Hank…um….we mean Hugo Chavez, Jr., gets a big ol’ spanking from the Green party leader, Daniel Cohn-Bendit. Watch the video above. English subtitles are included in the video itself, but here are some highlights from Bendit’s speech:
Now, Viktor Orban, you are on the way to becoming a European Chavez, a national populist who does not understand the essence and structure of democracy.
And I tell you a simple thing, Mr. Orban: balanced information does not exist. Do you think that Mr. Nixon found the information about the Watergate issue balanced? And what do you think, did Mr. Bush find the information about Abu Graihb issue balanced?! Surely not.
…The information has to annoy politicians. And to us, that feels bad sometimes. (Applause.)
And this is why, Mr. Orban, your law does not correspond to teh values of the EU today.
You say you want a strong Europe, Mr. Orban. A strong Europe has to be credible! How could we be credible by accepting a law which we criticize by Lukashenko and China, who also want only “balanced information”? (Applause.)
Do you understand, Mr. Orban, that we, the EU, were born against totalitarianism?!
The basis of democracy, of liberty, is simply the freedom of speech. Not one democracy died because of too much freedom, but when freedom is restricted.
Hungarian Watch 