How to defeat authoritarianism
Postcard #45
Hello and welcome back to another edition of THE POSTCARD, Unregistered’s fortnightly roundup of recommendations.
Thoughts, tools, and treats
Once again, the small country of Hungary impressed the global stage through its unique brand of freedom-loving obstinacy. The weekend’s election results moved me not only because the unthinkable occurred, but also because I lived and worked in Budapest between 2004 and 2009 and have stayed connected ever since. To be sure, the real test will come in the day-to-day grind, showing just how much of Viktor Orbán’s authoritarian populism will actually be rolled back in the coming years, but for now, there is every reason for relief and celebration. Is there a blueprint within Péter Magyar’s election success for regaining liberal territory around the world? This week’s POSTCARD presents quotes from reports, commentaries, and analyses that together provide a roadmap for countering authoritarianism.
Don’t be afraid
Michelle Goldberg, reporting from Budapest for the New York Times: „Over and over, Magyar beseeched the crowd, ‚Do not be afraid!‘ The crowd, in turn, broke into a chant: ‚We are not afraid!‘ I asked a woman I met in the crowd, Mariann Szabo, to explain Magyar’s words: What had people been afraid of? An elementary schoolteacher and mother of two, Szabo said that people like her, who worked in the public sector, feared that if they were seen to oppose Fidesz, they could lose their jobs and thus their ability to survive. That fear kept many people quiet about their politics. Before Magyar’s campaign, Szabo knew there were others in her town who didn’t like Orban, but not how many. Suddenly, it seemed as if everything was about to change.“
Tell an optimistic story that looks to the future
„After many years in office,“ Yascha Mounk rightly emphasizes, „leaders tend to be judged on their record rather than their rhetoric. And Orbán’s record increasingly looked abysmal.“ His promises sounded accordingly tired. András Bíró-Nagy, a political analyst: “The message was, ‘We could live even worse’.”
Don’t pivot to the other extreme; offer common ground instead
The Editorial Board of the New York Times: „Mr. Magyar, who identifies as center right, won partly by avoiding the social progressivism that dominates elite left-leaning circles and alienates many voters. He ran as an economic progressive and a cultural moderate if not conservative. (...) anyone who opposes Orbanism should examine the full Hungarian campaign, not only the convenient parts.“ Idrees Kahloon, reporting for The Atlantic: „Magyar succeeded because his party achieved ‚transformative repolarization‘ rather than ‚reciprocal polarization.‘“
Take infrastructure and lived experience seriously
It's still the economy, stupid! Gabor Gyori, a political analyst from Budapest: Tisza’s supporters are “very diverse and probably divided on many issues, but they all long for normalcy, meaning moving away from constant hysteria and toward a governmental focus on everyday issues”. Charles Lane over at Persuasion: „The outcome in Hungary shows that even a deeply entrenched right-wing populist leader can overplay his hand, and alienate the public, by failing to deliver on issues that most affect daily life.“
Go where no one else goes
„Magyar directly campaigned all throughout Hungary, including in rural constituencies that tended to go unvisited because they were considered Fidesz’s heartland, “ Idrees Kahloon writes in The Atlantic.
Noteworthy
“How do you pull this off without inciting a thirst for revenge? You also have to convince the two and a half million Hungarians who voted for Orbán on Sunday to embrace democracy again.“
—Wilhelm Droste, cultural practitioner in Budapest, interviewed by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on April 14, 2026
A mystery link leading into the unknown
„The people have the power / The power ...
As always,
Dirk
P.S.: Feel free to send me pointers to articles, books, sites, pods, tools, and treats that could be interesting for this roundup. While I cannot promise to link them, I read and appreciate every hint.
"Tell an optimistic story that looks to the future" is a good idea in any circumstance.