Winds of Change
2025/2.

When, after a long and relentless heatwave, the air slowly begins to stir and the first breezes give way to real gusts of wind, it feels much like seeing the record-breaking, nearly half-million-strong celebratory crowd that filled the streets for the banned Pride march. The message was unmistakable: something had shifted, and it was no longer afraid to show itself.

Immediately before the march, we were in Austria learning and working with our international partners. Our main focus, of course, was already on preparing for the elections and on the mental, physical and infrastructural step change this would require.

In fact, by then we had already spent months going through several rounds of planning so that we could enter this crucial period with a mature and well-prepared strategy. We had defined our flagship campaigns, drawn up detailed plans for building our most important election-related issues, and begun implementing the program.

Last summer we also made another far-reaching decision - one that changed the structure and operation of our entire organization. We decided to double the number of our local groups, the aPoints, so that in the coming period we would be present not only online, but physically as well, across much of the country. We recruited and contracted county coordinators, strengthened the central team, and began preparing work in the new locations. By the end of the year, we had activist groups in 12 counties and in Budapest; in several counties, more than one aPoint was already operating, with national visibility, successful campaigns and steadily growing popularity.

This report is partly about these successes and our local and national campaigns, and partly about the election-focused campaigns we spent long months developing at the planning table.

It would be hard to find another self-described democracy where no prime ministerial candidate debate has been held in 20 years. Yet that is exactly the situation in Hungary. Viktor Orbán last agreed to sit down for a debate in April 2006; since then, he has backed away again and again, citing various flimsy excuses.

This is familiar ground for us. Since aHang was founded, at every election we have fought for Viktor Orbán to take responsibility and agree to a public prime ministerial candidate debate. We did the same this time. On 15 September 2025, the International Day of Democracy, we launched our campaign for a public prime ministerial candidate debate between the leaders of the two strongest political parties, Viktor Orbán and Péter Magyar. We did this because we believe voters deserve to hear the views of the two strongest party leaders on the present and future of the country not through propaganda and empty political point-scoring, but face to face.

On September 15, we took to the streets at more than a dozen locations across the country, setting up campaign stands and collecting signatures. Support came in at an enormous pace: already on the first day, tens of thousands of people joined our petition.

At the same time, we commissioned an opinion poll for the first time, asking whether people in Hungary wanted a public debate between the two figures. The research showed that 56% of Hungarian society as a whole wanted a debate - and that even one in three Fidesz voters expected Orbán to finally stand up and debate.

We did not stop in October: we continued our campaign and commissioned another opinion poll. On the one hand, we wanted to see how demand for a debate had changed in the month since our campaign launched; on the other, we wanted to find out what people saw as the most important topics for a prime ministerial candidate debate. The results spoke for themselves. One month after our campaign began, demand for a debate had risen by 7 percentage points across society: this time, 63% of people in Hungary expected Orbán to finally stand up and debate. It also became clear that the three topics considered most important for such a debate would be healthcare, corruption and the economy.

With the 2022 parliamentary elections, Hungary became the first EU Member State where the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) launched a full-scale election observation mission. At the time, the OSCE report made it clear that the election campaign had not been conducted on a level playing field. In July 2025, we launched a petition calling for international election observers to be deployed for the 2026 elections. We launched this campaign so that, after the election, we would be able to see clearly what exactly happened on 12 April and in the months leading up to it.

When we launched the petition, our goal was 20,000 signatures, which we reached very quickly. Then, in September, we commissioned our first opinion poll, asking: "Do you think it would be better if there were international observers at the 2026 parliamentary election, or would it be better if there were not?" More than two thirds of the population (69%) answered that it would be better to have international election observers, and even 59% of Fidesz voters supported our proposal.

Because of rising prices, the state is managing record amounts of VAT revenue. High-profile prestige investments keep following one another. Until not long ago, unimaginable amounts of EU money were flowing into the country. But who is better off as a result?

The answer is certainly not healthcare, education, child protection, elderly care or infrastructure — in other words, not the areas that are indispensable for all of us. A narrow circle has profited from all this.

Because of political will and the economic interests of a narrow power elite, Hungary has not moved forward in international rankings; on the contrary, the country is sliding downward. But who are the members of this political and economic elite? Who are the people because of whom the country is where it is?

We wanted to find answers to these questions, so we created a collection of more than one hundred political and economic actors: people whose decisions, failures or corrupt business dealings have deprived us of a livable future and a thriving country.

