Hungary's Supreme Court OKs anti-Gypsy ad

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Hungary's Supreme Court OKs anti-Gypsy ad
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 30, 2010; 12:22 PM

BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Hungary's Supreme Court has upheld a decision by the National Election Committee forcing state radio and television to run a far-right party's election advertisement that refers to "Gypsy criminals."

The court said Thursday the broadcasters must give equal treatment to all political parties during an election campaign and that the broadcasters are not responsible for the ad's content.

As in other European countries, minority Gypsies, or Roma, face widespread discrimination.

The media asked the court to block the ad by the far-right Jobbik party.

In it, a young woman who is afraid to go out into the street asks: "Are Gypsy criminals allowed to do whatever they want?" as a hooded figure lurks.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/30/AR2010093003397.html

[LeftishBrit]

1. Ugh. Horrible.

There is longstanding Europaean prejudice against Roma, but it seems to be getting worse in some countries. And 'worse' here means REALLY nasty.

[Blue_Tires]

3. if no country wants them, where are they supposed to go?

[FBaggins]

4. There's no question that there's prejudice against Roma

But to be fair, there's a great deal of Roma predjudice against almost everyone else as well.

[LeftishBrit]

5. That may be...

but Roma people are not kicking other people out of their countries.

[sonomak]

2. Jobbik protests against labelling the Hungarian people racist

http://www.jobbik.com/hungary/3064.html

[pampango]

7. Jobbik with some nice spin. The statement Jobbik is reacting to didn't label anybody but Jobbik.

"On the 26th of February, 2009, Mr Vladimir Spidla, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities said in a statement: it seems that “the Roma have become the target of organised racist violence - fed by political populism, hate speech and media hype” in Hungary."

No where in that statement does Mr. Spidla label the Hungarian people as anything. He refers only to "organized racist violence (by Jobbik) fed by political populism (Jobbik), hate speech (Jobbik) and media hype (Jobbik). At no time does Mr. Spidla say that the Hungarian people as a whole are doing this.

It is politically smooth of Jobbik to turn a statement against it as a racist, right-wing party into an attack on the Hungarian people. (Creates the image that all Hungarians are in solidarity with Jobbik which is far from the case. Jobbik is a minority party.)

[COLGATE4]

6. Oh, good. Maybe we can look forward to some catchy statements

about Jews next. I don't think Hungary has ever come to terms with its embrace of Facism in WWII. They felt the victim after Russian occupation and we embraced them as liberated, full partners in the new Europe. But I'm not at all sure that the anti-semetic ideology (followed closely by the anti-Gypsy sentiment) was ever expiated. Now we're seeing the fruits of that lack.

[RZM]

8. We already see those types of statements in far-right parties across Europe

Including those in countries that were on the Allied side and endured German occupation. Though I'm no expert on the Hungarian far right today, I imagine anti-Semitic rhetoric is alive and well in those circles.

The legacies of the interwar years and Second World War have never been fully expiated in any European country and probably won't be anytime soon. The issue of the illegitimate Soviet occupations of the Eastern bloc nations further complicates matters, since as you point out it contributed to a victim status -- though of course, this rings true -- they WERE victims. As Americans, we have no personal sense of what years of foreign occupation does to a national psyche, a serious handicap that's contributed to some of our own foreign policy disasters. Though the far right is still alive in European countries, at least it's marginal in most places, which is better than things used to be. When the far right temporarily does well in elections (as they did in Austria in the 1990s under the late Jorg Haider) it's usually a fleeting thing they achieve by attaching themselves to broader concerns about immigration.

[onager]

9. Good CNN documentary about this, "Scars of Racism"

But it focused on the Czech Republic. Where the Defenders Of Western Civilization lobbed a firebomb into a Roma house and burned a 3-year-old over 80% of her body.

Here's a DU thread from July, with links to the video:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8701014