Government attacks against NGOs have been part of the Fidesz party playbook for some time, but, according to Zsófia Blaskó, Fundraising Manager of the HCLU, over the past 12 months, smear campaigns escalated to the point of challenging their right to exist.
The smears started with the government referring to NGOs as foreign agents, and progressed into “threatening to ban Hungarian NGOs working or existing under this government”. The situation became so tense that “Honestly, we thought that we were going to be banned by the end of the year.”
During this period of precarity, Zsófia says the Access Project offered an opportunity to learn techniques for responding to smear campaigns against civil society and environmental protection, and to connect with organisations facing similar difficulties. A Liberties-led cross-European program bringing together network members from Croatia, Sweden, Italy and Hungary, the Access project provided evidence-based training to human rights defenders on how to counter shrinking civic space by persuading the public to join their cause.
Keep it Simple: Navigating Polarisation and Political Traps
One of Zsófia’s main takeaways from the training was the importance of talking to the public in language they can relate to: “During communication, we always try to use very easily understood concepts or easily understood words, which do not alienate our audience.”
Overcoming alienation and tribalism is one of the biggest challenges facing civil society. Zsófia tells me that the Hungarian public has been “very divided” in the wake of the government’s attacks. The underlying antagonism that pervaded political debate made it difficult to respond to smear campaigns without reinforcing the government’s narrative that NGOs were overly involved in politics.
Even NGOs working on environmental issues, which are seen as less controversial and enjoy more widespread support, were put under the spotlight and faced unfounded claims of acting on behalf of shady foreign interests. Zsófia believes this dissuaded people from publicly showing support for NGOs’ environment protection campaigns.
Partaking in the Access Project hammered home the message that, to cut through the political noise, NGOs need to relate their work to the everyday things Hungarians care about. Zsófia tells me she learnt to shift towards easily understandable concepts “to bring your audience closer”: “And when they see that, okay, actually we are talking about clean air or a forest that you could hike in with your family or our lakes mountains, clean air, then they will get the concept more easily.”
The Power of an ‘Aha’ Moment
The impact the rights kind of messaging can have on overcoming deeply entrenched social division was reinforced during the focus group phase. One of the Access Project’s unique selling points, it gave partner organistions the opportunity to test messages they had developed following their training.
During one of the focus groups, communication magic happened. A participant who had voiced anti-NGO sentiment due to foreign agent concerns had a change of perspective after watching a video created by HCLU about Hungarian society remembering its past and honouring the achievements made possible because of people coming together.
Zsófia tells me, “I could hear him thinking or rethinking his ideas or his prejudices that he had about NGOs”.
She describes how witnessing that “aha moment” made her feel closer towards someone who, by all accounts, was her political opposition: “it just made me feel closer to this man, because, as the public opinion is so divided and people are put against each other by their opinions, you do not see how the other side thinks or what's behind those ideas that they have. And I think in that moment, I could step into his shoes a bit. It was the exact opposite of alienation.”
Elections as a Stress Test for Civil Society
With Hungary’s parliamentary elections right around the corner, Zsófia expects it will once again raise the decibel level of attacks against civil society.
To strengthen civil society’s robustness against smear campaigns, as part of the Access Project, HCLU trained local NGOs working on environmental and civic space issues: “Now they have some ideas about how to react, or not react, when they are under attack.”
Accoding to Zsófia, the local training was well received and much-needed, particularly for smaller NGOs who wouldn’t have the budget to pay for communication workshops, and created a sense of shared community. “It was exciting to see people start networking and share ideas and make connections and we even made a mailing list.”
With Orban back on the election trail, it is more important than ever for civil society organisations to connect with their audiences and overcome the division on which Fidesz thrives.
Here is the Messaging Guide For Community Activists Protecting The Local Environment From Polluting Projects in Hungary.
Other Messaging guides:
A Messaging Guide For Italian Civic Space
A Messaging Guide To Promote Support For Reform Of Citizenship Rules In Italy
A Messaging Guide For Swedish Civic Space
A Messaging Guide For Fair And Humane Migration Policies In Sweden
A Messaging Guide For Croatian Civil Society: Building Support For Civic Space
A Messaging Guide For Fair And Humane Migration Policies In Croatia