During our months of research, we found evidence that Fidesz's leading politicians and the economic elite linked to them have now woven their network across the entire country. This is what we show on lopnak.hu, our website launched in October 2025. It gives people the facts and arguments they need to understand the government's failures and the scale of corruption — and to convince others too.

Several proven or suspected corruption cases — such as the Elios case or the Völner-Schadl case — are linked to multiple actors. We are talking not only about nationally known politicians and oligarchs, but also about locally influential figures — constituency MPs among them — who spent public money on investments that did absolutely nothing to serve the people living there. This is how we became the country of the snail farm, horse wellness and the treetop walkway without trees — while healthcare is held together only by the dedicated work of committed staff, education is unable to help people rise, and even hard work no longer gets us ahead.

Light in the Darkness

This is what we drew attention to on December 9. After dark, we projected our message onto numerous buildings linked to Fidesz: "Fidesz Stole Our Future" — along with the address of our website, lopnak.hu.

We went to Andrássy Avenue, where, as early as 2022, 60% of the palaces were in the hands of oligarchs close to Fidesz. We went to Kunigunda Road, home to the public media, which operates with a budget of more than HUF 150 billion. We also stopped at several ministries, before projecting our message for longer onto Fidesz's headquarters on Lendvay Street, so that every passer-by would be confronted with it: Fidesz stole our future.

Watch our video about this by clicking on the image!

Enough of the Propaganda!

The public media, operating with more than HUF 150 billion, has a legal obligation to provide balanced information; instead, it spreads messages favorable to the governing parties, often outright lies. The pro-government KESMA (Central European Press and Media Foundation) controls hundreds of media companies. It keeps losing press lawsuits one after another.

This year, we also took part in the massive Budapest Pride march, because we believe that love is a human right. aHang's Budapest group, the aPoint, prepared various programs and represented our organization in one of the tents in the NGO village. Activists and volunteers from Budapest as well as from other cities staffed our activities throughout the day, using games to engage participants and introduce them to our work. Our team and community are proud that we once again stood up for human rights.

On the last weekend of November, news broke that the Cinema City cinema chain was screening government advertisements before the children's film Zootropolis 2. In response, we launched an email campaign, and within two days nearly a thousand people emailed the cinema chain, asking it to stop showing the advertisement.

In our email campaign, we asked Cinema City to stop the practice that results in government or other political content being shown before children's films, because this can further erode the quality of public communication. In our letter, we also emphasized that "the viewers in question are children and their families, who are entitled to expect that they will not be exposed to attempts at political influence during an entertainment program."

The company responded, writing that the advertisement in question would be removed from the ad block. As they put it, they understood that many cinema-goers do not want to encounter such advertisements.

After thirteen months of persistent work, the section of the M30 motorway that had been closed for nearly two years has finally reopened. In December 2024, we launched a petition demanding that reconstruction begin as soon as possible, that the financial damage suffered by residents be mitigated, and that technical measures be introduced on the overloaded sections of Main Road 3 for the duration of the closure. Our local group, the Miskolc aPoint, also created a website showing in numbers the daily losses caused by traffic jams, and continuously updated the campaign news and the status of our demands.

The local group's first high-visibility action was a dawn demonstration beside Main Road 3, when traffic jams were at their worst. Despite the cold, they handed out leaflets, held banners and collected several hundred signatures during the morning rush hour.

Then came an unexpected turn: János Lázár arrived in Miskolc for an off-site ministry meeting to support the newly elected mayor. Our activists waited for hours outside the office, eventually handed over our demands in person, and invited the minister to the planned public forum.

My Voice, My Choice is a European Citizens' Initiative whose aim is to ensure access to safe and free abortion for women across the European Union, even if abortion is currently illegal or difficult to access in their own Member State. For the European Commission to put the initiative on its agenda, at least one million signatures had to be collected across Europe.

For Hungary, the proportional target was 14,805 signatures. We not only reached this, but exceeded it by more than a thousand. This is a huge achievement.

Disciplinary proceedings were launched against several lecturers at Pázmány Péter Catholic University on suspicion of an ethical violation after they expressed their professional and personal convictions in a June article in HVG. They said that, as lecturers at a Christian university and as psychologists, they believe that every relationship based on love is of equal value, and that research shows no difference between the children of same-sex and heterosexual couples across various developmental indicators. The university responded by launching disciplinary proceedings against the lecturers and trying to dismiss them from their jobs.

