Paper short abstract:

I will demonstrate a homology between the political discourses of the Hungarian New Right, on the one hand, and those of post-9/11 U.S. and the European Union, on the other, thus rejecting analyses that limit such developments their respective national frames.

Paper long abstract:

Since the fall of 2012 Hungary has witnessed some major street demonstrations: the one accompanying the formation of a new alliance of anti-FIDESZ forces; the anti-Nazi rally after the suggestion of an extreme right wing MP that Jewish citizens should be centrally registered; the solidary protests condemning a FIDESZ member's call to eliminate all Roma, since they are animals; and not in the least the many student demonstrations protesting the radical reduction of tuition-free spaces at universities. I will interrogate these protests and their limitations in responding to the Hungarian government's politics of grievance by highlighting two opposing concepts of the political, following Jacques Ranciere's analysis of the ethical community, in which the ethical action on behalf of victims is prioritized over the rule of law and human rights. I will demonstrate a homology between the political discourses of the Hungarian New Right, on the one hand, and those of post-9/11 U.S. and the European Union, on the other, thus rejecting analyses that limit such developments their respective national frames.