romania revealed

The lore of the willow tree in Romania.

In Romania the willow tree reigns supreme. Before starting to build a house for his family, a villager will first put a little willow shoot in the ground; in no time it becomes a weeping willow embellishing the 

entrance to his house. Willow trees surround water wells, providing shade around the water pump, the traditional village meeting place; they denote boundaries between individual peasant plots; they grow along the fast-flowing mountain streams and form closely knit clumps of greenery on the meadows. [Christine Sutherland, Enchantress: Marthe Bibesco and Her World]

The willow keeps its sacred spot in Romanian tradition and legend. Little willow rods are used to make traditional bouquets for New Year's wishes. The willow's evergreen rods are used to make bride coronets, believed to pass the regenerating power of nature to humans. The willow also saves the single moms. 

In a tradition going back to pagan times, a village girl who becomes pregnant out of wedlock must undergo symbolic marriage to a willow tree. The village elders come and take her from her home, leading her to the riverbank, where they tie her to the trunk of a willow, whose branches symbolically cover her shame. After the requisite incantations, the pregnant girl is pronounced duly married. From then on, she will be allowed to walk with her head covered, like the other married women in the village. The willow tree thus exorcised her shame and dishonor.

Coincidentally, The Wind in the Willows (2006) was filmed in Romania. The photo, Salcie atingand lacul (the willow touching the lake), was taken by Maira.

The metal-omania of Constanta.

Constanţa, once known as Tomis, is the second largest and also the oldest living city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast, with a beach length of 13 km. 

The Port of Constanţa has an area of 39.26 km² and a length of about 30 km, it is the largest port on the Black Sea, and the fourth largest port in Europe. Here, ships can be seen as white dots on the Black Sea, moving to and from the port. The city itself is bright white, while most of the surrounding land is used for agriculture.

While seeing the statue of Ovid, as well as the old casino, is impressive, the sheer size and scale of the actual port dumbs the serenades of ancient history in this town. You can see an image of Constanta from satellite here. You can also see a map of the northern port area here, though the best satellite image I've found is this one.

Iranians in Timisoara wish to continue the tradition of protest.

An interesting post from an Iranian-Romanian community website:

Any protest meetings planned by the Iranian people in the city of Timisoara (RO, EU) which are also viewing this, please reply here the detalis (place, hour, date) or PM at YM id : hsqdw . I know the last rally was not allowed by the mayor's office, but lets hope they turn green too. God bless you all.

Ceausescu, of course, was visiting Iran when the 1989 revolution broke out in Timisoara, and bloggers have explicitly pondered whether the election revolts in Iran might be a "Timisoara moment". 

The Iranian community in Timisoara is significant enough to sustain an Iranian restaurant, the Restaurant Persia. And the Persian culinary legacy in Romania includes that staple, rice pilaf. I'd be curious to know if anything comes of this, and, if it does, whether there will be any mainstream press coverage in Timisoara.

[Photo credit for this photo taken on the streets of Timisoara goes to Mihai Zegrea.]

Persistence of vision may not be enough.

Members of The Austin Film Society took their cameras to Transylvania this summer for an intensive collaborative film project workshop this summer.  Romanian filmmaker Sergiu Lupse accompanied them on this daily filmmaking workshop for disadvantaged teens which aims to help them document their communities, their lives, and their original perspectives. The report from the first week of the workshop is back, and it seems the team has faced challenges in building trust with the local Transylvanian villagers.

Unfortunately for the Austin Society, many Romanian villagers are more concerned about keeping their land in these economic hard times than with providing autobiographical feel-good portraits about their local struggles. I respect the historical efforts on the Austin folks, but also wonder if they wouldn't find more success in filming something about the mummy from Vacaresti...

Romanians invented baseball. Or so the story goes...

Romania invented the godfather of baseball. It's called "oina" and it was invented in 1364 during the rule of Vlaicu Voda. Originally, the game was playes by shepherds. The rules are similar with baseball....there are two teams, one that is "at bat" and one that is "at catching". The game begins with the team "at bat", with one of the players throwing the ball while another player of the same team has to hit it with a wooden bat and send it as far as he can towards the adversary field. After that, the player has to run the "back-and-forth lanes" that are to be found in the adversary field before the adversary receives the ball from his co-players. Oina uses the same weight of the ball (around 140 grams for both), the bat si longer and slimmer comparing with baseball, the game lasts only 30 minutes and oina uses 11 players comparing with baseball that has 9. Oina is the romanian national sport. [Source: WikiAnswers]

The strange attractions of socialism: A roundtable worth re-visiting.

In October 2006, Horia Roman Patapievici moderated a roundtable on "Intellectuals and Socialism", which explored the attraction posed by socialist ideology to Western intellectuals and academics in the 20th century. Over one hundred invitees attended this event at the Institute for Romanian Culture, and the vitality of the discussion can be appreciated in the video below.  

Why did the traditionally skeptical intellectual class find itself seduced by promises of government's power to work for that lovely abstraction otherwise known as the Common Good? Why do we assume that the state can provide better solutions to human problems than the marketplace of goods and ideas? What did the experience of communism teach us about the effectiveness of the state in working for the Common Good? Among other interesting explorations at this event: the relationship between culture and the state, the meaningfulness of left-right distinctions, the possibility of libertarianism as a credible alternative, the unspoken etatism of the EU, and more.... Don't take my word for it. See for yourself. 

A word of thanks to my comrades at Liberalism.ro for keeping the fires burning.

Help Phillipe Legrain with his new book.

Phillipe Legrain doesn't believe that immigration is the cause of Europe's social and economic ills. In fact, Legrain makes the case that immigration, as experienced through globalization, might actually be a good thing. Currently working on a new book about the effects of globalization, Legrain will be examining the "risks to globalisation from the ongoing crisis (such as protectionism, nationalism and political extremism)" and try to find what needs to change in the global economy, as well as what doesn't need to change. 