In the autumn, news broke that in Miskolc a "tolerance zone" (a legally designated prostitution zone) was to be designated directly near the Fruska Special Children's Home. For us, this clearly ran counter to children's right to safety and healthy development. We could not remain silent.

aHang's local group, aPoint Miskolc, demanded that the city assembly reject the plan with immediate effect, and that the city leadership, in consultation with the police and MESZEGYI (Miskolc's integrated social, health and child welfare institution), designate a new location. Our goal was for the tolerance zone to be placed at an appropriate distance from all child protection and public education institutions. The Miskolc team initiated a legality review at the government office, spoke at the public hearing, consulted with the city leadership, and visited possible locations — the present success is the culmination of that process.

By the beginning of 2026, our aPoint network had grown larger than ever before. We now have local aHang activist groups — aPoints — in 12 of Hungary's 19 counties, as well as in Budapest. aPoint members launch and win local campaigns as groups, and also represent aHang's national campaigns locally. At the same time, they build community, learn campaigning skills through aHang training courses and hands-on experience, and help local people successfully make their voices heard on a wide range of issues.

Over the past six months, four new colleagues have joined our network: Hajnalka Lévai became our county coordinator in Bács-Kiskun, Tibor Urbán joined us as coordinator in Győr-Moson-Sopron, Erika Fábián now coordinates the aPoint in Komárom-Esztergom, and Ágnes Magyar-Ábel launched our local organizing work in Pest County. We warmly welcome them all!

As a result, by the beginning of 2026 we were present in most Hungarian counties — in several of them with more than one group. Counties with aPoints now include Bács-Kiskun, Baranya, Békés, Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Csongrád-Csanád, Győr-Moson-Sopron, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Komárom-Esztergom, Nógrád, Pest, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg and Veszprém, as well as Budapest.

The Budapest activist group set itself the goal of organizing actions every month. Their aim was to draw attention to key issues in the capital and help aHang's messages reach a wider community, often through playful, creative actions that use humor to expose absurd situations.

In July, they set up a booth in the NGO village at Bánkitó Festival, and in August they organized a public action by City Park Lake, featuring games that satirized governing-party politicians' luxury summer spending and the systemic appropriation of tax-funded public money. Their custom-designed NERopoly board game, the "Where is the public money?" game, and the tilted-pitch NER table football all combined entertainment with a serious political message.

On September 15, the International Day of Democracy, they set up campaign stands at 10 locations across Budapest in support of a prime ministerial candidate debate between the strongest candidates, gaining nearly 500 supporters for our cause on the streets of the capital in a single day.

We also dealt with social problems affecting broader groups. On the International Day of the Girl Child, 11 October, we were able to speak without taboos about period poverty at a roundtable discussion held at Manyi in Buda. In addition to raising awareness of the problem, our goal is for free menstrual pads to be available in multiple public institutions in every municipality.

The special issue of MertLopol ("Because You Steal"), edited by members of our Budapest aPoint, was a great success. It borrowed the visual style of the Metropol newspaper, but instead of fearmongering propaganda pieces, it featured — unfortunately only imagined — good news. The self-made publication was created for the 12th, and hopefully last, birthday of Mediaworks, the publisher of Metropol and the inspiration behind the parody.

aPoint Pécs began organizing in August 2025, in response to the increasingly strong local activism visible in Baranya. It became clear that local people needed a community through which they could make their voices heard on the issues that affect them.

On 15 September, the Baranya team actively joined the national campaign calling for a prime ministerial candidate debate. At their campaign stands, they met interested people at several locations in Pécs — in front of POTE, at the Árkád shopping center and around the market hall — and then continued collecting signatures in Szigetvár. Interest was strong everywhere: many people joined, a large number of signatures were collected, and the encouraging feedback was just as important. These occasions went beyond signature collection, as countless personal stories emerged from the conversations.

In October, a significant local issue came into focus. On 13 October in Bicsérd, the Pécs aPoint held an alternative public forum titled "Have Your Say, Bicsérd! — the Future of Our Land and Our Community." In the community near Pécs, the government plans to expropriate 600 hectares of farmland to build an industrial park, without meaningful information or genuine involvement of residents; the petition on this issue can be found here. The mayor and his team, who support the investment, also appeared at the forum, and an open and tense debate unfolded among those present. Two weeks later, the residents of Bicsérd received an invitation to an official public forum from a civil society organization led by the local general practitioner, who had also attended the street forum organized by our Baranya activists (he argues in favor of establishing the industrial park). The so-called expert forum he organized was clear proof that local voices and the power of publicity do have an impact.

