Invented Nostalgia: The Search for Identity Among the Hungarian Far-Right

Abstract

In a country where welfare chauvinism and anti-migrant rhetoric is commonplace among citizens, and the norm in the political sphere, it is no wonder that far-right protest organizations and movements thrive as they do. This chapter looks at several Hungarian far-right organizations, including those of the more traditional far-right movement, and the Hungarian chapter of the identitarian organization network Generation Identity, with their heavily anti-immigrant rhetoric. Common among the traditional Hungarian far-right movement is a nostalgia for a time when Hungarians were “pure”, before closer interaction and integration with their European neighbors. This nostalgia is simultaneously combined with the seemingly contradictory belief in the importance of Christianity and Christian values. This chapter explores the attitudes and identities of organizations in the Hungarian nationalist movement, and presents data from interviews with far-right activists from the Hungarian Defense Movement (Magyar Önvédelmi Mozgalom), to gain an understanding of the politics of culture among Hungarian far-right movement activists.