Liberals across Europe have launched a concerted attack on Hungary’s anti-pedophile law passed earlier by parliament with a huge majority, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán writes in an article on his homepage entitled Samizdat 10.
A collection of articles on topical issues and a platform for Orbán’s policy ideas, the Samizdat series derives its name from a Russian neologism, which is an amalgamation of the words sam (self) and izdatelstvo (publishing), a term coined in the former Soviet Union for dissident writings multiplied in makeshift form and distributed clandestinely. Such publications are also well-known in the former Eastern European satellite states of the Soviet empire that lived with extreme censorship from communist authorities.
Below we reproduce integrally the original article in English, which is also available in German and Hungarian:
They’re now setting off alarm bells across Europe over Hungary’s new laws to severely punish pedophiles and protect our children. Let’s face it, this movement is eternal, and its new slogan is no longer “Proletarians of the world, unite!” but “Liberals of the world, unite!” This, of course, reinforces the Central European conviction that today’s liberals are in fact communists with degrees.
The current left-wing campaign against Hungary is further proof that today the left is the enemy of freedom, because instead of freedom of speech, they want political correctness as defined by them, and hegemony of opinion instead of a pluralism of ideas.
The new Hungarian law does not conflict with any lofty ideals or European laws. The new Hungarian law simply states clearly that only parents can decide on the sexual education of their children. Education in schools must not be in conflict with the will of parents; it must at most be supplementary, its form and content must be clearly defined, and it must be subject to parental consent.
Parents also rightly expect that on platforms used by their children that pornography, sexuality for its own sake, homosexuality, and gender reassignment programs should not be available. These restrictions must also be defined with surgical precision. In Hungary, no one has a say in how adults live their lives. In our view, a free adult should not have to give an account of his life in front of any secular authority — only before God when the time comes.
Therefore, the Hungarian law does not apply to the lives and sexual practices of adults over 18, nor to what they are exposed to as an adult in the public realm. Moreover, in the European context, Hungarian society is among Europe’s most committed nations to individual freedom and tolerance. The reasons for this are rooted in our cultural traditions, in Christian freedom, in the struggle for national freedom and in a deep contempt for communism and communist tyranny.
Hungarian freedom means not only political freedom, freedom of choice, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and association, but also the right to defend our families and educate our children as we see fit. Our law is a worthy continuation of the European tradition of freedom.
The debate on the future of Europe – that is, our children – has just begun. We are here, and we stand ready.
Title image: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