At the end of October, the Clean Vote workshop discussion was held in Pécs, organized by the ACT coalition (aHang, CCF and HCLU). It featured an engaging presentation and discussion about election integrity and the exercise of citizens' rights. The strong turnout and active participation made it clear that these issues resonate with many people in Pécs, too.

In November, we were active on several important issues. On November 12, we also stood up for Gábor Iványi and his community at a demonstration. At the 150–200-person gathering, the Pécs aPoint made clear that it considers politically motivated show trials unacceptable and stands with everyone facing intimidation for political reasons.

In Békés County, the second half of the year brought small changes in how events were organized compared with earlier practice. The activist group operating in the county shifted from longer-term event series to a more flexible, responsive mode. As a result, local activists increasingly took the initiative on issues they felt strongly about, speaking out and taking action when they believed it was necessary. This brought them much closer to a direct experience of democracy: speaking up for shared values in a way that others can join.

As a result, the group's activities in the second half of the year were highly diverse. From online discussions and candlelight vigils to street outreach, activists engaged with local residents in many different ways.

At the beginning of the six-month period, prompted by the national summer protests, the Csabai Hangadó (Békéscsaba Voices) online discussion series focused on the right of assembly. Our guest was Dániel Döbrentey, an expert from HCLU, with whom we explored a wide range of questions, with active participation from those attending. Building on this knowledge, we organized Citizen Participation Day in October in response to a call from the Civil College Foundation. Alongside playful presentations of local issues, participants also reflected on systemic problems such as outmigration and corruption, both of which have a strong impact on the county. During the event, following the announcement of László Krasznahorkai's Nobel Prize, passers-by could draw surprise quotes from the Gyula-born writer and take them home as keepsakes.

At the Békéscsaba screening of Direkt36's film Dynasty, where the filmmakers were also present, there was room for a more direct conversation. Participants became deeply engaged in the discussion, making the event not only warm and engaging, but also a genuine opportunity for attentive dialogue.

The largest street action of the six-month period was the demonstration against propaganda in Gyula, followed by another in Békéscsaba at the end of November. Many people joined on site, and the action was also covered in the news — an especially strong sign of encouragement for the team, given the local context.

Several developments in public life also prompted spontaneous reactions: a quiet and dignified candlelight vigil in support of Gábor Iványi's church, and, in response to the child protection scandals, an action with plush toys and signs showing that national issues always have an impact even in places farther from the capital.

This was an intense and hard-fought six months, in which the harsh reality of Borsod tested our activists — the members of aPoint Miskolc — every day. While continuously responding to the hypocritical success messaging of local Fidesz representatives and countering the toxic effects of propaganda, they worked on three major local issues and two national campaigns to improve the lives of city residents and open new channels for action.

Local issues are never in short supply when the Fidesz-led administration of an underfunded county seat can do little more than echo national slogans while proving incapable of taking meaningful action on local problems. In August, for example, the team decided to take the issue of the burned-down Cave Bath into its own hands. They launched a petition, set up campaign stands, and found out that the city had classified the plans.

Using public procurement documents, the activists uncovered the reason for the secrecy: the billion-forint renovation would have left out therapeutic services that are essential to city residents and available through the public healthcare system. Although János Lázár, Katalin Csöbör, and local politicians tried to outbid one another with promises of development, in reality they were prepared to abandon the therapeutic section.

While the activists were still neck-deep in the Cave Bath campaign, the child protection scandal hit. The city leadership had designated a prostitution zone next to a girls' home whose residents are especially vulnerable to drug exposure and human trafficking. aPoint Miskolc launched a petition on the day the news broke and, within a month, achieved the impossible: the same body that had voted unanimously for the zone in October reversed its decision by the same unanimous vote in November, moving the sex work area a safe distance away from the children.

In the meantime, the team did not abandon the Cave Bath issue either. They organized a city walk and took part in a public hearing, confronting the leadership with uncomfortable questions. Faced with evasive answers, they stepped up the pressure: they traveled to Tiszavasvári for a Lázár Info event, and on December 5 organized a demonstration in Budapest in front of the Ministry of Construction and Transport. The pressure brought results: they were received at the ministry, the first phase of construction has since begun, and the fight now is to save the therapeutic section.

In Csongrád County, the Makó and Szentes aPoints were officially established, which means that, together with Szeged, we are now present in three cities with stable, active communities. On nationwide days of action, such as the anti-propaganda day in November 2025, we were able to organize demonstrations in four communities at the same time, showing the organizing power and commitment of activists across the county.

