AFT-ASI President Randi Weingarten (L) and AFT Massachusetts President and Shanker Institute Board Member Jessica Tang (R) examine some of the classroom resources of Hungarian History teacher János Bősze (C).
As a social studies teacher and leader of the AFT’s Resistance Committee, I know we stand to learn a great deal from Hungary – by looking at both its past and present.
However, nothing could have prepared me for hearing firsthand what Hungarian union educators, activists and community leaders had to say about their own experiences over the past 16 years and beyond. It galvanized a deeper understanding of both how our democratic backsliding can get much worse, but also how it can be overcome.
As we heard local Hungarians recount their experiences as part of their resistance movement, it was impossible to ignore the eerie and all too familiar undercurrent that accompanied each discussion we had with them. Connecting with our union siblings and democracy activists made it clear that the experience of authoritarianism is global, as are the challenges we face in public education. The similarities between their experiences and what we are seeing as Project 2025 is being implemented throughout the nation became abundantly clear.
Take, for example, academic freedom and teaching history. During his 16-year regime, former Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban consolidated enough power to rewrite history—literally. His regime did it by surprise, quickly passing a law that banned teachers and schools from choosing their textbooks. Typically, schools choose books twice a year and then students have to purchase those books. Although publishers had already printed the books chosen and pre-ordered, all schools were forced to use newly published books with rewritten or revisionist versions of history.
Orban’s regime had already rewritten and published the books ahead of time, to ensure their impact could be swift. To keep their work underwraps, they used foreign printers, which resulted in several of the country’s five major publishers to declare bankruptcy and close. These closures were likely part of their plan to tamp down on free speech and a free press.
While visiting a high school in Budapest, we saw these books with our own eyes—the state-published “Fidesz books” (Fidesz being Orban’s political party) and the “free books” that schools are allowed to use once again after the end of the Orban regime.
The history and current events came alive as I held the state book in one hand, understanding what took place to allow such levels of revisionism, and the free book in my other hand, prompting me to reflect on what made it possible for these schools to, once again, teach accurate histories. It felt like both a warning and preview of what could be.
In Massachusetts, our Governor just signed a Freedom to Read bill, because too many of our librarians and teachers were being threatened and harassed with book bans. In Florida, AP African American history was banned and teachers have been afraid to have their own classroom libraries because of purposefully opaque bans on anything that could be deemed as a promotion of “diversity, equity and inclusion.”
There is no question that those in power here at home are trying to rewrite history in ways similar to what Hungarians experienced under Orban. In the US, they’re trying to rewrite our history, too. Curriculum from groups like PragerU—a for-profit company that is not a real, accredited college—teaches students things like “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed.” Just like in Hungary, their content consistently blames immigrants and attacks the LGBTQ+ community, vilifying those who have made great contributions to our society. The attempts to categorize this “curriculum” as providing districts with greater freedom as to what they teach is laughable. Freedom isn’t gained by erasing history, it’s earned from knowing it and learning from it.
As a teacher, I can tell you that Orban’s state books are a warning and the parallels we see today in the United States are chilling. The regime’s revisionism didn’t stop at the classrooms, it infiltrated nearly every aspect of life. In the middle of Budapest, Orban erected a statue portraying Hungary as a victim of the Holocaust. By painting the country as a victim, Orban was attempting to erase the nation’s culpability and participation in one of the darkest, most indefensible times in history.
It seemed that with each example of authoritarianism, there was something alongside it to instill hope. In this case, it was the citizen protest memorial created in front of the Holocaust “memorial.” Even during his oppressive regime, in the middle of the night, people posted photos and stories along the fence at the memorial, telling the real story, ensuring that the memories of the real victims were not erased. They reclaimed the monument and turned it into a site for truth telling.
Using monuments or buildings to prop up authoritarianism should sound familiar, too. Whether replacing plaques in museums, removing exhibits, demanding that Confederate honorifics be reinstalled or portraying Jan 6th insurrectionists as victims, the current occupier of the White House wants to tell a story of victimhood, not of real history.
But here’s what gave me hope in Hungary: the people said no.
They said no, you can’t rewrite the textbooks. The real ones are back in the classroom.
They said no, you can’t deny the Holocaust. The real story is being told.
They said no, you can’t cancel our Pride Parade. With the largest ever celebration in Budapest, they said LGBTA+ people are welcome here.
The people said no to corruption and oppression, and after 16 long years, they voted Orban out.
These are the lessons of resistance that we bring back to the United States.
Spending time in Budapest to see first hand what was happening and to hear from the incredible activists was the opportunity of a lifetime. We learned from people of all ages—from students who started protesting as teenagers to people in their eighth decade, including the very first democratically-elected member of Parliament after the fall of the Iron Curtain. They told us their story, laying out how they beat back authoritarianism by building a big tent and getting people out to vote, while also exposing corruption and vote buying schemes. We talked to the people who are working to rebuild their democracy, because they know the work is just starting anew in many ways, and what they do now will determine their future.
One of those people was our host, Erzsébet Nagy, a leader of PDSZ, the teachers union in Hungary. She grew up and began teaching during Soviet control. She never thought she’d be a democratic union leader. Hearing about how she and her fellow union members persisted in the face of union crackdowns and bans on striking gave me immense hope. Their persistence helped give others, namely their students, the courage to stand up.
The teacher protests and student protests grew and became a vital part of the larger movement against Orban. Now, she and others are laser focused on pushing the new government leaders to make real, democratic changes. She told us it wasn’t enough to win, the new government has to deliver to working people and do it in a truly democratic way. Their election was just one step, they are now actively working to rebuild and think about how to make it better than it was. They are working to make sure no one like Orban can exploit vulnerability in democracy and that the people don’t have that to overthrow an authoritarian again.
The world is watching us. One day a history teacher like me will be teaching about Hungary’s successful campaign against authoritarianism about what they did to rebuild their democracy. Future students will also be learning about how Americans responded to the backsliding of democracy here at home. There is so much at stake in the upcoming election and I believe it will be a critical moment in our history.
We should all be compelled to stand up and take steps to ensure our story has the same level of success and hope that we saw in Hungary. Let what we do today be a lesson for the future as well. That is the place we want to be in after November 3 and we need to do the work to win.
Hungary just gave the world a blueprint for how to beat authoritarianism, so let’s use it. Their courage is contagious, and we need to pass it on to others.
View the original article and our Inspiration here