Two prominent, divisive Europeans tried to visit Britain this year: Gábor Vona and Dieudonné M’bala M’bala. Both aroused outrage and protest. Both were considered by the Home Office. Only one visitor, arguably the more dangerous, was allowed entry.
Vona, leader of ‘Jobbik Magyarországért Mozgalom’, came to London on 26 January, the day before Holocaust Memorial Day. Jobbik describe themselves as ‘radical right’ and exhibit populist ethno-nationalist traits. With the slogan ‘Hungary for the Hungarians’, Jobbik is now the third largest Hungarian party, with 16.7% of the 2010 vote, behind Fidesz and the Socialists.
Jobbik has links to the outlawed ‘Hungarian Guard’, a neo-fascist paramilitary movement compared to the 1930s ‘brownshirts’ (Sturmabteilung) which Vona himself founded. They held marches against Hungarian Roma, accusing them of criminality. Jobbik agitates for Hungary’s 1914 borders, including parts of Romania, Ukraine, Serbia and Slovakia. Its members spoke to the British National Party at Nick Griffin’s invitation, and Griffin addressed Jobbik in 2008. Party leaders have made numerous anti-Semitic statements, notably the party’s deputy leader demanding a list of Jews in government and parliament, as they ‘pose a national security risk to Hungary’.[1]
Vona’s supporters recently unveiled a bust of Miklós Horthy, the Regent who committed Hungary to the Axis Alliance and facilitated the killing of 500,000 Jews in the Holocaust. One candidate, Judit Szima, wrote for a popular police union: ‘anti-Semitism is not just our right, but it is the duty of every Hungarian homeland lover, and we must prepare for armed battle against the Jews.’[Haaretz] She continued: ‘we should expect a Hungarian-Gypsy civil war, fomented by Jews as they rub their hands together with pleasure.’
Anti-fascist protesters blocked Vona at Holborn Station, but he addressed some 100 supporters at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. ‘Jewish community leaders, politicians and anti-fascist groups had called on Home Secretary Theresa May to ban the meeting,’ noted The Jewish Chronicle’s Marcus Dysch – indeed14,000 petitioned to bar his entry.
It’s odd, then, that on 3 February Theresa May banned Dieudonné from Britain. The exclusion order was served for “public policy or public security reasons”. The French comedian intended to support Nicolas Anelka, the West Bromwich Albion player facing an FA investigation (and potential five-match ban). Anelka had used Dieudonné’s ‘quenelle’ (inverted Nazi salute) in celebration against West Ham last December. Both insist the quenelle is merely anti-Establishment, rather than racist.
Dieudonné originally performed in a double-act with Jewish comedian Élie Semhoun, opposing the French far-right Front National and lampooning racism, himself half Cameroonian. He developed strong criticisms of the Israeli Settler movement (which supports building Jewish communities in the occupied Palestinian West Bank). His comedy compared settlers to Nazis and belittled the Holocaust as ‘memorial pornography’. Dieudonné was convicted of anti-Semitism seven times in the French courts.
Dieudonné is popular with many French in the outskirts of major cities, whom he calls ‘quenelleurs’. Interior Minister Manuel Valls is exploring all routes to ban Dieudonné’s performances: numerous cities have cancelled his shows including Bordeaux, Nantes, Orleans and Paris.
