Shifting Hungarian political scene: Fidesz and Jobbik

I wrote several times about the language used by Fidesz politicians and journalists close to the party. I called one of my pieces on this topic "Language of hatred: The voice of the Hungarian right." I also wrote at length about the high priest of hatred--a so-called journalist Zsolt Bayer on March 8, 2009, in "The Orbán government and the media." In this latter article I mentioned that Bayer slowly but surely moved from paper to paper until he ended up at Magyar Hírlap, a paper that is no better than some of the outright Nazi publications on line, kuruc.info and several others of lesser fame.

Bayer is an anti-Semite who naturally claims that he is not. He wrote several unspeakable pieces on that topic. Otherwise, his language is simply not fit to print, but Hungarian editors are more lax about such matters than they ought to be. When Zsolt Bayer was attacked from the liberal side because of one of his anti-Semitic atrocities, Orbán Viktor made sure that he was photographed with Bayer at one of the Fidesz birthday bashes. Lately, however, there were few signs of close cooperation between Fidesz and Bayer. Until recently.

On February 17 Bayer wrote an open letter to Gábor Vona, leader of Jobbik. The title: "A whole year went by, you received half a million votes. The government stayed! Where is the revolution?" The letter is a litany of complaints about the ungrateful son who turned against the father, Viktor Orbán, who "with loving care" helped Vona along, especially in the beginning, on his political career.

Commentators not exactly friendly toward either Fidesz or Jobbik gleefully remarked that Bayer perhaps unwittingly let the cat out of the bag. After all, for months now MSZP and Fidesz have been blaming each other for the birth and growth of Jobbik. The extreme voices in Fidesz accuse MSZP of actually creating Jobbik in order to weaken Fidesz. Those who are more moderate claim that bad governance, Ferenc Gyurcsány's speech at Balatonőszöd, the introduction of an austerity program, and the outbreak of the international financial crisis gave rise to Jobbik. I'm pretty sure that all these developments accelerated the shift toward the right but, let's face it, the extreme right was well established before Őszöd and the economic problems. Don't forget that already in 1998 MIÉP received almost half a million votes. Looking through Jobbik's list of the 176 candidates for parliament, I found that a goodly number of them began their political career in István Csurka's party.

MSZP accuses Fidesz for the appearance of Jobbik. They mention the fact that it was Viktor Orbán who discovered Gábor Vona while he was still a university student. He surely looked upon the nascent right-wing student movement as a kind of political school for a new generation of future Fidesz leaders. Well, it didn't turn out that way although Orbán invited Vona to join his very own civic circle. MSZP even has a picture to prove it. But MSZP claims, and many people support this contention, that what is even more important than an invitation to a civic circle is the ever growing hate speech Fidesz and its leader showered on the government, the socialists, and the liberals. This was especially the case from 2006 on when Orbán began his campaign against Gyurcsány the liar and against the government as illegitimate. That added oil to the fire.

In any case, Fidesz steadfastly denied any connection between itself and Jobbik and belittled Orbán's encouraging words to Vona and his organization. But now from Bayer's writing a different picture emerges. Some commentators are certain that this open letter couldn't have seen the light of day without Orbán's approval. Personally, I doubt that Orbán saw the final version because otherwise I can't imagine that he would have approved its appearance in this form.

Bayer's first problem is that Jobbik came out with a new slogan: "twenty years for twenty years." I guess that means that anyone who took part in politics in the last twenty years should go to jail for twenty years. Well, that got Bayer's goat. He was outraged because after all that would mean that Orbán and the Fidesz politicians should also go to jail. So he reminds Vona that in 2002 he joined Fidesz's civic circles because he was upset over Fidesz's electoral loss and the end of those wonderful four years when it was "good to wake up in the morning." So a Fidesz propagandist (because Bayer is that) admits the close connection between Fidesz and the head of Jobbik.

But that's not all. Bayer tells us that there was a group of friends who once a month got together in a pub. They called themselves the Turul Circle. Sándor Pörzse and Pál Losonczi, today important people in Jobbik, were members of this group alongside Bayer. Bayer is deeply hurt that these old friends became his and his party's enemies.