Using a combination of first-hand reporting, economic and political analysis, and reasoned argument, Legrain is in the process of gathering the materials, examples, stories, and real-life data which will give life to his book. On his blog, Legrain makes a request which I think might be well-taken by some English-speaking Romanians: 

I'd be really grateful if you could suggest papers I should read, people I should talk to, and places I should visit. I'm particularly interested in hearing about people that the mainstream media often neglects. You may be able to point me to a small business in China whose exports have evaporated and whose migrant workers are going home, or to one that is prospering by taking on a new line of work. You may know Icelandic people who can relate how their lives have been turned upside down by the financial collapse. You may have connections to communities in Australia that until recently were booming by exporting to China, and drawing in lots of foreign workers as a result; how are they coping? You may know Mexicans who have gone home from the US, or Poles who have left the UK or Ireland, because of the recession. And amid all the gloom and despair, what new opportunities are emerging that could help build a better and fairer global economy? Or something else entirely. Please email me on mail AT philippelegrain DOT com I'll get back to you if I think there could be a fit. Thank you very much.

Take F.A. Hayek to heart on this one, and provide Legrain with a little local knowledge that he might not otherwise discover. In the meantime, I'll be scratching my own head for ideas.

How to make yourself feel a little more "in touch" with your Romanian side today.

• Play Who is this Ecademy member?.
• Get into an argument with a neighbor about whether General Chitac should have been allowed to leave prison to receive medical treatment.  
• Host an inflation party and make t-shirts which read, "Highest Inflation in the EU and Proud of It, Too". Then try to sell them for money to help those suffering from inflation in the Danube.
• Make yourself nauseous reading dated, dull materials like this.
• Try to talk Cornel Oprisan into giving you a discount on that Lack shelf, what with the sales drop and all. 

Former general manager of Romania's state-owned railway company, Mihai Necolaiciuc, is arrested in Palm Beach: A poetic take on yet another story of corruption.

Mihai loved the feel of his toes in the white sands of West Palm Beach, almost enough white to wash away the memories of the gritty, dark textures in Mamaia. And Mihai liked the kinds of memories, like stains, that washed away. 

He hadn't even bothered to check the calendar on the day he was arrested. The Securitate, it seems, had come all the way to Palm Beach dressed up in the local police costumes in order to punish him for being far-sighted, for thinking like an entrepreneur, for making money when others only manufactured complaints.  Was he the only Romanian patriot who walked away with $111 million that did not belong to him? How slick the walkway from businessman to criminal.

Of course Mihai knew he was wanted. His mother had always parted his hair with a comb in the mornings, a clear sign of how much she wanted him. The young Romanian girls at the beach loved his fabulous hats and sunglasses; they wanted him like a paycheck. The Romanian government wanted him for embezzling millions from a Romanian national railway company. Mihai had made them wait their turn. 

When Mihai was arrested on charges of violating the US Immigration and Naturalization Act, he knew how to spell every word in this sentence. No one could fool him anymore. He was smart enough to attract the attention of Cuban street musicians, hot dog vendors, and Interpol. His two condos in the CityPlace Tower were valued at $400,000 each, and he made sure his neighbors knew that he had paid for them up front. No dishonest mortgages for him. 

His name, Necolaciuc, wasn't Dacian enough. The nationalists in power must be behind his arrest. When the National Anticorruption Department initiated criminal investigations against him in March 2006, he wished he had paid that priest an extra $25 to bless his office in addition to his house. In the grand scheme of things, one can never be too careful. The other 29 defendants, drawn from the uppercrust of the Ministry of Transport and the National Railroad Company, couldn't tell good whiskey from old tuica. Hadn't he enthusiastically promoted the modernization of Romanian railways to Oana Bran? Hadn't he worked for the good of the Romanian railways, and a little bit of socialism on the side, since 1973? 

People, like the color of sand, like the scent of salvation, could hardly be trusted. He could name his friends on one hand-- Illeana Preada, Frank Barbieri, Danielle Darling-- and leave the hair follicles on his back to count his lovers and special companions. But even the faces of his friends blurred. Was Danielle the girl who ran in the 5k? Had she been married to a Mr. Toscano before it all began? Was Frank the one who started programs for schools in Florida, the humane man who always gave back more than he got? Who was who since Ceausescu's death turned everything from black-and-white to the horizon of gray? 

Mihai secretly hoped that his arrival would be greeted by a parade in Bucharest. 

On the Romanian literary scene...

Sharon Mesmer and her friends involved in the Best American Poetry are "run ragged" by the Romanian Writer's Union. 

Meanwhile, the Guardian UK has chosen to honor the 20th anniversary of the Wall's fall with a literary extravaganza featuring Eastern European writers, a subject close to my heart. You can read the short story, Zgaiba, by Stelian Tanase, and other bests from the Balkans and post-Soviet state.

Ugly nationalism in Ireland directed against "Romanians".

According to a news report by the BBC, racism is en vogue again in Ireland:

More than 100 Romanian people forced to flee their homes in south Belfast have been moved to a leisure centre. The group of about 20 families spent Tuesday night in a church hall after a spate of racist attacks on their homes. Police have said they do not believe paramilitaries were involved in orchestrating the attacks. The attacks were condemned by Prime Minister Gordon Brown who said he hoped the authorities would take all action necessary to protect the families. Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, who has met with the families, said the attacks were a "totally shameful episode". "We need a collective effort to face down this criminals in society who are quite clearly intent on preying on vulnerable women and children," he said. The police have met Belfast City Council and social services to discuss how best to care for those affected by the attacks. Most of the Romanian families, including one with a five-day-old girl, have been taken to the Ozone Leisure Centre in south Belfast, where they will spend the rest of the day. They said they do not want to return to their Belfast homes.

