During the third panel of the conference some of the renowned experts held that the future will be about a multipolar world the axis of which are non-Western countries, particularly China, while others argued that the 21st century is still American, with the United States remaining the central and most powerful actor.
‘Justice, equality before the law, and freedom. I have travelled the world and have not found a combination of values and structures that better support the flourishing of the human soul and human nature,’ János Csák remarked at the launch of his book titled Genius of America. The Minister of Culture and Innovation’s work delves into how liberty, freedom, and equality before the law have become the United States’ three most important values, and how Americans can rediscover happiness by overcoming the current profound divisions in society.
President of the publishing company Angelico Press John Riess expressed his hope that many American readers would find János Csák’s recent book The Genius of America a fresh take on the U.S., stating: ‘We’re always being exhorted to have an honest conversation about the issues of race or gender or privilege. So, let’s also have one about the country itself, what it meant to our ancestors and what it might still mean to us. Read The Genius of America, comment, argue, discuss, contend, debate. That is, at least I hope, still the American way.’
‘Why did the left-wing oligarchy (a political-administrative and academic-media apparatus) mobilize its militant wing against a conference of a few hundred conservatives? Did it fear that its political opponents would win too many hearts, minds, and Euros? No. Canceling the original, sought-after venue was a naked exercise of its power. Réseau Ades warned that the agitation efforts will persist until NatCon Brussels 2024 is entirely aborted.’
His explosive claim that MCC ‘funds academics who disseminate Orbán’s positions’ is as unoriginal as it is untrue. In my over two years of experience with MCC—ten months of which I worked directly with the School of Social Sciences and History—I found my professional and academic colleagues to be free thinkers who, while moderate to conservative, often engaged in spirited debate on issues ranging from climate change to education policy.
The leading political pundit in the US, Tucker Carlson, visited our country again on 22 August 2023. The internationally influential commentator gave a speech at the widely successful MCC Feszt After event at Millenáris Park in Budapest. His speech—in accordance with the traditions of MCC Feszt in Esztergom—was preceded by panel discussions tackling the important issues of our day.
The MCC Budapest Peace Forum featured 70 speakers, 35 foreign experts from 20 different countries. Academics, public figures, and famed experts all took a stand for the importance of peace, and shone a light on the consequences of war from the different aspects of their respective expertise.
The event featured, among others, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Croatian MP Stephen Bartulica, and Hungarian Justice Minister Judit Varga. Minister Varga called Hungary ‘an island where freedom still lives’; while referring to the Brussels bureaucracy and mainstream media as ‘an octopus with 100 tentacles that we have to fight’.
On Day 2 of MCC’s ‘The Future of Publishing’ conference, a panel consisting of Israeli influencer Yair Netanyahu, German journalist Roland Tichy and Megafon founder István Gergely Kovács discussed the success stories of their online enterprises.
Among the rising generation of conservatives in the US and Western Europe, both Hungary and its capital are becoming synonymous with intellectual conservatism.
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.
