The news reads: Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban and the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić they bagged the prize "Istvan Pastor", which is awarded by the foundation of the same name. The prize is awarded annually to two outstanding personalities - one from Hungary and one from the Republic of Serbia "who, with their distinguished work and commitment, contributed to the strengthening of mutual understanding, appreciation, partnership and cooperation between the Serbian and Hungarian peoples".
For those who don't take notes in class, let's remind them briefly.
Istvan Pastor was a decade-plus, lifelong leader of the largest party of Vojvodina Hungarians, SVM (2007-2023) and the Assembly of AP Vojvodina (2012-2023). SVM took over from its founder, Jožef Kasa, the October 5th first-time fighter, who was appointed to the position of honorary president of the party after being replaced, then dismissed, and then arrested. His case and that of Boris Tadić show that in these areas, the position of honorary leader of the party should not be assumed. In the end, you either end up in prison or on the extreme political margins.
Orban is paying, there are fewer and fewer Hungarians in Vojvodina
SVM is a party in which the boss is everything and everyone, like many, many other parties on this earth, which act as private enterprises for political arrangements and special operations in the dark of the bazaar. In this respect, it is logical that after the departure of Pastor Sr., the party was taken over by his son Balint, by right of first succession. Admittedly, Pastor Jr. would not have become a leader if he did not have the unequivocal support of Hungarian boss Viktor Orbán, who invested hundreds of millions of euros (through the "Prosperitati" foundation), Hungarian taxpayers' money, and who expects that because of this, Vojvodina's Hungarian leaders will play the way he says. And Balint Pastor not only plays, but often overplays.
"Prosperitati" was invented in order to "tent" help the Hungarian community in Serbia, but in fact it is an autocratic-clientelist mechanism. Many have become very rich, and the results for the entire Hungarian community are catastrophic, as can be seen from the censuses. Between the two censuses, the number of Hungarians was reduced by 70.000 (in 2011, there were about 253, and eleven years later - somewhere around 184), and the situation is essentially probably much worse, since people who only have cottages in Vojvodina, which were converted into their family homes, were also counted. Of course, they run away from all this misery of ours, they go to Hungary, but still.
The age structure of the population is of particular concern. The "wise" policy of Orban and the SVM, in cooperation with the Vučice community, will lead to the fact that the Hungarians in Serbia will be just an insignificant statistical fact. And in the relatively near future.
Peace - stability - Orban & Vučić
The misery is not only the catastrophic political and economic situation in the whole of Serbia, but also the events within the Hungarian community. The SVM used the money from Budapest to establish an autocracy within its zone of influence modeled after Vučić's SNS and Orban's Fidesz.
This means: money goes only to the obedient, and the disobedient ones are screwed. They don't know where to expect someone to knock them on the head, whether official Belgrade, official Budapest, or SVM-ćica. Freedom of speech has been abolished, there is no political pluralism. Hungarian-language media in Vojvodina are caricature-folkloric propaganda kits. There are a few independent ones, but they hardly exist.
A relevant political alternative, the Hungarian Movement, was born ten years ago, but it was quickly suppressed. From all sides. It was estimated that one of the leaders of the new party, Tamas Korhec (former provincial secretary), could be a problem, so the matter was resolved in two steps. He was offered a seat in the Constitutional Court of Serbia, that is, a platoon without a hoe. Did he accept it?
It has long been common knowledge that Orban and Vučić are political twins, that they rule in the same way. Of course, Hungary and Serbia don't look the same, but Orban doesn't appoint oven owners and ceramicists to important positions, nor does he beat students, he hasn't fallen that low - but the principle is the same: control of the media, a sea of media deserts, messing with Russia, killing democracy, nationalism, primitivism and thorough brainwashing and abuse of the lowest social strata. In 2012, their pre-election slogans were the same - "Peace - stability - Orban" and "Peace - stability - Vučić". And the elections were held on the same day, April 3.
Servant of two masters
SVM is a servant of two masters, and that is not exactly a pleasant situation. If Orban and Vučić get together, what will they do? Alliances of nationalists do not end well.
For now, everyone is satisfied - SVM provides Orban with the votes of Vojvodina's Hungarians, and probably some of the huge millions of euros from Hungary will return to Hungary. For Vučić, SVM is a desirable partner, to the bottom of the tub and back, if it needs to go into the water, it will go into the water. In turn, the heads of SVM eat deliciously what is thrown in their yard, and there is plenty of it.
The "Ištvan Pastor" prize is awarded at a time when both regimes, Orban's and Vučić's, are quite shaken. They seem to be running a lap of honor. A little to help them, I guess.
Basically, Istvan Pastor can be criticized for many, many things. But it should still be said that he was an intellectual, a gentleman, that he liked to hear different opinions, that he played the role of Orban's and Vučić's henchman with great difficulty because he was very well aware of the general peculiarities he was dealing with. Of course, that doesn't excuse him. His son was and remains his pain.
Those familiar with the situation say that this year's award to Orban and Vučić is not only Balint Pastor's mega-politician move, but also his revenge on his father because the latter allegedly never took him seriously. But we will not deal with that.
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