Another interesting revelation is that Bayer seems to know that there is a close connection between Jobbik and the Arrows of Hungarians of György Budaházy. At present seventeen people are in jail and their numbers are growing. These people conspired to kill their political enemies. Before Bayer wrote this open letter there was no serious charge that these two groups had cooperated. We knew that Budaváry and some of the other extreme groups maintained relations with Jobbik, but no one accused Jobbik of complicity. Yet Bayer pretty well accuses Vona of supporting people such as those who badly beat up Sándor Csintalan, "a man around sixty, not in good shape." Yesterday, by the way, we found out that Krisztián Rihó, chairman of Jobbik in Bicske, was arrested because he passed on fifty rounds of 9mm ammunition, subsequently recovered by the police, to Budaházy's group.

Bayer also contends that "Fidesz made somebody out of Krisztina Morvai." Well, I don't think that Orbán will be happy to see that in print. Because until now Fidesz tried to make us believe that Krisztina Morvai had no connection whatsoever with Fidesz. She was an independent defender of the victims of the dictatorship of the Gyurcsány government. Morvai's "independent legal defense" group managed to distort the history of October 23, 2006. TV cameras showed violent demonstrators throwing rocks at the police and setting cars on fire. But Morvai and her comrade-in-arms, Zoltán Balog, the Fidesz chairman of the parliamentary committee on human rights, transformed the events of that night into a wanton attack by the police on peaceful demonstrators and passers-by. Well, most of us knew that Fidesz stood behind the instant historical revisionism for political purposes. Bayer makes it explicit that Morvai was indeed beholden to Fidesz.

Barikád, by now the official organ of Jobbik, fought back. They found writings of Zsolt Bayer from 1994 when he was a faithful liberal and worked for Népszabadság. I'm sure that it would be easy to find scores of such articles, but Barikád came up with only two. In any case, the article that is especially interesting was written around the time that MDF lost the elections in 1994 and there was a huge victory for MSZP that could have formed a government solo but invited SZDSZ to join. As a result, this coalition had a two-thirds majority, an opportunity the two parties refused to take advantage of. Bayer claims in this article that the MDF-led right of center coalition lost the election when it allowed the reburial of Miklós Horthy in Kenderes, the Horthy family's hometown. Bayer claimed that the Antall-Boross government acted as if nothing had had happened in the last forty years. But Hungary, he continued, has witnessed remarkable changes since the collapse of the Horthy regime: social mobility, modernization, and "secularization that was desirable and a healthy development." And yet, he wrote, this government asks priests to consecrate highways! This government has become "a laughing stock." At the grave of Horthy it became clear that "this political elite began where Horthy left off."

Not that Barikád's revelations make a huge difference. They will certainly not shake Bayer's standing within Fidesz, especially at a time when it looks as if Fidesz will win the elections and Bayer will be cheering the new government on. However, this not so friendly exchange gives us an opportunity to see the deteriorating relations between the right and the far right. Nonetheless, many believe that once in power the Fidesz government will heavily rely on Jobbik in parliament.

Comments

[Vándorló]

@ESBalogh: Csurka is now claiming Jobbik are moving to the left and out of the kindness of his patriotic heart he's helping Fidesz to achieve its 2/3rds majority by giving them MIÉP's votes. http://www.magyarhirlap.hu/hirek.html?r_id=5&hir_id=190887
The truth is there are enormous divisions in the far right over issues such as: 1. their relationship with Russia 2. overt anti-Semitism 3. Christian vs pagan doctrines 4. 'propagande par le fait' anarchistic acts vs working within the system 5. responding to rogue elements such as Budaházy etc...

[Thrasymachus]

What utter hogwash. And yet it starts so well.

"Those who are more moderate claim that bad governance, Ferenc Gyurcsány's speech at Balatonőszöd, the introduction of an austerity program, and the outbreak of the international financial crisis gave rise to Jobbik."

