Monday, August 27, 2012

Nazis in Europe today - the longing for national "purity"

From Shiraz Socialist: on hatred and bigotry on several fronts in Europe. It's not just incitement against the Roma in Hungary, but also: the Nazi Golden Dawn party in Greece, which has won seats in the Greek parliament; a prominent member of a party with representation in the Swedish parliament, who has called for deporting all Muslims; and of course, also in Hungary anti-semitism from Nazi thugs and the Jobbik party.

I've started to wonder why we speak of "neo-Nazis." As far as I can tell, parties like Golden Dawn differ very little from the German Nazi party, so I see no reason to see them as "neo." They are actually "retro," trying (like the German Nazis) to go back to some imagined past of national "purity," when there were no foreigners to pollute the body politic - Roma (who have lived in Europe since the Middle Ages), Jews (who have been in Europe for two thousand years and whose settlements originated long before the nation-states in which they now live), Muslims (who have also been part of Europe for over a thousand years - think of Spain and the Balkans).

From Harry's Place - review of an antisemitic play ("The Sixth Coffin") to be performed in Budapest. The play appears to be a new variation of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

2 comments:

  1. Hi - I read a couple of days ago that the play is no longer going to be performed.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're right - I saw the same thing. They're replacing it with another play by the same man.

    ReplyDelete