For those who thought politics would be left at the door at Sziget, or any other concert venue here in Hungary, well, no such luck. And the local press has jumped onto the opportunity to push their respective narratives.
According to some young people attending Hungary’s famous Sziget Festival in Budapest, they’ve had enough and are ashamed of being Hungarians, according to those interviewed by Telex. These youth would prefer living in a different country, but then again, they don’t really know what they want.
Going to university and partying, that’s about it, according to Daniel Kascoh in the Mandiner news portal, which added that their message of “dissatisfaction” and desire for a change of government is “complete nonsense.”
The portal also made fun of András Fekete-Győr, one of the founders and previous leader of the liberal, youth-dominated Momentum party, for posting on his Facebook page about audience members chanting “dirty Fidesz” at the music festival, specifically during the Pogány Induló concert.
“Mr. Prime Minister, a message has arrived from Sziget. Can you hear it too?” the liberal politician asked in his video post.
In contrast to this, Mandiner also reported on the MCC Festival in Esztergom, where young participants were enthusiastically chanting something completely different.
“Down with Trianon!” and “Ria, ria, Hungária!” were reportedly heard, the first a reference to some in Hungary seeking a reversal of the territory taken from Hungary after WWI.
At the three-day festival, also packed with pop music concerts, Maninder writes, there was no such hatred for Fidesz, proving that this is an isolated phenomenon. And, more importantly, proving that various opinions exist in Hungary, with people free to express them as they wish.
Still, Mandiner took a swipe at just how isolated the opinions expressed at Sziget may be, noting that a day ticket to Sziget starts at around HUF 26,000 forints, and beers start at HUF 2,000.
“The young person who spends a week on Sziget, with the latest phone in hand and expensive clothes, well, he/she is definitely not representative of his generation. They may be flashy, loud, and even shout their opinions into the camera, but they do not represent ‘Hungarian youth,’” it writes. At least not all of it.
Even at Sziget, the chants and anti-Orbán commentary are not taken up by everyone, which may make sense given the efforts the current government has made to keep its younger generation happy.
The portal contends that for many young Hungarians, Fidesz has been anything but alienating, with multiple policies formulated to directly benefit the youth. These include the social security tax exemption for those under 25, the preferential student and worker loan schemes, and most recently, a low-interest-rate home loan program.
According to most surveys, Mandiner admits it is true that the new generation is fundamentally opposition-minded, but calls the nasty chants really only “a tool” and “a form of entertainment” belonging to “a privileged minority.”
Meanwhile, in another Mandiner piece by Ron Klein, he says foreigners attending Sziget are handily countering the narratives put forth by Western media giants about Orbán’s dictatorship. On the contrary, those attending are surprised by how welcoming people are to tourists, the level of public safety and public transportation, and the fact that members of the LGBTQ community are not harmed in any way. Also, even if some choose to insult Fidesz loudly at the festival, they are free to do so, with the police never intervening.
TikTok and Facebook, Klein says, are full of videos in which festival-goers admit that they didn’t expect this kind of country and Sziget at all. Others expressed astonishment that people could bash the government so freely, while also admitting they did not expect parties to be so full of “politics.”
While Mandiner has found that young foreigners disagree with the Hungarian government on the issue of Pride, many do support its position on the Russian-Ukrainian war and illegal migration.
Foreigners were pleased to see how “young Hungarians really know how to enjoy life and don’t hold back when it comes to drinking cocktails that cost 4-5 thousand forints,” Klein writes.