Just insert the words, Gyurcsány's refusal to resign, and the police violence of October 2006: and I don't think anyone, with half a mind would disagree with you. ANYONE.

But you just CAN'T bring yourself to admit it, can you? The perfect MSZP can't have possibly had a hand in it, can they?

And so we are subject to the usual Liberal convolution, in which political movements rise into being as a product of "hate speech." And manufactured terrorists (against whom the state can still not mount a case after a year's incarceration). And blood on the streets in October 06 being a fantasy.

Understand this: too many of us were there. And saw it all with our own eyes. And yet apparently you live in a world where Morvai and her little clique can manufacture reams of TV footage and witness statements like some sort of devilish Mission Impossible squad.
http://www.hunsor.se/dosszie/crisis_in_hungary.pdf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3SqQ1gJjss
@2:23 - 3:17
(Although I will admit that the Police were clearly overwhelmed. I mean the footage shows repeatedly that it takes at least eight of them to subdue each defenceless protester, with repeated blows.)

The point is for all Bajnai's carping about monsters, and everyone's hand-wringing about Jobbik being democratically beyond the pale. Because of what it says, or how it acts. You are bolting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

And that was Gyurcsány's refusal to go after Balatonőszöd.

Had he done so, like any respectable democratic politician in virtually any other EU nation would have done. There would be no Jobbik. C'est ça. And it was THIS act which set the precedent for contempt for democratic norms. If Jobbik is now reaping, what Fidesz sowed. It is because the MSZP and SZDSZ ploughed the land and spread fertilizer on it.

Deal with it.

Come and join us in the real world. And don't try and get away with historical revisionism, by accusing others of doing it. It's a weak old Komcsi tactic. And we just don't buy that stuff anymore.

(Oh hello Vándorló, well I must say, from where I sit I don't see much in the way of division in what you term the "far-Right" but if you say so. You're clearly an expert...

I just wanted to remark that I'm still waiting for that upload you promised re Morvai. Been waiting rather patiently for some time actually.)

[Vándorló]

@Thrasymachus: Apologies for not finding the video, but I gave it 10 minutes and then started something else. Strangely, I'm not impelled to waste any time on you or your tribe of miscreants.

When it turns up (things normally do when I'm on other tasks) I'll upload it. But, don't push your re-painting of reality too far. The video was on YouTube for 12 months and I linked to it 3 times on Politics.hu before it was removed.

[Vándorló]

@Thrasymachus: Here you go, knock yourself out with pride: http://✩.ws/ "HAZAÁRULÓ! (Morvai Krisztina)"
MEP, university lecturer, legal 'expert' in domestic violence and grown woman acting like uneducated trailer trash, Morvai in all her glory: A Morva(i) életbe!!

Who else would be seen giving the finger to her own law enforcement officers standing outside her own parliament - with absolutely no provocation or need. Disgusting.

[Thrasymachus]

I don't deny Morvai has a deep spiteful and visceral hatred for the Police.

As her own witness statement in the above dossier makes clear, she was witness to events on 23 October 2006, and had her young children present. I am sure she is scarred by the experience (of desperately trying to get her family to safety, of a panic, only a mother could have on seeing her young daughter choke on nerve gas) and that it is one of the main motivators of her passion.
(The likes of Dr B going on like magicians, as if to say, "Poof! You see? Nothing happened..." aids no-one's understanding of events or realities.)

I just wanted to see the incident alluded to. If you make outlandish statements you should be able to prove them. And being required to do so is a condition of your being believable; not stooping to "miscreants" as you, as ever so wittily, refer to me.

It is again charming that you think me a member of a tribe. When your intial post here speak of divisions being rife, in this supposed "tribe" of mine, there therefore being no such tribe after all, for you to waste your time with.

And yet you will insist on doing so for 80% of the time you spend on blogs that I witness. Curious that.

[Thrasymachus]

Thanks so much! You've made up my mind for me. That's DEFINITELY the kind of President we need.

