GlobalPost: Why you should care about Hungary's rabid right

[pampango]

The far-right Jobbik party is making waves across Europe as it continues to gain momentum in the polls with racist rhetoric and calls for Hungary to leave the EU.


People wave flags during a demonstration untitled 'To be members, or to be free?'
and called by right-wing parliamental party 'Jobbik' against European Union in front
of the European Union Parliament and Commitee headquarters in downtown Budapest
on January 14, 2012.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s moderate-right Fidesz party has seen a public backlash to governmental changes in the form of large protests, the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades, but the financially-addled government stands rigid against the pushback.

It’s not just the government’s rash changes (rewriting the constitution to diminish press and religious freedoms) that make journalists and the EU nervous, however. Jobbik, the far-right party has been gaining ground in recent years, pushing for racist anti-Roma legislation and a militant nationalist agenda. They are well-known and recognizable for t-shirts and uniforms with Nazi or Arrow Cross insignias and rabble rousing in the villages and universities.

In a particularly concerning turn, Jobbik polled high with youth voters in the last election, where they picked up 21 percent of voter support, which ties them with the traditionally youth-driven Socialist party. They’ve become incredibly popular, and most attest this to their frank (albeit offensive) rhetoric about Roma and their stance against the European Union, as well as their internet savvy, alternative press, and summer concerts and festivals, all of which make it easy for middle class students to embrace Jobbik ideas.

Instead of lofty ideas about social programs, Jobbik preys on the emotional instabilities of the frustrated citizenry, publicly referencing terms like “cigánybűnözés” - literally, gypsy crimes, like the ones I heard about in the village - and Roma reliance on taxpayer money. According to a New York Times article, unemployment for ethnic Roma is close to 80 percent.

“Jobbik Facebook fans are more likely to think that violence is justified if it leads to the right outcome,” reported D'Amato’s political website politics.hu. “[Jobbik Facebook fans] are more likely to be negative towards the EU than their fellow Hungarians. Asked about what the EU meant to them, 68 percent said it was ‘the loss of cultural and national identity,’ compared with just 5 percent of all Hungarians.”

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/rights/hungarys-rabid-right-demonizes-roma-becomes-popular-youth-voters

The public backlash ("in the form of large protests, the likes of which haven’t been seen in decades&quot to the right-wing's changes in Hungary is encouraging, but "the financially-addled government stands rigid against the pushback".

The far-right (represented by the Jobbik party seems to have more power in Hungary than anywhere else in Europe. "Jobbik preys on the emotional instabilities of the frustrated citizenry... That sure sounds familiar.

[dballance]

1. Seems like if you replaced "Roma"

With African American it would sound a lot like places in the US.

[Ecumenist]

2. Magyar Orszag.....the hatred the SOME Hungarians have for the Roma AND

Jews is amazingly vicious and disgusting. This DOS NOT surprise me at all This is something that is an outgrowth of an endemic hatred and xenophobic mindset that bubbles just below the surface.

[Sea-Dog]

3. much of the rise of the right is down to the failure of the main partys