"This is a small number of people who are engaged in this violence. I understand this is cold comfort to the people affected by it." Bernie Kelly, from Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, said it had been a very traumatic experience for the Romanians. "The whole thing has escalated very quickly," she said. "Working with the police and all the agencies together we are going to have to find a resolution." There have been suspicions that a loyalist paramilitary group is involved in the violence, but this has been denied, our correspondent added.

One of the women who took shelter in the church, who did not want to be named, said she was very upset and scared. She said she had feared the attackers had come to kill her and her family, and she now wanted to go back to Romania. But the help of the church had shown a positive side to the people of Belfast as well, she added.

Anna Lo of the Alliance Party said the families were "very frightened". Ms Lo said attacks on Romanian homes - which included bricks being thrown through windows - had been increasing in frequency in recent months. "They are really very frightened," she said. "The women, when they were talking to me yesterday, they were really upset, tears in their eyes and said, 'You know we love it here, we'd like to live here, but we're too scared.' "A woman showed me her shoulder which was quite bruised and cut across, she was hit across the shoulder." Jolena Flett, Racial Harassment Adviser for the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities, said they had been threatened verbally and then three properties were attacked on the same day. "There has been an issue about the families feeling unsafe in the properties they were attacked in. What we are trying to do is provide them with alternative accommodation," she said.

This looks terrible for Ireland's reputation as a civil member of the European Union. However, this news report also looks terrible for the BBC, who continuously fails to identify the families in question as ROMA families, choosing instead to identify the Roma as merely "Romanians". To find out why these Romanians were being targeted, I had to read The Guardian's version of events, which mentioned that the Romanians in question were Roma:

Belfast's lord mayor, Naomi Long, said the repeated attacks on the Roma families close to the university district had brought shame on the city.

This distinction is important because the Roma have long held the status of a persecuted minority in Europe. Remember that Hitler's first attempts at exterminating minorities included the Romany people.  Ignorance about the crimes of history makes the crimes of the present seem less serious by depriving them of their disastrous context in the past. To report about crimes against "Romanians" when you mean crimes against "Roma" is ridiculous. Would the BBC have merely mentioned their Romanian-ness had the persecuted in question been Romanian Jews? Would it be too much to ask for some clear reporting on the situation in northern Ireland? Are those people who are being driven out of their homes Romanians, Romanian Roma, or a combination of both? The conversation can't really begin without an answer to this simple question.

News briefs.

Romania's Petrom started building a power plant in Brazi to the tune of many Euros.

Never one to rock the boat, Basescu restated Romania's support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Moldovan activist Oleg Brega says, "We are freer because we have nothing to lose".

Meanwhile, the Moldovan High Court upholds the controversial citizenship law.

The Romanian Social Democratic Party is apparently preparing to win the upcoming presidential elections.

On the ledger.

• President Basescu pays a visit to the Middle East and proclaims the end of Romanian troops' missions in Iraq. Romanian troops have  been stationed in Iraq since 2003. [Mediafax]
• Romania's ruling coalition parties score big in the EU parliament elections. [The Sofia Echo]
• Talks on the details of Romanian-Polish cooperation wrapped up, with PM Boc announcing a strategic bilateral partnership between Romania and Poland. [Financiarul]
• Hungarian minority leader Senator Marko Bela says he "voted for a Europe that would impose minorities' rights". [Mediafax]
• Tensions between Slovakia and Hungary flare just before the EU election vote. [EU Business] 
• How Congolese workers in Romania are treated. [Being African in Romania] 
• Yoshiko Chuma’s new 90-minute work, “Not About Romanian Cinema: Poonarc,” which opened in New York City this week. According to the critics, it is "a feast of beautiful and strange images and sounds".[New York Times] 
• Romania's former car czar explains what happens when the government nationalizes the automotive industry. [The LRC Blog]  
• Elena Basescu won a seat to the European Parliament running as an independent candidate, but now she feels ready to return to the warm fold of the Liberal Party. [Mediafax] 
• A blues band in Oradea makes a lasting impression. [Insights] 
• The International Literature Festival begins in Romania. [Balkan Travellers] 
• The Seductiveness of the Interval. [Art Daily] 
• Romania might soon have its very first Animal Police. [Seven Times] 
• Lifeguards at Mamaia and Constanta threaten to go on strike unless the government pays their overdue wages. [UPI] 
• 78% of Romanians did not bother to vote in the EU elections. Is this absenteeism a form of protest? [Power & Politics]  
• Rumor has it that Trajan's palace was discovered in Zavoi, Romania. [Bread and Circuses] [SCA Today]
• Romanian high school students win an award from NASA in an international competition. [HotNews] 

Visual anthropology in Romania, about Romania, and for Romanians.

Visual anthropology is a subfield of cultural anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media. While the term is sometimes used interchangeably with ethnographic film, visual anthropology also encompasses the anthropological study of visual representation, including areas such as performance, museums, art, and the production and reception of mass media. 

Visual representations from all cultures, such as sandpaintings, tattoos, sculptures and reliefs, cave paintings, scrimshaw, jewelry, hieroglyphics, paintings and photographs are included in the focus of visual anthropology. Human vision, its physiology, the properties of various media, the relationship of form to function, the evolution of visual representations within a culture are all within the province of visual anthropology. Since anthropology is a holistic science, the ways in which visual representation are connected to the rest of culture and society are central topics.

