Magyar Garda Mozgalom
(
English
:
Hungarian Guard Movement
) founded by
Magyar Garda Hagyomany?rz? es Kulturalis Egyesulet
(
English
:
Hungarian Guard Association for Preservation of Traditions and Culture
)
[2]
was a patriotic-nationalistic association somewhat mimicking an army in its organisation and
paraphernalia
. It was coined a
paramilitary
, a
party-
militia
, or ? sarcastically ? an
operetta
-guard
by its opponents and certain media outlets, even though it was never
armed
. It was in varyingly close relationship with the
Jobbik
party in Hungary.
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
It was founded through an "
oath of loyalty
to Hungary" by its members in
Buda Castle
,
Budapest
, on 25 August 2007.
[7]
It was dissolved by the Budapest Tribunal on 2 July 2009.
[8]
The president of the Association was
Gabor Vona
, and it had such prominent members as former (1990?1994)
defence minister
Lajos Fur
and actor
Matyas Usztics
.
Ideology
[
edit
]
Members of Magyar Garda gathered in
Bekescsaba
on
Trianon Day
, 2009.
The group itself claimed to aim at "defending a physically, spiritually and intellectually defenceless Hungary".
[2]
[9]
The international press and its opponents, such as Hungary's former prime minister
Ferenc Gyurcsany
, have described the organization neo-fascist
[10]
or
neo-Nazi
,
[11]
[12]
similar to
Hitler
's
brownshirts
("SA") in
Nazi Germany
and the fascist
Arrow Cross Party
in Hungary.
[13]
[14]
The Magyar Garda is described by not only the Western European press
[15]
[16]
but also the Hungarian press
[17]
as a
paramilitary
organization, a civilian militia
[18]
or party
militia
. On one hand, it was never
armed
; this is also occasionally acknowledged by those who call it a paramilitary.
[19]
On the other hand, there was an occasion when Tamas Gerg? Samu, president of the
Bekes County
Jobbik organization expressed: "[…] if the Jobbik gains power […] the members of the Garda will form the backbone of the [new] Hungarian
gendarmerie
, will be invested with public authority, and will
march
here, on the streets of
Sarkad
with weapons on their side".
[20]
The uniform was composed of black boots, black trousers with white shirt and black vest with the shape of a lion on its back and a coat of arms on the front, a shielded black cap and a red-white striped scarf. The Guard's
coat of arms
is based on that of
Emeric of Hungary
which features the
Arpad stripes
with 9 golden lions in 4 red stripes (3-3-2-1 lions per stripe).
Relationship with Jobbik
[
edit
]
Members of the New Hungarian Guard at a Jobbik rally against a gathering of the
World Jewish Congress
in Budapest, 4 May 2013
On 10 March 2008 three leading figures of
Jobbik
(
David Kovacs
, the founding president of the party, Ervin Nagy, committee chairman, and Marton Fari, former chairman of the party's ethical committee) resigned from the party because of its relationship with the Magyar Garda, and issued a statement that "Jobbik has been merged inseparably with the Guard, taking responsibility for something that it cannot really control in the long run".
After several schisms, the organization has largely ceased activity. On January 28, 2017, some radical members of Magyar Garda held a demonstration against Gabor Vona outside Jobbik's year-opening event. Participants denounced the new politics of Jobbik as a betrayal of the right wing.
[21]
Gabor Vona, founder of the Magyar Garda, used to be the head of Jobbik until his resignation in 2018.
Dissolution
[
edit
]
The
Chief Prosecutor of Hungary
sued the
Garda
, alleging that its activity differs from its memorandum of association. The case was delayed several times. On the first day of litigation members of the Guard physically blocked journalists from entering the court, leading to a change in court rules.
On 16 December 2008, the Metropolitan Court of Budapest (
F?varosi Birosag
) as the court of first instance disbanded the "Magyar Garda" because the court held that the activities of the organization were against the
human rights of minorities
as guaranteed by the
Hungarian Constitution
.
The "Magyar Garda" appealed against the judgment, but the judgment of the first instance court was upheld by the Budapest Tribunal (
F?varosi Itel?tabla
) on 2 July 2009. Following the judgment, the Guard's representatives said they would apply for a review by the Supreme Court and ultimately challenge the judgment before the
European Court of Human Rights
at
Strasbourg
and claimed that the Hungarian courts were bowing to political pressure.
However, in 2013, the court upheld the ban on the Guard, ruling that while the ban was unprecedented, it was "the least violent manner" to deal with a group that posed a clear threat to minority groups.
[22]
Reorganization
[
edit
]
Since its dissolution ordered by the courts the Guard has attempted to reorganize itself as a civil service association, known as the
Magyar Garda Foundation
, engaged in cultural and nation building activities rather than politics. It has held at least one "swearing in" ceremony and plans to expand its activities around the country.
Its renewed activities are opposed by the Hungarian authorities
[23]
and prosecutors claim that the founding of the new organization is in contempt of previous court rulings. In February 2010 the Parliament passed a law which significantly raised the punishment for participating in a dissolved organization.
[24]
Despite the group being official outlawed members reorganised themselves under slightly different names like New Guard and National Guard (
Magyar Nemzeti Garda
).
