Latest news with #IronGuard
France 24
02-05-2025
- Politics
- France 24
Far-right neo-Legionary movement looms over Romania's election re-run
Romanians head to the polls on Sunday for a re-run of last November's presidential election, which was annulled following reports of foreign interference. That vote had seen the surprise victory of a previously unknown far-right independent candidate: Calin Georgescu. An isolationist and ultra-nationalist, Georgescu has ties to neo-Legionary groups, which have roots in the pre-war Iron Guard fascist movement. This stance is increasingly resonating with voters in the "sovereigntist" camp, while alarming liberal circles. Though Georgescu's candidacy was later struck down by the Constitutional Court, he is being replaced by George Simion, who has vowed to use every means necessary to propel Georgescu to power. FRANCE 24's Maria Gerth-Niculescu reports.
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Romanians court far-right symbolism in run-up to election
By Luiza Ilie BUCHAREST (Reuters) - On a sunny day in April, hundreds of Romanians queued on the outskirts of Bucharest to visit a tomb bearing a vivid green flag with the insignia of the Iron Guard, one of Europe's most violent antisemitic movements of the 1930s. While displaying Iron Guard symbols was banned in Romania two decades ago, the flag flutters in the breeze over the grave of Ilie Lacatusu, a Guard member canonised by the Orthodox Church last year, every Sunday. Fascist-era symbols dot other Romanian cities, too, such as monuments or streets named after Iron Guard heroes or writers associated with the movement, in a show of resonance that political analysts say is bolstering the far right ahead of Sunday's presidential election. Romania's nationalist far right surged in popularity in a string of elections last year, culminating with little-known pro-Russia Calin Georgescu topping the first round of a presidential ballot in November - before a court cancelled that vote a month later amid allegations of Russian interference. With Georgescu now banned from running again, opinion polls show hard-right opposition leader and eurosceptic George Simion poised to win on Sunday, with some 30% of the vote. Analysts say much of that popularity comes from the ability of hard-right leaders like Georgescu and Simion to harness long-standing grassroots acceptance of wartime fascist figures and their conservative values to stoke voter anger over high living costs and perceived social immorality they blame on mainstream centre-left and centre-right politicians and Western elites. "Everything that has happened in this country has been done against us, especially since our vote was stolen," designer Lucian Datcu, 51, said as he left Lacatusu's tomb earlier this month. He plans to vote for Simion. "We need to try someone else." Like some others seeking solace around Lacatusu's tomb, Datcu shrugs off his Iron Guard past. Ioana Scumpieru, 69, a pensioner who works as a nanny, said that what was important for her was the spiritual experience, not history. "Things go very well for me after I pray at his tomb. It does not bother me," she said. 'NORMALISATION' While no one in Romania advocates violence or antisemitism in public, activists say the electoral trend is worrisome. "Like it or not, an important segment of the population either does not care about (these) toxic values or they embrace them," said Marius Cazan, researcher at the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania. "The problem with normalising this narrative about the past is that rather than critically examining the movement's toxic parts, it praises it," he said. Formed in 1927 and bolstered by the ensuing Great Depression and the economic toll it inflicted across Europe, the Iron Guard built its following on blaming Jews for the poverty and lack of opportunity enveloping the east European country, combined with deeply religious, anti-capitalist and anti-communist messaging. It was responsible for riots and pogroms, including one in Bucharest in 1941 when more than 100 Jews were killed and some hung on hooks in a slaughterhouse. The Iron Guard was outlawed shortly afterwards. Lacatusu, according to the Wiesel Institute, was a local unit leader in southwestern Romania. Simion, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, is critical of Brussels leadership and supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump, has sidestepped direct questions about the Iron Guard. When asked about it, he told Reuters: "These times are reminiscent of the inter-war period - the rule of law is being broken and political opinions censored. People are not being listened to, they are being defied by those clinging to power." But several of his party's members, Georgescu and other far-right politicians have openly praised Iron Guard leaders and Ion Antonescu, Romania's de facto World War Two leader. Under Antonescu, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany until August 1944, when it