The photo above was taken of an interior exhibit in the Romanian Peasant Museum. In addition to Observatorul Visual, which provided this image, there are a number of innovative Romanian approaches, displays, and experiments in visual anthropology. The Tranzit Foundation, for example, focuses mostly on the visual culture of the Romanian-Polish minority. Teatrul Impossibil, in Cluj, begins its description with an argument. If I were a visual anthropologist hoping to learn more about Romania, the following websites would be on my hit-list:

• Astra Films, home of the famous Romanian Astra Film Festival.
• Archaeotek, a Canadian group, will be conducting field work in Romania this summer. 
• Institutul Cultural Roman,  a little mecca.
• Centrul National al Cartii, housed in the ICR, focuses on the history and cultural distinctiveness of Romanian books. 
• Romania Culturala is the Romanian version of Arts and Letters Daily. An excellent resource for all students of culture.  
• Plural Magazine features a combination of esoterics, literature, history, and Romanian belles-lettres with special attention to images and folk culture.  
• The Museum of the Romanian Peasant is a breathing testament to the existence of brilliant visual anthropologists residing in Romania.  
• Arhitectura, a magazine devoted to Romanian architecture. 
• The Museum of Painted Glass Icons, a sojourn into the soul of Orthodoxy.
• Historic Romanian Populations Today, from list to location, an overview.
• Colias Museo, a wild card for the museumed. 
• Observator Cultural, the socket for Romanian cultural musings and developments.
• National Theatre Festival in Sibiu, a stage-watchers staple.
• Igloomedia, for contemporary visual currents. 
• The map of historical monuments in Bucuresti, big in Japan.
• The anthropological study of visual practice in Southeastern Europe, with special attention to Romania. 
• "Teaching anthropology in Romania", a pdf resource listing universities and groups in Romania.   

For Romanian visual anthropologists who don't mind tapping into the international market for resources, the following links might be useful: Visual Anthropology + Reframe  + Society for Visual Anthropology + International Center of Photography + Documentary Education Resources  + Icarus Films + Revealing Pictures & Reflexive Frames  + Visualizing Ethnography  + CAFFEE  +  Granada Center for Visual Anthropology  + Material World Blog  + EU Online Film Archive + Go East + Moving Anthropology Student Resources + Digital Enthnography at Kansas University + Open Society Institute Documentary Photography Project + Experience Rich Anthropology + European Association of Social Anthropologists + Imponderabilia + Space and Culture  + Studio Incite + Urbi & Orbi + Anthropologi Info + Cultural Analysis Journal + American Anthropological Association + Anthrobase + Anthropoetics + The Anthropology of East Europe Review + At the Edge + Electronic Journal of Folklore + Post Modern Culture + World Systems Archive + Anthropology Now + Stanford Department of Anthropology + International Visual Sociology Association + The Open Video Project + SIGHTS Visual Anthropology Forum + UR-List Web Resources for Visual Anthropology + Flickr Visual Anthropology Cultural Anthropology Pool + Adina Bradeanu + Alyssa Grossman + National Anthropological Archives 

An update on the romance between Romania and Moldova.

The President of the Russian-Moldovan group, Moldovagaz, said there is a chance for the Russian gas company Gazprom to gain control over Moldovagaz actives through a judicial decision. This would mean Gazprom will take over Republic of Moldova’s gas pipes system. This could happen if Russia claims Transnistria’s debt for gas consumption. Gusev showed that Modova paid the entire 2008 gas bill, but without considering the Transnistrian consumption. Therefore, in the beginning of the current year, Molovagas debt to Gazprom amounted to 1.343 billion dollars, without the penalties. [Link.]

The president of the Commission for Investigation of the April 7 Events in Chisinau claims that there is no evidence to prove Romania’s involvement in April’s protests. His statements contradict incumbent Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin, who declared there was solid proof indicating Romania’s involvement in organising the violent events in Chisinau, Both the President of the Commission and the Prime-VP of Moldovan Parliament, communist Vladimir Turcanu,  sustains that the commission could not find anything palpable. Reports of several state institutions are currently being analysed. The European institutions and the opposition parties will name their delegates that will investigate alongside the commission before any decision is taken. Vladimir Vorononin declared for Russian radio Moldova’s Echo that "the results of the General Prosecutor's Office and of the special presidential commission demonstrate Romania’s involvement in organising the social unrest in Chisinau after the parliamentary elections". Voronin also suggested Romania could not have organised everything on its own. He pointed out that there have been used extremely advanced technology against the Republic of Moldova, saying that the day of April 7 saw the presidential and the Ministry of Internal Affairs servers attacked. "80 – 90% of these attacks came from Romania, but there were attacks from other countries as well", Voronin said. [Link.]

Romania exports a volkisch terrorist to Hungary.

A Romanian citizen from  Sambrias, Szasz Endre Istvan, was placed under preventive arrest for 30 days in Hungary, under charges of terrorism. Hungarian authorities describe Istvan as "part of a far-right movement that carried out attacks against socialist members of parliament." Police believe he was planning a bomb attack on the home of lawmaker Laszlo Esodi. For those unfamiliar with the current scene in Hungary, there have been a number of attacks by right-wing nationalists on liberal politicians. Istvan's name suggests he might be of Hungarian origin. If he was indeed planning such an attack, then he is part of an extreme nationalist movement in Hungary with irredentist claims to Transylvania. 

The Romanian attaché to the Ministry of Interior in Bucharest, Ioan Bente, says the Romanian was arrested on May 15 in Hungary, under charges of terrorism. He was wanted by the police under suspicion that he held suspect materials. Bente believes Istvan did not act alone:

"Some one month ago, the Hungarian police unfolded some raids following several attacks (...) There was an investigations, there was a circle of suspects and the trail led to the home of Szasz Endre Istvan, where authorities found various materials. He wasn’t arrested then. Police arrested him Friday (May 15), while he was in a house in Budapest. The second day, police and the prosecutor presented the case before the court with a proposition for 29-day preventive arrest. The judge allowed the request, thus he is now under preventive arrest for 30 days," Bente explained. 

Additional reasons to believe that Istvan was involved with Hungarian nationalist extremists can be found in a statement by Alin Serbanescu, spokesperson for the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Serbanescu told Mediafax "that the ministry has unfolded procedures for the identification of the citizen through the Romanian Embassy to Budapest, but Romanian authorities cannot intervene because the suspect has not issued a consular assistance request".

Sources: SE Times + Mediafax 

Romanian government keen on Iran.