Do you think the Slovaks would be introducing their patriot act - while Europe and the International Community are not breathing a word to stop it - if we had a President like that, instead of a wet rag like Sólyom?

Go on, try and pretend that we would.

(Or are you someone like Dr B, who thinks that if you're a Hungarian who just happens to be on the wrong side of the border you should culturally cleanse yourself, otherwise your host state is well within its rights to think about ethnically cleansing you?)

[post-liberal]

@Thrasymachus
"And that was Gyurcsány's refusal to go after Balatonőszöd.

Had he done so, like any respectable democratic politician in virtually any other EU nation would have done. There would be no Jobbik. C'est ça. And it was THIS act which set the precedent for contempt for democratic norms. If Jobbik is now reaping, what Fidesz sowed. It is because the MSZP and SZDSZ ploughed the land and spread fertilizer on it. "

You are ABSOLUTELY right!

Only Gyurcsany had such a huge ego to admit that he stole the election and then want to be congratulated for his honesty. He was caught with his hand IN the cookie jar. Any other democrat in any other nation would have resigned.

But events revealed that he wasn't really a democrat. He was just the KISZ Communist he had always been, ready to use the tools of democracy when they suited him. And it is HIS behaviour that made this OK in Hungarian public life, and led inevitably to Jobbik. The parties in parliament are complaining that Jobbik are using their own tactics against them.

For this blog writer to talk about the "hate speech" of the right is beyond irony. The Balatonoszod speech couldn't have been more clear because it was Gyurcsany's "hate speech" against his own people!

Morvai says so in this interview. (At 3:15) It is in English, and she is not foaming at the mouth or anything like that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEnGLPu6C2s

[whoever]

"HAZAÁRULÓ! (Morvai Krisztina)"

Yes, she is acting worse here than a stereotypical "gypsy hag." Actually I've never seen a Roma woman do this.

[David]

Hungarian nationalism is really the politics of illusion, a trick with smoke and mirrors with no substance. It is rapidly acquiring the psychological features of all self-destructive identity politics: the exaggerated sense of victimhood, the scapegoating, the unrealistic romantic solutions.

This type of politics is a well worn path in Third World countries and failed states. Blame all your problems on foreigners/Jews/Americans or whatever, allow the corrupt elite to send all your tax money into their private Swiss bank accounts but continue to support them because they are "authentic" and because they stand up to the right imagined enemies.

If you want Hungary to become a Third World country, the extreme right is definitely the way to go.

[Odin's lost eye]

I recently received some correspondence from the World Council of Primates. In it they asked me not to refer to the ‘Rancid Right’ as ‘monkeys’ and both the old and new Madgyar Guarda as ‘baboons’. As the chief secretary of the WCP pointed out that even the ‘Geladas’ have to ‘draw the line’ somewhere.
Mr David you say (with a slight adjustment to the grammar) *** “This type of politics is a well worn path in Third World countries and failed states. Blame all your problems on foreigners/Jews/Americans or whatever, allow the corrupt elite to send all your tax money into their private Swiss bank accounts but continue to support them because they are "authentic" and because they stand up to the rights’ imagined enemies” ***
Oh how the lower grade politicians love to get their ‘fingers in the till’!. Unfortunately this country –like many others- has no ‘professional’ government executive establishment which is independent of the politicians and whose actions and duties are covered by various acts of parliament. In Hungary the ‘top wallahs’ are all political appointees and as such ‘owe’ the politicos ‘big time’.
If the ‘Rancid Right’ wants to emulate the old Communists and take over every thing.(for their own personal gain) This is supported by the various ‘editions’ of people like Mr Thrasymachus who live in comfort in a real democracy.
To quote from an 18th century travel writer, John Paget (who wrote during the time of Maria Theresa) . “The attitude of the ruling classes is the decisive factor in the decline of Hungary’s economy, culture and the country’s subsequent backwardness”. Little has changed since then and they do not learn either!

[Anti-Odin]

Odin didn't know the minimal info about the Hungarian History and culture.