hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Far Right in Central Europe Věra Stojarová CDS 441 Far Right and Left Parties hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czech Republic hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czech PRR an unsuccessful story SPR-RSČ and DAWN (SPD) •SPR-RSČ 1992: Federal Assembly (with 6.48% of ballots cast for the Chamber of the People and 6.37% of those for the Chamber of Nations) and in the Czech National Council (with 5.98%) •SPR-RSČ 1996 : 8.01% •SPR-RSČ since 1998 non-parliamentary party •DAWN 2013: 6.88% of the vote. •Dawn split internally in 2015: SPD •SPD 2017, 10.64% • Czech Republic praised for peaceful divorce with Slovakia hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Political opportunity structures •no major group that would feel forgotten or under threat •the number of anti-system parties is high •the 5% electoral threshold •Historically, these parties have not attracted large numbers of adherents •the anti-establishment niche in the Czech party system is already occupied by the ‘patriotic’ Communist party. •The PRR parties have consistently failed to come up with a compelling programme. •Their organizational is weak, charismatic leaders are lacking, and internal tensions have run high. •The Czech Republic is ethnically homogenous •Topics the PRR might otherwise exploit to its benefit have become political capital for virtually all the players hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Diffusion of PRR topics into public sphere •Beneš Decrees and Czech-German Declaration •Migration quoatas, EU •This legitimation of nationalism at the highest levels of government has been reflected at lower levels of the political hierarchy as well: Roma issue • Shortly after Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989, he took up the issue of Czech-German relations and apologized for the Beneš Decrees and the expulsion of Sudeten Germans. The Czech-German relations has resurfaced as a political issue from time to time ever since, greatly influencing political battles along the way. :Almost all of the PRR’s competitors, though played the anti-German card. hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png 2017 elections campaign •Country with no refugees but refugees main topic •Country with no violence but EU regulation about wearing a gun main topic •Country which profitted mostly from the EU, Czexit a topic •Country with Václav Havel heritage truth and love voted for STB agend being sued by the courts for misappropriation of the EU funds •Victory of protest parties •Victory of professional Political campaign – language, FB, newspapers, radio, TV hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czech Political spectrum hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Far right and its repertoire •Direct democracy, anti-establishment, referendum •targets Islam, the EU and advocates a nationalist state and sovereignty as the remedy for the crisis. •never an anti-Semitic or anti-LGBT agenda •Anti-Roma, anti-Vietnamese •Anti-EU, anti-NATO •Russia big friend, anti-German • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Anti-EU Far Left : KSČM •Politically isolated for a long time as being extremist •Did not drop „communist“ from the name •After 2012 accepted as ally in regional elections with social democrats •Against quotas, sovereignity not Brussel dictate •Dissolution of NATO • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Conservative right ODS •For the EU and NATO but… •Václav Klaus jr. •Freedom to have gun vs. EU regulations hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png ANO •Populist •Complete change of the political system, reduction of local autonomies •Opportunist •EU?? •To use the EU for assertion of Czech national interests •Czech sovereignity •Against migration quotas •Against euro •https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNvxlm9CQ_U • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Pirates •Protest party without clear programme •Unreadable •Direct democracy •Democratisation of the EU •Czech republic active within the EU • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png KDU-ČSL •Pro-EU but •Stabilisation of the failed states •Accepting war refugees •Protection of borders •For the EURO Předseda a volební lídr strany KDU-ČSL Pavel Bělobrádek se dnes na sociální síti Facebook rozjel. Žena se ve smutném příspěvku loučila se svým psem a mimo jiné pro jeho odchod použila slovo zemřel. Toho si povšiml Bělobrádek, a jal se ženě ihned vysvětlovat, že zvířata neumírají. Zvíře podle něj může jen "chcípnout, uhynout, pojít, padnout nebo zhasnout". Dinosauři vychcípali, prezident pošel. Češi si dělají legraci z Bělobrádka Podle Bělobrádka je používání lidských výrazů pro zvířata levicová věc, která se hodí k městské eko-etno-bio vychrtlině. / hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png ČSSD •For the EU BUT •Wing of Milan Chovanec and migration quotas •For EURO • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png