In the second half of 2025, the Makó aPoint worked consistently and persistently for arsenic-free drinking water. Our activists were present in every affected community, putting pressure on decision-makers through campaign stands, a public forum at the Makó water tower, regular awareness-raising actions, "crosswalk Wednesdays," and the handover of the petition. They placed information posters on the container supplying arsenic-free water and made sure they stayed up. Members of our aPoint also spoke at the public hearing, where they responded with substantive arguments to the deputy mayors' empty provocations. As a result of their continuous presence and consistent work, they were able to take part in a three-party consultation with Makó's leadership and the National Waterworks. The work continues.

In Makó, the local aPoint also achieved a tangible victory on animal welfare. Following the petition calling for the dismissal of the municipal animal control officer, activists kept the issue on the agenda in the streets, online, at public hearings, and in every forum available to them.

The focus of aPoint Szolnok's activity continued to be the fight against the planned electrolyte plant.

The related petition was handed to the mayor, but the local MP and the ministerial commissioner did not attend the event. So, as the saying goes, "if the mountain will not come to Mohammed": aPoint activists asked their questions at a public forum instead. They received no substantive or reassuring answers, but by the autumn, construction machinery had appeared on the site. The MP still had not spoken about the issue in Parliament, while the mayor told the national press that there was nothing to see. This added fuel to the fire: the aPoint organized a demonstration, preceded by a community banner-painting session. At the public demonstration, alongside speakers from Stop Electrolyte Factory and Akárteis (You Can Too), local residents and community members explained why they do not want an electrolyte plant in Szolnok, and the organizers read out dozens of messages of solidarity from across the country.

Following the demonstration, opposition representatives placed a proposal to ban battery factories in Szolnok on the city assembly's agenda at the end of October. However, the Fidesz majority blocked the initiative by abstaining from the vote. A promise was made to resubmit the proposal, so the aPoint launched an email campaign targeting the representatives who had abstained. By the time of the November city assembly meeting, the city leadership had quietly adopted a symbolic measure behind closed doors, banning a less polluting segment of the battery industry while leaving the electrolyte plant issue unresolved.

Komárom-Esztergom County also became involved in aHang's work. Over the past six months, local communities across the county have shown that when it comes to local issues, decisions cannot be made over people's heads.

In Tatabánya, the local Facebook page was launched and quickly became an important mobilization platform. The local group joined the central campaign calling for a prime ministerial candidate debate with campaign stands on two occasions, September 15 and October 25. In Tata, the petition "The Tata Castle Moat Belongs to the People of Tata — and Is Not for Sale" was launched, sending a clear message that public heritage should not be treated as a commodity.

In Esztergom, local activists joined the prime ministerial candidate debate campaign with a campaign stand on September 25, and then launched the petition "Do Not Cut the Danube Off from Esztergom." The initiative draws attention to the negative consequences residents face when flood protection infrastructure is planned without community involvement. On November 26, the county community also joined the anti-propaganda day of action.

In Nógrád County, we are active in two communities: Pásztó and Salgótarján. In both places, work has continued over the past six months according to carefully developed action plans. Rather than reacting to problems on an ad hoc basis, we take a long-term approach: we identify local issues, organize communities around them, and consistently put pressure on decision-makers.

One of the most important current issues for aHang's Pásztó group is saving the Kövicses Stream. The stream is more than a natural feature; it is one of Pásztó's symbols and an important part of the town's identity. Its drying up is therefore not only an environmental issue, but also a reminder of what happens to our shared values when we fail to protect them.

The group is following a clear action plan to ensure that the municipality does not rely on occasional, one-off interventions, but instead develops a comprehensive, long-term strategy for restoring the stream. Their goal is simple: to ensure that the Kövicses Stream remains what it has always been.

aHang's Salgótarján group is also working along a consciously built action plan on an issue affecting the whole region. Nógrád County is today one of Hungary's poorest counties; Salgótarján and its surroundings have been in continuous decline for years, and in the past fifteen years no real, future-building intervention has taken place.

aHang began building its presence in Pest County in July 2025. Compared with other counties, it presents unique challenges: the county is highly fragmented, includes many nationally significant local communities, and many of its towns function as commuter hubs for Budapest while also being affected by the capital's gravitational pull.

