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WHITE NATIONALISM ON THE MARCH IN HUNGARY

NATIONAL RESURGENCE
Hundreds inducted
into Hungarian guard group

Budapest Scuffles as 'Nazi' Group
Inducts Hundreds of New Members

BUDAPEST — Brief scuffles broke out in Budapest late Saturday
after a far-right Hungarian paramilitary "guard" inducted hundreds
of recruits who were seen wearing black uniforms and symbols
reminiscent of the country's pro-Nazi regime during World War II.

Members of the Magyar Garda form up in the Hungarian capital.

Members of the Magyar Garda, or Hungarian Guard, took their oath
of loyalty to "defend Hungary" and Hungarians at Budapest's Heroes'
Square, surrounded by police and a crowd of enthusiastic supporters.

Organizers of Saturday's gathering suggested that with the latest
recruits the Magyar Garda has some 1,500 members, including a
special youth branch and former fighters of the 1956 Revolution
against Soviet domination.

The Magyar Garda was founded last year by the For A Better Hungary
(Jobbik), a far-right political party not yet represented in parliament,
known for its views against Jews and Gypsies, who prefer to be
known as Roma.

Saturday's ceremony was attended by retired Reformed Bishop Lorant
Hegedus and Hungary's former Defense Minister Lajor Fur. "Help to
clean up the robbers of our country," Fur told the Magyar Garda
recruits and their supporters.

Call to oppose anti-national politicians

Magyar Garda Captain Istvan Dosa warned in a speech that his recruits
will "come forward with all of their strength" if the "political elite pursues
anti-national politics." Although allegedly unarmed, he said the Magyar
Garda has become "increasingly stronger and their support-base is
growing."

Officials have told BosNewsLife that they have encouraged the Magyar
Garda members to take shooting lessons.

Both the government and Jewish organizations have condemned the
Magyar Garda, saying the group is reminiscent of World War Two when
Hungary was a close ally of Nazi Germany.

The Magyar Garda members wear a uniform of black pants and vests
with white shirts, and a cap emblazoned with a medieval coat of arms,
the Arpad Stripes.

The striped, red and white symbol is a centuries old Hungarian banner,
a version of which was used by the Arrow Cross, a pro-Nazi party
that briefly ruled Hungary toward the end of World War II.

Britain-based Jane's Information Group, known for its military intelligence,
reportedly said Friday, March 28, it had downgraded Hungary's stability
outlook, in part because of concerns over right wing extremism. At place
55th, Hungary is in the worst position among what are known as the
'Visegrad Four' countries, with the Czech Republic in 30th place, Slovakia
in 35th and Poland at 47th.

Newspaper accuses Jewish journalists of 'hate'

Earlier this week, Hungary's junior liberal governing party Alliance of Free
Democrats (SZDSZ) terminated its subscription to conservative daily
Magyar Hirlap after it carried an anti-Semitic article.

The article, written by Zsolt Bayer and published on March 19, said that
"back in 1967 the Jewish journalists of Budapest were vilifying Israel.
Today the same Jewish journalists of Budapest are vilifying the Arabs and
[main opposition] Fidesz, and us all. Because they hate us more than we
hate them … their mere existence justifies anti-Semitism."

Besides Hungary, there have been growing extremism in other countries,
including in the Czech Republic where on Saturday, March 29, some "150
far-right extremists" gathered at a memorial to German soldiers who died
in the Second World War, Radio Prague reported.

The event in the Moravian town of Jihlava was honored "Germans who
were victims in the war" and also denied the Holocaust® ever took place,
the radio network reported. One of the 'neo-Nazi' speakers was reportedly
taken in for questioning by local police.

Analysts have said painful, but necessary economic reforms in former
communist countries such as Hungary and the Czech Republic could benefit
extremist groups.