Mate Hajba

Director of the Free Market Foundation, which advocates economic freedom, civil rights and tolerance. He is also the author of several books promoting free markets and civic liberties. He served as the Vice President of Civic Platform, which runs anti-racist campaigns and promotes democratic values. He is interested in the relationship between the state and the individual and in the concept and history of liberty. He writes for international press on issues such as intolerance in Hungary and international relations. To promote the concept of individualism, liberty, tolerance and free market, he co-founded a youth organization named Eötvös Club.

Politics

Orbán’s Victory Raises Concerns about State of Rule of Law in Hungary

BY Mate Hajba, Free Market Foundation AND Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom / April 8, 2022

Though Fidesz supported sanctions against Russia, the government is not allowing the transfer of lethal weapons through Hungarian territory to Ukraine. The narrative that Fidesz supports peace while the opposition supports war was completely false, nevertheless it worked.

Publications, Think Tank News

Poems of Liberty and Human Rights

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / February 1, 2022

Poems. Not the coolest word to start an article with. Too often does the word conjure up images of harrowing moments in school when we had to anxiously recite some poetry not understanding why the tacky lines matter at all. Yet, trust me, they do.

Society

Propaganda Before Hungarian Elections

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / February 1, 2022

Reading news in Hungary is an arduous task. If you speak the language and open your browser to learn about current affairs, you’d be hit by a dystopian reality. Only a handful of independent online outlets exist, and the situation is worse in the print media or in places outside of the capital, Budapest.

Society

Side Effects of Lockdowns

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / January 31, 2022

An exasperated call from a friend of mine during lockdown described the weary situation of kids during COVID-19. My friend\'s child, as he told me fumingly, is attending his elementary school classes online. As expected, it didn’t go smoothly.

Society

English Breakfast

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / November 2, 2021

The global trade Britain mastered greatly influenced our world today. Just think of the literary heroes everyone grew up with as a child. Not because they were compulsory in school but because they are culturally ubiquitous.

Politics

Hungary Prepares for Elections

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / October 26, 2021

With the approaching 2022 general elections, Hungary will be given yet another chance to show its true colors and decide how much its citizens are committed to its European and American allies.

Society

James Bond: No Time to Make Sense

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / October 25, 2021

The final instalment of Daniel Craig’s James Bond is finally in the cinemas but I had no high hopes for it given the plot-hole riddled previous movies. No Time to Die added to the pile of rubbish that was Spectre. Liberals, though, can learn from its mistakes. Beware, spoilers galore!

Society

Value of Trust

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / July 20, 2021

I wanted to expand on the idea that relatively novel platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok, are changing the way we see things. Everyone with a camera phone can make videos without any regards to aesthetic rules about composition, lighting, narrative structure and so forth. Those videos that are much more composed are regarded as too artificial, and are trying too hard, whereas realism gained in importance.

Politics

Liberalism Failed COVID Test

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / July 16, 2021

Liberalism is based upon the premise that individuals are to be trusted, that they know best what is in their interests, that laws, regulations and rules are superseded by the freedom of an individual, and the legislator intervenes only when absolutely necessary. Why then do we still not return to this notion after more than a year after the COVID restrictions started in earnest?

Society

Myths about Antisemitism Debunked

BY Mate Hajba AND Free Market Foundation / March 31, 2021

The stereotype that Jewish people are rich and greedy, and that they corrupt non-Jewish people, is an important factor of far-left antisemitism. The Soviet Union had a long history of antisemitism, often masked as anti-Zionism or anti-cosmopolitanism.