by EVELYNE PIEILLER
Traditional riders at the 2013 Kurultáj festival in Bugac, Hungary PHOTO/Peter Kohalmi/AFP/Getty
Nationalism and a fantasy of a medieval, tribal past are now both popular culture and politics in Hungary. They’re anti-western, anti-capitalism and, surprisingly, supported by the young.
bout 800 heavy metal fans gathered at a concert this August in a huge open-air amphitheatre in a small town near Lake Balaton in Hungary. The metallers’ appearance was familiar (shaved heads or long hair, Goth T-shirts, cartridge belts and skull rings, elaborate tattoos on muscled arms, beer cans), although there were more families than usual and many wore T-shirts with runic writing and strange maps. The gig was by Kárpátia, a ‘patriotic rock’ band, as they are called in Hungarian. At the back of the stage was the image of a skeletal bird like a heraldic eagle — a turul,the mythical creature supposed to have accompanied the Magyars on their conquest of the Danube plain.
The band’s songs were short and lively. János Petrás, the lead singer and bass player, with his shaved head and striking moustache, held the stage with the self-assurance of a star. The guitarist thrashed his long hair. The audience intermittently made the sign of the devil — index and little finger raised — the traditional indication of approval at heavy metal gigs. Nothing out of the ordinary until flags were suddenly unfurled: little ones, some held by children, and very big ones. They were not Hungary’s current flag — superimposed on its red, white and green horizontal stripes were two angels supporting a coat of arms: the flag of the Kingdom of Hungary.
There were also variations on the horizontal red and white stripes that provoke outrage among all but extreme far-right sympathisers. These colours belonged to the Árpád dynasty, which founded the kingdom, and are now used by those who style themselves the only ‘true Hungarians’. They were also used by Hungary’s own brand of Nazis, the Arrow Cross Party, founded in 1939 and in power from October 1944 to March 1945, a willing collaborator in Nazi exterminations, especially of Hungary’s Jews, half a million of whom died. The most perplexing flags were blue with a yellow stripe and a sun and crescent (…)
Le Monde Diplomatique for more