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ABSTRACT
The more than a million, mostly Muslim, arrivals in the European Union in recent years have given mainstream politicians an opportunity to generate and exploit the public racist, xenophobic and ultra-nationalist urges of the sort that had previously been the exclusive preserve of the extreme right. This successful vote-getting strategy hingeS on disassociating ethno-religious hatred, which Islamophobia is, from its most stigmatized example in Europe: antisemitism. Nowhere has this process been clearer than in Hungary, infamous for ‘solving’ the migration crisis by erecting a wire fence along its borders. Viktor Orbán and his ruling Fidesz party have stolen the racist thunder of the far-right Jobbik party, but without the latter’s once open antisemitism. Jobbik has responded by also seemingly renouncing antisemitism, ignoring the protests of its more die-hard neo-Nazi supporters. Kalmar’s article focuses on the government’s use of a conspiracy theory about the Jewish financier George Soros as an example of exploiting antisemitism while claiming to oppose it. It suggests that the process of rejecting antisemitism, if disingenuously, in order to legitimize Islamophobic racism in Hungary is a useful model for examining similar processes in much of the Euro-Atlantic world.
Notes
1 ‘5,6 milliárdot plakátol el a kormány Soros ellen’, 24.hu, 2 July 2017, available at http://24.hu/belfold/2017/07/02/56-milliardot-plakatol-el-a-kormany-soros-ellen (viewed 10 February 2020). All translations from the Hungarian, unless otherwise stated, are by the author.
2 ‘George Soros: Hungarian government posters “anti-Semitic”’, BBC News (online), 11 July 2017, available at www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40576224 (viewed 10 February 2020).
3 Mairav Zonszein, ‘Israel’s war against George Soros’, New York Times, 17 July 2017, available at www.nytimes.com/2017/07/17/opinion/george-soros-israel-hungary.html (viewed 10 February 2020).
4 ‘Getting over globalization’, 19 January 2017, press release for report Getting Over Globalization (Zurich: Credit Suisse Research Institute 2017), available at www.credit-suisse.com/about-us-news/en/articles/media-releases/_getting-over-globalization---what-to-watch-for-in-2017--201701.html (viewed 10 February 2020).
5 Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century, trans. from the French by Arthur Goldhammer (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2014), 186–7.
6 Monika Bobako, ‘Semi-peripheral Islamophobias: the political diversity of Islamophobic discourses in Poland’, Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 52, no. 5, 2018, 448–60.
7 A partial list would include Ivan Krastev’s After Europe (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2017); Jan-Werner Müller’s What Is Populism? (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2016); Timothy Snyder’s The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (New York: Tim Duggan Books 2018); and Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt’s How Democracies Die: What History Reveals about Our Future (New York: Crown 2018).
8 See the special issue on ‘Islamophobia in the East of the European Union’, guest edited by Ivan Kalmar, Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 52, no. 5, 2018.
9 Müller, What Is Populism?.
10 Ernesto Laclau, On Populist Reason (London and New York: Verso 2005).
11 Christopher Bail, Terrified: How Anti-Muslim Fringe Organizations Became Mainstream (Princeton, NJ and Oxford: Princeton University Press 2015).
12 Jean-Paul Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew, trans. from the French by George J. Becker (New York: Schocken 1965).
13 Jonathan Judaken, Jean-Paul Sartre and the Jewish Question: Anti-Antisemitism and the Politics of the French Intellectual (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press 2006), 19–20.
14 Populist anti-antisemitism is very different in this respect from the anti-antisemitism discussed by Gil Anidjar, which is the epitome of an honest fight against intolerance. Gil Anidjar, ‘Antisemitism and its critics’, in James Renton and Ben Gidley (eds), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe: A Shared Story? (London: Palgrave Macmillan 2017), 187–214.
15 I gratefully acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for the research project, ‘Islamophobia in the East of the European Union’, for which I am the Principal Investigator.
16 Zoltan Simon, ‘Hungary citizenship plan reaches 1 million mark in boost for Orban’, Bloomberg, 18 December 2017, available at www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-18/hungary-citizenship-plan-reaches-1-million-mark-in-orban-boost (viewed 10 February 2020).
17 Dániel Bita, ‘Újabb fideszes mandátum a határon túli szavazatok miatt, tuti a kétharmad’, 24.hu, 9 April 2018, available at https://24.hu/belfold/2018/04/09/ebred-az-orszag-az-ujabb-ketharmad-utan (viewed 10 February 2020).