changed sides. A 2004 report found that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews and thousands of Roma were killed by civilian and military authorities in Romania and areas they controlled during the war. Romania, now a European Union and NATO member country, apologized in 2003. A mandatory school class about the Holocaust was introduced last year. But Iron Guard propaganda and acceptance of Romania's far-right leaders have slowly been spreading into the mainstream. Many Iron Guard members and supporters died in prisons under communist rule after the war, many of them priests. They are known as anti-communist fighters and "prison saints," and commemorations in their honour draw dozens of people each year. At some, attendees have flashed the Nazi salute. Some of Romania's most famous interwar writers and thinkers were vocal supporters of the Iron Guard and remain celebrated today as part of the country's identity and heritage. Although honouring fascist figures and symbols in public is illegal, cases rarely get prosecuted. The prosecutor general said only some 20 such incidents got reported on average yearly. "A part of Romanian society is ambiguous about the ... fascist past while another part is fairly radicalised," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University. "For the new ultranationalist parties, what resonates is denouncing globalisation and the foreign elements that (they see as) responsible for everything wrong that is happening." Romania's president has a semi-executive role that includes chairing the council that decides on military aid and defence spending, and can veto EU votes that require unanimity. The country has a pro-EU coalition government.
Straits Times
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Romanians court far-right symbolism in run-up to election
BUCHAREST - On a sunny day in April, hundreds of Romanians queued on the outskirts of Bucharest to visit a tomb bearing a vivid green flag with the insignia of the Iron Guard, one of Europe's most violent antisemitic movements of the 1930s. While displaying Iron Guard symbols was banned in Romania two decades ago, the flag flutters in the breeze over the grave of Ilie Lacatusu, a Guard member canonised by the Orthodox Church last year, every Sunday. Fascist-era symbols dot other Romanian cities, too, such as monuments or streets named after Iron Guard heroes or writers associated with the movement, in a show of resonance that political analysts say is bolstering the far right ahead of Sunday's presidential election. Romania's nationalist far right surged in popularity in a string of elections last year, culminating with little-known pro-Russia Calin Georgescu topping the first round of a presidential ballot in November - before a court cancelled that vote a month later amid allegations of Russian interference. With Georgescu now banned from running again, opinion polls show hard-right opposition leader and eurosceptic George Simion poised to win on Sunday, with some 30% of the vote. Analysts say much of that popularity comes from the ability of hard-right leaders like Georgescu and Simion to harness long-standing grassroots acceptance of wartime fascist figures and their conservative values to stoke voter anger over high living costs and perceived social immorality they blame on mainstream centre-left and centre-right politicians and Western elites. "Everything that has happened in this country has been done against us, especially since our vote was stolen," designer Lucian Datcu, 51, said as he left Lacatusu's tomb earlier this month. He plans to vote for Simion. "We need to try someone else." Like some others seeking solace around Lacatusu's tomb, Datcu shrugs off his Iron Guard past. Ioana Scumpieru, 69, a pensioner who works as a nanny, said that what was important for her was the spiritual experience, not history. "Things go very well for me after I pray at his tomb. It does not bother me," she said. 'NORMALISATION' While no one in Romania advocates violence or antisemitism in public, activists say the electoral trend is worrisome. "Like it or not, an important segment of the population either does not care about (these) toxic values or they embrace them," said Marius Cazan, researcher at the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania. "The problem with normalising this narrative about the past is that rather than critically examining the movement's toxic parts, it praises it," he said. Formed in 1927 and bolstered by the ensuing Great Depression and the economic toll it inflicted across Europe, the Iron Guard built its following on blaming Jews for the poverty and lack of opportunity enveloping the east European country, combined with deeply religious, anti-capitalist and anti-communist messaging. It was responsible for riots and pogroms, including one in Bucharest in 1941 when more than 100 Jews were killed and some hung on hooks in a slaughterhouse. The Iron Guard was outlawed shortly afterwards. Lacatusu, according