Several of the SZFE’s top professors have resigned, as has the school’s leadership. It followed the designation of the foundation’s board of trustees, led by theater and film director Attila Vidnyánszky. Since 2013, Vidnyánszky has also been the director of Hungary’s National Theater.
Critics say the government wants to impose its nationalistic views on education. And actors, musicians, artists, and other universities have joined the protests both in Hungary and abroad.
On Saturday, film director Kornel Mundruczo reportedly wore a “#Free SZFE” T-shirt at the Venice Film Festival, where his new film, “Pieces of A Woman,” starring Vanessa Kirby, Shia LaBeouf, and Ellen Burstyn, is in the competition.
Hungary’s government has denied wrongdoing and says it will make education more efficient and independent.
SOCIAL EXPECTATIONS
However, Parliament Speaker László Kövér, an Orbán ally, admitted Monday that “Greater independence must however not mean a gradual departure from Hungarian reality, from national and social expectations.”
The prime minister’s government has often attacked what it sees as non-Hungarian, non-Christian Liberal values entering education and criticized, for instance, “Gender studies.”
Its policies also forced the Central European University (CEU) founded by U.S. billionaire George Soros to move most of its operations to Vienna, Austria.
Kövér said, “university autonomy had to be used for strengthening rather than destroying Hungarian cultural sovereignty.”
His remarks also appeared a reference to SZFE students who have barricaded themselves in their university for a week now to protest the education changes.
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