The Vice-Speaker of Romania’s Chamber of Deputies Adrian Nastase underlined his country’s eagerness to expand relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Nastase made the remarks in a meeting with Director of Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies Seyed Rasoul Mousavi in Bucharest. 

As former Prime Minister, former Parliament Speaker and current President of Titulescu European Foundation, Nastase also urged expansion of relations between the two sides’ think thanks. He also stressed his enthusiasm for visiting Iran and giving lectures in the Iranian foreign ministry’s institute for political and international studies. 

Also during his stay in Bucharest, Rasoul Mousavi discussed bilateral ties and other issues of mutual interests in separate meetings with the President of the Romanian Science Academy, Director General of the Institute for European Studies, President of Romania’s Center of Euro-Asian Studies and Romanian foreign ministry’s Director General. Mousavi visited Romania to attend an energy confab in Bucharest last Tuesday dubbed as ‘New Interests for Safeguarding Basic Infrastructures’. 

During his address to the gathering, the Iranian official reiterated that Iran’s gas reserves play a strategic role in the security of the world energy. Mousavi also briefed participants about the volume of Iran’s oil and gas reserves and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s plans to transfer energy to the East through the Iran-Pakistan-India pipeline and the West through participation in different projects for transferring gas to Europe.

Source: Tehran Times.

It's time to take Hungarian nationalism seriously.

Hungarian nationalism has reached saturation point. With the EU parliamentary elections due to take place this weekend, the extent to which racist nationalism dominates the discourse of Hungarian political parties across the ideological spectrum should be cause for concern. In the initial post-Communist period, the consensus in the American community of "experts" (including gentlemen as diverse as Jeffrey Sachs and Samuel P. Huntington) viewed Hungary as a well-developed, "Western" state with a high probability of successful transition to a liberal, market-based democracy. US investors were given the green-light to start sending dollars to Hungary. 

Given the toted similarities between American and Hungarian values, the rise of racist nationalism in Hungary calls for a bit of self-reckoning on the part of the American academics who elevated the Hungarian transition to the status of an ideal model. US administrations have chosen to look the other way and ignore the obviously xenophobic and nationalist ideologies employed by Hungarian politicians for too long. It is time to take stock of the rather illiberal scene and encourage critical thinking about illiberal European societies.

Jobbik : The Movement for a Better Hungary 

Founded in 2003, Jobbik defines itself as a values-oriented national Christian party that uses radical means to protect and preserve the Hungarian national interest. While Jobbik takes pride in its "nationalism", its members insist that it is a healthy nationalism-- not the type which degenerates into chauvinism or racism. Engaging a large number of Hungarian students, Jobbik puts a premium on action. One of its first big actions was the erection of crosses all over Hungary for Christmas 2003 by which the party wanted to draw public attention to the Christian message of the holiday. Two years later, Jobbik set up the Cabinet for the Protection of Children, whose leader, Attila Begany, sported a Zorro mask while using a spray gun to mark the initials JZ (for Jobbik-Zorro) on several public places which Begany deemed to constitute offenses against public morals.

As a candidate in the European Parliament elections, Dr. Krizstina Morvai does not shy away from taking a public stand in favor of nationalism and a "Hungary for Hungarians". In an interview posted on the front page of the Jobbik website, Dr. Morvai declares:

Our programme has two mottos. One is: “Hungary belongs to the Hungarians”. That demonstrates strong national identity, and makes it clear that we no longer want to serve international high finance in such a way that Hungary becomes a colony, the people sink into poverty and become slaves in their our country. The other motto is “a way of thinking based on people and community instead of money and profit”. The question should not be what is good in terms of maximising profits, but of what is good for people. This includes, for example, representing the interests of employees, aiding companies and consumer protection - those are all question which affect the dignity and the meaning of human lives. Other political forces think in terms of profit. That is the real dividing line today, rather than the question of whether somebody is rightwing or leftwing. In my view it follows directly from this focus on people that we should turn from global to local, and defend local interests, the local economy and the rights of local people.

Dr. Morvai's language is strikingly similar to the language of European fascist parties during the interwar period. In addition to  constant reference to "a small global elite" and the controlling influence of "global finance", Morvai demands a return to a local economy unsullied by the EU bureaucracy or the global financial elite. (It should be noted that interwar fascists used the words "financial elite" as a coded reference to Jews.) Playing on anti-Communist sentiment, press releases affirm the "bolshevik" character of the current government. The image to the right, which glorifies the significance of a powerful police force to "care for" society, is disturbingly familiar. 

When it comes to relations with neighboring Romania, and the Hungarian minority in Transylvania, Dr. Morvai's statements offer cause for concern, primarily because she entirely skirts the issue. When asked how she will work with the freakish Greater Romania Party (Romania's version of Jobbik) in the European Parliament, given the Greater Romania Party's stand against the rights of ethnic minorities in Transylvania, Morvai tries to make a "joke"; the punchline is as funny as children wearing t-shirts with images of dead fetuses to school. Despite the extremely inflammatory and nationalist rhetoric employed by Hungarians across the political spectrum when referring to the Hungarian minority in Transylvania, Dr. Morvai goes so far as to claim that her "own state is also against protecting the interests of the Hungarians". 

Dr. Morvai's refusal to address this question directly indicates that Jobbik does not intend to make common cause with other nationalist European parties. Unfortunately, Jobbik would choose to refrain from nationalist alliance-building with Corneliu Vadim Tudor's party if their plan for the Hungarian minority in Transylvania included territorial goals. Granted, this sounds extreme, especially given Dr. Morvai's friendly smile and pro-Western highlights, but historical responsibility requires us to take the past into consideration when anticipating the future.

Like the National Socialist Party in interwar Germany, Jobbik uses fear of job insecurity, crime, and chaos to build a case for a strong national government which will protect "Hungarians". Of course, Hungarians, in the case, are strictly defined to exclude Roma, Jews, and other such "internationals".Jobbik's campaign against usury almost suggests that race and ethnicity are directly correlated with likelihood of charging high interest rates, a bizarre view to be sure. 