to the Wiesel Institute, was a local unit leader in southwestern Romania. Simion, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, is critical of Brussels leadership and supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump, has sidestepped direct questions about the Iron Guard. When asked about it, he told Reuters: "These times are reminiscent of the inter-war period - the rule of law is being broken and political opinions censored. People are not being listened to, they are being defied by those clinging to power." But several of his party's members, Georgescu and other far-right politicians have openly praised Iron Guard leaders and Ion Antonescu, Romania's de facto World War Two leader. Under Antonescu, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany until August 1944, when it changed sides. A 2004 report found that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews and thousands of Roma were killed by civilian and military authorities in Romania and areas they controlled during the war. Romania, now a European Union and NATO member country, apologized in 2003. A mandatory school class about the Holocaust was introduced last year. But Iron Guard propaganda and acceptance of Romania's far-right leaders have slowly been spreading into the mainstream. Many Iron Guard members and supporters died in prisons under communist rule after the war, many of them priests. They are known as anti-communist fighters and "prison saints," and commemorations in their honour draw dozens of people each year. At some, attendees have flashed the Nazi salute. Some of Romania's most famous interwar writers and thinkers were vocal supporters of the Iron Guard and remain celebrated today as part of the country's identity and heritage. Although honouring fascist figures and symbols in public is illegal, cases rarely get prosecuted. The prosecutor general said only some 20 such incidents got reported on average yearly. "A part of Romanian society is ambiguous about the ... fascist past while another part is fairly radicalised," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University. "For the new ultranationalist parties, what resonates is denouncing globalisation and the foreign elements that (they see as) responsible for everything wrong that is happening." Romania's president has a semi-executive role that includes chairing the council that decides on military aid and defence spending, and can veto EU votes that require unanimity. The country has a pro-EU coalition government. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Reuters
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Romanians court far-right symbolism in run-up to election
Summary Romanians visit tomb of Iron Guard member that displays banned symbols of 1930s antisemitic movement Far right popularity's rising in Romania, with George Simion leading polls for Sunday's presidential election Normalisation of fascist symbols and figures raises concerns in EU and NATO member state BUCHAREST, April 29 (Reuters) - On a sunny day in April, hundreds of Romanians queued on the outskirts of Bucharest to visit a tomb bearing a vivid green flag with the insignia of the Iron Guard, one of Europe's most violent antisemitic movements of the 1930s. While displaying Iron Guard symbols was banned in Romania two decades ago, the flag flutters in the breeze over the grave of Ilie Lacatusu, a Guard member canonised by the Orthodox Church last year, every Sunday. Fascist-era symbols dot other Romanian cities, too, such as monuments or streets named after Iron Guard heroes or writers associated with the movement, in a show of resonance that political analysts say is bolstering the far right ahead of Sunday's presidential election. Romania's nationalist far right surged in popularity in a string of elections last year, culminating with little-known pro-Russia Calin Georgescu topping the first round of a presidential ballot in November - before a court cancelled that vote a month later amid allegations of Russian interference. With Georgescu now banned from running again, opinion polls show hard-right opposition leader and eurosceptic George Simion poised to win on Sunday, with some 30% of the vote. Analysts say much of that popularity comes from the ability of hard-right leaders like Georgescu and Simion to harness long-standing grassroots acceptance of wartime fascist figures and their conservative values to stoke voter anger over high living costs and perceived social immorality they blame on mainstream centre-left and centre-right politicians and Western elites. "Everything that has happened in this country has been done against us, especially since our vote was stolen," designer Lucian Datcu, 51, said as he left Lacatusu's tomb earlier this month. He plans to vote for Simion. "We need to try someone else." Like some others seeking solace around Lacatusu's tomb, Datcu shrugs off his Iron Guard past. Ioana Scumpieru, 69, a pensioner who works as a nanny, said that what was important for her was the spiritual experience, not history. "Things go very well for me after I pray at his tomb. It does not bother me," she said. 