No time for losers
Hungarians never forgot a magical night with Queen behind the Iron Curtain four decades ago. Now they're celebrating the end of autocracy with "We Are the Champions."
Music and democracy go hand-in-hand.
What is music if not freedom?
What is music if not joy?
Autocrat Viktor Orbán is out as Hungary’s prime minister after 16 years, and April 12’s election winner, Péter Magyar, celebrated Sunday night with thousands of Hungarians lining the banks and bridges of the Danube River in Budapest.
Immediately, unverified social media posts of a multigenerational singalong of Queen’s 1977 song, “We Are the Champions,” made the rounds on Instagram, including this one from imjustagirlfromhungary:
Queen guitarist Brian May responded late Monday, writing, “Incredible scenes from Hungary!! So happy for you guys, claiming your future and proving that tyranny CAN be overthrown — an iconic day for all of Europe, and hopefully the rest of the world will be inspired with the same courage.”
The U.S. Vice President stumped for Orbán during an election rally in Hungary on April 7 before heading to Pakistan on April 11 for failed talks to end the war in Iran, as POTUS, who started the war on Feb. 28, attended a UFC cage fight in Florida.
Meanwhile, in Hungary, as NPR reported, voters “turned out in the greatest numbers since the fall of communism in the 1990s to turn away from Orbán’s Fidesz party, with exit polls indicating a possible ‘super-majority’ victory for Magyar’s Tisza movement.”
”Since 2022, the EU has frozen billions of dollars' worth of funding for the country,” the NPR story continued, “Because it said Orbán was violating key democratic values. Magyar said the country will ‘never again allow anyone to hold free Hungary captive or to abandon it.’”
It’s no surprise Hungarians would choose a Queen song for a celebration. The British band’s members, including May, have protested the use of “We Are the Champions” by certain American politicians, but Queen’s connections remain strong in Budapest, a busy crossroads with a rich cultural history. The band played a now-famous show for 80,000 people in the Hungarian capital in July 1986, a year after their iconic Live Aid appearance in London, and singer Freddie Mercury (who died in 1991) won Hungarian hearts when he sang their traditional folk song "Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt," about love, spring, and renewal.
Hungary was under communist rule from the end of WWII until 1989, when it transitioned to a parliamentary state. The nation slipped toward autocracy with the 2012 adoption of a constitution rewritten by Orbán’s Fidesz party.
For those of us who lived through the events of 1989 and the liberation of former Soviet bloc countries that are now part of the European Union, we know music was and remains an integral part of the struggle for freedom and democracy.
Although tears welled in my eyes today when I saw the video of the massive crowd in Budapest last night singing “We Are the Champions,” the feeling was pure elation.
What a song, what a moment. How HUMAN!
That same feeling also swept over me in Berlin in November 1989 when I witnessed the wall opening and East Germans blasting tunes from the West on their new boomboxes.
But my joy for the people of Hungary is tempered with confusion and trepidation at home. In my lifetime, I never thought I’d see American leadership side with anti-democratic politicians. I think of my grandfather, who fought in WWII, and all who have served the country, whether in the military or simply as citizens, protecting and furthering democratic principles in the U.S.A.
What did they fight for? Surely not this.
But music, our most human unifier, reminds us there is always hope.
The world is so haphazard, and dangerous, and volatile at the moment, and it is too soon to glorify the new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar. But his victory seems to be a step in the right direction.
“With this result, our Union is more united,” EU President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement this morning.
The hope for democracy, and the lives of great songs, continues.
“Very proud to be part of these historic scenes,” Brian May wrote when he shared the video on Instagram. We – Queen – never forgot our history together… We share your joy, dear friends!!! Bri”