![[PDF]](/pb-assets/Icons/adobe-pdf-icon-1498649896243.png){kind=icon}
Abstract
This article examines the rise of the Internet-based opposition group, One Million for the Freedom of the Press in Hungary (or Milla for short), and considers its impact as a form of digital activism in Hungarian political culture. Milla was founded in December 2010 as a Facebook group in response to the newly elected Fidesz government and its fundamental revision of the Hungarian constitution and, in particular, its media laws. Milla is a civil society group, based in Budapest, who saw the Fidesz government as a threat to the democratic freedoms set out in the post-communist settlement in Hungary. It emerged at a time when the mainstream Hungarian opposition parties were in disarray, and it took on the role of challenging the legitimacy of Fidesz actions. Milla is an important example of the idea of digital activism and virtual solidarity, and its experiences serve to illustrate many of the strengths and weaknesses of these notions. The article sets out the ways in which Milla has sought to generate support for itself and opposition to the government, how it has organized its activities and ultimately the specific problems that it faces in Hungarian civil society.
References
|
Agh, A (2001) Early consolidation and performance crisis: The majoritarian-consensus democracy debate in Hungary. West European Politics 24(3): 89–112. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Agh, A (2002) The dual challenges and the reform of the Hungarian Socialist Party. Communist and Post-Communist Studies 35(3): 269–288. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Bajomi-Lazar, P (2003) Freedom of the media in Hungary: 1990–2002. PhD Thesis, Central European University (CEU), Budapest. Google Scholar | |
|
Bartlett, D (1996) Democracy, institutional change and stabilisation policy in Hungary. Europe-Asia Studies 48(1): 47–83. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Benkler, Y (2006) The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Bennett, L (2012) The personalisation of politics: Political identity, social media and changing patterns of participation. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 644: 20–39. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Bennett, WL, Segerberg, A (2012) The logic of connective action: Digital media and the personalization of contentious politics. Information, Communication & Society 15(5): 739–768. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Bognár, E, Szakacs, J (2008) Analysis of Focus Group Interviews with Young People in Hungary. Budapest: Centre for Media and Communication Studies, Central European University (CEU). Google Scholar | |
|
Bozoki, A (2012) The transition from liberal democracy: The political crisis in Hungary. Mediations 26: 1–21. Google Scholar | |
|
Brouillette, A, Van Beek, J (2012) Hungarian Media Laws in Europe. Budapest: Centre for Media and Communication Studies, Central European University (CEU). Available at: http://medialaws.ceu.hu/ (accessed 6 July 2015). Google Scholar | |
|
Castells, M (2012) Networks of Outrage and Hope. Cambridge; Malden, MA: Polity Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Contrarian Hungarian (2012) Hungarian opposition group harassed by tax authority. Available at: http://thecontrarianhungarian.wordpress.com/2012/02/29/hungarian-opposition-group-harassed-by-tax-authority/ (accessed 29 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Cox, T (2007) Democratisation and state-society relations in East Central Europe: The case of Hungary. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 23(2): 276–295. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Curran, J, Fenton, N, Freedman, D (2012) Misunderstanding the Internet. London; New York: Routledge. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Dányi, E, Galácz, A (2005) Internet and elections: Changing political strategies and citizens tactics in Hungary. Information Politics 10(3–4): 219–232. Google Scholar | |
|
Dencik, L, Wilkin, P (2015) Worker Resistance and Media: Challenging Global Corporate Power in the 21st Century. New York: Peter Lang. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Diani, M (2000) Social movement networks: Virtual and real. Information, Communication & Society 23(3): 386–401. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Downing, J (1996) Internationalising Media Theory. London: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Dunai, M (2012) Insight: Hungary’s far-right party gains as it targets Roma. Reuters, 25 October. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/25/us-hungary-jobbik-idUSBRE89O0AN20121025 (accessed 7 January 2013). Google Scholar | |
|
Elster, J, Offe, C, Preuss, U (1998) Institutional Design in Post-Communist Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Fenton, N, Barassi, V (2011) Alternative media and social networking sites: The politics of individuation and political participation. The Communication Review 14(3): 179–196. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Frentzel-Zagorska, J (1990) Civil society in Poland and Hungary. Soviet Studies 42(4): 759–777. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Fuchs, C (2012) Some reflections on Manuel Castells’ book networks of outrage and hope: Social movements in the Internet age. Communication, Capitalism and Critique 10(2): 775–797. Google Scholar | |
|
Gerbaudo, P (2012) Tweets and the Streets: Social Media and Contemporary Activism. London: Pluto Press. Google Scholar | |
|
Ghonim, W (2012) Revolution 2.0: The Power of the People Is Greater than the People in Power. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Google Scholar | |
|
