Reader’s letter: The distopian state of academic freedom in Hungary

Following the example of the chain there are numourus other organs which are almost inmeditately connected to the private sector and function with a number of flaws, like the higher education sector, or the restrictive administrative environment.

So why focus on a institution which is not even primarly involved with the problem you want to solve? Why would you examine it under a narritve which is only an inderict consequence of its task, and why would disregard all other aspects of their work?
The entire premise of the allegetions resembles more to the trial of Joseph K than a serious cause to heighten innovation.

In the interest of counter-advocacy it would be apprehensible to enhance development with the help of internationally recognised experts and their facilites by guidelining their agenda to the problematic area. And this is exactly what the Academy suggested as mentioned earlier.

All of which took place during a period of a year long negotiation process between the MTA and the ministry, where they even found commen ground and bypartisanly signed a compromise, as we found out from Dr. Gergely Szakács leader of the Momentum (Lendület) institute operating within the Academy and who particaped in creating the agreement.

Sadly this deal had no impact, as it was later dismissed in the draft law which got to parliament.

All of the above mentioned aspects lead to the sumber conclusion that the government’s involment might not have much in comen with the preclaimed objective.
As shown by their unwillingnes to step back from false presumptions as well as their insistence to stick by the entirety of their program, which apart from other organisations singularly targets the Academy.  

This becomes painfully evident once we see that the neglection of basic resaerch (among other things) also builds the justification to rearrange financing.

Before the bill the Academy recieved an annual operational fund which was accepted by parliament and was directly allocated from the national budget, following the structure of any independent entity inside the state’s sphere.

This operational fund provided the needed constistancy for the acadamy’s long lasting research agendas including staff celery, equipment costs and even such elementary expenses like the heating or the electricity bills.

In 2018 at the same time of the ominous email these very funds have been miracoulosly transfered to the ministry which in a number of unlawful attempts tried witheld these and decided to pay them out in monthly instalments, which caused a number of problems in the facilities schedules.

Basically 20 billion forints (approximately 62 million euros) which make up  2/3 of the Acadamy’s total budget were frozen and denied in order to gain an upperhand in negotiations which were later disregarded by their employer.

This on it own is fairly disturbing, but the situation turns from bad to worse. The Minister Dr. László Palkovics has expressed his desire of eliminating basic institutional funding entirely on several occasions. Instead the MTA should maintain itself from project based funding, and this is where real dependency is forged.

Project based or competitive funds are distrubuted by the National Research, Development and innovation Office (NKFIH). A formerly autonomous institution that came to be placed under the supervision of the ministry last year, where with the same pen stroke its president Dr. József Pálinkás, the former head of the academy was removed from the his duties.

Considering that the Academy has been criticised on several occasions for being politically active and presenting research results that do not support government policies it would be obscene to assume that the chances of them winning in such a competition are fair or even real.

For an example just earlier this year new research insititutions were created whose mission is to perform research in social sciences and humanities serving government ideologies, focusing on fields that are already covered by research instituttes of the Academy.

It is due to these parallel structures that the MTA becomes truly defenseless in this fight, as those most likely will retain the majority of these funds, and thereby make independent research a fairytail.

One cannot not see the reaccuring patterns of concentration left behind on the blody trale of powerlust. Formerly independent or autonimous institutions are systematically knocked down and transfered into outlets for the party’s ideology and propaganda. A similiar road let down the way to the media monopoly, the curruption in public investment or the proposed changes in the judiciary system.

The notion of free thoughts seems to be a particularly itchy thorn in the eyes of  authority as hungarian academic freedom has suffered a tremendous amount in the last decade. Starting with ceasing the budget of the universities, followed by demoliting the working conditions necessary for the CEU, after wich gender studies got prohibited, and now apparently even scientists follow a propostious goal with their western-liberal ideas.

No cost is high enough for Victor Orban’s party to reconsider their egocentric actions, or to show some remorse for the liberties beeing dispatched.
To the protests which turned the capital on its head with thousand of demonstraters the prime minister wrote an open letter claiming that no ideological changes will accure inside the MTA and the new ELKH, and all changes are strictly necessary means to help the economy.

„You have misunderstood me. You are under arrest certainly, but that not need to hinder you from going about your business.
Nor will you be prevented from leading your ordinary life.”                      

-Franc Kafka, The trial

The only question left is wether the take-over is fueled by motivations to fight reality or genuene paranoia, but either way it does not change the state we are in or what the consequences will be.

Written by: Philip Pollak