18 ‘Országgyűlési képviselők választása 2018—egyéni választókerületek eredménye’, 3 May 2018, available on the Hungarian Electoral Office website at https://www.valasztas.hu/egyeni-valasztokeruletek-eredmenye?_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_formDate=32503680000000&p_p_id=ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet&p_p_lifecycle=0&p_p_state=normal&p_p_mode=view&p_p_col_id=column-2&p_p_col_pos=2&p_p_col_count=3&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_oevkKod=&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_megyeKod2=&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_telepulesKod2=&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_ctrlDisabled=&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_settlement=Budapest&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_street=&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_houseNumber=&_ogyoevkeredmenyek_WAR_nvinvrportlet_keywords= (viewed 26 March 2020).
19 This was the conclusion of a research project commissioned by the online news portal, index.hu, known for its anti-Orbán perspective. Asked how important the migrant issue was for their decision to vote for Fidesz and using a five-point scale, rural residents’ average score was 4.7, compared to 4.1 for the residents of Budapest. Veronika Munk, ‘Nem is a migránsozás volt a fő csodafegyver’, index.hu, 16 May 2018, available at https://index.hu/belfold/2018/valasztas/2018/05/16/zavecz_felmeres_valasztasok_utan_kozvelemeny-kutatas_fidesz_ketharmad_migransozas (viewed 10 February 2020).
20 ‘Round 2 of the Parliamentary elections of 2010’, 11 May 2010, available on the Hungarian Electoral Office website at https://static.valasztas.hu//dyn/pv10/outroot/vdin2/en/eredind.htm (viewed 26 March 2020).
21 ‘The new electoral law in Hungary: in-depth analysis’, 3 January 2012, report by the Political Capital Institute, available at www.valasztasirendszer.hu/wp-content/uploads/PC_ElectoralSystem_120106.pdf (viewed 10 February 2020).
22 ‘Sham parties could drain billions of forints from public money’, 18 November 2013, report by Transparency International Hungary, available at https://transparency.hu/en/news/ujabb-visszaelesi-lehetoseg-a-kampanyfinanszirozasban (viewed 10 February 2020).
23 ‘Az Országgyűlés összetétele’, 11 May 2010, available on the Hungarian Electoral Office website at https://static.valasztas.hu/dyn/pv10/outroot/vdin2/hu/l50.htm (viewed 26 March 2020).
24 András Jámbor, ‘Rekord: itt a lista, több mint 29 párt állíthat országos listát az áprilisi választásokra!’, Mérce, 5 March 2018, available at https://merce.hu/2018/03/05/rekord-tobb-mint-29-part-allithat-orszagos-listat-az-aprilis-valasztasokra (viewed 10 February 2020).
25 ‘Országgyűlési képviselők választása 2018’, 3 May 2018, available on the National Election Office website at www.valasztas.hu/ogy2018 (viewed 26 March 2020).
26 Shaun Walker, ‘Sting operations and war on migration help Orbán to victory’, Guardian, 14 April 2018, available at www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/14/viktor-orban-hungary-election-rundercover-stings-orban-secret-war-on-migration (viewed 11 February 2020).
27 Balázs Pivarnyik, ‘Hungary secretly accepted 1,300 refugees in 2017’, Budapest Beacon, 15 January 2018, available at https://budapestbeacon.com/hungary-secretly-accepted-1300-refugees-2017 (viewed 11 February 2020).
28 Béla Pörge, ‘Meg kell védenünk a keresztény kultúrát—Orbán Viktor karácsonyi üzenete’, 888.hu, 23 December 2017, available at https://888.hu/article-meg-kell-vedenunk-a-kereszteny-kulturat-orban-viktor-karacsonyi-uzenete (viewed 11 February 2020).
29 ‘János Lázár’s xenophobic video provokes outrage in Austria and Germany’, Budapest Beacon, 8 March 2018, available at https://budapestbeacon.com/janos-lazars-xenophobic-video-provokes-outrage-in-austria-and-germany (viewed 11 February 2020).
30 Matthew Weaver and agencies, ‘George Soros gives $18bn to his charitable foundation’, Guardian, 18 October 2017, available at www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/18/george-soros-gives-18-billion-dollars-open-society-foundation (viewed 11 February 2020).
