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Marching Back to the Future: Magyar Garda and the Resurgence of the Right in Hungary

2008; University of Pennsylvania Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/dss.2008.0094

1946-0910

Adam LeBor,

Romani and Gypsy Studies

One Sunday morning in December 2007, some three hundred extreme nationalists dressed in black uniforms marched in military formation through a Hungarian village, protesting against what they called "Roma [Gypsy] delinquency." They then gathered at a rally, where speakers demanded that Roma be segregated from mainstream society. The protesters were members of the Magyar Garda (Hungarian Guard), a new ultranationalist organization whose members pledge to defend Hungarian values and culture. The Magyar Garda is an offshoot of the far-right Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalam (Movement for a Better Hungary), generally shortened to Jobbik. Jobbik is a play on words in Hungarian, meaning both "better" and "more to the right." Jobbik has no members of Parliament, but is represented on several local councils, where its representatives often cooperate with Fidesz, the main conservative opposition party. Opinion polls usually give Jobbik 2 percent or 3 percent support, and the Garda boasts around 650 members.