On Saturday, April 18th, 2015, New York City’s Árpád Hall will host an openly fascist event, right in the heart of Manhattan. István Szávay, a Jobbik MP and vice president of the far-right party, is visiting the United States, in order to rally and embolden the growing number of fascists in the Hungarian American community.
Recent polls suggest Jobbik is the second most popular party behind Fidesz and lately has been steadily closing the gap.
Ronald Lauder, a billionaire American businessman of Hungarian origin and president of the World Jewish Congress, was in Budapest recently and spoke during the March of the Living commemoration. He said Jobbik was harmful to Hungary’s international image. “Jobbik hurts Hungary. Do not allow Jobbik to destroy Hungary. The people of Hungary are too good for that,” Mr. Lauder noted.
Mr. Lauder also accused the Orbán-government of being silent of Jobbik’s racist attacks. Referring to Mr. Gergely Kulcsár a Jobbik MP who bragged about spitting on a Budapest Holocaust memorial, Lauder said: “I will not be silent when Christians are the target. When any group is singled out by hate, I will not be silent. And when someone spits in those shoes along the Danube and the Hungarian government does not condemn that, it looks like the government agrees.”
The Orbán-government is quietly following Jobbik’s extremist agenda. They have been veering further to the right by “stealing the issues and ideas” of the far-right.
István Szávay of Jobbik to hold rally at Manhattan’s Árpád Hall.
Jobbik leaders advertise their party as “honest, clean and genuine”, they fight for a “more just” Hungary. Their message is increasingly popular among young Hungarian immigrants in the United States and Canada. Jobbik’s US base is in Cleveland; party boss Mr. Gábor Vona visited Ohio in 2010. New York is also an up-and-coming centre of the far-right Hungarian diaspora.
While American politicians are willing to condemn Jobbik, very little is done to stop the spread of the movement in the US. Mr. Lauder doesn’t have to travel to Budapest to confront them, he can do that in the heart of New York City where they are having a rally this weekend.
György Lázár
