“The will of the people, or in other words democracy, is the main weakness of the progressive forces,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his opening speech at the recent Conservative Political Action Conference – CPAC 2023 in Budapest. Many conservative leaders and other prominent conservative figures, including Janez Janša, spoke at the event. We have gathered some of the most important messages from this prestigious and highly relevant event for our times.
“The colour revolutions began with the slogan of freedom, continued with liberal, progressive re-education and the betterment of man, and were followed by the chaos and shame of abandoned countries,” warned Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in his speech, under the slogan “Together we are strong!” and explained that the essence of illegal migration is the destruction of the national community, the dismantling of the cultural basis for the functioning of the nation-state, and that the same purpose is served by the woke movement and the propaganda of gender. “They are exactly what communism used to be, artificially dividing the nation into minorities to create divisions between groups, which is their power base,” he explained.
Matt Schlapp, President of the American Conservative Union (ACU), continued by giving his speech and said that the United States of America can only be successful if the country sticks to its faith and traditional values. Today, the USA is facing economic and cultural challenges, and the left is doing everything it can to destroy the foundations on which society has stood since the beginning of time. The event alternated between speeches by individual speakers and panel discussions, with Gladden Pappin (future President of the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs), Jovan Palalić (Secretary-General of the Serbian People’s Party – SNP, Serbia), Francesco Giubilei (President of Nazione Futura, Italy) and Péter Törcsi (Operations Director of the Centre for Fundamental Rights, Hungary) sharing their views. Giubilei was quite optimistic and said he believes that it was possible to win a conservative majority in the European Parliament in next year’s elections, while Pappin shared the optimism and stated that “wokeness” is a virus and that “all viruses eventually disappear.”
Like Orban, Croatian MP Stephen Bartulica compared today’s woke ideology to communism – and the latter, as we all know, ultimately failed. Bartulica thinks the same could happen with the woke movement. He also recalled the success of the movement led by his party, Homeland Movement (Domovinski pokret), which led to the inclusion of a definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman in the Croatian Constitution, which was voted on by the people in a referendum.
Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš described Brussels as “a disconnected ivory tower where bureaucrats tell us how to live, what to eat and how to think.” He pointed out that the next European Parliament elections will take place in 2024 and that the results will determine the future of the European Union, our children and future generations. “Today, Europe is hostage to climate activists and the Green Deal,” Babiš explained. He believes that the European Union lacks leadership and that politicians are preoccupied with their own interests and strengthening their own positions, instead of working for a Europe of nations and building a strong, confident, independent and autonomous European Union that can compete with the USA and China.
One of the keynote speakers was also the American politician and former TV presenter Kari Lake. Lake was the Republican candidate in the 2022 Arizona governor elections, and former President of the USA Donald Trump is expected to consider her as his vice-presidential candidate if he wins the official Republican nomination. Lake stressed the importance of the family policy in Hungary and the prioritisation of this value. “As a result of family-centred politics, children are able to play in the streets and be safe,” she said, stressing that the left and globalist agenda aims for “a weakened family, a weakened nation and total control, they don’t want to see nations with strong leaders who protect their citizens, protect their culture.” Some other famous speakers also had the opportunity to speak at the event. Dr Shea Bradley-Farrell, President of the Counterpoint Institute, was interviewed by Sara Carter of Fox News. The two mainly discussed national identity and the need for every nation to serve its own interests first.
Varga: Self-censorship and thought police have become part of everyday life in the West
Later, Hungarian Minister of Justice Judit Varga took the floor and said that “Hungary, in the middle of Europe, is a place where freedom still lives, where people can express their opinion on any issue without fear, even if they believe in traditional family values, even if they are conservative, even if they believe in God,” she pointed out. “Freedom of thought and opinion has become a luxury that few can afford in the world,” she said, recalling that many people do not say or write down what they really think because of fear, because they give in to fashionable ideologies or because they are forced to conform, as “self-censorship and thought police have become part of everyday life in Western liberal democracies,” Varga added.
Miklós Szánthó, Director-General of the Hungarian Centre for Fundamental Rights, which organised the event, said he was surprised that this year’s event took place in the shadow of war, but that the event was nevertheless even more successful than last year. He said that what is a problem, on the one hand, is, on the other hand, just the realisation that peace requires more strength and unity. He stressed that Hungary’s pro-peace stance is not only based on Hungarian interests but also corresponds to the real geostrategic interests of the West, as Europe is weakening economically and Moscow is being pushed more and more into Beijing’s arms, none of which is good for anyone, as a very strong Russian-Chinese axis could emerge on the Eurasian continent and profoundly alter the balance of power.
Tucker Carlson, a TV show host from the USA, also greeted those gathered at CPAC in a video message and said that he would have attended the Budapest conference in person if he could.
On the 4th and 5th of May, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC Hungary), one of the largest international gatherings of the right, took place in Budapest. Originally an annual gathering of the American right that has been happening since the 1970s, CPAC was the first European forum organised last year in the Hungarian capital by the Centre for Fundamental Rights.
Tanja Brkić