'NORMALISATION' While no one in Romania advocates violence or antisemitism in public, activists say the electoral trend is worrisome. "Like it or not, an important segment of the population either does not care about (these) toxic values or they embrace them," said Marius Cazan, researcher at the Elie Wiesel National Institute for the Study of the Holocaust in Romania. "The problem with normalising this narrative about the past is that rather than critically examining the movement's toxic parts, it praises it," he said. Formed in 1927 and bolstered by the ensuing Great Depression and the economic toll it inflicted across Europe, the Iron Guard built its following on blaming Jews for the poverty and lack of opportunity enveloping the east European country, combined with deeply religious, anti-capitalist and anti-communist messaging. It was responsible for riots and pogroms, including one in Bucharest in 1941 when more than 100 Jews were killed and some hung on hooks in a slaughterhouse. The Iron Guard was outlawed shortly afterwards. Lacatusu, according to the Wiesel Institute, was a local unit leader in southwestern Romania. Simion, who opposes military aid to Ukraine, is critical of Brussels leadership and supportive of U.S. President Donald Trump, has sidestepped direct questions about the Iron Guard. When asked about it, he told Reuters: "These times are reminiscent of the inter-war period - the rule of law is being broken and political opinions censored. People are not being listened to, they are being defied by those clinging to power." But several of his party's members, Georgescu and other far-right politicians have openly praised Iron Guard leaders and Ion Antonescu, Romania's de facto World War Two leader. Under Antonescu, Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany until August 1944, when it changed sides. A 2004 report found that between 280,000 and 380,000 Romanian and Ukrainian Jews and thousands of Roma were killed by civilian and military authorities in Romania and areas they controlled during the war. Romania, now a European Union and NATO member country, apologized in 2003. A mandatory school class about the Holocaust was introduced last year. But Iron Guard propaganda and acceptance of Romania's far-right leaders have slowly been spreading into the mainstream. Many Iron Guard members and supporters died in prisons under communist rule after the war, many of them priests. They are known as anti-communist fighters and "prison saints," and commemorations in their honour draw dozens of people each year. At some, attendees have flashed the Nazi salute. Some of Romania's most famous interwar writers and thinkers were vocal supporters of the Iron Guard and remain celebrated today as part of the country's identity and heritage. Although honouring fascist figures and symbols in public is illegal, cases rarely get prosecuted. The prosecutor general said only some 20 such incidents got reported on average yearly. "A part of Romanian society is ambiguous about the ... fascist past while another part is fairly radicalised," said Sergiu Miscoiu, a political science professor at Babes-Bolyai University. "For the new ultranationalist parties, what resonates is denouncing globalisation and the foreign elements that (they see as) responsible for everything wrong that is happening." Romania's president has a semi-executive role that includes chairing the council that decides on military aid and defence spending, and can veto EU votes that require unanimity. The country has a pro-EU coalition government.
Jordan Times
08-04-2025
- Business
- Jordan Times
Trump's tariffs and the will to power
NEW YORK – In the days since US President Donald Trump unleashed his tariff tsunami on the world, economists, investors, and business leaders have almost universally questioned its rationality. As a policy matter, they are right to be scratching their heads. But Trump's tariffs are not simply about policy. They are of a piece with the animating features of his MAGA ('Make America Great Again') movement: contempt for science and the rule of law, persistent lying, and a propensity for irrational theorising. We have witnessed this embrace of unreason before, accompanied by similarly grandiose assertions of power. Hitler's well-known fascination with Theosophy, Gnosticism, and eugenics was not an isolated phenomenon. During the 1930s, psychoanalyst Carl Jung's idea of self-growth or 'individuation' was viewed by many (including Jung) to be the special destiny of the Aryan race. The well-known Eranos gatherings during this period, which included esteemed scholars such as Mircea Eliade (who publicly supported Romania's fascist Iron Guard), Henry Corbin, and Gershom Scholem, have been shadowed (not entirely fairly) by the taint of anti-Enlightenment politics. For Trump, tariffs are about much more than a change of economic policy. They