Noua Dreaptă

Noua Dreaptă (English: The New Right) is an ultranationalist, far-right organization in Romania and Moldova, founded in 2000. The party claims to be the successor to the nationalist Iron Guard with the aesthetics and ideology being directly influenced by the fascist movement and its leader, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu.[5]

The New Right

Noua Dreaptă
LeaderTudor Ionescu
Founded2000 (2000) (as NGO)
2015 (2015) (as party)
HeadquartersBucharest, Romania
IdeologyLegionarism[1]
Clerical fascism
Romanian ultranationalism
Romanian irredentism
Euroscepticism
Anti-Western sentiment
Anti-Islam
Anti-immigration
Anti-globalism
Antisemitism[2]
Political positionFar-right[3][4]
ReligionRomanian Orthodox Church
National affiliationNational Identity Bloc in Europe
European affiliationAlliance for Peace and Freedom
Colours  Green
  White
Senate
0 / 136
Chamber of Deputies
0 / 330
European Parliament
0 / 33
Mayors
0 / 3,176
County Councilors
0 / 1,340
Local Council Councilors
2 / 39,900
Party flag
Website
www.nouadreapta.org
A political sticker displaying the Celtic cross and the words "identitate naţională, revoluţie spirituală" (national identity, spiritual revolution).

Beliefs

The group's beliefs include militant ultranationalism and strong Orthodox Christian religious convictions. Noua Dreaptă's website[6] indicates opposition to:} sexual minorities, Roma (Gypsies), abortion, communism, globalization, the European Union, NATO, religious groups other than the Eastern Orthodox Church, race-mixing, territorial autonomy for Romania's ethnic Hungarian minority and immoderate cultural import (including some American culture, manele music, and the celebration of Valentine's Day). They are against both Marxism and capitalism, following the third positionist ideology.

The members of Noua Dreaptă revere the leader of the Iron Guard in the 1930s, Corneliu Zelea Codreanu. Noua Dreaptă members refer to him as "Căpitanul" ("The Captain"), which is what Codreanu's supporters called him during his lifetime.

Goals and actions

The stated ultimate political aim of Noua Dreaptă is to restore Greater Romania, which represented Romania at its greatest geographic expanse before World War II. The group also states it is strongly opposed to the principles of representative democracy, which it sees as an "inadequate" form of government. Some individual members are monarchists.

Noua Dreaptă is registered as a political party since 2015. The number of members is undocumented, but it is estimated from 1000 to 2000.

Among other actions, the organization attempts to attract supporters through publicity campaigns aimed against foreign influence without any connections with the Romanian traditional heritage (and therefore negative) cultural influences - such as Valentine's Day.

Affiliations

Noua Dreaptă was part of the European National Front, an umbrella group of far-right nationalist organizations, many of which can be characterized as Fascist. The Noua Dreaptă web site includes a column of "links of interest" to numerous extreme nationalist organizations throughout Europe, including the following:

Noua Dreaptă is also reported to have ties to the following political groups:

As of 30 May 2018, Noua Dreaptă is a member of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom. The AFP is a far-right and ultranationalist European political party that also includes Forza Nuova, National Democratic Party of Germany, Kotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia and National Democracy among others.[12]

Extremist reputation

Stamp bearing the symbol of the Iron Guard over a green cross that stood for one of its humanitarian ventures.

Noua Dreaptă uses imagery associated with legionarism, the ideology of the nationalist and anti-Semitic interwar Iron Guard, which roughly paralleled the Fascist and Nazi movements in Italy and Germany, respectively. The group's symbol, for example — the Celtic cross (usually drawn on a green background) — is reminiscent of the insignia of the Iron Guard.

Noua Dreaptă has aligned itself with organizations elsewhere in Europe with strongly anti-Semitic views,[13] although it has not focused its efforts against Romania's currently small Jewish community. Rather, the group has concentrated its rhetoric and efforts against the ethnic Hungarians, Roma (Gypsies), sexual minorities[14] and minority religious faiths.[15]

Its anti-democratic and anti-constitutional views and statements made them a permanent target of surveillance by the Directorate for the Defense of the Constitution, a department of the domestic intelligence service.

Political rallies

In May 2006, dozens of Noua Dreaptă members were detained by police after protesting the GayFest pride parade in Bucharest.[16] Police also used tear gas to disperse counterprotesters led by individuals identified as Noua Dreaptă members.

On 15 March 2008, on the National Day of Hungary, Noua Dreaptă organized an anti-Hungarian rally in Cluj-Napoca — an action which, after group members attacked and beat an ethnic Hungarian celebrator, led UDMR leader Marko Bela to criticize Cluj's mayor Emil Boc for approving it. In addition, two ethnic Hungarian members of the Romanian Parliament demanded the banning of Noua Dreaptă on the grounds that it continues Iron Guard's spirit.[17]

Electoral history

Legislative elections

Election Chamber Senate Position Aftermath
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
2016 did not compete Extra-parliamentary opposition to PSD-ALDE government (2017–2019)
Extra-parliamentary opposition to PSD minority government (2019)
Extra-parliamentary opposition to PNL minority government (2019–2020)
2020 3,551 0.06
0 / 329
4,345 0.07
0 / 136
 29th  Extra-parliamentary opposition to PNL-USR-PLUS-UDMR government (2020–present)

Local elections

Election County Councilors (CJ) Mayors Local Councilors (CL) Popular vote % Position
Votes % Seats Votes % Seats Votes % Seats
2016 N/A N/A
0 / 1,434
N/A N/A
0 / 3,186
N/A N/A
4 / 40,067
N/A N/A N/A
2020 did not compete
0 / 1,340
984 0.01
0 / 3,176
2,056 0.03
2 / 39,900
N/A N/A  73rd 

See also

References

  1. US Department of State, "2008 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Romania", February 25, 2009
  2. ואגו, רפאל; Vago, Raphael (2003). "Anti-Semitic Media in Post-Communist Romania / תקשורת אנטישמית ברומניה הפוסט קומוניסטית". Kesher / קשר (33): 108–115. JSTOR 23919091.
  3. Uwe Backes, Patrick Moreau (2012). Against all expectations. The Extreme Right in Europe: Current Trends and Perspectives. ISBN 9783647369228. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
  4. "Gay pride à Bucarest sur fond de mouvement anti-mariages homosexuels" (in French). Le Point. 25 June 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  5. "Între legionarism deghizat şi naţionalism-autoritar". Radio Europa Liberă.
  6. https://web.archive.org/web/20180831140118/http://www.nouadreapta.org/
  7. "Danskernes Parti besøgte Rumænien" Archived 2016-04-28 at the Wayback Machine, in Corneliu Codreanus monument 3 December 2013 (in Romanian)
  8. https://web.archive.org/web/20110727091224/http://mncbasarabia.org/
  9. https://web.archive.org/web/20100914164131/http://bg.bgns.net/
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20110103020824/http://www.rus-obraz.net/en/
  11. ЕСМ и румынские неонацисты объединились для борьбы против государства Украина, Lenta: Transdniestrian News Agency, 09/05/2009, accessed 15.05.2009
  12. Pühse, Jens. "Milan Congress and Meeting – APF".
  13. "Support-Page".
  14. NOUA DREAPTA :: Pentru Dumnezeu, Neam si Tara ! (in English)
  15. 2003 International Religious Freedom Report (Romania) — from U.S. State Department web site
  16. "Business & Financial News, U.S & International Breaking News | Reuters". www.reuters.com. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008.
  17. "Noua Dreaptă, subiect de dispută între Boc şi UDMR", in Evenimentul Zilei 17 March 2008 (in Romanian)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.