Several former leading members of Jobbik announced the official launching of a new splinter party on Friday, nol.hu reports.
The Magyar Főnix Mozgalom (Hungarian Phoenix Movement, MFM) was initially formed in April but was only registered with the courts on September 15.
MFM chairman Tibor József Biber, who was deputy chairman of Jobbik until 2008, told the press that the new party would provide an alternative with voters disillusioned with Jobbik, which he said had been “eroded” from inside.
While in August Bíber criticized Jobbik for excessively focusing on questions relating to Hungary’s Roma minority – which he said could lead to a “civil war” – the new party appears to be putting a high priority on the issue, making it one of the most prominent points in its founding declaration.
At the news conference Bíber said that none of the governments of Hungary formed since the political system change had managed to solve the serious problem of “ethnic crime” – which he said could be called “Gypsy crime,” and disproportionately impacted those living in the countryside.
He said the exact size of Hungary’s Roma population should be known before their problems can be solved. The party’s deputy chair, Anna Szöőr, added that it was in the interest of the Roma population to “admit” their ethnicity in the national census launched this past weekend, otherwise researchers would again be force to work with false statistical data.
It is funny Biber is attacking Jobbik for moving away from the “Roma” issue, which he obviously didn’t care for much back in 2008 when a Hungarian was beaten to death by a Roma mob.
MFM will quickly realize that the Roma” issue is not the only issue that needs to be tackled. Jobbik realizes that in order to change things you can’t be a party focused on a single issue.
If I were campaign and media consultant to Jobbik, I would counsel them to focus on “law and order”, beefed up policing, tougher sentences and safe streets in general. That would resonate more with a broader electorate than portraying it as just a Roma problem. This is what the conservative party in the US, the Republicans have done, with great success. They learned decades ago not to talk about “black crime”, just “crime” and how they were going to get tough about it. As a result of their efforts, many have been arrested, many prisons built, and yes, as a result many blacks have been arrested. Their voters are satisfied with this, as they know full well what a “crackdown” on crime results in.
Another thing I would suggest to them is to focus on “child welfare” and protecting the welfare of Hungarian children in general; those not sending their kids to school, or those raising children amidst unsuitable adults engaged in criminality, have to be dealt with by the system.
In modern politics and the media, it’s not always what you believe or want to do, rather, how you say it and present it to the public.
In the UK Ken Clarke has a vision that few could take exception to.
http://www.conservatives.com/News/News_stories/2011/10/Clarke_Prison_with_a_purpose.aspx
Farkas László
The Republican party stopped being conservative 2 deacdes ago. And, there is quite a difference between Hungary and America, Hungarian national parties usually reject the terms “right” and “left”.
The last real Reoublican crime fighter was Ronald Regan. Ever since him the Republican party has moved away from social conservativsm and “law and order” to their so-called “economic conservatism”. About, the only policies the Republican party persues today is the policies of banks and Wallstreet, and sadly, even fighting crime in America is now considered “racist”.
Finally, because politcians do not address crime by race in America people have come to ignore the fact that whites are the overwhelming victims of crimes by other races, including hate crimes. Recently, there has been a new phenomenon called “flash mobs” (aka race mobs)where whites have been assualted by gangs of racist, but no one in the media has been willingly talking about it, had these crimes been reverese I’m sure even you in Hungary would of heard of them, it would be international news.
The problem is when you don’t address it by “race”, people forget the motivation behind some of those crimes, including when it is racial, and because of that blacks in America never have to face-up to their own behavior and racism.
Bíber, who said that there is Gypsy delinquency, was the first. Jobbik leaders are all corrupt
Hi Freedom,
My post was about political semantics; if Jobbik wants to broaden it’s appeal in more neutral sounding language- then they should take my suggestions above. Otherwise I’m not asking them to be US Republicans.