Anti Fascism,  antisemitism

Jobbik Comes to London

Jobbik are coming to the United Kingdom:

Jobbik, a far-right Hungarian party accused of anti-Semitism and racism, is setting up a branch in London. The nationalist party, which has its own uniformed paramilitary wing, will stoke fears about the extending reach of the far Right into Britain.

It comes just weeks after Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party and one of its two MEPs, secured an alliance in the European Parliament with nationalist parties including the French National Front.

Jobbik will become the first European party to try to gain a significant foothold in Britain on Sunday when it holds the first meeting of the British Jobbik Society.

It already has links with Mr Griffin, who has previously met its representatives. Jobbik has also joined Mr Griffin’s European alliance, which is seeking the support of seven EU parties to create a pan-European group and claim about £360,000 a year in taxpayer funding.

Jobbik’s meeting will be held in Kentish Town, North London. The party website said that its aim was to ensure that Hungarians living in Great Britain “understand and support the national values and the programme of Jobbik”.

You’ll recall that Jobbik’s MEP, Kristina Morvai, was invited by the Palestinian Return Centre, to speak at a conference alongside Baroness Tonge and Clare Short MP.

The PRC first lied and blustered about their invitation to this fascist. When exposed by the centre-right anti-fascist campaign group, Nothing British, they sent them a remarkable and illiterate letter in which they tried to defend themselves with the argument that one of their other invitees, a certain ‘NORMAN Frankstineine‘ was Jewish.

Although Neil Gerrard MP wisely pulled out, Tonge and Short remain participants in this event. The Quaker-run Friends Meeting House continues to host this event.

Now, it pains me to say this, but I think it is increasingly true. When it comes to opposing fascism, and fascist groupings, a significant part of the centre Right is sounder than an important section of the Left. For example, it was Nothing British that has made the running on Jobbik, and on their allies in the United Kingdom.

By contrast, Neoconeurope – a vanity project run by Professor David Miller of Strathclyde University in association with his research students – had this to say about Nothing British’s scoop:

Nothing British purports to be ‘a campaign against the politics of hate which aims to promote the British values of democracy, tolerance, fair-play and respect for one another’, however, it seems equally interested in issues which are utterly unrelated to Britain but are of concern to Israel. On 27 October 2009, for example, it posted an open letter to the Lib Dem peer Jenny Tonge calling on her to decline an invitation to speak at a conference on Palestinian refugees organized by the Palestinian Return Centre , an event which NB described as an ‘extremist rally’. The group claimed (denied by the PRC) that the event was also being addressed by a right-wing Hungarian politician. However, it was still given positive coverage by the Jewish Chronicle.

Professor Miller’s website recently promoted the anti-Jewish racism of Kevin MacDonald, a prominent US neo Nazi.