Their political platform makes for a chilling read. Apart from references to the independent country of Transylvania, Jobbik's pledges provide a focused campaign to remove all foreign culture, finance, and influence from Hungary. The platform specifically aims "to reunite Hungarians beyond the borders of Hungary and to recover from the disaster suffered in Trianon", further elaborated as the "Treaty signed in 1920 about dissecting the country into pieces". Among other kooky, spine-tingling details, Jobbik pledges to:

• "nationalize strategic industries"
• "stop liberalization in energy sectors" 
• "allocate operating capital to out of border Hungarian and foreign regions"  
• "modify Hungarian earth laws and hinder foreign earth purchase"  
• "replace the current constitution with one based on Szent-Korona doctrines"  
• "legally protect the foetus from conception"  
• "restart and prime support of the test-tube baby program" 
• "restrain immigration of population incapable of assimilation"  
• "to operate a universal, value-based system of media" 
• "introduce obligatory moral and religious education in primary and secondary education"  
• "to erect a National Institute of Ancient History to support research in proving the Avar-Hungarian historical continuity" 
• "to stipulate and provide legal protection for the Hungarian Sacra-Corona, the Turul, and the Arpad-striped flag (ancient Hungarian symbols)" 
• "to provide central financial support to performances, plays, and musical pieces of art that authentically show Hungarian history" 
• "to restore death-penalty in case of life-threatening acts" 
• "to involve prison inmates in public labor" 
• "to tighten the Penal Code for the benefit of life, safety, and property" 
• "to establish a corporate police unit for gypsy prosecution in the critical areas" 
• "to support the endeavors of autonomy of beyond-border Hungarians' 
• "to declare the Arpad-striped flag a Hungarian national symbol" 

Among Romanians who have managed to convince themselves that Hungarian nationalists are merely toothless and ornery curmudgeons, Jobbik's foreign policy is sure to ruin a few dinner parties. Jobbik's website points to the year 2011 as a time of great international influence for Hungary, who will assume the rotating presidency of the European Union. The Foreign Policy Committee cannot afford to be modest:

By that time we expect Jobbik to be represented not only in the European Parliament, but also in the Hungarian National Assembly as an unavoidable parliamentary faction. This ground breaking opportunity will allow Jobbik in partnership with its strong traditional and new allies, the means to support and advocate the efforts of Hungarian minorities outside the country, historically deprived of their rights of self-determination and governance.

Responding to the murder of handball player Marian Cozma earlier this year, Jobbik did not bother to name the murderers, describing them instead as "criminals of Roma origin". The Nazis promised to restore public order and reign in the socialist agitators and labor unions which were disrupting city life. Likewise, Jobbik promises to make it their priority to "establish public safety". The word choice is significant-- "establishing" safety carries a more heavy-handed tone than merely "ensuring" public safety. For older Hungarians and those disturbed by the diversity of modern liberal democracy, "establish" suggests an almost-comforting authoritarian approach to reordering society. The press release conveys the loving embrace of a police state in which prisons are cruel and capital punishment returns to the hands of the state:

Jobbik would make it our priority in the Parliament to establish public safety. Strong police in the country and the reinstation of the gendarmerie in the countryside.There is a need for the reconsideration of legal punishments for serious crimes in the Justice system and to speed up the court cases. Jobbik will stop the current system of “wellness”-prisons where perpetrators go to the gym and watch TV in between committing their crimes. If it’s necessary, Jobbik will look into the revision of legal agreements regarding the capital punishment in serious, classified crime cases.

Though some supporters have made much of the fact that Dr. Morvai is married to a Jew, this simple fact does not absolve her (and Jobbik) of responsibility for the xenophobic and authoritarian positions which they embrace. The lawsuit filed by Dr. Morvai in the Hungarian Supreme Court against the leaders and military commanders of Israel appeals to the human-rights community. On the other hand, the lawsuit is also quite appealing to anti-Semites who wish to punish Hungarian Jews by confiscating their assets and property. Dr. Morvai explicity calls upon the Chief Justice to implement regulations "preventing Israeli war criminals" from acquiring property or possessions in Hungary, and freezing any assets they may have already acquired. Anyone familiar with Israeli politics knows that military service in the Israeli Defense Forces is mandatory for most citizens. Dr. Morvai's lawsuit aims to brush all Israelis who have completed their service time in the IDF with the war criminals brush, thereby drastically decreasing the economic role of Jews in Hungary. 

The Hungarian Political Spectrum: A Cursory Introduction to Political Parties & Alliances

Jobbik is not alone. In fact, the Hungarian right and center-right offers a bounty of choices for local nationalists. The openly anti-Semitic MIEP (Hungarian Justice and Life Party) uses hardcore nationalism to put forth its platform as well. Founded in 1993 as a split from the Hungarian Democratic Forum, MIEP entered parliament for the first time in 1998. The fact that it entered parliament at all, given its blatant anti-Semitism, is disappointing. In 2005, MIEP joined with Jobbik to form the Third Way Alliance. 

FKGP (Independent Smallholders' Party) is an agrarian populist party that resides right of center on the ideological spectrum. In the Fidesz-led government of 1998-2002, FKGP was one of the junior parties. In the run-up to the 2002 election, allegations of corruption side-lined FKGP. In 2005, the FKGP also joined up with Jobbik and the Hungarian Justice and Life Party as part of the conservative, Christian, nationalist Third Way Alliance.

Closely allied to Fidesz, the KDNP (Christian Democratic People's Party) was originally established in 1944 and reformed after the fall of communism in 1989. But don't be fooled by its left-leaning name. In fact, KDNP owes Fidesz a few favors, since before the 2006 election, the two parties struck a deal which placed KDNP representatives in parliament. 

