Demonstrators were heard chanting "free country, free education," even though the march was supposedly held for teachers' pay increase. Continue reading
Before last year’s elections, the Humane Platform Association received more than HUF 50 million (EUR 129.000) in foreign funding, and in the same period it ordered services worth nearly HUF 20 million from DatAdat, a digital data processing company owned by former socialist prime minister Gordon Bajnai, writes the Hungarian conservative portal Magyar Nemzet. The association, that supported the left-wing opposition’s campaign, spent tens of millions on joint actions with another activist organization, the Tanítanék (I would Teach) Movement, including social media advertising.
Compared to previous years, the Humane Platform Association, one of the organizers of the recent wave of anti-government teachers’ protests, received an unusually large amount of foreign money last year.
Photo: Facebook Tanítanék Movement
According to its 2022 report, the organization – which in recent years has been partly financed by funds tied to George Soros – received 54.5 million forints in foreign money.
This is many times the amount of international funding recorded in previous years, which was only HUF 7.9 million (EUR 21.000) in 2021 and HUF 1.85 million (EUR 4700) in 2020.
The Humane Platform association received the record amount from the U.S.- Swedish Democracy and Pluralism, the same organization that gave tens of millions to the Márton Gulyás’ far-left Partizán Foundation, reports Magyar Nemzet.
The report also reveals that the association spent this money on various political actions, together with another opposition-linked activist organizations.
The 54.5 million forints were used to cover the costs of “the facilitation of the Tanítanék (teachers’) Movement, the organizational work, demonstrations, communication, social media and public advertising”.
In the section on the association’s public benefit activities, the only mention of its cooperation with the Tanítanék Movement is that six forums and lectures were organized with the participation of education workers. It is hard to imagine that the lectures – which are described as a way of raising awareness of liberal ideas – would have cost tens of millions of forints. But the fact remains that the Humane Platform Association runs the website of the Tanítanék Movement, and the DatAdat company, which bears the name of Gordon Bajnai, also helps with data management.
Some students were also involved in vandalizing buildings during the Tanítanék demonstrations. Photo: Facebook Tanítanék
According to a report by the National Information Centre (NIK), in 2022 the association ordered services worth HUF 18.8 million from the group of companies considered to be the opposition’s electoral panacea, which is a rather high amount compared to the budgets of similar organizations.
As is known, DatAdat specializes in profiling and data collection on voter groups, among other things, and played a major role in the opposition coalition’s campaign.
Via Magyar Nemzet; Featured Image: FB Tanítanék