Gross, P (2003) New relationships: Eastern European media and the post-communist political world. Journalism Studies 4(1): 79–89. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Gross, P (2004) Between reality and dream: Eastern European media transition, transformation, consolidation, and integration. East European Politics and Societies and Cultures 18(1): 110–131. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Hanley, S (2004) Getting the right right: Redefining the centre-right in post-communist Europe. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 20(3): 9–27. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hinsey, E (2012) The new opposition in Hungary. New England Review 33(2): 126–142. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Hintz, A (2013) Dimensions of modern freedom of expression: Wikileaks, policy hacking, and digital freedoms. In: Brevini, B, Hintz, A, McCurdy, P (eds) Beyond WikiLeaks: Implications for the Future of Communications, Journalism and Society. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 146–165. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Holland, A (2009) Hungarian fascists redux. Blogspot. Available at: http://adamholland.blogspot.co.uk/2009/07/hungarian-fascists-on-rise-make-common.html (accessed 28 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Hungarian Spectrum (2012) The Milla: “Dilettantes, Spare me!”. Available at: http://hungarianspectrum.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/the-milla-dilettantes-spare-me/ (accessed 29 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Internet World Stats (2012) Usage and population statistics. Available at: http://www.internetworldstats.com/europa.htm (accessed 10 February 2013). Google Scholar | |
|
Jakubowicz, K, Sükösd, M (2008) Twelve concepts regarding media system evolution and democratization in post-communist societies (in their edited collection). In: Jakubowicz, K, Sükösd, M (eds) Finding the Right Place on the Map: Central and Eastern European Media Change in a Global Perspective. London: Intellect Books, pp. 9–40. Google Scholar | |
|
Juris, S (2005) The New Digital Media and activist networking within anti-corporate globalization. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 597: 189–208. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Juris, S (2012) Reflections on# occupy everywhere: social media, public space and emerging logics of aggregation. American Ethnologist 39(2): 259–279. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Kiss, C (2003) From liberalism to conservatism: The federation of young democrats in post-communist Hungary. East European Politics and Societies 16(3): 739–763. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | ISI | |
|
Kreko, P (2012) Could Viktor Orban’s dream come true’? The Green Political Foundation. Available at: http://www.boell.de/worldwide/europenorthamerica/europe-north-america-could-viktor-orbans-dream-come-true-hungary-14835.html (accessed 28 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Kumar, K (1993) Civil society: An inquiry into the usefulness of a historical term. British Journal of Sociology 44(3): 375–395. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Lendvai, P (2012) Hungary: Between Democracy and Authoritarianism. London: Hurst & Company. Google Scholar | |
|
Lijphart, A (1992) Democratisation and constitutional choice in Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Poland 1992. Journal of Theoretical Politics 4(2): 207–223. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Lomax, B (1997) The strange death of civil society in post-communist Hungary. Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 13(1): 46–63. Google Scholar | Crossref | |
|
Magyar, B (2012) Autocracy in action: Hungary under Orban. Available at: http://www.boell.de/downloads/Magyar_D_ENG_FIN.pdf (accessed 28 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Mason, P (2012) Why It’s Kicking off Everywhere. London: Verso Books. Google Scholar | |
|
Metykova, M, Cisarova, L (2009) Changing journalistic practices in Eastern Europe. Journalism 10(5): 719–736. Google Scholar | SAGE Journals | |
|
Molnar, P (2011) Interview with Peter Molnar: Fidesz Party co-founder. Hungarian Watch. Available at: http://hungarianwatch.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/hungarian-watch-exclusive-interview-with-peter-molnar-fidesz-party-co-founder-part-3-of-3/ (accessed 28 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Nagle, JD, Maher, A (1999) Democracy and Democratization. London: SAGE. Google Scholar | |
|
Palonen, P (2009) Political polarization and populism in contemporary Hungary. Parliamentary Affairs 62(2): 318–334. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Perelman, M (1998) Class Warfare and the Information Age. London: Macmillan. Google Scholar | |
|
Rajcsanyi, G (2012) Virtual reality: The story of Milla. Hungarian Globe, 13 November. Available at: http://hungarianglobe.mandiner.hu/cikk/20121113_virtual_reality_the_story_of_milla (accessed 10 February 2013). Google Scholar | |
|
Ramdani, N (2011) Did the Internet matter in Tunisia and Egypt? openDemocracy. Available at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/tony-curzon-price-nabila-ramdani/did-internet-matter-in-tunisia-and-egypt (accessed 1 March 2011). Google Scholar | |
|
Schöpflin, G (2012) How to understand Hungary. openDemocracy, 6 February. Available at: http://www.opendemocracy.net/george-sch%C3%B6pflin/how-to-understand-hungary (accessed 28 October). Google Scholar | |
|
Szegö, A (1997) World economic dependencies, indebtedness, crisis. Eszmelet, November 1997 (English language print edition): 4–47. Google Scholar | |
|
Szôcs, L (1998) A tale of the expected: The extreme right vis-a-vis democracy in post-communist Hungary. Ethnic and Racial Studies 21(6): 1096–1115. Google Scholar | Crossref | ISI | |
|
Szombati, K (2011) The betrayed republic. The Green Political Foundation, 22 May. Available at: http://www.boell.de/worldwide/europenorthamerica/europe-north-america-kristof-szombati-the-betrayed-republic-14641.html (accessed 28 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
The Economist Blog (2011) Hungary’s politics: Orban and the wind from the East. The Economist, 14 November. Available at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/11/hungarys-politics (accessed 28 October 2012). Google Scholar | |
|
Treré, E (2015) The struggle within: discord, conflict and paranoia in social media protest. In: Dencik, L, Leistert, O (eds) Critical Perspectives on Social Media and Protest: Between Control and Emancipation. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, 165–182. Google Scholar |
