WJC resolution on the rise of extremist parties in Europe

The 14th Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress, meeting in Budapest on 5-7 May 2013, 
RECALLS with great sadness the lack of appropriate and energetic action on the part of German democrats that led: to the rise to power of the Nazis; to the demise of the Weimar Republic; and to the persecution of Jews in Germany and Europe eight decades ago;

NOTES with great concern the emergence in several European countries, notably Greece and Hungary, of electorally successful, far-right and neo-Nazi parties who: openly glorify Hitler’s Nazi regime; publicly utilize Nazi terminology in respect of  Jews and other minorities; and espouse the toxic combination of extreme anti-Semitic discourse, aggressive national chauvinism, and anti-capitalist and anti-socialist rhetoric that hallmarked the thinking and deeds of the Nazi Party;

NOTES also the need to raise public awareness to the development of a nascent movement in the Ukraine, which although considered marginal now has the real prospect of developing into a more serious and dangerous threat to the Jewish community.

URGES the peoples of Europe not to allow extremist hate mongers to once again undermine democracies and to defeat any such parties at the ballot box;

CALLS on Hungary to recognize that the ideology and the actions of the Jobbik movement and its subsidiaries, including the New Hungarian Guard, pose a fundamental threat to Hungary’s democracy, and that decisive action by all democratic forces against these contemporary expressions of extremism must now be taken;

URGES the Hungarian authorities to take effective measures including by enacting and enforcing legislation, for the protection of all citizens and residents of this country, in particular vulnerable minorities such as the Roma and the Jews, against threats of violence, racist hate and insults and the denial of the Holocaust;

URGES the Prime Minister of Hungary and other national leaders and legislators in Europe to join the 125 legislators from more than 40 countries, in signing the London Declaration on Combating anti-Semitism.

CALLS on parliaments and governments in countries to enact and enforce legislation, for the protection of all citizens and residents of their countries, in particular vulnerable minorities such as the Jews, against threats of violence, racist hate and insults and the denial of the Holocaust and where appropriate constitutional provisions exist, such as in Germany, to seriously and urgently consider banning neo-Nazi parties, or organizations whose aim is to overthrow the democratic order, or which pose a threat to the safety and well-being of ethnic, religious or other minorities;

RECOMMENDS that all countries, in particular those whose Jewish populations were decimated in the Shoah, implement legal measures that prohibit the public denial of the Holocaust as a manifestation of incitement to hatred against Jews.

CALLS UPON the president of the World Jewish Congress to establish a Task Force to make recommendations to the Executive Committee for the implementation of the above objectives, including an effective public education campaign.

Jake Sharfman
Senior Associate
Puder Public Relations LLC
www.puderpr.com