Nationalist delirium

Romania in January, 1990: In the opaque power politics that followed the execution of Communist state and party leader Nicolae Ceausescu, the nationalism of the old guard quickly developed into an ideology that spanned the entire political spectrum.

Above all, this new environment found its militant and radical expression in several of the country's far-right organizations.

Nationalist delirium

The fatal similarity between the "new" slogans and the nationalist agitation propagated during the Ceausescu era was not apparent to the members of these organizations. They sung traditional songs concerning mythically transfigured folk heroes as if they were the warrior songs of fascist legionaries of the 1930s. In the end, the xenophobic undertones of these songs brought those that sang them into a delirium of nationalism.

The political changes of 1989 enabled the reemergence of the long lost clerical-fascist legionary ideology. Even today, there is a widespread tendency among Romania's far-right organizations to deny the Holocaust and the anti-Semitic pogroms carried out by the legionaries.

During the Antonescu fascist military dictatorship from 1940 to 1944, around 400,000 Romanian Jews were executed in Nazi-esque concentration camps. Romania's nationalists continue to reject such allegations until the present day.

Claims to exclusive agency

The right-wing extremist parties that emerged after the fall of Communism are, however, hopelessly divided. Radu Sorescu, founder and head of the Party of National Rights, rejects the existence of all other ultra-nationalist organizations and describes them as "organized traitors of the Romanian Fatherland." Of these, though, there is one group that he finds worthy of imitation: the legionary movement founded by the notorious Hitler-admirer Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.

In Sorescu's ideal state there is no place for national minorities. Thus he and his party members have set out to fight against what they call the "Gypsy danger," to confine all Roma on "Reservations" and to erect an "ethnocratic state" to be ruled exclusively by pure-bred Romanians.

The "leaders" of each of Romania's right-wing groups claims an exclusive right to represent the ideals of the Romanian nation. This is why they are so divided - and why they have been unable to draw up a mutual political manifesto.

This was the case even with the Greater Romania Party, which until 2008 was represented in parliament and whose leader, Corneliu Vadim Tudor is currently a member of the European Parliament.

Tudor's nationalist-populist speeches carry the stamp of right-wing extremist demagogy; he propagates absurd fears of xenophobia that, in a political climate like that in Romania, often draw significant audiences.

European alliance preferred

The organization Noua Dreapta (New Right) is also against working together with its ultra-nationalist competitors. This group, led by the attorney Tudor Ionescu defines itself as "radical, militant, nationalist and Christian Orthodox."

The New Right organization calls for a strong Romanian nationalist state, for the unconditional union of Romania with the republic of Moldova, for the stiff punishment of what they call "Gypsy crimes" and for an absolute ban on abortion.

At the same time, however, the nationalist-oriented group defines itself as euroskeptic and as an opponent of multiculturalism and NATO. Their political manifesto also includes the fight against "Hungarian separatism" and homosexuality.

In order to avoid being accused of inciting national hatred the Noua Dreapta group - as well as many others - also practices a kind of camouflaged anti-Semitism. Without being concrete - yet with enough innuendo to get their point across - the party makes public reference to the dangers of "occult forces" to the survival of the Romanian nation.

The perpetually anti-Jewish prejudices against Freemasons, secretive alliances and the representatives of the "New World Order" are simple enough for the public to decipher. They serve as a way to propagate a form of veiled anti-Semitism.

The Noua Dreapta, which has links to Germany's far-right National Democratic Party (NPD), is part of the European National Front, a federation of far-right radical groups that was founded in 2004.

The group pushed for the founding of a political party in 2010 and has claimed that it will attempt such an undertaking at parliamentary elections in 2012 under the name Partidul Naţionalist (Nationalist Party).

Far-right rhetoric accepted?

There is no danger that any of Romania's ultra-nationalist organizations will come to power in present-day Romania. This does not mean, however, that nationalist and populist undertones aren't present.

Such rhetoric is tried and trusted fare on the campaign trail, even for democratic parties. But it tends to cast the individual politicians who resort to it in a bad light - and raise justified questions about their democratic competence.

Author: William Totok / glb
Editor: Chuck Penfold