Open Mic – SUNDAY 28th JUNE 2026

FACT OF THE DAY: A cloud can weigh over a million pounds (about 500,000 kg)
POLITICAL QUOTE OF THE DAY: “As long as human labor power, and, consequently, life itself, remain articles of sale and purchase, of exploitation and robbery, the principle of the “sacredness of human life” remains a shameful lie, uttered with the object of keeping the oppressed slaves in their chains.”
― Leon Trotsky
POLITICAL HAIKU OF THE DAY:
The narrow sea waits.
Steel shadows drift through warm waves—
Oil tastes of war.
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A recent VPro documentary showing insight behind the iron fist rule of a 16 year Orbanist dictatorship. What to expect from a model that the populist right aspire to implement over free democracies.
On April 12, 2026, Péter Magyar won the Hungarian elections. The controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was forced to step down. To find out just how strong Orbán’s grip on the country had become over the course of sixteen years, Nicolaas Veul set up a special hotline and set out to uncover the stories behind it.
Early 2026, Nicolaas Veul reached out to ordinary Hungarians: What is life like under the controversial Prime Minister Viktor Orbán? To find out, Nicolaas set up a special hotline. It struck a chord with Hungarians, and the call went viral. Within a week, Nicolaas received nearly a thousand messages from Hungarians about the harsh realities of daily life under Orbán. Taken together, the responses form a cry for help from a people slowly drifting away from the EU. Nicolaas embarked on a road trip through Hungary. He followed up on the stories from the hotline for this documentary.
To ensure the anonymity of the contributors, we re-recorded the original hotline messages with actors.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAZXv8dMZNo