Yesterday Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, told journalists at a press conference that he doesn’t care if his international allies respect democracy or not, since his foreign policy is based on "Hungarian interests" and not on values. "Foreign policy based on ideology is invented by the powerful for the stupid,” he said. He announced his plan to introduce a "tough anti-refugee policy" because refugees "will not become members of the Academy of Sciences,” that is, they are undereducated people who take jobs from disadvantaged people in Hungary.

These public statements say a lot about the political mindset of our prime minister. He believes that values - democracy, human rights, solidarity etc. - are expendable luxury items, empty words. What really matters for him is not value, but power; what he really believes in is not partnership, but coercion.

If there is a "Hungarian interest" as such, it is the interest of the people to live in a free, democratic country where there is a rule of law, where human rights are respected and the government protects and supports the poor and the weak. This was the dream of great Hungarian heroes like Lajos Kossuth, the leader of the 1848-1849 independence war. He, by the way, became a refugee himself, like hundreds of thousands of other Hungarians who had to flee their country in past centuries, because of poverty, war or tyranny.

Many Hungarian refugees became respected members of their host societies: scientists, artists, musicians, novelists and politicians. Today’s refugees can contribute to their host societies in many meaningful ways too. Who knows, maybe a Syrian refugee boy, who is crossing the Hungarian border illegally at this moment, will find the cure for AIDS. But only if we give him a chance, like those other countries hosting famous Hungarian refugees in the past.

Of course, economic and diplomatic relations with some anti-democratic regimes are necessary to a certain extent. But history teaches us that we have to choose our allies carefully. The leaders of Hungary chose the wrong side in both world wars. They said at the time that their decisions served “Hungarian interests” in a new world order. Generations of Hungarians had to pay the price for their terrible mistakes.

There is another important lesson we can learn from our history. We know, only too well, what it is to be oppressed, to live in fear. In times of hardship, when people rise against tyranny or when a small nation fights for its freedom, international support from the free world means a lot.

If we refuse solidarity with those oppressed in other countries and ally ourselves with their oppressors, if we refuse to accept refugees who have lost their homes, we do not only deny our core values as freedom-loving Hungarians, we do not only spit on the graves of the heroes of our history, but we also undermine our own national interests.

Peter Sarosi
HCLU