[25]
In 2019,
Laszlo Toroczkai
, the president of the
Our Homeland Movement
, who was expelled from Jobbik,
[26]
founded a new organization (Nemzeti Legio) which is not the official successor of Magyar Garda, but deemed to be its spiritual successor.
[27]
[28]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
LeBor, Adam (March 2008).
"Marching Back to the Future: Magyar Garda and the Resurgence of the Right in Hungary"
.
Dissent
.
55
(2): 34?38.
doi
:
10.1353/dss.2008.0094
.
S2CID
144518895
. Retrieved
24 January
2021
.
Opinion polls usually give Jobbik 2 percent or 3 percent support, and the Garda boasts around 650 members.
- ^
a
b
"UNGARN - Nachrichten und Themen"
.
Tagesschau.de
(in German).
- ^
Tove H. Malloy, Joseph Marko.. Minority Governance in and beyond Europe: Celebrating 10 Years of the European Yearbook of Minority Issues. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2014. p. 208.
- ^
Peter Parycek. CeDEM 12 Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government 3?4 May 2012 Danube-University Krems, Austria. 2012. p. 233.
- ^
William M. Downs. Political Extremism in Democracies: Combating Intolerance. Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. 191.
- ^
Charles Asher Small. Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. 2013. p. 226
- ^
"Hundreds join Hungary"
Archived
11 June 2008 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Figyel?Net
?
Feloszlattak a Magyar Gardat
(The Magyar Garda has been dissolved). Figyel?Net,
MTI
, 2 July 2009.
- ^
Alapito nyilatkozat
Archived
28 February 2009 at the
Wayback Machine
Establishment manifesto (Hungarian)
- ^
SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany (27 August 2007).
"The World from Berlin: Neo-Fascist Magyar Garda Is 'Hungary's Shame'
"
.
SPIEGEL ONLINE
. Retrieved
21 January
2015
.
- ^
"Budapest court disbands neo-Nazi Hungarian Guard"
.
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
. 3 July 2009
. Retrieved
21 January
2015
.
- ^
"Neo-Nazi Activity Spreading Around the World"
.
Arutz Sheva
. 8 October 2007
. Retrieved
21 January
2015
.
- ^
Hundreds join Hungary far-right "guard", take oath
, Reuters, 21 October 2007;
Brown Shirts March in Budapest as Gyurcsany Condemns `Fascists'
, Bloomberg, Sept 5, 2007
- ^
Katalin Fabian (14 October 2009).
Contemporary women's movements in Hungary: globalization, democracy, and gender equality
. Woodrow Wilson Center Press. pp. 331?.
ISBN
978-0-8018-9405-3
. Retrieved
28 March
2011
.
- ^
Thorpe, Nick (22 August 2009).
"Hungary far-right event broken up"
.
BBC News
.
- ^
"Hungarian neo-fascist paramilitary group expands"
. Dw-world.de. 11 January 2008
. Retrieved
28 March
2011
.
- ^
"A Rongyos Garda tortenete - A peldakep"
. 26 October 2009.
- ^
"Growing marginalisation of Hungary's Roma"
. BBC News. 29 August 2009.
- ^
index.hu
?
Magyar Garda: baranyb?rbe bujt farkasok?
(Magyar Garda: Wolves in Sheep's Clothing?). Joob Sandor, 27 August 2007.
- ^
BEOL.hu
?
Tuntetes Sarkadon: fegyvert adna a Gardanak a Jobbik
(Protests in
Sarkad
: The Jobbik Would Arm the Garda). 1 March 2009.
- ^
"Hungarian Far-Right Jobbik Party Holds Year-Opening Conference"
.
Hungary Today
. 30 January 2017
. Retrieved
5 June
2020
.
- ^
Hungarian Guard ban does not violate freedom of assembly, says Strasbourg court
Archived
20 April 2017 at the
Wayback Machine
. Politics.hu, 2013-12-11
- ^
"Police investigate "new" Magyar Garda; former minister mulls banning Jobbik"
.
Politics.hu
. 14 July 2009. Archived from
the original
on 31 October 2013
. Retrieved
30 October
2013
.
- ^
"Az utolso pillanatban mentek at a Btk. modositasok - b?ntett lesz a holokauszt-tagadas"
. Koziranytu.hu
. Retrieved
28 March
2011
.
- ^
RCC
- ^
Origo.
"Toroczkait kizartak, Duro kilepett a Jobbikbol: feltamadt az SZDSZ"
.
origo.hu/
(in Hungarian)
. Retrieved
5 June
2020
.
- ^
Bence, Horvath (9 May 2019).
"Uj gardat szervez Toroczkai Laszlo"
.
444
. Retrieved
5 June
2020
.
- ^
Attila, Nemet Tamas, Rovo (14 May 2019).
"Toroczkai Nemzeti Legio neven tamasztja fel a Magyar Gardat"
.
index.hu
(in Hungarian)
. Retrieved
5 June
2020
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"ERCC"
(PDF)
. Retrieved
28 March
2011
.
External links
[
edit
]
Far-right and radical nationalist politics in post-WWII Hungary
|
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Political parties
and groups
| |
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People
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Related articles
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