Watching the huge pro-Hamas demonstrations in European capitals, I’ve been thinking about one of the most shocking lines in literature for the past few years. “Il n’y a pas d’Israël pour moi.”
“There is no Israel for me.”
So says François, the protagonist of Michel Houellebecq’s Submission, in a tender moment. He no longer feels at home in France, but he longs both for a place to pray and a place to call home.
I thought of it once more today when my friend Rod Dreher was tweeting, again about the virtues of Hungary, where he has made a little refuge for himself.
Many conversations in London today with Britons blackpilled by the mass pro-Hamas demos. Seemed like faith that stable liberal democracy can survive here is dissolving. One told me lots are going to Hungary to buy property: “Hungary is our Israel” — meaning escape. Two young…
— Rod Dreher (@roddreher) October 30, 2023
I consider myself broadly a defender of Orbán’s migration policies. But I think it’s important to sound a note of realism here.
Hungary is protected from immigration not just by Orbán’s policies but by the forbidding prospects for migrants. Unlike English, French, and Spanish, the Hungarian language is not loaded for export in popular television dramas. It is notoriously difficult to master, being that it isn’t even an Indo-European language but Finno-Ugric. And Hungary is one of the poorer nations of the European Union. Because of this, Hungary has a hard enough time keeping its own most productive residents from migrating to member states of the EU with richer opportunities. The pull of larger, more established Islamic communities in a richer Western Europe would be even stronger if any Muslims did immigrate into Hungary.
Further, if Hungary did become a place of in-migration to ambitious non-Hungarians, it would be a sign of the country’s growing richer in opportunity in precisely the way that attracts all kinds of migrants. Orbán is a symbol of resistance, sure. But he stands in front of something real — a society that makes his policy so much more credible.
There is much to admire about Budapest. But we have to find our own solutions to the problem of imported extremism.