STAN •For the EU •For EURO •marginal hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png TOP 09 •Clearly and openly For the EU •For EURO •Refugees welcome •liberal, city voters hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png The Green Party •Liberal city voters •For the EU •Marginal • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Other players •Svobodní – Czexit, againt the euro, 1 MEP •Jana Volfová •https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9uRgiOvoi8 • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Top statesmen and the EU •Miloš Zeman •Václav Klaus hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png President of the Czech Republic: Miloš Zeman •Populist techniques •„ I am the people“ - Working class •Immigration, muslims •EU foreign policy (Izrael/Palestina, Ukraine, Russia, China) •Inclusion at schools •People around Zeman • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czech presidential elections 2018 •Zeman •Drahoš •Horáček •Marek Hilšer •Tonda Blaník hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czech foreign policy •Prime minister and president •Externalisation of responsibility •Self-victimisation •Domestification of the topics •No interest in the foreign affairs •Polarisation •Utilitarian politicisation • • • • • • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czechs and the EU •2003 A referendum on joining the European Union : was supported by 77.3% of voters, with a turnout of 55.2% •2004 EU enlargement •2017, 29% of Czechs were in favour of introducing the euro while 70% were opposed and 1% undecided. • there is no target date by the government for adopting the euro. Shortly after Václav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989, he took up the issue of Czech-German relations and apologized for the Beneš Decrees and the expulsion of Sudeten Germans. The Czech-German relations has resurfaced as a political issue from time to time ever since, greatly influencing political battles along the way. :Almost all of the PRR’s competitors, though played the anti-German card. hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Czexit?? •2015 – parliament 11 MPs asked for Czexit •2016 debate about the Czexit referendum in the parliament : 29 communists and 12 from ODS for debate •After Brexit referendum Campaign of Svobodní party We offer Czexit • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Polarisation of the society •Anti-EU directivism, Czech nativism/Czech national interests/anti-immigration/conservative •For# ZemanBabiš • •Zeman, Klaus, •SPD, ODS, KSČM •Martin Konvička •Alternative for Czech Republic •Angry mothers •No pasarán • •EUROoptimists/for euro/for immigration/ liberal/ anti-#ZemanBabiš •TOP09, Green party •Prague café •Sluníčkáři •Pravdoláskaři •„those welcoming migrants“ •NGOists •Liberals and anarchists •„Inclusionists“ •„Anti-vaccinationists“ • • Andrej Babiš hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Public discourse, social initiatives •Václav Klaus •Martin Konvička •Alternative for Czech Republic •Angry mothers •No pasarán Klaus : Elitism, the country to the EU, Open nationalism, xenophobia, anti-EU Tomáš Ortel, Vilém Čok, but also of more ephemeral performers like Olivie Žižková, Dominika Myslivcová, and many others. The last-noted became popular online as a blogger and then stood as a candidate in the 2016 regional elections for Dawn hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Populist pop •Olivie Žižková: Europe, breathe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meXpKEhXKxw •Dominika Myslivcová – youtube star, blogger, model, candidate for Usvit •http://www.myslivcova.com/volby/ voltebarbie.cz •Vilém Čok: „Lets hold the identity of own nation. Spring will give us new patriots!. •Tomáš Ortel : competition Czech nightingale 3. place •Aleš Brichta singing on Tomio Okamura meetings: Red, blue, white, Foreigner in own land •Pepa Nos also on Tomio Okamura demonstrations •Trend is from neo-Nazi subcultures into mainstream pop •Jana Yngland Hrušková – singer and candidate for a president? • Ortel: They will cut your head just cause Allah Yngland Hrušková je velkou euroskeptičkou. Do České republiky se vrátila v roce 2013 jednak proto, že se jí podle vlastních slov začalo stýskat po domově, a také proto, že byla velmi nespokojena s výměnou marky za euro. „Německá marka byla velmi silná měna. Nahradily ji skoro bezcenné papírky. Slibovalo se, že výměna bude jedna ku jedné. Ale euro najednou mělo jen poloviční hodnotu,“ uvedla v rozhovoru pro server aktualne.cz Ve volebním programu možné budoucí prezidentky se například dočtete, že by ráda prosadila vytvoření nových pracovních míst v různých oblastech a zvýšení minimální mzdy. Také by ráda zrušila finance pro zbytečné lidskoprávní organizace a snížila daně. hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Hungary •a hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Hungarian Political parties •Fidesz : appropriation of nationalism •MSZP – discredited, rejecting nationalism •LMP – green, pro-European, in opposition •DK – discredited •Jobbik: Trianon Treaty, and revisionism, anti-Semitism, anti-Ziganism, anti-EU and anti NATO, becoming mainstream •MIEP: Trianon Treaty, and revisionism, anti-Semitism, anti-Ziganism, anti-EU and anti NATO •The scholar Heller notices that the lines between the discourses of moderate right and radical right politics have been blurring. As the boundaries become more and more porous, the languages of right wing radicalism become more and more accepted in Hungary (Heller 2010) hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Polarisation in Hungary • •Fidesz and Viktor Orbán 1998-2002, •Jobbik •Magyar Guarda • • •Népszabadság •Euro-optimists, against Orbánistán •Together – Party for a New Era – movement transformed into party in 2013, anti-Orbán, for democracy, liberal (out of Patriotism and Progress Association, One Million for Press Freedom (Milla) and Hungarian Solidarity Movement) • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Poland •s Poland’s electoral divide is rooted in historical and cultural factors. The regions that generally vote for centrist or left-center candidates had all been part of Germany (and more specifically, Prussia) before World War I, whereas those that vote for center-right candidates had all been part of either the Russian or the Austro-Hungarian empire in the same period. Source: http://www.geocurrents.info/geopolitics/elections/polands-stark-electoral-divide#ixzz59dXoG ieJthis divide persisted after the massive population dislocations that occurred at the end of World War II, when millions of ethnic Germans were expelled from what is now western and northern Poland and replaced by millions of poles transferred from the east. Oppole- german minorrity which was kept and Hajnowka, belarus minority not following the pattern. hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Polish Political parties •PiS : mainstreaming nationalism •PSL: conservative •Modern : pro-European, liberal •Kukiz : eurosceptic, populist, soft-nationalist •PO : opposition to nationalism but discredited •LPR: Euroscepticism, national and Christian narrative, focusing on the national values against the ill liberal Europe (LGBT rights, feminism, right to abortion, legalisation of euthanasia). Becoming marginal • PiS Law and Justice Party hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png MEP Janusz Korwin Mikke: several times suspended and fined from the European Parliament for Nazi salute, harsh nationalism referring to migrants as “human garbage” and denigration of women. hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Polarisation in Poland • •League of Polish families – anti-liberal, natioanlist, part of Kaczynski government 2006-7 •Law and Justice Party- largest Polish party, national conservativism, Kaczynski, Beata Szydlo PM since 2015 removed EU flag, Polish Constitutional Crisis 2015 • “strong” state instead of a “lawful” state, to be guided by “Polish values” and “Christian traditions,” •deeply hostile to any political opposition, •battle with a Europe committed to “totalitarian” ideas like gender equality and resettling refugees. • In the PiS worldview there are no opponents, only traitors • • •Krytyka Polityczna – Polish left wing intellectuals and its founder •Sławomir SIERAKOWKI •New left •Feminists and greens • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Slovakia • •a • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Slovakian Political Parties •SMĚR: light pragmatic nationalism •OLANO : light pragmatic nationalism •We are a family : anti-immigration, eurosceptic card •Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) “put the immigrants on the military boat and send them back home” as “the great amount of migrants means less freedom for our citizens” asserting that he is a Slovak nationalist: “As the Mohamed is a key figure in Islam, Jesus is a key figure in Christianity. However, Jesus spread Christianity with word, Mohamed with a sword”. •Bridge: ethnic hungarian party •SNS – far right becoming mainstream •LSNS : admiration to the WWII formations, strong anti-Semitism and anti-Ziganism, Anti-EU, anti-NATO, Heterosexuals vs. Ill homosexuals, anti migrants • All main competing parties played in the past with nationalism •BUT NOW U-TURN BACK TO EUROPE – we are the only pro-European island in central europe • • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Polarisation in Slovakia • •Slovak National Party •Fico and SMĚR- pragmatic in relations with Russia, anti mandatary quotas on refugees,initially strongly anti-Hunggarian and anti-Orbán, anti-migrant rhetoric •People´s Party- our Slovakia and Marián Kotleba, anti-Roma, then anti-immigrants, governor of Banská Bystrica, neo-Nazi background • • •Similarities to the Czech case •Intelligentsia •New left • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png How media refer to radical right populism and shape the public discourse? •Berlusconisation of the media •Neutral or negative framing (Sládek, Slota, Okamura) •Leaders