The Hungarian political public discourse - as former head of state János Áder drew the attention of the domestic public to - has deteriorated dramatically over the past years. The discussion in the wider public often loses its character of discourse, and instead often culminates in verbal rudeness and obscenities, whether in oral or written communication; the tone leading to hatred can affect either political public figures based on their party affiliation or, for example, members of a religious or ethnic community.
In connection with politicians who harm the country, it is a historical experience that voters who disagree with them are insulted, threatened, and presented as enemies - as Péter Magyar is doing. "The internal enemy is always the real and life-threatening one, and not the external," said Szálasi, and Mátyás Rákosi spoke about "We must increase vigilance against the enemy."
However, the
if a politician calls an identifiable group of constituents animals, that crosses a line.
German writer Timo Büchner discusses in his book "Anti-Semitism and animal similes" that the animalization of people in political public life can be traced back to Nazi speech to this day. In the history of anti-Semitism, animal metaphors and animal comparisons have been elementary stylistic tools for dehumanization for centuries, according to Büchner, who explains in the volume that
"the statement that they are not people, but wild animals, hides the will to exterminate: the only way to protect ourselves from wild animals is to hunt them down".
As for hate speech, it is mostly directed against groups based on gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality. Section 269 of the Hungarian Penal Code punishes such expressions of incitement to hatred in the public eye as incitement against the community. In Germany, it is forbidden to revile, slander and slander certain groups of people, that is, intimidation is punishable in itself, which usually carries a prison sentence of three months to five years (§ 130 of the German Penal Code). In Germany, this problem includes, of course, the spread of National Socialist ideas. In Austria, in addition to calling for hostile action against various social groups, contemptuous statements are also considered a crime, and hate speech can be punished by imprisonment of up to two years (§ 283 of the Austrian Criminal Code).
"Two-thirds of Hungarian people are Jobbik, but not everyone knows about it yet," said Gábor Vona, the then president of Jobbik, in 2010. The extent to which this statement had a right to exist is clearly illustrated by the party's shameful political torment, but at the same time, the "right-wing attitude" has not disappeared from domestic public life, as it returns to haunt us again and again as a political phantom.
The habitus itself can be easily defined, it is based on the extreme exclusionary tone, the threat and even intimidation of the political opposition.
Based on this, the political prototype of Jobbik is not the MIÉP, but the Hungarian Workers' Party and the Arrow Cross Party. Listing and demeaning those who think differently, or people of other religions, was the essence of Jobbik, the party was ranked seventh in the ten list of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Israel, which collected the most anti-Semitic or anti-Israel statements of 2012.
Based on all of this, it is not at all surprising that Péter Magyar's influence in Jobbik is growing day by day. What comes together grows.
The author is a constitutional lawyer
Source: Magyar Hírlap
Cover image: Péter Magyar, the leader of the European Parliament list of the Tisza party, the party's vice-president, speaks at the opposition demonstration held at the Várkert Bazaar on May 30, 2024. MTI/Koszticsák Solid
