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On the march

European leaders take note, fascism is not dead
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September 3rd, 2008 issue

By Colby Pacheco

A rash of anti-Roma legislation in recent months is only one sign that fascism is not a dead ideology in present-day Europe. In places as diverse as Italy, Hungary and Finland there are worrying signs, but also closer to home in the Czech Republic. Waves begin as ripples, and the momentum of such movements can no longer be ignored by the European Union or its member states.
The face of fascism recently bore itself when the Czech National Party unveiled its “Final Solution to the Gypsy Issue in the Czech Lands” July 31. The 150-page “study” evokes Nazi Germany in title and mentality, laying out a plan to buy land in India (largely agreed to be the historical origins of Roma) and forcibly relocate all Roma people. For its part, the National Party — perhaps best known for its attempts to deny the Lety concentration camp — brushed aside criticism that the plan was a means to exterminate an ethnic group by reiterating that they did not want to kill Roma, only relocate them. In recent news, on Aug. 22 in Rokycany, 23 skinheads attacked four Roma men sitting in a restaurant.
Prejudicial laws and policies toward Roma minorities have emerged even in places such as Finland, which is often perceived as a bastion of liberalism. The emergence of such examples points to widespread European distrust and some would say categorical hatred of Roma. As these general attitudes are pervasive throughout the Continent, extremist factions have found an issue on which they can begin mobilizing support.
Recent events in Italy have been widely reported on. Silvio Berlusconi was elected prime minister in April at least partly by playing to what the BBC called a “deep suspicion throughout the country of the Roma community.” Berlusconi targeted Roma, and immigrants in general, pinning them as the root cause of many of Italy’s problems and vowing a security crackdown. The crackdown — in the form of a scheme to fingerprint Italy’s entire Roma population, including children — has received widespread condemnation in the human rights community, most notably from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Just after Berlusconi’s election, far-right politician Gianni Alemmano was elected mayor of Rome, wresting control of the capital from the left for the first time in 15 years. Alemmano, a former youth leader of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI), takes an even sterner stance against immigrants, pledging to put more police on the streets of Rome. He promised to expel thousands of Roma living in settlements around the city, which has in practice translated into the bulldozing of homes. Alemmano’s June swearing-in ceremony included skinheads giving one-armed salutes.
In July, the European Parliament issued a condemnation of the fingerprinting policy, without mentioning the destruction of Roma communities or expulsions of Roma people. Hailed by the EU as a strong message to extremist factions, the message has faded into the background as the Italian government has continued its crackdown on not only Roma, but immigrants in general, with Romanians as the latest target group. After placing more than 3,000 soldiers on the streets of major Italian cities, Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa denied the government was militarizing society, calling it “a clear response to the perceived demand for greater security.”
Anti-Roma and anti-immigrant measures pursued by a government, left unchecked, can snowball into measures targeting the rest of the population. As the EU continues to remain mute on issues of discrimination, extremists are emboldened and neo-fascist political parties codify. Ultra-right parties have enjoyed election successes in Austria, Poland and France in recent years. One need not look too deeply into Europe’s past to see the horror and tragedy that these political sects can bereft upon a nation.  
In Hungary, a new fascist group is emerging. Echoing the attire of Hitler’s SS or Mussolini’s guards in black boots and black sleeveless vests with black trousers, this past December a group of protesters gathered, demanding that Roma be segregated from mainstream society. The protesters were members of the Magyar Gárda (Hungarian Guard), a new ultra-nationalist offshoot of the already far-right Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom (Movement for a Better Hungary).
A request by Budapest prosecutor’s office to disband the Magyar Gárda on grounds of racial discrimination, violating human rights and inciting fear in the Roma community has been tied up in Hungarian bureaucracy since December. The group has violently disrupted gay-pride celebrations in Budapest for two successive years. More recent months have seen an emergence of Internet sites and groups even further to the right of the Magyar Gárda. Polling points to the unlikelihood that the neo-fascist group will gain seats in the Hungarian elections of 2010, but, as journalist Adam LeBor writes, “With its black uniforms and Arpad [red-striped] banners, the Gárda is now a brand, instantly recognizable, one that will always have some share of the market.”  
The EU appears unwilling to seriously pressure governments to take a tougher stand against extreme-right political parties. Here in the Czech Republic, the Roma-rights Dženo Association plans to send a proposal for the dissolution of the National Party to the Czech government, in hopes the government will propose such a measure to the Supreme Administrative Court. The Dženo argument hinges on the idea that the National Party’s official Web site violates sections of the Czech Constitution. As of yet, there has been little action by the Czech government — let alone the EU — to discredit the National Party’s appalling approach to race relations. Last year, the National Party founded an armed paramilitary wing. If the EU or the Czech government chooses not to condemn the Czech National Party, the EU faces an incoming presidency in January 2009 by a country with fascism alive and well within its borders.
The Czech government and the EU have the ability to counter the push of fascists on the Continent. It is not only in the interest of minority groups such as the Roma to quell the neo-fascist threat, but in the interests of all citizens.
The author, serving this summer as an Advocacy Project Fellow for Peace at the Dženo Association in Prague, is a graduate student at the University of California, San Diego’s School of International Relations & Pacific Studies.


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