31 George Soros, ‘Rebuilding the asylum system’, Project Syndicate, 26 September 2015, available at www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rebuilding-refugee-asylum-system-by-george-soros-2015-09 (viewed 11 February 2020).
32 The Internet and social media abound with claims about the Soros-Rothschild connection. One example is the blog by ‘Brother Natahanael Kapler’, ‘George Soros: an evil Rothschild agent’, Real Jew News (blogsite), available at www.realzionistnews.com/?p=201 (viewed 11 February 2020). For a discussion of Soros’s alleged connections to other dark forces, see the always insightful blog by Éva Balogh: ‘Freemasons, satanic forces, the Soros Plan, and the kitchen sink’, Hungarian Spectrum, 9 October 2017, available at http://hungarianspectrum.org/2017/10/09/freemasons-satanic-forces-the-soros-plan-and-the-kitchen-sink (viewed 11 February 2020).
33 William Engdahl, ‘The secret financial network behind “wizard” George Soros’, Executive Intelligence Report, vol. 23, no. 44, 1996, 54–61 (55), available online at www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/1996/eirv23n44-19961101/eirv23n44-19961101_054-the_secret_financial_network_beh.pdf (viewed 26 March 2020). Engdahl refers to an earlier report, released in October, by the EIR’s ‘Wiesbaden bureau’. See also The True Story of Soros the Golem: A Profile of Megaspeculator George Soros (Washington, D.C. : Executive Intelligence Review 1997).
34 Raphael Pura and Eduardo Lachica, ‘LaRouche report helps feed Malaysian attacks on Soros’, Wall Street Journal, 19 September 1997, available at www.wsj.com/articles/SB874606450156140500 (viewed 11 February 2020).
35 Among the many examples, see ‘Obama illegally sponsored Soros in order to overthrow Macedonian government’, Geopolitica.ru, 26 April 2017, available at www.geopolitica.ru/en/news/obama-illegally-sponsored-soros-order-overthrow-macedonian-government; William Cummings, ‘Congressman suggests Charlottesville rally was “created by the left”’, USA Today, 6 October 2017, available at https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/10/05/congressman-suggests-soros-funded-charlottesville-nazis/737670001; ‘Venezuela rocked by more US sponsored violence’, News Front, 19 April 2017, available at https://en.news-front.info/2017/04/19/venezuela-rocked-by-more-us-sponsored-violence; Bethania Palma, ‘Is George Soros “grooming” a pro-Muslim Brotherhood gubernatorial candidate in Michigan?’, Snopes, 11 December 2017, available at www.snopes.com/fact-check/soros-michigan-el-sayed-brotherhood; and Obi Egbuna Jr, ‘OPINION: George Soros’ wallet: from Ferguson to Harare’, Sunday Mail, 15 February 2015, available at www.sundaymail.co.zw/opinion-george-soros-wallet-from-ferguson-to-harare (all viewed 11 February 2020).
36 Niraj Chokshi, ‘Smears of George Soros resurface in Roseanne’s Twitter tantrum’, New York Times, 29 May 2018, available at www.nytimes.com/2018/05/29/us/roseanne-george-soros-twitter.html (viewed 11 February 2020).
37 See the discussion, later in this article, of the ‘national consultation’ of 2017.
38 Wayne Madsen, ‘Billionaire Madoff tied to intelligence agencies’, RT (online), 16 June 2009, available at www.rt.com/usa/billionaire-madoff-tied-to-intelligence-agencies (viewed 11 February 2020).
39 Jennifer Ablan, ‘Russia bans George Soros Foundation as state security “threat”’, Reuters, 30 November 2015, available at www.reuters.com/article/russia-soros/russia-bans-george-soros-foundation-as-state-security-threat-idUSL1N13P22Y20151130 (viewed 11 February 2020).
40 Konrad Stachnio, ‘Game over Europe—a “colour revolution” is coming’, New Eastern Outlook, 7 October 2015, available at https://journal-neo.org/2015/10/07/game-over-europe-a-colour-revolution-is-coming (viewed 11 February 2020).
41 ‘Soros and Co. harboring new “color revolution” . . . this time in Europe’, Sputnik News, 8 October 2015, available at https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201510081028201109-soros-europe-refugee-crisis-color-revolution (viewed 11 February 2020).
42 Francesca Totolo, ‘ONLUS e migranti in Italia’, Luca Donadel.it (blogsite), 4 July 2017, available at www.lucadonadel.it/onlus-e-migranti-in-italia-open-society (viewed 11 February 2020).
