"For those NatCons who fancy themselves members of a 'resistance' against some vaguely totalitarian something (which I believe is all of them), the romance of Scruton's resistance might be why they name cafes after him"
but it's no random NatCons naming cafes after Scruton. It's "the state-spon…
"For those NatCons who fancy themselves members of a 'resistance' against some vaguely totalitarian something (which I believe is all of them), the romance of Scruton's resistance might be why they name cafes after him"
but it's no random NatCons naming cafes after Scruton. It's "the state-sponsored Batthyany foundation", the same foundation funding the Danube Institute.
and these cafes seem to have the blessing of Scruton's widow, who's donated memorabilia to them and attended some of their events. Prime minister József Antall of Hungary helped found the Batthyany foundation as a private institution in honor of Lajos Batthyány, a Hungarian prime minister under the Austrian empire who at first lobbied, then rebelled, for Hungarian independence.
"The Batthyány Foundation (BLA) was originally established in 1991 by the Association of Friends of MDF 'to support Hungarian public life based on common Christian values and democratic, representative governance.' It was a private foundation, financed mostly by donations. The original idea was to develop BLA along the lines of EPP’s Robert Schuman Foundation or CDU’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung."
but, after the foundation had become a shell of itself, Orban's propaganda ministry began using it as a funding conduit for Orbanism. "For instance, in 2019, BLA received 3.5 billion forints (about $12 million) from the propaganda ministry."
Since the Pulaski Institution has an interest in place, who's doing what to capitalize on understandably fond memories of someone in a locale seems like the kind of story Pulaski could investigate better than a commenter who looked up some stuff while she was laid up with a cold. If there's enough there for a follow-up piece, we're interested.
I know the Manhattan Institute, which was supposed to be another conservative-but-liberal institution with a focus on place (the city, NYC in particular), has had problems with donor capture:
I should correct something, though. I wrote,
"For those NatCons who fancy themselves members of a 'resistance' against some vaguely totalitarian something (which I believe is all of them), the romance of Scruton's resistance might be why they name cafes after him"
but it's no random NatCons naming cafes after Scruton. It's "the state-sponsored Batthyany foundation", the same foundation funding the Danube Institute.
https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2021/06/roger-scruton-hungarian-coffee-shop-markets-in-everything.html
and these cafes seem to have the blessing of Scruton's widow, who's donated memorabilia to them and attended some of their events. Prime minister József Antall of Hungary helped found the Batthyany foundation as a private institution in honor of Lajos Batthyány, a Hungarian prime minister under the Austrian empire who at first lobbied, then rebelled, for Hungarian independence.
"The Batthyány Foundation (BLA) was originally established in 1991 by the Association of Friends of MDF 'to support Hungarian public life based on common Christian values and democratic, representative governance.' It was a private foundation, financed mostly by donations. The original idea was to develop BLA along the lines of EPP’s Robert Schuman Foundation or CDU’s Konrad Adenauer Stiftung."
but, after the foundation had become a shell of itself, Orban's propaganda ministry began using it as a funding conduit for Orbanism. "For instance, in 2019, BLA received 3.5 billion forints (about $12 million) from the propaganda ministry."
https://hungarianspectrum.org/tag/batthyany-foundation/
Very good points, Midge. I wish I’d gone into a little detail about BLA in the piece.
Thanks!
Since the Pulaski Institution has an interest in place, who's doing what to capitalize on understandably fond memories of someone in a locale seems like the kind of story Pulaski could investigate better than a commenter who looked up some stuff while she was laid up with a cold. If there's enough there for a follow-up piece, we're interested.
I know the Manhattan Institute, which was supposed to be another conservative-but-liberal institution with a focus on place (the city, NYC in particular), has had problems with donor capture:
https://democracyjournal.org/arguments/think-tank-in-the-tank/
When the donor is Orban's propaganda ministry, that sounds even hairier.
I imagine a follow-up piece could be done. I’ll be writing more over at Arc Digital in the future so there may yet be more to come.