National

For some reason, it became newsworthy that I got another five-year sentence at the helm of the Petőfi Literary Museum. On this occasion, I would like to reaffirm what I consider to be national culture.

Modern Hungarian culture is national culture. We’ve been learning this from Petőfi and his contemporaries for two centuries, but we still don’t fully grasp it. For example, when we say “beyond the borders” even in the realm of culture, it shows that we don’t really understand the concept of national – or we don’t dare to understand it. Physically, only country borders exist. What we know as such today is barely a hundred years old. In a hundred years, we’ve reached a point where country borders have solidified into mental borders within the nation. So, if by national you mean Hungarian-language culture existing or emerging in Hungary, then you’re looking at the world not as St. Stephen’s Hungarian, but as a resident of the “happiest barrack”. And you can behave like a prison guard, but you’ll remain a barrack resident. This is the unshed legacy of communism.

As a child of the communist dictatorship, I defend freedom of thought, opinion, and speech. And although with common sense I can’t believe that someone as a Hungarian and European could seriously consider “cancel culture”, “open society” or “woke”, they still have the right to be neo-odious (read: progressive).

There exists a mistaken concept of nation, according to which the nation is: we yes, you yes – they no. The gesture of pointing is the same as when the neo-odious (in newspeak: progressives) declare who is a good person and who isn’t. This is usually called exclusionary. However, on the national horizon, this isn’t exclusion, but self-mutilation. Like it or not, they are also ours. For example, I personally don’t like it, but as a right-winger, I defend the right to belong to the nation.

Because others get community from their mother, we get language. The Hungarian born of a Hungarian mother must say: I am Hungarian. And there will always be another Hungarian who doubts this. We have to live with this and at the same time move beyond it. For me, a national creator and performer is one who, viewing the Hungarian audience as culture bearers, wants us, a hundred years from now, to still look at the world from here in the Carpathian Basin in Hungarian.

The nation is a political community that can be shut out based on individual decision, but no one can be excluded from it by collective decision. In this context, there is no majority principle. This is the guarantee of national freedom.

I have many political opponents whose performance I recognize and respect. And many like-minded friends who would like to dance on my grave. But this doesn’t matter, looking at Hungarian culture as a whole over the next hundred years, it’s completely irrelevant who is a friend, who is an opponent/enemy, or how one votes in today’s tavern. What matters is what one puts on the table. It’s a cultural sociological fact that about eighty percent of contemporary artistic works fade away, at most twenty percent remain. Who will belong to that twenty percent is not decided by me, not by the profession, not even by the culture warriors – but by time. That’s why we need to provide opportunities for the hundred percent. But not as an inherent right. As a compass, our decisions can only and exclusively be based on the set of values enshrined in the Fundamental Law.

Notes:

Institutional context:

Petőfi Literary Museum: A major cultural institution in Hungary, dedicated to preserving and promoting Hungarian literary heritage.

Historical references:

Petőfi: Sándor Petőfi, a national poet of Hungary (1823-1849), symbol of the 1848 Revolution.

St. Stephen: The first King of Hungary (1000-1038 AD), founder of the Hungarian state.

“Hundred years”: Likely refers to the period since the Treaty of Trianon (1920), which resulted in significant territorial losses for Hungary.

Cultural and political concepts:

“Beyond the borders”: Refers to ethnic Hungarian communities living outside of Hungary’s current borders.

“Happiest barrack”: A term used to describe Hungary during the communist era, suggesting it was the most livable country in the Eastern Bloc.

“Cancel culture”, “open society”, “woke”: Contemporary socio-political concepts, viewed critically by the author.

Linguistic notes:

“Newspeak” is a reference to George Orwell’s “1984”, used here to criticize progressive terminology.

Legal framework:

Fundamental Law: Hungary’s constitution, adopted in 2011, which defines national values and identity.