Hungarians gathered in Budapest on Sunday to protest plans to introduce a tax on internet bandwidth. (Photo: 100,000 Against the Internet Tax /Facebook)
Barring a u-turn from the Hungarian government, demonstrators will return to the streets of Budapest this afternoon to oppose Prime Minster Viktor Orban’s plans to tax the internet
The draft law proposed by Orban’s government would levy a fee of 150 forints (£0.40; €0.50; $0.60) per gigabyte of data traffic. In the face of public outrage, ruling party Fidesz promised that the tax will be capped at 700 forints for consumers and 5,000 forints for businesses. However, this did not calm the angry protesters.
Sunday’s rally that drew thousands of people to the Hungarian captial’s city center. The peaceful protest became heated when some demonstrators marched to the Fidesz headquarters, and broke the windows of the building with old computers and peripherals.
This protest was arguably the largest anti-government demonstration since 2010, when Viktor Orban came to power. In contrast with other protests, the gatherings denouncing the internet tax were not organized by the weak, discredited and fragmented opposition.
According to the Hungarian media, the new tax was Viktor Orban’s own brainchild. He did not consult with his staff or the members of his government. The prime minister plans to use the money to raise the salaries of policemen and other employees of the interior ministry.
According to official estimates, the new tax will bring into the budget about 20 billion forints annually. While the Hungarian government is saying that the companies will pay the new tax, consumers fear that in the end the costs will be pushed onto their bills. The Association of IT, Telecommunications and Electronics Companies has already said the tax would force them to raise prices.
The protests are likely to continue because Hungarians realise this is more than just another tax. Many fear that the new tax will restrict access to information, put another burden on already impoverished small businesses and act as a curb on freedom of expression. It will also be a leash on young people who mainly use online media and who tend to be critical towards the government.
“The move… follows a wave of alarming anti-democratic measures by Orban that is pushing Hungary even further adrift from Europe,” the organisers of the Facebook group 100,000 against the internet tax said in a press release. “The measure would impede equal access to the internet, deepening the digital divide between Hungary’s lower economic groups and limiting internet access for cash-poor schools and universities,” they added. The group has drawn more than 200,000 likes.
Moreover, many people believe the plan of the tax is just a way to direct the public’s attention away from the US visa ban scandal. Recently Washington banned six Hungarian state officials from entering the United States, because of their alleged involvement in high-level corruption.
This is an unprecedented step towards a country that is member of the EU and NATO, and signals a low point between the relations of Hungary and the United States.
The tax didn’t go unnoticed in Brussels either. Neelie Kroes, vice president of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda for Europe tweeted that it was “a shame for users and a shame for the Hungarian government”. Her spokesperson, Ryan Heath also criticized the tax in harsh terms during an EU Commission press briefing.
The internet tax is just another in a series of “special taxes” the Orban government introduced in the last couple of years to be able to keep the budget deficit in check. Retail, banking and energy sectors, as well as telecommunications providers are required to pay extra taxes. At the same time, the Hungarian government lowered the personal income taxes and subsidises the price of electricity and water.
María del Rosario Fuentes Rubio, best known under the pseudonym “Felina”, was kidnapped by armed men on 15 October in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. The following day a photograph of her body was posted to her Twitter account with messages warning others to be silent.
A doctor by profession, Fuentes Rubio was a contributor to the Valor por Tamaulipas citizen information service, a website that seeks to expose violence and organised crime activities in the state. She posted under the handle @Miut3, which has since been suspended by Twitter. Fuentes Rubio actively posted alerts that pinpointed the location of violent incidents in real time. Her online activities defied the media blackout imposed by drug cartels since 2010.
“The work of individuals like Fuentes Rubio is critical in an environment where the press is muzzled by organised crime groups. Her murder is yet another blow to the right to information and to freedom of expression, and highlights the risks faced by individuals in the country who are striving to expose wrongdoings,” said Index on Censorship Chief Executive Jodie Ginsberg. “Impunity for the killing of journalists and digital activists is a threat to media and online freedom. We urge the authorities to investigate the killing thoroughly to identify and bring to justice those responsible.”
