![\"Cartoon](\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/files\/2022\/01\/image-3.png\")
In Hungarian the word \u201cf\u00fcgg\u0151s\u00e9g<\/strong>\u201d <\/em>means addiction and comes from the word\u2019s root \u201cf\u00fcgg\u201d <\/em>which means both hanging and depending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cartoon was a reference to a prior statement by Cecilia M\u00fcller\u2019s which minimised the impact of the virus by stating that deceased victims were \u201cpredisposed\u201d to die due to pre-existing pathologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cecilia M\u00fcller is not only a doctor but also a Catholic secular pastor. A few days after the publication, the smaller ruling Christian Democratic People\u2019s Party and the media of the government provoked a huge uproar, stigmatizing my caricature as anti-Christian. A \u201cChristian defender\u201d portal launched a petition against the cartoon and the \u201cleft-wing media\u201d. Several pro-government politicians promised to sue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Hungary the situation of the media is particular: its democratic institutions still remain, but the government has ousted the \u201cunfaithful\u201d people, and expropriated most of the media. So if they mark someone as an enemy, a complete storm descends upon them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The televisions, radios, newspapers and portals all roared that I insulted every Christian. The wave of threats and abuses ran through social media, too. There was a radio who turned to its listeners with a call saying that if someone knew my address, they should send it in, because I am \u201cwanted\u201d by some people. There definitely was a paramilitary organisation offering to take on the mission but no physical violence took place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In early June another cartoon of mine attracted attention, this time for being anti-Hungarian and hurting the feelings of nationalist Hungarians. I drew this cartoon for the centenary of the Trianon Treaty. This treaty is an aching memory for the nationalist Hungarians. It was signed between Hungary and the victorious First World War Allies on June 4, 1920. The terms of the Treaty shorn the country of at least two thirds of its territory and the population living in those lands. This Treaty was a trauma for a part of the Hungarian population, and sowed the seeds of resentment and ethnic warfare. Revisionist and nationalist policies won the country over, dragged it into a tragic war and poisoned peaceful relations with neighbouring countries for a hundred years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Upon the publication of the cartoon (illustration 2), a Christian Democrat politician threatened my newspaper, N\u00e9pszava, by comparing it to the daily newspaper N\u00e9pszabads\u00e1g, which was shut down by the government in 2016. He said: \u201cN\u00e9pszabads\u00e1g made a joke and was shut down, N\u00e9pszava\u2019s is going the same way. During the next few days I was targeted by a new coordinated media fire, however its effect was much smaller and it died out soon. It seems that in \u201canti-nationality\u201d there is not as much mobilizing force as in \u201cblasphemy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story could have ended here, but in November the cartoonists of the biggest Hungarian journalist organisation (M\u00daOSZ) awarded my \u201canti-Christian\u201d cartoon as the caricature of the year 2020. So in December a new attack ran through the government\u2019s propaganda machinery. Similar in level to the one during the spring. The target this time was not only me, but the organisation of the journalists, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In January 2021 it turned out that another Christian Democrat leader Imre Vejkey, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on justice, managed to have the court discuss my \u201canti-Christian\u201d cartoon. I got to know about it only after the trial, because Mr Vejkey\u2019s losing his case started a new press campaign. This campaign also targeted the \u201cliberal\u201d courts: they were an easy target not only because of the support of the government\u2019s media<\/p>\n\n\n\n but also because a judge is not to make statements about their own cases. However in this case the court itself made a press release correcting the disinformation made by Mr Vejkey about the verdict. But Mr Vejkey didn\u2019t settle with it, he visited the leaders of the Hungarian churches and made them sign a statement condemning blasphemy. From historical and neoprotestant Christian churches, through Jewish organizations, till Muslim churches were amongst those who signed this statement. So Mr Vejkey with this joint statement in his hand could now declare to the press with self-confidence that my cartoon is not funny, as argued by the court, but that it is definitely insulting to all the churches. However, he remained silent about the fact that the statement for which he gathered signatures didn\u2019t actually name the cartoon in question, so there were religious leaders not even knowing for what purpose their signatures were to be used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another case against my colleague \u00c1rp\u00e1d T\u00f3ta W., a court ruled that insulting comments about \u201cthe Hungarians\u201d were a violation of his pursuers\u2019 rights. This ruling means that anyone in the community can now launch a lawsuit for not liking an opinion. Mr T\u00f3ta can be sued by \u201cHungarians\u2019, as I can be by \u201cChristians\u201d. With success. With already very few institutions remaining independent in Hungary, the government hence also liquidates the independence of the courts. The longer the lawsuit, the worse our chances. Time doesn\u2019t work in our favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n N\u00e9pszava, my newspaper, is the only remaining oppositional daily newspaper, with the largest number of copies. Whilst its publisher is under the influence of the economic position of the government in the Hungarian media market the journal editorial is independent, but as depressing as the government\u2019s media predominance is, independent speakers interfere with the propaganda of power. Only if none of us remain, then it can be said from Orwell\u2019s 1984 novel2<\/sup>: \u201cEverything faded into mist. The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 27 April 2020, during the first wave of the coronavirus I drew a cartoon about Cec\u00edlia M\u00fcller (illustration 1), the chief medical officer of Hungary and member of the Government\u2019s \u201cCoronavirus Task Force\u201d. In this cartoon, she is looking at a crucifix saying: Alapbetegs\u00e9ge F\u00fcgg\u0151s\u00e9get okozott – \u201cHis underlying condition caused addiction\u201d. In Hungarian […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73\/revisions\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"cartoon](\"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/covid-in-cartoons\/files\/2022\/01\/image-4.png\")