Against this backdrop, aPoint Dunakeszi was established in the autumn in one of Pest County's largest towns. The group brought together volunteers not only from Dunakeszi itself, but also from nearby communities such as Fót, Göd, Sződliget, Vác, and Veresegyház, as well as from farther afield in Pest County, including Bag, Perőcsény, Érd, and Remeteszőlős.

Thrown in at the deep end, their first action was to join our national campaign calling for a prime ministerial candidate debate ahead of the parliamentary elections. As part of our International Day of Democracy action, activists from aPoint Dunakeszi collected signatures in support of the debate at one of 30 locations across the country. Throughout the autumn, they also set up campaign stands in Dunakeszi and Vác, gathering support both for the debate petition and for our petition calling for a full-scale OSCE election observation mission.

Meanwhile, our Pest County group also took on an important local issue. They launched a petition and local campaign against plans to build on part of the Dunakeszi sport airfield, and to protect the nearly 3,000 strictly protected ground squirrels living there. At their on-site event, titled "FÜRGE ÜRGE (SWIFT SQUIRREL)... and Ecosystem Services," they hosted conservation experts to engage local residents in an educational conversation about the ecological role of one of Hungary's most significant endangered ground squirrel populations, and about the natural value of the airfield, which is part of the national ecological network. To engage younger generations, they also organized a ground-squirrel-themed quiz and paper-airplane folding at the windy and cold, but all the more exciting, event. To prepare the next steps of the campaign, they are planning an expert meeting with organizations connected to the affected area.

In the second half of 2025, the number of communities in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County with an aPoint presence tripled. aPoint Nyíregyháza, founded on November 27, 2024, was joined less than a year later, on November 20, 2025, by two new groups: aPoint Záhony and aPoint Kisvárda. This growth did not come out of nowhere: two very different paths led to the creation of the new groups.

The organizing process in Záhony had already begun in January 2025. A series of group briefings and personal conversations led local activists to join aHang's national campaigns in Budapest, represent them locally, and support the actions and issues of the local aPoints in Nyíregyháza and Miskolc. By the middle of the year, some of them had completed the first activist training held locally.

Even before the training, they had launched their first petition, calling for low-floor trains on the Nyíregyháza–Záhony line, and had already handed it over to the responsible minister. They had to do this two more times before handing it over for a fourth time, on December 5, to MÁV's senior leadership at the Ministry of Construction and Transport.

Thanks to persistent street campaigning and handing over the petition repeatedly, the initiative was finally crowned with success on December 23, 2025. From January 5, 2026, low-floor trains began running three times a day on railway line 100 between Záhony, Nyíregyháza, and Debrecen, ensuring equal access for people with reduced mobility or health limitations, as well as for those traveling with small children or large luggage.

In addition to bringing issues into public life, our activists took part in aHang's summer and winter national gatherings and completed the second training as well. As a result, the Záhony aPoint was founded on November 20 with three members. The group is expected to soon grow by two more full members.

aPoint Kisvárda is more of an issue-based group. Activists had already been present in the community through street campaigning and issue-based actions, but the group truly came together when the social media group "Something Stinks in Várda" was created.

In the second half of 2025, the Veszprém aPoint focused primarily on bringing national campaigns to the local level and keeping a particularly important, long-running transport issue on the agenda. Local volunteers used creative, playful tools to engage people in conversations about public issues, while in several cases also achieving broader visibility and active participation.

During this period, the Veszprém aPoint joined several national campaigns. They presented the national petition calling for wealth investigations in a playful local format, creating an accessible way to talk about holding oligarchs and front men accountable. During their street campaigning, many people stopped, asked questions, and were open to thinking about systemic corruption.

On the International Day of Democracy, the Veszprém aPoint drew attention to the lack of political dialogue with a spectacular and unconventional action. They took 3D-printed statues of Péter Magyar and Viktor Orbán into the street, where passers-by could ask them questions as if a prime ministerial candidate debate were taking place. The action was both eye-catching and thought-provoking, and sparked many conversations about what a real public political debate would look like in Hungary.

Those in power try to create parallel realities, but our work proves again and again that from Győr to Bicsérd, from Záhony to Orosháza, we face the same problems and difficulties: livelihoods, corruption, our health and our healthcare, and the fact that decision-makers do not hear our voices and have drifted away from reality — from our reality.

In this situation, our responsibility is to show that change is within reach, and that we achieve it when we come together, when we refuse to be intimidated, when week after week, day after day, we stand up — behind an aHang campaign stand, on the stage of a demonstration, at a public hearing, or in a ministry negotiation — and speak with clear, strong arguments to convince those in power: we deserve better.