Melani Barlai – netPOL Vienna/Andrássy University Budapest

CeDEM Conference for eDemocracy & open

government

SE: E-Politics and E-Campaigning, SE Chair: Ralf Lindner

Jobbik on Web. Right-wing extremism in Hungary

Overview

1 Relevance2 Ideology of Jobbik3 Background – Right-wing extremism in

Hungary4 Online activity of the Hungarian Parties 5 Jobbik on Web6 Conclusion

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1 Relevance

Jobbik is one of the most radical right-wing parliamentary parties in Europe

2006: National elections radical changes – growing of right wing extremism;

2010: Jobbik scored 16.6 percent Jobbik is the third largest party in Hungary.

By the success of Jobbik Internet has played a larger role than by all other Hungarian parties.

Source: Sándor/Vass, 2006.

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2 Ideology of Jobbik

Hungary’s Movement for a Better Hungary, founded 2003: Mental foundation by the Right Youth Community (Jobboldali Ifjúsági Közösség, shortly Jobbik); Founded 1999 by students;

Jobbik describes itself as a "principled, conservative, radical, patriotic, Christian Party, which has the fundamental objective: to protect the Hungarian values and interests”. (Vona, 2008)

It acts with system and social criticism.

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2 Ideology of Jobbik

Legitimation of the radicalism trough their methodology: "asking the right questions and have the correct solutions“.

2006: formation of the paramilitary organization, the Hungarian Guard. It was established to prepare the youth for "exceptional circumstances„ – leader and party chairman is Vona.

Vision of the future is the ideology of "a morally renewed Hungarian", which is able to unite the whole Hungarian nation.

Anti-Roma campaign , "Gypsy-crime“ – strategies for mobilization.

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In Hungary the number of potential right-wing extremists has more than

doubled from 10 percent in 2003 to 21 percent in 2009.

The extremism "in the middle of the Hungarian society" results from the fact that Hungary does not have a historically evolved democratic culture.

Treaty of Trianon (1920) solution models: dual citizenship or the bill of rights for Hungarian minorities - issues with explosive nature are hidden extremist potential.

Subcultural extremism is not a transformation phenomenon, but a product of post-transformation.

3 Right-wing extremism in Hungary

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3 Right-wing extremism in Hungary

Support for Jobbik, 2009-2011 (www.riskandforecast.com, 2012)

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4 Online activity of the Hungarian Parties

2006 The campaign a breakthrough in the history of the

Hungarian political internet communication ;

New instruments in the form of political blogs, viral marketing, micro-sites and campaign elements;

Wind Rooster campaign", Ferenc Gyurcsany's blog and YouTube videos: pioneers in the Hungarian political communication.

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4 Online activity of the Hungarian Parties

Fidesz: increased the influence in the blog sphere and was able to retain her young voters ;

The support for MSZP has fallen under 10 percent - The internet users had become mainly a “right profile”;

The right-left dichotomy on the Internet was broken by the sudden appearance of Jobbik which took the lead online.

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4 Online activity of the Hungarian Parties

2010 The parties and their candidates relied also on popular

social network websites, such as iwiw (Hungarian social-networking service), twitter or facebook;

The most popular community platforms by the political parties were iwiw and facebook;

Jobbik had with 40 thousand fans four times more supporters on iwiw as the other three parties’ together ;

Fidesz MSZP and LMP did not invest any effort in the “iwiw- campaign”

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4 Online activity of the Hungarian Parties

2010 Facebook:most popular social online platform;

Fidesz: campaign in “Obama-style”;

LMP (Politics Can Be Different, ): facebook played a key role;

MSZP: no campaign via facebook ;

Today has Viktor Orbán 131 thousand likes on facebook, Jobbik´s 43 thousand (Gábor Vona 36 thousand), LMP 17 thousand, MSZP 10 thousand

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5 Jobbik on WEB

Extremely well-organized network - hundreds of right-wing extremist websites interlinked via platforms like twitter, Facebook or iwiw.

Effectively uses the Internet platforms kuruc.info, facebook and iwiw;

The internet users of Jobbik are not people who are poor and socially segregated;

Study of Demos and the Political Capital Institute 2012

Jobbik-fan: has "very low levels of trust in all major social and political institutions;

index.hu summed up the average Jobbik voter as: "Very young, very Hungarian, very ill-tempered"11/16

5 Jobbik on WEB

Age of Jobbik facebook fans (Bartlett et al., 2012, p. 18)

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5 Jobbik on WEB

Highest level of education of Jobbik facebook fans (Bartlett et al., 2012, p. 19)

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5 Jobbik on WEB

Offline involvement of Jobbik facebook fans (Bartlett et al., 2012, p. 20)

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6 Conclusion

Jobbik achieved that a large number of affected citizens are turning towards its online movement;

Strong and powerful presence on the online social networks iwiw, facebook and twitter;

The general stereotype which describes the Jobbik supporter as the “losers of the transition”: the poor, unemployed, undereducated people was challenged.

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6 Conclusion

For the discussion:"For a long time, the country has been split into left

and right to an extraordinarily deep degree, which is becoming an increasingly large social problem," he says. "An entire stratum of young people has grown up in the context of this division and has now found a home in the right-wing extremist micro-universe" (Buzogány, 2012, in Spiegel-online.de)

Is Jobbik's popularity the tragic result of Hungary's failed political transformation?

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References

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Thank you for your attention!