are part of a toolkit for political and cultural transformation. April 2 was 'Liberation Day.' Trump sees himself as single-handedly and fundamentally altering the global order by a Herculean act of sheer will. To be sure, Trump's tariffs are likely to make life materially worse for people around the world, not least Americans. But the particulars matter less than the heroic spectacle itself, the leader's demonstration of MAGA's capacity to rivet our attention by arousing shock and awe. To borrow the Silicon Valley mantra (which echoes in Gnostic reveries), one must move fast and break things to release creative energy, including the spirit of the homeland. Mystical leaders liberate crippled instincts from conventional cultural shackles – like the 'wholly incongruous Christianity' that, as Jung put it, had been 'grafted upon the stumps' of the Aryan spirit. Who else could mobilise such transformative forces but the great leader – the one who, as Nietzsche put it, carries chaos within to give birth to 'a dancing star'? That's the MAGA pitch. The test follows: Are you willing to accept the pain that ensues? This is less an implementation of policy than a collective initiation rite, or a massive psyop. As Soviet propagandists understood, inducing friends and foes alike to repeat obvious falsehoods is a reliable test of power. So is declaring a state of emergency, as Trump did in order to justify his tariffs. Declarations of this sort embody a claim to ultimate sovereignty. As the Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt wrote, the executive decision to initiate a 'state of exception' determines what sovereignty means in practice. It is a self-fulfilling act: declaring an emergency is the emergency. It is one way in which the rule of law ends. A state of emergency addresses both how the nation will survive and who will survive. That is why Schmitt separates people into friends and enemies. For example, Elon Musk's definition of friends can be inferred from the companies he owns, such as Neuralink, and SpaceX. On this reading, Musk's friends are the evolving vanguard of humankind: those who are the most AI-informed, even cyber-enhanced, and perhaps destined to colonize Mars. Enemies, by contrast, have no claim either to society's concern or its resources. In this vein, Trump focuses above all on 'illegal aliens,' whom he routinely describes as 'vermin' and 'animals.' By defining any 'de-nationalised' class of 'others' as a discrete sub-species, Trump places them beyond law's safeguards. Trump's tariffs reflect the MAGA movement's broader anti-Enlightenment impulses. He may claim to be concerned with 'rebalancing' global trade, restoring America's manufacturing industries, and raising revenue. But, more fundamentally, his tariffs are an expression of the will to power – spiked with a jolt of metaphysics. The embrace of irrationalism in Europe during the 1930s facilitated the rise of fascism. Today's mythic narratives, from AI-enhanced 'evolving' consciousness to Russian Cosmism and Vladimir Putin's 'Noöcracy' (which lays claim to a species of Russian nationalism likewise rooted in man's destiny to evolve, and which shares Musk's desire to colonize other worlds) – serve a comparable function: totalizing power. What Putin's Noöcracy has in common with billionaires like Musk and the MAGA movement (including its New Age 'MAHA' (Make America Healthy Again) contingent led by US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.) is the cult of personality that lies at their center. Only Putin can serve as the Russian people's savior. Only Musk can take his acolytes to the next level of evolving consciousness. Only Trump can make America great again by breaking the old order and ushering in the new. Submission to the leader is what makes it all happen. Yes, the populist 'spirit of the people' faction and Musk's libertarian/Silicon Valley faction embody contradictory interests and goals. The intense rivalry and jockeying for influence within MAGA between Steve Bannon (for the populists) and Musk is the tip of the iceberg. But this division has so far been modulated, and arguably exploited, by Trump and his loyalists. After all, it is the leader who exclusively embodies the mystical, creative-destructive spirit whose power can guide the nation to its destiny. Whether that destiny empowers the masses (as Bannon insists) or billionaire libertarians like Musk and Peter Thiel remains to be seen. It cannot be both. For now, as Trump's tariffs make clear, sound trade policy takes a backseat to both sides' goal: the consolidation of autocracy. 'Liberation Day' has put everyone who has thrown in their lot with MAGA on notice that without Trump at its center the movement that has promised them so much will collapse. Richard K. Sherwin, Professor Emeritus of Law at New York Law School, is a co-editor (with Danielle Celermajer) of A Cultural History of Law in the Modern Age (Bloomsbury, 2021). Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025. Page 2