The MDF (Hungarian Democratic Forum) is a Christian-conservative part to the right of center which led the 1990-1994 administration in Hungary. As a splinter part of the Hungarian Democratic Front created in 1996 (not to be confused with MDF), the MDNP (Hungarian Democratic People's Party) contested the 2002 election as part of the electoral list the Centre alliance.

The MSZP (Hungarian Socialist Party) is one of the few successful reformed communist parties in Europe. In 1994, the Hungarian Socialist Party was elected to office amid concerns that it might return to communist policies. Surprisingly, the MSZP chose to prioritize relations with the European Union and international organizations. Implementing the difficult economic reforms required to join international markets, the MSZP secured IMF loans and boosted investor confidence in Hungary's economic growth.

The Mainstreaming of Hungarian Nationalism: Orban, Fidesz, and the Lack of a Deeply-Rooted Liberalism

Hungary lacks a significant democratic liberal opposition-- a potential political liability in times of economic struggle and social strife. Recent polls even go so far as to warn that liberals might not win any seats in the upcoming elections. A poll published last Tuesday revealed that Fidesz has 71% of the popular support while the currently-ruling Socialist party has only 17%. In fact, the most liberal party on the scene is Centre, an alliance-based party established in 2001 with the cooperation of KNDP, the MDNP, and the Greens. Only the Greens have campaigned without reference to Hungarian nationalism and ethnic exclusivism. 

While the Hungarian Socialist Party has focused its efforts on supporting a European identity for Hungarians, almost all political parties to the center and right play to the firmly Hungarian identity politics. In fact, the most notable difference between the left and the right in Hungary does not hinge on support for free markets-- their economic approaches are remarkably similar. Instead, the critical difference lies in the extent to which the left represents a multi-ethnic and European component to national identity, while the center and right represent a strictly ethnic approach to Hungarian national identity. Granted, there is an economic component to the identity-politics approach. Hungarian liberals tend to support more international trade, while the Third Way Alliance prefers a return to a strictly national economy in which the dread "international finance" plays a more marginal role.  

Yehuda Lahav lists two primary reasons for the Hungarian government's "failure in the face of racism and anti-Semitism". Both reasons have their origins in the transition process:

One... is the fact that there are many right-wing elements within the government, who secretly or outright support the racist views and refuse to battle their perpetrators seriously. The other reason is that during the regime change of the 90s, the lawmakers viewed freedom of speech and expression as an absolute priority, and to this day don't provide protection to the victims of the misuse of this freedom.

Viktor Orban, who was Prime Minister from 1998 - 2002, and now heads the leading "opposition" party, Fidesz, (a.k.a. Federation of Young Democrats) stoked the fires of nationalism to great effect during his political campaigns. In fact, when Orban became a member of the Hungarian parliament in 1990, he transformed Fidesz from a liberal party into a right-wing, conservative party. In 1995, the party changed its name to Fidesz-MPP, reflecting a new rightist alliance between Fidesz and the Hungarian Civic Party.

In an article about Viktor Orban's ideological turn-around, former mentor Miklos Haraszti explains how the politician who used a Roxette song for his first campaign came to embrace nepotism. Rather than push for economic freedom, Orban used public funding to pick his market favorites, resulting in a mild and inefficient corporatism. Orban's administration, according to Haraszti, "behaved vis-a-vis the economy in a plundering way that was almost far-left in character". In addition to re-nationalizing a large part of the economy, Orban and friends also used tremendous amounts of taxpayers' money to assist private, "friendly" companies. This sneaky transfer made public control and accountability impossible. To ensure a lack of transparency, Orban "used loopholes and unconstitutionally majoritarian institutional and legislative coups".

Unfortunately, Orban's ruling of the Hungarian Right has not succeeded in cementing a coalition for political and economic freedom. Instead, as Haraszti observes, Orban presides over a Hungarian Right which bears far too close a resemble to European fascism. 

It is appropriate to talk about Orbán’s völkisch politics, albeit not at the root (as alleged by Scruton) but at the end of Orbán’s journey to unify the country’s right-wing forces. For the dilemma that has transfixed the country for the last three years was whether or not he would govern with the help of István Csurka’s far-right Hungarian Justice and Life Party (MIÉP) after the 2002 elections. Csurka’s party slipped into Parliament in 1998 with slightly more votes than the required five per cent threshold, and for four years it acted as an open supporter of Orbán’s government from the “opposition” benches. MIÉP defines itself as “Not Left, Not Right, Just Christian and Hungarian”; it is anti-western, anti-capitalist, anti-communist and anti-liberal, and believes all these enemies are either Jewish or commanded by Jews. Orbán has not solicited MIÉP’s support, but in exchange for it he refused to distance himself from Csurka’s views, and filled the state media with Csurka’s propagandists and their hate hours against the “Liberalbolsheviks”. 

In the 2002 elections, Csurka’s party, although it did not diminish in support, could not jump the threshold because of the high turnout. MIÉP’s ejection from Parliament ended the trepidation that after the election, if parliamentary mathematics demands it, Orbán might formalise his cooperation with Csurka’s party (just as his best friend Wolfgang Schussel, the leader of the Austrian centre-right People’s Party, coalesced with far-right Jorg Haider’s Freedom Party).

In 2000, the BBC noted the conflict over media control in the Hungarian political realm-- a conflict which Orban resolved in favor of the Right. Currently, Fidesz is calling for early elections in Hungary-- a demand which reflects their confidence in their electoral position. Orban views the economic downturn as an opportunity for a political comeback. As Tony Barber notes, most Europeans aren't exactly enthusiastic about this weekend's elections. Usually, this means that the moderate middle will stay at home while the extremists and ideologues will be scurrying to the polls. 

The future reeks of Viktor Orban, xenophobia, and nationalism. When Orban declared that Hungary's MEP's will represent "all Hungarians living in the Carpathian Basin", the Czech government did not bother to hide its discontent with his statement. Almost 6,000 foreign nationals have already registered to vote in Hungary's EP elections, a significant voting constituency which historically leans right. Strong irredentist positions characterize many Hungarian minorities in neighboring states, including Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Slovakia, to name a few. 

