Times are changing in the Open Society Foundation as George Soros officially handed control of the $25 billion organisation to his 37-year-old son Alexander Soros. The Soros heir confirmed his intention to continue his father’s work, but the generational change could potentially mark a decline in the powerful civil society network as Alexander Soros declared himself far more ideological than his father.
The child of Soros’ second wife, American art historian Susan Weber, Alexander Soros was already crowned chairman of the Foundation in December amid rumours of a split with his half-brother Jonathan Soros. George Soros had long denied wanting to hand the keys to his NGO empire to a blood relative; Jonathan Soros had been the previous favourite, expected to take charge of the Foundation before a schism with the family.
In a softball interview with the Wall Street Journal, Alexander Soros stated his intention to continue his father’s activist legacy albeit in an even more ideological fashion, promising to double down on campaigning for abortion rights and the impending 2024 U.S. presidential election.
Alexander Soros is already a regular in elite foreign policy circles and has reportedly visited the White House 17 times since the election of Joe Biden. The Soros heir has been noted as being far less charismatic than his tycoon father, with no clarification as of yet on what role he will play in running the hedge fund side of the family business.
A history graduate who has previously donated to the 2012 Obama campaign, Alexander Soros has previously spoken out against antisemitism, writing an op-ed for CNN calling for the Biden administration to harden its national stance on the issue.
The Foundation directs at least $1.5. billion into progressive causes annually, with its work a perennial talking point for right-wing pundits worldwide.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, Alexander Soros defended the work of the Society saying “As much as I would love to get money out of politics, as long as the other side is doing it, we will have to do it too.”
While extending an olive branch to Trump voters (saying that not all were racist), Alexander Soros promised to double down on support of liberal candidates during the next election cycle, aiming to focus on challenging voter registration laws and the liberalisation of abortion following last year’s abolition of Roe v. Wade.
Responding to Alexander’s appointment, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán jokingly likened the passing of the torch in the Soros family to the Godfather in a social media post.
The Open Society Foundation has been criticised by numerous European governments for meddling in their domestic affairs and promoting a pro-immigration agenda, despite its original purpose to assist Eastern European nations recovering from Soviet totalitarianism. In the United States, the Foundation has been linked to financing BLM activism, and had contributed $140 million to Democratic causes during last year’s American midterm elections.
