RIGHTS-EUROPE: The Ghost of Nationalism Resurfaces

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Sep 7 2006 (IPS) - Tensions between Hungary and Slovakia have risen to unexpected heights after a series of xenophobic incidents, with members of the sizeable Hungarian minority in Slovakia being targeted by Slovak nationalist youths.

Several ethnic Hungarians have been attacked by Slovak youngsters simply for speaking in Hungarian, the victims claim.

The episodes were discussed in Slovak capital Bratislava by officials from both countries Tuesday this week. Following two weeks of diplomatic tension, Hungarian Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz and her Slovak counterpart Jan Kubis have finally stressed the need to adopt a common statement, the content of which has not yet been agreed.

The unease comes just two months after Slovaks elected a new social democratic government led by Prime Minister Robert Fico, who invited nationalists led by nationalist leader Jan Slota to join his coalition.

Slota is not personally in the government but his party got almost 12 percent of the vote. He is known for his unflattering remarks on Hungarians, whom he has previously defined as the “cancer of the Slovak nation.”

The coalition was sharply criticised by both the Hungarian government and the Party of European Socialists. The latter has threatened to suspend Fico’s membership of the group, and has accused him of not distancing himself from intolerant remarks within the cabinet.

The hostility between nationalist sectors of both Hungarian and Slovak society has historical roots.

Slovakia, home to some five million people, only became independent in 1993 following the split of the Czechoslovak federation. However, for most of its history it had been the northern, Slav-speaking region of the Hungarian kingdom, and its nationalist movement was severely repressed by Hungarian authorities during the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Following the defeat of the Empire in World War I, Hungary’s border was redrawn and its territory significantly reduced, leaving a substantial Hungarian minority in Slovak hands. Today, around 500,000 Slovak citizens still consider themselves Hungarian.

With the collapse of state socialism, a dormant nationalism resurged in both countries.

In Hungary, radicals in the right wing still flirt with the idea of reshaping the country’s border, whereas in Slovakia the Hungarian minority’s demand for autonomy is often perceived by nationalists as a step towards irredentism, leading to constant questioning of the Hungarians’ loyalty to the Slovak state.

Hungarian political forces and public opinion, sensitive to issues concerning co-ethnic minorities in neighbouring countries, are convinced recent incidents come as a result of the nationalist party’s presence in the Slovak cabinet.

Budapest was quick to condemn the episodes, demanding swift action from the Slovak government. Officials in Bratislava responded by launching investigations into the aggressions, but failed to specifically condemn the nature of events or to express solidarity with the victims.

Instead, while censuring “all forms of extremism”, Fico accused the Party of the Hungarian Coalition, a Slovak party representing the Hungarian minority, of attempting to “internationalise” the issue, noting that xenophobic attacks can happen “anywhere in the world”.

Several other Slovak officials have found Hungary’s reaction to be disproportionate, claiming that interference in its domestic politics and increased media attention will only make matters worse. Bratislava has also accused Hungary of not cracking down on its own extremists, who were recently seen chanting anti-Slovak slogans during football matches.

The Slovak response has been largely dismissed as insufficient in Hungary. “The incidents in Hungary were isolated and did not involve physical violence; this cannot be compared to violent attacks and hate speech from members of the government,” Peter Jozsa from the Hungarian Human Rights Foundation told IPS.

Jozsa also countered Slovak accusations of undue interference by Hungarian groups. “It is absurd to make Hungarians scapegoats just because they try to raise awareness of their situation.” Jozsa said the issue “became international because the government itself has failed to deal with it internally.”

The human rights activist says the solution has to come from above. “There are many educational programmes and projects that can contribute to mutual understanding, but it should not be a mission for the grassroots to deal with this problem: it was created at the very highest political level and it needs to be solved there.”

Peter Dral, responsible for multicultural programmes in the Bratislava-based Milan Simecka Foundation, said certain statements by the nationalist party currently in government work to “legitimise hate speech or physical attacks for intolerant individuals who commit them.”

But mot actions led by intolerance “are done only by a small number of extremists on both sides, with majorities denouncing them,” he told IPS.

In Dral’s view the attacks do not represent a “resurrection of nationalism out of nothing” but rather a transformation from “latent xenophobic sentiments into manifest acts.” To counter these tendencies, “anti-discrimination legislation won’t suffice; proactive measures must also be implemented.”