Hungary's anti-Roma militia grows

[Harold F. Schiffman]

from the February 13, 2008 edition -
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0213/p07s02-woeu.html

Hungary's anti-Roma militia grows

Targeting the criminal activity of the country's minority Roma population,
the Magyar Garda style themselves protectors of ethnic Hungarians.
By Colin Woodard | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

Budapest, Hungary
The far right is on the march in Hungary, literally.

In recent months, hardly a week has gone by without a rally being held by
the Magyar Garda or "Hungarian Guard," their members decked out in black
boots and uniforms bearing nationalist symbols last employed by Hungarian
fascists during World War II.

Their target: Romani (gypsy) criminals and those who want to integrate
Romani children into the country's schools. Their rallies usually take
place in communities with a large Roma population, where they style
themselves as protectors of ethnic Hungarians.

"Roma criminality is a huge problem in Hungary that's been swept under the
carpet," says Zoltan Fuzessy, a spokesman for Jobbik, a far-right
political party whose leader, Gabor Vona, is also the leader of Magyar
Garda. "The number of our supporters is growing day by day."

Their opponents are growing as well. Budapest's public prosecutor has
called for the group to be banned, while Mayor Gabor Demszky has called on
municipal officials across the country not to attend its events. Hungary's
president, Laszlo Solyom, has described its rallies as "immensely
damaging," while Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany calls it "the shame of
Hungary."

"It is really Nazism and it is serious and becoming more and more so,"
says Viktoria Mohacsi, a Roma leader and a Hungarian representative in the
European Parliament. "Many [Romani] organizations are calling on me to
join secret meetings to organize ourselves the way the Hungarian Guard
has. If this happens, there will be killing; there could be civil war."

Istvan Rev, a historian at Central European University, agrees. "The Roma
are the open target and they have a basis to be frightened," he says. "If
they have no other choice than to react, then everybody has a firm basis
for being concerned."

Others take Hungary's center-left government to task for failing to
address the root cause of the tensions Magyar Garda exploits: the
appalling social and economic situation of the Roma, who account for
between 8 and 10 percent of Hungary's 10 million people.

Although Hungary is part of the European Union, many of its Roma live in
conditions comparable to Sub-Saharan Africa. Romani activists estimate
adult unemployment at 70 percent, and official figures show that fewer
than 5 percent of Romani children complete high school.

"After [the end of Communism], Roma were the first who lost their jobs,"
says Roma activist Agnes Daroczi, a sociologist at the Hungarian Institute
for Culture and Art. "To be frank, there are many of us who are stealing.
But when you deeply analyze the situation you see that there aren't any
jobs, any possibilities for these people."

"The gypsies are living worse than 10 or 20 years ago because of
unemployment and lack of education," adds Janos Simon of the Hungarian
Institute of Political Science. As a result, crime increases  and with it,
support for Magyar Garda, with their promise to defend Hungarians. "The
government doesn't want to resolve these social problems; they'd rather
wait for Magyar Garda to march and then say, 'Look at the primitive
antigypsy chauvinists,' and try to use it to their political advantage.
It's a dirty game."

Magyar Garda was founded last August with a ceremony at the gates of Buda
Castle which was attended by Lajos Fur, who was defense minister in
Hungary's first post-Communist government. Fifty-six uniformed members
were inducted in that ceremony, and another 600 at a gathering at
Budapest's Heroes' Square in October.

The group has held dozens of rallies to "defend Hungary," most in villages
with large Roma populations. Its members wear shields and carry flags with
the red-and-white Arpad stripes, a symbol of medieval Hungary used by the
notorious Arrow Cross Party, which deported or executed a half million
Jews and over 50,000 Roma during World War II.

Its political agenda isn't limited to confronting Roma crime. The group's
declared aims include revising the 1920 Treaty of Trianon, which stripped
Hungary of two-thirds of its pre-World War I territory and set its current
borders. Any effort to do so is anathema to Hungary's neighbors,
particularly Slovakia, whose entire territory was ruled from Budapest
prior to Trianon.

Magyar Garda also seeks to build itself into a military force, an army
outside the control of the government. "Basically there is no army in
Hungary at the moment," explains Mr. Fuzessy, who says force reductions
have left it impotent. "If the worst happens and there was no one to
defend Hungary, it is the aim of the Hungarian Guard to be the foundation
of our national defense."

For her part, Ms. Mohacsi says that if the courts banned Magyar Garda, it
would send a constructive signal. "There are many people who ... felt that
maybe it wasn't good to say publicly that they don't like gypsies, but now
with Magyar Garda maybe they feel it's OK for them to do it," she says."

"An official decision would show to the public that this is not
acceptable," she adds. "Such decisions always make people change their
minds. If they like or don't like Romani people, maybe they'll keep their
opinion to themselves."

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