43 ‘Nyilvánosságra hozták Olaszországban, kutatás alapján, mely Soros-szervetek alkotják az embercsempész hálózatot és hozzák Európába az afrikaiakat’, Világvége 2012, available at www.vilagvege2012.hu/2017/07/19/nyilvanossagra-hoztak-olaszorszagban-kutatas-alapjan-mely-soros-szervetek-alkotjak-az-embercsempesz-halozatot-es-hozzak-europaba-az-afrikaiakat (viewed 30 May 2018).
44 Radarly is a proprietary tool of Linkfluence (www.linkfluence.com). It collects social media posts across a wide range of platforms and sites, including Facebook, Twitter and many others.
45 Andrew Byrne, ‘Hungary steps up anti-Soros rhetoric with “national consultation”’, Financial Times, 3 October 2017, available at www.ft.com/content/76ce19e4-a768-11e7-93c5-648314d2c72c (viewed 11 February 2020).
46 Benjamin Novak, ‘Here are the “Soros Plan” national consultation questions!’, Budapest Beacon, 28 September 2017, available at https://budapestbeacon.com/soros-plan-national-consultation-questions (viewed 11 February 2020).
47 Quoted in ‘Hatalmas tömeg és balhék a Békemeneten’, 24.hu, 15 March 2018, available at https://24.hu/belfold/2018/03/15/hetedszer-bekemenetel-a-fidesz-tabor (viewed 11 February 2020).
48 See, for example, Ivan Kalmar, Christopher Stevens and Nicholas Worby, ‘Twitter, gab, and racism: the case of the Soros Myth’, in SMSociety ’18: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Social Media & Society (New York: Association for Computing Machinery 2018), 330–4.
49 Michael T. Kaufman, Soros: The Life and Times of a Messianic Billionaire (New York: Vintage 2003), 37.
50 Zonszein, ‘Israel’s war against George Soros’; ‘Christian leaders warn of Soros-funded “hijack” of Christian left’, The Stream, 4 October 2016, available at https://stream.org/christian-leaders-warn-of-progressive-attempt-to-hijack-the-gospel (viewed 11 February 2020).
51 Hannes Grasseger, ‘Der böse Jude’, Tages Anzeiger, 14 January 2019, available at www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ausland/der-boese-jude/story/20981022 (viewed 11 February 2020).
52 ‘Orbán heteken belül Izraelbe utazik’, 24.hu, 11 May 2018, available at https://24.hu/kulfold/2018/05/11/orban-heteken-belul-izraelbe-utazik (viewed 11 February 2020).
53 ‘A Jobbik feljelentette Soros Györgyöt’, 24.hu, 10 October 2017, available at https://24.hu/belfold/2017/10/12/a-jobbik-feljelentette-soros-gyorgyot (viewed 12 February 2020).
54 ‘Soros-imádó, muszlimbarát a Jobbik tapolcai elnöke (Hangfelvétel!)’, PestiSrácok, 15 February 2018, available at https://pestisracok.hu/soros-imado-muszlimbarat-jobbik-tapolcai-elnoke-hangfelvetel (viewed 12 February 2020).
55 ‘Vona Gábor about the Islam’, Jobbik.com, 9 December 2010, (behind a firewall) available at www.jobbik.com/vona_g%C3%A1bor_about_islam (viewed 17 June 2017).
56 Evelyne Pieiller, ‘Hungary looks to the past for its future’, Le Monde diplomatique, November 2016, available at http://mondediplo.com/2016/11/10hungary (viewed 12 February 2020).
57 Tamás Pilhál, ‘Zsidó összeesküvésről beszélt a Jobbik volt alelnöke—a párt szóvivője egyetért vele’, PestiSrácok, 14 November 2018, available at https://pestisracok.hu/zsido-osszeeskuvesrol-beszelt-jobbik-volt-alelnoke-part-szovivoje-egyetert-vele. See also ‘Izraeli cégekhez köthető ingatlanberuházások miatt aggódik a Jobbik’, SokkalJobb.hu, available at www.sokkaljobb.hu/content/izraeli-c%C3%A9gekhez-k%C3%B6thet%C5%91-ingatlanberuh%C3%A1z%C3%A1sok-miatt-agg%C3%B3dik-jobbik (both viewed 12 February 2020).
