Dan Stubbs
FORGET ---- HELL
- Banned
- #1
A law put forward by the Hungarian government would force a university founded by the Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros to shut its doors, the school’s top official said on Wednesday.
The move, according to observers, was the latest development in a crackdown on free expression and liberal values under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has embraced President Trump and vociferously denounced Mr. Soros, a billionaire who is a frequent target of attacks by the right-wing news media in both the United States and Europe.
The school, the Central European University, opened in Mr. Soros’s native Budapest in 1991, not long after the fall of communism and the start of Hungary’s uneven transition to democracy. The school is known as a center for research in the social sciences, with programs led by internationally prominent educators.
The university has also given a platform to dissident voices, particularly in the period since Mr. Orban, who helped popularize the term “illiberal democracy,” came to power in 2010. Proponents of illiberal democracy place majority rule over civil liberties and minority rights, and they say that financiers like Mr. Soros are part of an elite capitalist class that puts cosmopolitan values over national interests.
The move, according to observers, was the latest development in a crackdown on free expression and liberal values under Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has embraced President Trump and vociferously denounced Mr. Soros, a billionaire who is a frequent target of attacks by the right-wing news media in both the United States and Europe.
The school, the Central European University, opened in Mr. Soros’s native Budapest in 1991, not long after the fall of communism and the start of Hungary’s uneven transition to democracy. The school is known as a center for research in the social sciences, with programs led by internationally prominent educators.
The university has also given a platform to dissident voices, particularly in the period since Mr. Orban, who helped popularize the term “illiberal democracy,” came to power in 2010. Proponents of illiberal democracy place majority rule over civil liberties and minority rights, and they say that financiers like Mr. Soros are part of an elite capitalist class that puts cosmopolitan values over national interests.