Unhack Democracy on Resilience, the Budapest Pride and Hopeful Futures

Unhack Democracy is a pro-democracy organsiation building a new vision for democracy in Europe. Unhack Democracy was founded in Hungary in 2018 to rebuild trust in elections in Hungary and elsewhere. The organisation received support from our Culture of Solidarity Fund in 2020 and 2024. The first grant entailed support for ‘Election Health Check’, a transnational project that produced a series of interrelated short films on election irregularities and fraud in Hungary, Romania, and North Macedonia. You can read an interview on this project here. In 2024 Unhack Democracy received support for their project to protect electoral integrity and counter voter apathy in Hungary in the run-up to the European Parliament elections.

But Unhack Democracy is not only about electoral intregity – and how could they, looking at how Orbán and other authoritarian leaders are rewriting the democacy playbooks. The last few years have seen Unhack Democracy invest in empowering civil society, making it braver, more creative and hopeful, as to present a positive vision of why democracy – and those who defend it – matter. Following the Budapest Pride we caught up with Zsofia Banuta, one of Unhack Democracy’s co-founders, to talk about resilient democracy.

Zsofia, can you telll us more about the change in your strategic approach?
When you make a big shift or start something new it is always rooted in a personal story.  We gave our all in 2022 when we ran a campaign thanks to ECF to help mobilise and educate 20,000 poll workers at the last parliamentary elections in Hungary but the results were out of our hands. Viktor Orbán secured his 4th consecutive supermajority and the country fell into a state of depression. We were burnt out and didn’t know what to do next but we realised that we had to hit the reset button because the problems run much deeper than the ballot box. I felt what I needed personally was hope, a new vision for myself, something that can give me energy and I thought this could work for others too. Our job as activists is to give hope to others and lead the way from the ground up. So it took me over a year to get inspired and energised but when I met Thomas Coombes, founder of Hope-based Communications I knew we had to do something together. This is why we launched, REWIRE, hope-based mindset-shift incubator, where we incubate forward-looking projects that build communities and open-up institutions.

Zsofia, you recently started a fundraising campaign as a newly proposed law could label your organisation as a foreign agent, unable to receive funding. Even though the proposed bill in Hungary is deceptively called ‘Transparency of Public Life’ – it is very similar to the Russian model, which is being copied in various countries including Georgia and Slovakia. However, the Hungarian government does not use the term ‘foreign agent’. How can a fundraising campaign change the proposed bill?
Unhack Democracy is registered in Belgium because after we published our investigation that put Orbán supermajority into question we thought it would be safer to be outside of the country. This was in 2019. We know it from experience that Orbán clamps down on civil society and the free press after every election and it has only gotten worse over the years. Although, the proposed bill is currently postponed following a massive push-back from different groups including civil society, the press, even the banking association, its threat hangs over everyone. It is important to mention that in an autocracy we rarely do anything alone especially around elections because you have to pull resources, the energy and different experiences together to have real impact. We are all connected. The proposed bill is inspired by Russia and unfortunately it is spreading fast.

One of the best examples of non-electoral voting happened at the Budapest Pride which Orban tried banning but the Budapest mayor co-led: the massive turn-out was a hopeful sign for those beliving in the rule of law, diversity, equality and inclusivity. Now, a week later, how do Hungarian pro-democracy activists look back at the event, and how do they envision the near future?
It was a massive surprise to all of us and demonstrated power and solidarity. I got a bit emotional looking at the sea of people crossing the bridge because it is a very humbling feeling to see how a society is becoming more tolerant and willing to stand up for itself and others. There were hundreds of thousands who never attended a Pride march before and they were there to support the LGBTQ community but also to stand up against the increasingly oppressing regime. I can tell you that after speaking to dozens of people from civil society that everyone is talking about the upcoming elections expected in the spring of 2026 but everyone has a different opinion. There is fear and hope.

In your fundraising campaign you write: “We need to think beyond the ballot box…. We need to learn from other fields, break the rules like artists, and build like entrepreneurs.” In this perspective, what can we – pro-democracy forces – learn from the authoritarian playbook?
After the US president was inaugurated it became even more apparent to me that people are ready for something radically new and it is the time to innovate and implement radical reforms.They offer a glorious vision of the past, a sense of belonging with a great sales strategy but they don’t have a solution to today’s challenges. If only the establishment was wiling to think freely instead of protecting the status quo and involve thought leaders as well as creative experts, who believe that we need to tap into the collective intelligence and focus on the world we want to create I would feel more confident. This is why culture is so important.

How can international partners – from civil society networks to philanthropy – play a role in upholding democratic prinicples in countries where electoral democracy is under threat?
We have to renew our non-profit eco-system to be more risk taking and flexible. We have to work closer together as a community and philanthropists must listen to our concerns and involve organisations in the decision making process because those, who are closest to the pain are also part of the solution. It is not enough to defend something, we also have to innovate and build, which means trying new things and sometimes failing. We must increase flexible funding and provide consultants, who are able to help with management issues. As the world is becoming more uncertain we need to constantly adapt and become more entrepreneurial.