The Rise of The Far Right in Europe: Hungary's Jobbik and the Roma

As most here no doubt know, far-right political parties including the British National Party did quite well at the last Euro elections, winning more seats than anticipated, enough to give them a more audible voice in Europe.  At the time, many here in Britain voted that way as a protest against the recession and the growing number of jobs going to foreign workers, and against immigration in general under a centre-left Labour government which had by now all but breathed its' dying breath.  I suspect many of those voters would not do so again, seeing now where it could lead - and although almost all of us are too young to remember the last time such a party gained power in Europe, we all know something of the history.  And nobody but the most die-hard Nationalists really want that.

Two things inspired this post.  Monday this week, I was in the group 'British Politics', where one such BNP-voter had posted an explanation, not perfect I thought, but fairly well presented, of his views on his own racial heritage, the background that informs his political views.  Fair enough, to my mind.  I will hear anyone's point of view whether I agree with them or not, provided they can come up with rational arguments and give evidence as to why they think this or that.  To summarise what he said, and he was clear it was a broad overview - he sees three significant 'racial groups' in Europe, which he splits into north and south.  Himself an 'Odinist', he identifies as 'Germanic'.  The other two he named were 'Gaul', or Gallic, and 'Latini', the latter including of course the Romans (the focus was the racial make-up of Britain) having mixed with the Islamic Moorish invasion to the south.  I was content that at least he had thought about it and reached an opinion - but I was left wondering about Slavs and Basques and Celts and so on.  He's in here, welcome to elaborate if there are any questions - but this isn't a partisan blog with the intent of calling him out for a duel.

Yesterday, another member of this group posted elsewhere, on France's immigration policy, specifically the deportation of 'gypsies', otherwise known as the Roma people, from Romania and other countries to the east.  Western Ukraine and Hungary have Roma minorities, I know.  Here, I was left questioning how France can do this, when an EU member-state's residents are free to travel and work anywhere else within the EU, with no visa.  Again, I am not challenging the author, just writing it all down really, in hope that some discussion will be generated and I can learn further.

The latter of these two posts reminded me of Jobbik - Hungary's far-right political party, closely allied with the BNP.  I had read back in about April that the Roma, as well as Jews, were being persecuted there.  I understand that Jobbik are not actually in power (I forget the name of the party that is - I don't read Hungarian so well), but still, their uniformed militia, the Magyar Garda, march through Roma villages 'creating an atmosphere of hatred', with their chosen scapegoats as the focal point. 

Jobbik claim their name has been slandered, that they stand against 'gypsy crime', not the people themselves, and that they are not anti-Semitic but against 'Israeli colonizers'.

Here follow some links, including Jobbik's own site, for you to digest. 

I've reproduced The Times' article in full.


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article7094767.ece

http://www.politics.hu/20100322/hungarian-guard-block-roma-from-jobbik-rally

http://www.jobbik.com/index.php?news=3162

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_G%C3%A1rda

http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/28071-jobbiks-anti-roma-crusade

Far-right party Jobbik makes breakthrough in Hungarian elections

A far-right party, with candidates that have voiced anti-Semitic and anti-Gypsy rhetoric, achieved a breakthrough last night in Hungarian elections, entering Parliament for the first time and finishing a strong third just behind the governing Socialists.

Jobbik, which has a uniformed wing that marches in military formation, made its gains at a time of a deep economic downturn and sour resentment that the former wunderkind of Central Europe is now the regional laggard.

The opposition centre-right Fidesz party won a landslide victory with more than 52 per cent of the vote, well ahead of the 19.3 per cent cast for the Socialists — who have presided over rising unemployment and harsh aust-erity measures under the terms of an IMF loan.

Fidesz, which last ruled between 1998 and 2002, has promised to create a million jobs over the next decade by tackling corruption, reforming a Byzantine tax system and reducing the black economy. It will be a gargantuan task.

Viktor Orban, Fidesz’s charismatic leader and the country’s next Prime Minister, last night declared that Hungarians had voted to "defeat hopelessness".

"I feel it with all my nerves, and know it deep in my heart, that I face the biggest task of my life," he told supporters.

However, there are fears that the strong showing by Jobbik, which has seen gains mirroring other far-right groups in Europe, could weaken investor confidence and deepen the country’s crisis.

Which may account for a stream of recent stories attacking Jobbik. The party’s spokesman Andras Kiraly resigned after pictures of him at the Toronto Gay Pride parade appeared on the internet, and a female member of the Magyar Garda, the party’s uniformed organisation, was revealed to have starred in a lesbian pornographic film.

"This is a battle for the undecided voters but we are getting stronger and stronger," said spokesman Zsolt Varkonyi. Mr Varkonyi said Jobbik is being slandered. It is not against Roma, only Roma criminals, and is not anti-Semitic but opposes "Israeli colonisers".

The rise of Jobbik, which is allied to the British National Party (BNP) in the European Parliament, also coincides with a surge in racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

The Roma Gypsy minority are being targeted as scapegoats across Europe, said George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier and philanthropist. "There is no question that the crisis that hits people unexpectedly ... gets them angry and they want to take it out on someone," he said.

Despite being elected on a platform of social justice, the Socialists have allowed large parts of eastern Hungary to become an economic wasteland, while the situation of the Roma has further deteriorated, inflaming social tensions, say analysts.

"This is a supposedly leftist Government but over the past eight years the gap between rich and poor has drastically widened," said Gergely Böszörményi NagyGergely Borszomeny-Nagy, of the Perspective Institute, a think-tank.

"The Socialist Party has no serious vision for the country and has failed in its responsibilities. It is primarily a collection of different economic interest groups, based on their networks of contacts from the communist era."

The country’s new government faces a daunting task.

With unemployment standing at 11 per cent, inflation is almost 6 per cent. The economy shrank by 6.3 per cent in 2009 and harsh austerity measures have been implemented under the terms of an IMF standby loan of €20 billion in 2008.

Corruption has flourished under a governing class of both left and right, that like their Communist predecessors, regards public funds as their personal piggy- bank.

The current sour mood is far cry from the halcyon days of the 1990s.

Hungary’s reputation for skilled and talented workers has attracted more than €60 billion in foreign investment, the highest rate per capita in the region.

Many were lured by Hungary’s dazzling scientific and cultural heritage which has helped shape the modern world. Its scientists have won more than a dozen Nobel prizes, and its inventors have brought the world nuclear weapons and Vitamin C, the helicopter and carburettor. But a once dazzling education system now churns out graduates who are poorly equipped to compete in the global economic marketplace, say critics. Managers at western multi- national companies frequently complain that it is extremely difficult to recruit graduates with an adequate command of English, especially in comparison with neighbouring countries.

Jobbik draws much of its support from the young and is especially strong in many universities. The party has a slick, multi-national internet presence and has successfully sidestepped both the traditional political establishments and the mass media.

Unable to find work, many young people find refuge in an angry patriotism. But that is a meagre defence against the global economic recession.

The legacy of Communism still shapes many Hungarians' mental attitudes, says Miklos Feher, a business executive and life coach.

"Those values are still widespread, that there has to be big, godlike state to take care of everybody and solve everyone's problems. There is a sense that people have not grown up, and some of my clients think I will tell them what to with their father, or whether or not to get divorced, instead of deciding themselves. But at the same time young people distrust anything to do with power. So there is that contradiction."