JUDY WOODRUFF: There's an old saying: Never let a crisis go to waste. And for some leaders
around the world, the pandemic has been the crisis they have been waiting for.
Pro-democracy groups say that authoritarianism was already on the rise before COVID-19.
And, as Nick Schifrin tells us, the pandemic has accelerated that trend.
NICK SCHIFRIN: They marched for democratic values and held signs "Free Country, Free
Press, " but, in Hungary, the press is increasingly not free, and democracy is sliding down an
authoritarian slope.
Last month, the editor of Hungary's most read news site was fired for coverage critical
of the government. Nearly all employees at the Index news site walked out.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long called Index a fake news factory. But
COVID became a cover for him to expand attacks and seize more power.
And it's happening elsewhere. An open letter from 500 former world leaders and Nobel laureates
warned, COVID-19 increased global authoritarianism that threatens the future of liberal democracy.
ALINA POLYAKOVA, Director, Center for European Policy Analysis: Authoritarian-leaning leaders
across the world are using this to push through far, far more aggressive autocratic matters
and to repress independent voices in civil society.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Alina Polyakova is the director of the Center for European Policy Analysis.
ALINA POLYAKOVA: I don't think they would've been able to do this, because there would
be much more attention, much more criticism, at a time when we weren't going through a
global pandemic.
NICK SCHIFRIN: COVID has emboldened would-be dictators. In Russia, during a World War II
commemoration parade, police shoved protesters into vans, thanks to a new measure against
public assembly. Vladimir Putin won a referendum that extends his power until 2036.
In Egypt, Dr. Hany Bakr was arrested for a Facebook post criticizing the government for
sending medical masks abroad, when he didn't have enough in its own practice. Abdel Fattah
El-Sisi's government has arrested more than a dozen people for criticizing the official
COVID response.
In other countries, opportunism. In Poland, President Andrzej Duda pushed through and
won a recent election, despite E.U. concerns it wouldn't be safe or fair. The vote was
upheld by Duda's handpicked Supreme Court.
In Hong Kong, the pro-Beijing legislative council cited COVID to postpone a planned
September vote that it was expected to lose. Pro-democracy groups say more than 60 elections
have been postponed during COVID, and more than 40 countries have restricted press freedom.
These leaders say extraordinary times require extraordinary steps, like border closures,
quarantines, and tracking.
VIKTOR ORBAN, Prime Minister of Hungary (through translator): We successfully defended our
country. Our achievement is comparable to any other country. And we did that within
democratic frameworks.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But many of the new powers don't expire or have anything to do with COVID.
In Hungary, Orban withheld COVID relief money from his political opponents. Parliament temporarily
gave him the power to rule by decree. He declared victory over the virus.
But, in this house, there is only loss. Last month, Lilla Szeleczki's mother died.
LILLA SZELECZKI, Daughter of Coronavirus Victim (through translator): I really miss her. Everybody
loved her. She always made our favorite food for us and always got us little surprises
and presents. It hurts a lot that she is not with us anymore.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Szeleczki's mother was suffering from kidney cancer when she was sent home
to make room for COVID patients.
Orban's silencing of the press and downplaying COVID meant Hungarians didn't receive the
information they needed. Szeleczki says her mother's death could have been prevented,
and that, in Hungary, no one person should have total control.
LILLA SZELECZKI (through translator): I think it was a huge mistake that unlimited power
was given in one person's hands.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Part of the problem is that COVID arrived when democracy was already under
attack. Freedom House says 2019 was the 14th consecutive year of decline in their Global
Freedom Index.
To discuss that and how authoritarianism has spread during COVID, I'm joined by Anne Applebaum,
staff writer at "The Atlantic, " a historian on Central and Eastern Europe, and author
of a new book just out, "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism."
Anne Applebaum, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
You have known many of the players. And Poland was one example we just cited, Hungary. You
have seen them shift over the decades from advocating democracy to eroding, in some of
their cases, rule of law. What happened?
ANNE APPLEBAUM, Author, "Twilight of Democracy": You have to look country by country for a
complete explanation.
But I do think you can point to, across both mature democracies and new democracies, a
kind of disappointment with democracy. And, sometimes, this is a cultural disappointment.
People don't like the way their societies have changed.
And I think we have to acknowledge that there is a part of every society that doesn't like
the cacophony and noise of democracy and the arguments, that doesn't like the fact that
democracies can't take instant decisions, the way autocracies can.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Turning to COVID and the focus we just put on one particular country, Hungary,
and its leader, Viktor Orban, how did Orban take advantage of COVID to seize more power?
ANNE APPLEBAUM: When the coronavirus arrived in Hungary, Orban used it to illustrate that
he was already fully in control of his system.
In other words, he passed a decree, or an order, that said that, from -- for the period
as long, as he wanted, in fact, he would be able to rule by decree.
And a number of Hungarians said to me, well, you know, we know this sounds terrible, but,
in a way, Orban was simply confirming what we already know, which is that he operates
functionally already as a dictator, there are no checks and balances on him, and he
was simply using the excuse of the coronavirus to rub this in.
NICK SCHIFRIN: One of the aspects, of course, of Orban's crackdown is against freedom of
the press. And we have seen governments all over the world restrict freedom of the press.
What's the long-term impact of some of those measures?
ANNE APPLEBAUM: The instinct to crackdown on the free press and to try and control speech
and to channel it in certain directions, I think, has always been with us.
And the coronavirus simply allowed some governments to take advantage of that situation, remembering
that, for many people, moments when they are afraid and when they fear for their lives
are often moments when they are willing to trade freedom for security or freedom for
safety.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Let's talk about China for a second.
That propaganda apparatus has waged an ideological battle, arguing that their version of communism,
their country, their structure is better equipped to deal with this kind of crisis.
Do you fear that that argument could be accepted by people around the world?
ANNE APPLEBAUM: The problem with the Chinese argument is that it's undermined by their
own actions during the crisis and the fact that it was the Chinese government that first
denied that the pandemic was dangerous. And so China is not in a good position to be arguing
that its method of dealing with the virus is the best.
But even when you step away from that, there is another interesting thing happening. Many
of the countries that have dealt best with the virus are democracies. They have governments
that can create a sense of community and of trust and get people to behave in a way that
reduces the virus.
And so -- and there are a number of autocracies, at the same time, that have done badly. So,
it turns out that the line between who's doing well and who's doing badly is not democracy
vs. dictatorship. It's to do more with efficiency, with trust, with community and solidarity.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Lastly, President Trump has raised the possibility of delaying the U.S.
election. Where is the U.S. when it comes to this story?
ANNE APPLEBAUM: His purpose is to undermine our faith in the electoral process itself,
so that people don't vote, so that they stay away, and then perhaps so that they doubt
the result if the result is bad for him.
This is a tactic that is used by authoritarians all over the world. When they want to undermine
people's faith in the system, they undermine their faith in voting and in the purpose and
meaning of voting.
We have all been convinced for many decades now that American democracy is something inevitable,
it's like water coming out of the tap, or the air we breathe, that there's nothing special
that we have to do in order to perpetuate it.
But the lessons from around the world show that democracies do die. People lose faith
in them. Political parties with anti-democratic beliefs take over democratic countries.
Our democracy, like every democracy, requires work. It requires reform. It requires renewed
commitment. It may require new kinds of politics. And it may be that all of us are going to
have to be a lot more involved in politics and think a lot harder about how to ensure
that our democracy survives than we ever expected to.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Anne Applebaum.
The book is "Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism."
Thank you very much.
ANNE APPLEBAUM: Thank you.