58 Eyder Peralta, ‘Leader of anti-Semitic party in Hungary discovers he’s Jewish’, NPR, 14 August 2012, available at www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2012/08/14/158773637/leader-of-anti-semitic-party-in-hungary-discovers-hes-jewish (viewed 12 February 2020).
59 ‘A Magyarok többsége pont attól fél a legjobban, amitől a kormány szeretné’, 444, 4 October 2017, available at https://444.hu/2017/10/04/a-magyarok-tobbsege-pont-attol-fel-a-legjobban-amitol-a-kormany-szeretne (viewed 12 February 2020).
60 See, for example, ‘Gyurcsány Ferenc—bábu a zsidók kezében’, Magyar Királyi Hírlap, 23 June 2012, available at http://mkh.valosag.net/index.php/temakoeroek/hatterhatalom/1545-gyurcsany-ferenc-babu (viewed 12 February 2020).
61 Quoted in Pablo Gorondi, ‘Head of Hungary’s Jobbik renounces party’s anti-Semitic ways’, Associated Press, 15 December 2017, available at https://apnews.com/b7ed321a045040e79370dde6a714b046/Head-of-Hungary%27s-Jobbik-renounces-party%27s-anti-Semitic-ways (viewed 10 February 2020).
62 Tamás Notín, ‘A Jobbik nem támogatja a kényszerbetelepítést, csak a fideszes lakájmédia hazudik megint’, Alfahír, 4 April 2018, available at https://alfahir.hu/2018/04/04/gyongyosi_marton_european_security_journal_figyelo_bevandorlas_jobbik_kvotak_propaganda (viewed 12 February 2020).
63 Marton Dunai, ‘Four jailed for Neo-Nazi killing spree that terrified Hungary’s Roma’, Reuters, 6 August 2013, available at www.reuters.com/article/us-hungary-roma-killings-ruling/hungary-court-finds-four-men-guilty-of-roma-killings-idUSBRE97508920130806 (viewed 12 February 2020).
64 European Roma Rights Centre, Amnesty International and Human Rights First, letter to Viktor Orbán’, 17 March 2011, available at www.errc.org/uploads/upload_en/file/hungary-gy%C3%B6ngy%C3%B6spata-letter-march-2011.pdf (viewed 12 February 2020).
65 Krisztina Orbán, ‘Vona—“I’ve never seen Jobbik as an anti-Roma, antisemitic, racist party”’, Budapest Beacon, 21 August 2017, available at https://budapestbeacon.com/vona-ive-never-seen-jobbik-anti-roma-antisemitic-racist-party (viewed 12 February 2020).
66 ‘Ők már biztos nem a Jobbikra szavaznak: Betyársereg, Volt Magyar Gárda és a Gój Motorosok’, Nagykőrös Ma, 19 March 2018, available at http://nagykorosma.hu/cikkek/ok-mar-biztos-nem-a-jobbikra-szavaznak-betyarsereg-volt-magyar-garda-es-a-goj-motorosok (viewed 12 February 2020).
67 For the 2014 data, see ‘The composition of the Parliament’, 28 April 2014; and, for the 2018 data, ‘Országgyűlési képviselők választása 2018’, 3 May 2018, both available on the National Election Office website at https://static.valasztas.hu/dyn/pv14/szavossz/en/l50_e.html and www.valasztas.hu/ogy2018, respectively (viewed 26 March 2020).
68 ‘Két táborra szakadt a Jobbik?’, Híradó, 13 May 2018, available at www.hirado.hu/belfold/belpolitika/cikk/2018/05/12/az-elnokvalasztas-eredmenye-is-jelzi-mennyire-megosztott-a-jobbik-tagsaga (viewed 12 February 2020).
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Ivan Kalmar
Ivan Kalmar is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Toronto. His work has focused on the image of Jews and Muslims in western cultural history. He is conducting a five-year research project on illiberal tendencies in the East of the European Union, involving an international team of researchers in Europe and Canada. Kalmar is the author of Early Orientalism: Imagined Islam and the Notion of Sublime Power (Routledge 2014) and co-editor (with Derek Penslar) of the volume Orientalism and the Jews (University of New England 2005). He has recently guest-edited a special issue of Patterns of Prejudice on ‘Islamophobia in the East of the European Union’, and another on ‘Islamophobia in Germany: East/West’ for the Journal of Contemporary European Studies. Currently, Kalmar is preparing a book with the working title, Illiberal Democracy: East Central Europe’s Revolt against the Liberal West. Email: [email protected]