When President Laszlo Solyom met with ethnic Hungarian MEPs Edit Bauer (from Slovakia) and Laszlo Tokes (from Romania) last week, the ethnic nationalism advocated by the Hungarian MEPs was hard to hide. Or ignore. In a follow-up interview with MTI, Bauer reported that she "had been stunned" by the Slovak Prime Minister's recent statement decrying Orban's meeting with MKP leader Pal Csaky as a "threat to Slovakia's territorial integrity". On Bauer's view, "it was completely natural in the EU that related parties help each other during their EP campaigns". Romanian-Hungarian MEP Tokes told MTI that he had informed President Solyom "about the current mass lay-offs of ethnic Hungarian officials in Romania". Calling the policies of the Romanian and Slovakian governments "alien to Europe", Tokes reported that President Solyom is "ready to stand up for ethnic Hungarians beyond the borders whenever their interests are violated". 

In a recent interview, Orban explained rising support for Jobbik in terms of social bitterness-- "ordinary people feel that the state no longer functions in certain areas, as it does not enforce law and order, there are no police in villages and in some regions the situation is similar to the American Wild West of 150 years ago". To explain the creation of the xenophobic and racist paramilitary organization, Magyar Garda, Orban does not veer from his matter-of-fact tone: "People have taken the law into their own hands and the creation of the Magyar Garda is one of the consequences". Reassuring voters in a manner reminiscient of the police-state promised by Jobbik, Orban promises that "the existence of any paramilitary organization will become unnecessary once Fidesz takes power because there will be a sufficient number of police everywhere". Notice that Orban does not condemn or disapprove of Magyar Garda in any way, shape, or form; he only promises that an increased police force will obviate the "need" for Magyar Garda to exist. If Orban regains power, a rejuvenated Hungarian police can replace Magyar Garda in its role protecting ethnic Hungarians from minorities. How comforting. 

Magyar Garda's formation is not the only eyebrow-raiser on the Hungarian political scene. Last week, Justice Minister Tibor Draskovics completed an investigation into the cooperation deal between the TMRSZ (Ready-To-Act Trade Union) and Jobbik. A powerful group with almost 5,000 members in the police force, TMRSZ's ties to the extreme right create problems for the law enforcement community. Concerned about the effects of a radical, right-wing trade union within the police force, the national police chief initiated legal proceedings against TMRSZ a few weeks ago. Due to the conflict of interest and rabidly nationalist political content engendered by the trade union's deal with Jobbik, the trade union was declared unlawful. As Geza Pongo remarked in a press release, a policeman will have a hard time fighting the Magyar Garda, the paramilitary arm of Jobbik, if he shares a political platform sanctioning their existence with them. But TMRSZ leader and MEP hopeful Judit Szima can't be bothered with such technicalities when the hostile forces of "worldwide Jewry" threaten to destroy the Hungarian nation. The imagined threat of the "Other" seems far more likely to destroy Hungary than the protocols of the Elders of Zion.

For more on the multitudes within current Hungarian politics:

• "Third Way Platform: The Nationalist Right Gets Together", 17 October 2005.
• To understand why Jobbik includes the Arpad stripe flag on its political platform, this article from Der Spiegel provides the historical and anti-Semitic context for these new national symbols. 
• To learn more about public support for Magyar Garda, read this.  
• For more about Hungary in general, The Economist sates the hungry mind. 
• For a comparative look at the different approaches to post-communist transitions, try this brief by Anders Aslund. 
• For the most vivid treatment of the TMRSZ controversy, see Yehuda Lahav's article. 
• Extra-parliamentary political extremists in Hungary, including various neo-Nazi groups. 
• "Far Right tries to take control of the revolt", The Times,  23 September 2006.
• "Roma bear the brunt of Hungary's economic downturn", Thomas Escritt, Financial Times,  19 Feb. 2009.

The half-hearted study of communist archives in Romania.

The National Council for the Study of the Archives of the Securitate was founded by a law passed in the Romanian parliament in 1999. It has nine members, who are proposed by the political parties, and a few researchers who deal with the archives. When it began, one could find among the nine councillors former dissidents and important intellectuals, including the poet Mircea Dinescu (who had been placed under house arrest in 1988 after he gave an interview to Libération, in which he protested against Ceausescu's policies); the philosopher Andrei Plesu (who during the Ceausescu regime had been removed from the Institute of Art History in Bucharest and exiled to rural Romania to work as an administrator of a regional museum after signing a letter criticizing Ceausescu); and the essayist Horia-Roman Patapievici (who became a public figure after 1990 and is currently the president of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest). 

From the start, the functioning of the Council encountered a major obstacle: a clause in its constitution (inserted by a senator later unmasked as having collaborated with the Securitate) mentioned the "political police". Accordingly, the Council could reveal only the cases of collaboration with the communist secret services with a "political police" connection, as opposed to cases that were about "defending the national interest". We are in a land of metaphors: in practice, it was very difficult to distinguish "political" from other forms of collaboration with the Securitate.

Mircea Vasilescu has more on the "fairy tale" aspects of Romania's self-reckoning with its communist past in this excellent essay. 

John's sketchblog draws Romania.

John's Sketchblog has featured a number of Romanian buildings and architectural treasures lately. For example, an abandoned building on the edge of Piata Mare caught his eye the other day. And his take on Parcul Cismigiu brings back memories of the backpacking imperatives. Take your time and see for yourself.

John Vanderslice's "Romanian Names".

An interview with John Vanderslice about the release of his new album, Romanian Names, fails to mention why Vanderslice chose this title for an album which he describes as very "domestic". Is Vanderslice married to a Romanian? Other ideas?

Romanian cartoonist Pavel Constantin's take on the dollar.

Link.