There is a very common misconception in the West that Fidesz is somehow the lesser of two evils when it comes to the Hungarian right and the rising fortunes of the far-right Jobbik. Nothing could be further from the truth. For Fidesz, the only thing that counts is political expediency. To some extent, being effective politically, and thus being ideologically […]
How can one use the language of “love,” “cooperation” and “unity” to bring masses of people into a frenzy and to make them obedient? András Göllner, the founder of the Canadian Hungarian Democratic Charter, explores this question in an essay published in HFP’s sister paper, the Kanadai Magyar Hírlap (KMH). For those HFP readers who are proficient in Hungarian, we strongly […]
The far right Jobbik party’s politicians are engaging in their first major political tour of Hungarian diaspora communities in the United States, with stops in Boston, Washington D.C. and New York City. In New York City, Jobbik Members of Parliament Gábor Staudt (who had previously given a highly controversial talk in Toronto) and István Szávay descended upon the offices of […]
Hungary is a small country and early twentieth century author Frigyes Karinthy’s theory on the six degrees of separation isn’t really applicable to a society of this size. As it turns out, during his university days, the chairman of the Left Party (Balpárt), Szilárd Kalmár, lived in the same dorms as Gábor Vona, the leader of the far-right Jobbik party. […]
Based on the results of the recent Tapolca by-election (although no longer concentrating directly on this vote), one can argue that this is yet another sign that Fidesz has lost its political buoyancy. And it’s possible that the party, in this current form and in this construction, won’t ever be able to get it back. If it searches for different avenues, […]
James Comey, the director of the FBI, in a speech that was reprinted in The Washington Post, said that those who lived in Eastern Europe during World War II share responsibility for the mass murder of Jews. He said: “In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t do […]
The Polish government is in the midst of a polemical and defensive historical debate around World War II and the Holocaust. The official Polish narrative could have been taken directly from the speaking points of the Orbán government in Budapest, which has enshrined in the country’s constitution the preposterous idea that Hungary was purely a victim of German occupation and […]
Dear Editor, I would like to point out some mistakes that took place in the following article about Hungary Today and its publisher, the Friends of Hungary Foundation. On the same issue, we have written an article earlier, fyi. The Foundation has never received or applied for state funding and covers its operation costs exclusively from private and corporate donations. The Foundation is committed […]
I stumbled upon the so-called Common Sense Society and its blog, “Paprika Politik,” completely by accident. A friend and prominent Hungarian civil rights activist, Eszter Garai-Édler, drew my attention to this youthful, cheerful, well-dressed group of thoroughly respectable young professionals, who enjoy research grants and write English-language articles, all about how Hungary finally crossed the Rubicon in 2012, when the […]
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 […]