framed as psychopats, lunatic •Increased media attention faciliating electoral success •Jobbik as persona non grata •radical right narratives appear in the Hungarian media but the radical right politicians and parties are treated as persona non grata of the Hungarian media space hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png How media refer to radical right´s topics and shape so the public discourse? •TV Prima and refugees •avoid showing images of women and children in their coverage of the refugee crisis in Hungary •newspapers in WE were generally more compassionate towards the plight of refugees compared to CEE •minority is presented in a negative and stereotypical and prejudiced way (Romas, Muslims) hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Concluding remarks • •the lines between the discourses of moderate right and radical right politics have been blurring •Rise of populist formations which use nationalist card (all cases) •Zemanisation (mainstreaming of nationalism and xenophobia) •Marginalisation of the far right (czech r., poland) •Berlusconisation (media in the hands of politicians) •Kremlinization (pro-Russian campaigns) •Orbanisation (dismantling democracy) •Polarisation of the society and politics •The only clearly pro-European state – Slovakia • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Populism: Threat or a Challenge? •Populism can be like a guest who comes late and drunk to the dinner, does not respect the manners but spells out the painful troubles of the group (Arditi 2005). So far, in Poland and in Hungary, the guest not only disrupted the party, but dissolved it and launched a new one under his rules. Not only that, the guest started to delimit the party along the ethnic lines, oppose the other supranational parties previously befriended with and brainwash the people with his own ideology hindering the new guests to come and stay labelling them as strange and threatening. The party got polarized, half of it started to believe a new leader, half of it started to oppose the new rules. In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the party was only disrupted and painful troubles were spelled out but it was enough to polarize the society along the cleavage cosmopolitan vs. communitarian and enlarge already existing gap between the EU older states and the new ones. A new specter of national populism spread its claws over Central and Eastern Europe and became a many headed beast that takes different forms and is extremely difficult to fight with. The question remains open whether this is the beginning of an end of the great multi-ethnic supranational party. hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Concluding remarks • •the lines between the discourses of moderate right and radical right politics have been blurring •Rise of populist formations which use nationalist card (all cases) •Zemanisation (mainstreaming of nationalism and xenophobia) •Marginalisation of the far right •Berlusconisation (media in the hands of politicians) •Kremlinization (pro-Russian campaigns) •Orbanisation (dismantling democracy) •Polarisation of the society and politics • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png Concluding remarks •Czech political parties have a long tradition of promoting Czech nationhood—it has in fact been promoted by virtually every relevant political party in the contemporary political milieu •Nationalism has been misused, appropriated and legitimized by top governmental leaders. •Their legitimation of far right topics has led to the marginalisation of the far right. •The day-to-day use of discriminatory, exclusionary, and xenophobic speech by Czech leaders is reflected in media accounts that transmit the message that negative stereotypes are normal, casual, and ultimately neutral. •This serves to reproduce and further reinforce societal prejudices, and the result is visible in an intolerant public discourse •As it stands, the Czech Republic is a country with no potential for a significant populist radical right party but with nationalism on the agenda of almost all the parties. Because of unfavourable political opportunity structures, that should remain true into the foreseeable future. • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png • hashOverlay-FullResolve.png HD-ShadowLong.png HD-ShadowShort.png How to fight against political parties that threaten the rule of law, human rights and democracy? •Media ownership •Political culture, elite behaviour. •Middle class discontent, economic variables (unemployment, economic crisis, foreign domination welfare payment cuts) •Avoid referenda and polarization of the society •International context •Fake news, Kremlinization of the media. •Charismatic leader •Work with youth, social media, FB and new media •Education projects for secondary schools – history lessons, democracy classes, EU classes, human rights classes •Cultural projects, face to face •Language knowledge promotion •Professional political campaign •Give up political correctness •