At just about the same time that Hungarians witnessed an anti-Semitic assault by Fidesz journalists on “alien-hearted” Jews who are unable or maybe even unwilling to “melt” into the majority, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) concluded a global survey of 18 countries on the state of anti-Semitism in today’s world. As a result, it was ascertained that what we have suspected all along is in fact the case: while in Western Europe anti-Semitic attitudes have held steady, hateful notions about Jews have been rising in Eastern and Central European countries. The rapid rise of anti-Semitism in recent years is especially striking in Poland, where four years ago 37% of the population held anti-Jewish views but today 48% do. As for Hungary, where the Orbán government ran an anti-immigrant billboards campaign featuring George Soros, only 25% of the population believe that “Jews want to weaken our national culture by supporting more immigrants coming to our country.” That particular campaign, it seems, did not hit its target, but the overall nationalistic tenor of the Orbán regime has had a measurably negative impact. Hungary’s overall anti-Semitism score today is 42%, compared to 40% in 2015.
I don’t need to copy over ADL’s scores in all 11 categories because these figures are readily available on the internet. A couple of findings of the ADL poll, however, deserve mention. One is that males, on the whole, are more anti-Semitic than women. Half of the Hungarian male population hold anti-Jewish views as opposed to only 35% of women. The other, even more stunning finding is that the least anti-Semitic segment (36%) of the population is citizens aged 50 and over. These people, who were born in the 60s and 70s or earlier, may have escaped overt anti-Semitic campaigns in their youth, which may explain their relative immunity to the current government propaganda against outside enemies.
The most affected group are those who grew up around the time of the political change, which took place in 1989-1990, when “alternative” interpretations of history by outright quacks and later by the government itself led astray those who were less educated and those who were prone to believe in conspiracy theories. Among the youngest group (ages between 18 and 34), 43% harbor anti-Semitic attitudes, ten percentage points lower than the middle-aged group but seven percentage points higher than the oldest group. Finally, people who declare themselves to be Christians are more anti-Semitic (40%) than those who are atheists or have no religious affiliation (35%).
What are the gripes of Hungarian anti-Semites? Not surprisingly, the highest scores are related to the influence and power of Jews in the business world (71%) and in the international financial markets (67%). After years of a relentless government anti-Soros campaign, where George Soros was invariably described as a “speculator,” most Hungarians by now view him as the epitome of the dishonest businessman. After all, Hungarians have heard often enough from Viktor Orbán that only wealth accumulated through hard work is legitimate. Therefore, gains from purely financial activities are suspect if not outright sinful. Soros has also come to be seen, again through deliberate government campaigns, as a Jew who is too dominant in global affairs. I was somewhat surprised that only 36% of the population think that Jews have too much control over the global media, but perhaps after their attack on Jewish journalists at home Hungarian anti-Semites will expand their horizons to deal with the Jewish influence on the international news media.
I don’t think anyone can doubt the impact that the government’s fervent nationalist propaganda has had on the Hungarian population in the last ten years. It has influenced every aspect of life, leading to increased xenophobia, racism, and anti-Semitism.
Let me add another ingredient to this nationalistic mix: the football mania that has been at the center of political discourse over the last ten years. Orbán, besides having an unnatural attachment to the sport himself, is hoping to use football as the glue that will hold together the nation, which in time will amaze the world with its brilliant performances. After ten years there is no sign of this dream ever becoming reality, but the nationalistic talk around football is not subsiding. On the contrary. True believers in the Orbán regime don’t even mind Hungarian losses on the football field. They get enough satisfaction from being together with 8,000 other Hungarians in Cardiff, watching an exceptionally bad game by the Hungarian team.
Until now, no one wanted to admit openly that these games are the perfect venues for racist football fans to spread their hatred not only of blacks and Jews but also of their opponents. Sándor Csányi, CEO of OTP, Hungary’s largest bank, is also the president of the Hungarian Football Association. He has held the post for almost ten years and, during this time, never commented negatively about what’s going on at Hungarian football games. If he said anything at all, it was that things were improving. Finally, he admitted on MTV’s Chanel 4 that the problem is serious, that fans, instead of rooting for their teams, spend their time chanting anti-Semitic and anti-Roma slogans.
Népszava, which commented on Csányi’s change of heart, noted that the government, which touts Hungarians’ tolerance of other views and other people, might not be very happy with Csányi’s description of the real situation on state television. We hear practically daily that Hungary is a peaceful country, where other people (within limits) are accepted, where there is no anti-Semitism and no racism.
Hungarian football fans especially hate the Slovak and Romanian teams. Just this year, there were two incidents involving Slovakia, one in March and one in September. The Hungarian ambassador to Bratislava was called into the Slovak foreign ministry “to explain the offenses and the denigration of Slovak state symbols during the European qualification match.” Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó found the Slovak response to be an “overreaction” and “hysterical.” By now, however, internationally accepted norms are in place that demand stopping the game at the first manifestation of racist behavior. If the Hungarian fans do not clean up their act, there will be serious consequences.
Apparently, the Hungarian fans’ favorite slogan at Slovak-Hungarian games is “Shitty Slovakia, we hate you, shitty Slovakia.” If you take a close look at the above photo, you will discover a very small animal that is being attacked by a mighty Hungarian turul. It was enlarged by a Hungarian blog writer who finds the behavior of the Hungarian fans unacceptable. He wants to know why the Hungarians think that Slovakia is inferior when all economic indicators tell us something different. The enlarged animal looks like this.
In brief, almost everything that is near and dear to the heart of Viktor Orbán adds to excessive nationalism and the spread of hatred of others, which in turn reinforces the already century-old prejudices against Jews, Gypsies, blacks, and nowadays Middle Easterners.