On the northern shore of Lake Velence — one of Hungary's last stretches of open, public lakeside — the government has approved a massive "priority project" that would hand much of the area over to private development.

By invoking Hungary's ongoing "state of emergency," declared because of the war in Ukraine, the Fidesz-led government has made the project legally untouchable — bypassing public consultation and local oversight entirely.

For residents of the nearby village of Sukoró, it feels like nature is being stolen from under them. In protest, a small grassroots group calling themselves Sukoró Harmony has been planting trees along the lakeshore — a symbolic act to reclaim public space and remind others what's at stake: not just a landscape, but a voice in how it's used.

Host Drew Leifheit visits the site, where locals replace an uprooted sapling — Sukoró's "tree of Hope" — and speaks with one of the activists about resistance, resilience, and the meaning of community in an increasingly centralized state.

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