So maybe what we’ve got is a right-wing strongman superseding a fascist movement, sort of like what Franco did with the Falangists.

Or is that quite right? The group in question was quoting civil rights hymns after being banned and vowing to carry on — apparently by holding private gathering that was broken up by the cops — could it be that we’re talking about a racial justice organization being suppressed by majoritarian tyranny? We appear to have a glitch in the matrix along these lines, with a Buzzfeed reporter tweeting that the detentions of white nationalists were “fast becoming a Hungarian free speech issue.”

Both interpretations probably give the conference too much credit. Both of their marquee partnerships pulled out or didn’t show; Jobbik and Aleksander Dugin (whom the conference organizer’s wife did translation work for). Though Jobbik still apparently claims it’s not a racist conference.

Anyway, Richard Spencer bet on Hungary, with a right wing among the strongest in Europe, as being hospitable to the sort of ideas that are expressed at your average NPI conference. This was not just incorrect, but as Jobbik pulling out seems to suggest, vastly unrealistic.

I’m reminded of this piece by Dalibor Rohac which conflated Orban with neoreaction and the European New Right. I don’t mean to pick on him. It’s a good example of the way most people think. But it’s too simple to explain the situation in Budapest. Clearly what we’re dealing with is at least not a unified threat. (To catch up, check out Paul Brian’s Youtube channel and Twitter feed).

Look at how Spencer frames his objections to being detained:

“I find this quite depressing. We were obeying the law, we were meeting privately. This is not a conference, this is not a public event. I don’t know exactly what we’re being charged with. … They’re essentially just scaring people.

Apparently he’s failed to appreciate that, while he may be visiting what is nominally still a degenerate democracy, the present government is less than scrupulous about things like free expression and due process. What did he expect?

Here’s hoping next year Orban does the same to the commies.

*****

The path to a healthier society does not run through tattoos in gothic lettering, track jackets, Thor’s hammer necklaces, some easily-shared “architectural treasure,” and all the other activist nonsense NPI serves as the (ever-so-slightly more) respectable face of. This is true no matter how accessible the Internet has made their message.

This is one of today’s readings, I’ll just leave it here:

Let me now sing of my friend,
my friend’s song concerning his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside;
he spaded it, cleared it of stones,
and planted the choicest vines;
within it he built a watchtower,
and hewed out a wine press.
Then he looked for the crop of grapes,
but what it yielded was wild grapes.

Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard:
What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I had not done?
Why, when I looked for the crop of grapes,
did it bring forth wild grapes?
Now, I will let you know
what I mean to do with my vineyard:
take away its hedge, give it to grazing,
break through its wall, let it be trampled!
Yes, I will make it a ruin:
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
but overgrown with thorns and briers;
I will command the clouds
not to send rain upon it.
The vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his cherished plant;
he looked for judgment, but see, bloodshed!
for justice, but hark, the outcry! (Isaiah 5: 1-7)