This is not the first time organised crime groups have targeted journalists and citizens who use the internet to provide information on violence and criminal activities. According to Reporters Without Borders, “four netizens were murdered in Tamaulipas in 2011 for having reported on narcotraffickers’ activities. The murders included that of María Elizabeth Macias, an influential blogger found decapitated on 24 September 2011 in Nuevo Laredo, a crime for which gangsters claimed responsibility.”
Index on Censorship is partnering with the BFI and others for a screening of We Are the Giant – a documentary featuring inspirational and gripping stories of three individuals who spoke their minds during the Arab Spring including Bahraini activist Maryam Al-Khawaja. The screening will be followed by a discussion featuring Maryam and Index on Censorship’s Melody Patry.
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Greg Barker and first presented at the Sundance Film Festival 2014, We Are the Giant tells the stories of three ordinary individuals who are transformed by the critical, moral and personal challenges they encounter when standing up for what they believe is right during the Arab Spring.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion featuring Bahraini human rights activist Maryam Al-Khawaja with Greg Barker (film director), Kristyan Benedict (Amnesty International) and Melody Patry (Index on Censorship). The chair will be New York Times columnist and Arab spring authority Roger Cohen.
When Turkish political cartoonist Musa Kart faced nine years in prison for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his colleagues from across the world fought back in the best way they know how — by drawing their own #erdogancaricature.
By: Martin Rowson
The online campaign was started on Thursday by Martin Rowson, cartoonist for The Guardian, The Independent and Index on Censorship among others, as Kart was scheduled to appear in court.
Erdogan himself filed the complaint against Kart over a cartoon published in the daily Cumhuriyet on 1 February 2014 showing the then prime minister as a hologram watching over a robbery. This was a reference to his alleged involvement covering up a high-profile graft scandal.
Erdogan claimed Kart was guilty of “insulting through publication and slander,” reports Today Zaman. And while the court initially ruled that there were no legal grounds for action, this decision was revoked following complaints from Erdogan’s lawyer. Kart was also fined in 2005 for drawing Erdogan as a cat.
In court on Thursday, Kart stated: “Yes, I drew it [the cartoon] but I did not mean to insult. I just wanted to show the facts. Indeed, I think that we are inside a cartoon right now. Because I am in the suspect’s seat while charges were dropped against all the suspects [involved in two major graft scandals]. I need to say that this is funny.”
He was finally acquitted, but many of his fellow cartoonists has already shared their artistic interpretations of Erdogan and the case.
By: Morten Morland
By: Ben Jennings
“I was alerted to Musa Kart’s plight by the excellent Cartoonists’ Rights Network International (CRNI) and previously, when an Iranian cartoonist was sentenced to 40 lashes, a bunch of us got together to draw the offended politician who’d had him arrested, the sentence was commuted,” Martin Rowson told Index via email.
By: Steve Bright
By: Kanika Mishra
“It seems this kind of international bullying by cartoon does have an effect, as even the chippiest despot out there can usually detect a batsqueak of the shamefulness of not being able to take a joke. In Musa Kart’s case, the threat of up to nine years in prison was such an outrageous abuse of power I didn’t wait for anyone else to organise this and simply put out a call via Twitter for cartoons of Erdogan to show solidarity. No idea if it had any effect on the court (I doubt it) though it may put Erdogan off the idea of taking the case to a higher court. I hope so. And I hope it gave Musa Kart a feeling that he wasn’t on his own in there. Basically, this is cartoonists playing the Spartacus card, because if one of us, anywhere, is persecuted for laughing at power, we all are,” said Rowson.
By: Harry Burton
By: Brian Adcock
“Cartoonists are often the last bastion of free speech in repressive regimes and equally valued for telling the truth as it is, in democratic societies too; some consider their work to be of just as much value, if not more, as journalists, and many respected for the courage and ability to often say and report what others cannot, or fear to do, alongside the just as valued use of satire to reveal a truth which otherwise might not see the light of day,” Patricia Bargh from CRNI explained to Index in an email.
By: Mike Roberts
By: Tjeerd Royaards
“Thus as societies we should value and protect their right to do what they do, and if they know there is an organisation out there who will take up their case, should they be targeted, we hope that gives them the confidence to continue to on and assists them in their valuable work too,” Bargh added.
