Episode 135: Hungary, Sportswashing, and Global Fascism

The End of Sport Podcast

This episode is an interview that friend and repeat guest of the podcast, Karleigh Chardonnay Webb, did with Johanna in August 2023. Karleigh is an Outsports contributor and co-host of the Transition Defense podcast. She interviewed Johanna to analyze Hungary's sportswashing in light of Budapest hosting the World Athletics Championship last August and the announcement that World Aquatics is moving its headquarters from Lausanne, Switzerland to Budapest.

Johanna begins with a more current intro that articulates why Hungary and its sportswashing matter in 2024 as global fascism continues to surge with the help of Putin, Italy, and the U.S. Right, and the movement's homophobia, transphobia, white supremacy, and the like. She and Karleigh discuss how PM Viktor Orbán changed Hungary into an authoritarian state with fascist control, Hungarian attempts to resist it, and why more and more Hungarians are thinking of fleeing the state. The authoritarian, culturally imperialist IOC has long worked well with other authoritarian powers; Orbán uses the IOC and international sport to advance his political agenda in ways that are both similar to and distinct from the Stalinist and state socialist government of the Cold War era. The U.S. Right sees Orbán's efforts as a possible vision for the U.S., explaining CPAC's growing adoration and ties with the PM.

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