“Their Program is Called Destructiveness”
On Hungary’s Right and Political Culture
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
The electoral success of the nationalist-chauvinist party Jobbik is a warning signal. Instead of distancing itself from Jobbik’s actions and paramilitary henchmen Magyar Gárda, the rightwing, conservative Civic Union (Fidesz) under Viktor Orbán has brought itself into line with the rightwing extremists. Racist and anti-Semitic ideas are circulating. World-famous intellectuals, such as Imre Kertész, Péter Nádas, György Konrád, Péter Esterházy, are pilloried as “false Hungary.” Because the rightwing lacks a concept for the future, it falls back on the values and traditions of the prewar era: fascist Hungary. The new government is stirring fears among its neighbours with its policy on Hungarians abroad as well.
(Osteuropa 6/2010, pp. 19–30)