András Bencsik, the editor-in-chief of Demokrata, worked as an employee of Magyar Hírlap in 2012. He is one of those who announced the first Peace March and who have been emblematic of this movement ever since.  

- No one ever disputed - except for the so-called opposition - that the situation of Hungarian democracy became critical in 2012. Even if they didn't say it, the aim of the European liberals was to overthrow the Christian-conservative Orbán government. It cannot be disputed that the attempt failed thanks to the first Peace March. It is strange, however, that this method of defense had to be invented by journalists.

"No, although it is true at first." I mean, it was organized by journalists. It so happened that Zsolt Bayer wrote an article in Magyar Hírlap that what they are doing here against the Orbán government is madness, and we should take to the streets. This got me thinking, I just didn't know who should announce it? It would not be elegant if the government did it. So I figured it was us or nobody. I wrote a manifesto, then I called around, I called my friends and colleagues, what do they think? And so the organization began. It was very much in the air that something should be done to protect the government, so it raced through the country incredibly quickly. Later on, we were a little more prepared, then the Civil Unity Forum became the basis for the organization.

– The first Peace March was not without risks either, but the opposition had not yet created such a hateful, in some respects even murderous, atmosphere.

- Let's not forget that in the past 11 years, the country has strengthened and stabilized. The police force is not as consolidated as it was, so it is no longer possible to persuade the police to do what was possible in 2006. In other words, we are not defenseless and I am not afraid of provocation or hateful people. Such a huge crowd cannot be stopped anyway. I remember at the first Peace March there was a place where some counter-protesters were shouting. We simply walked past them, the dog was barking, but the caravan was moving and everything was fine.

- At the last Peace March, loudspeakers were set up on Erzsébet tér and workers' movement songs were broadcast. But what else would they have done, we know they love it.

"To their health." There is no need to deal with these, they fit within the framework of democracy.

- These provocations were primitive attempts, but it is possible that they will become aggressive. The Peace March is indeed peaceful, but when attacked people are forced to defend themselves. The opposition and the globalist press are waiting for nothing else, then they would whine to say, come on, here is the fascist crowd, whom Viktor Orbán ordered to the streets.

- In a bourgeois democracy, the crowd does not have to be militant. You simply have to show yourself, your strength. And its strength lies in the fact that we are together, there are many of us and we have one will, one intention. In a civil democracy, the citizen shows his power in the election when he votes. We are not preparing for a fight. By the way, in 2006, when Öszöd's public speech sparked protest movements, the demonstrations lasted for months, but they still failed to achieve anything. In a functioning democracy, a bad government cannot be overthrown unless it overthrows itself.

- The Peace March is a message for Christian-conservative people: there are many of us, don't be afraid. But can it have any effect on the opposing side?

"I can't think with their heads, I won't even try." They will see that there are many of us, we are organized, we are not scary, we are even calm, but there is strength in this multitude. They have to think about this and maybe there will be among them - if not among the haters - those who think about the fact that the force we represent is calm, orderly and basically friendly, and maybe they could live with this force. The other, the restless, aggressive, murderous force that feeds them, will not be pleasant for them either . Maybe there will be a section of the opposition that will think about it.

(Header image: Democrat)