It has been quite astonishing to follow this case. The background: there is an admittedly far-right demonstration commemorating the break-out attempt of German and German allied Hungarian forces from the besieged capital, Budapest. Which is quite bad in itself, and brings out the most unsavory characters. Such is life in a (reasonably) free society. You kinda have to tolerate the assholes, too. (You know, freedom of speech and yadda-yadda.)
But it also brought something else out. People from Germany, Italy travelled to Budapest to beat people they deemed neo-Nazis up. With viperas and other 'instruments', no less, essentially making these assaults into potential manslaughter/murder since it is quite easy to kill someone when a group of you jump him or her, beating their head, poking at them and whatnot with a piece of metal. And let me repeat this: the victims were chosen randomly.
Let me repeat this. People from other countries of the EU travelled to Budapest to potentially kill people they thought were neo-Nazis. The way they determined it? Why, anyone wearing black, green or camo is obviously a neo-Nazi. (I guess GAP is selling them clothes, too - I have a green coat which resembles a military-style jacket, bought by my girlfriend. But regardless -the selection criteria is somewhat suspect.)
Even IF the people who these staunch Antifa people were assaulting WERE neo-Nazis, I was not aware that laws did not apply any more. (I guess these "enlightened" foreigners believe that they can ignore the law of lesser nations.)
Funnily the Western media did not really get caught up in this strange chain of events, where foreigners travel to a place explicitly to almost murder the locals. I guess if it was, let's say, Hungarian neo-Nazis (of which there are not many) travelling to Berlin to assault a Pride Parade, we would have heard a lot more of it -which just shows the double standards and hypocrisy of Western media outlets.
That is, until, one of them got caught (actually, more), after assaulting people, and her father kicked up a fuss about it in Italy. First of all, this was a female teacher, so obviously, because it is a woman, we immediately feel that she must be blameless. Second, the Italian press and political establishment immediately jumped into her defense, despite the fact that she assaulted people in a foreign country where she travelled to do so.
So what does the Left in Italy do? They make her a candidate for EP in the EU. A person who almost beat someone to death.
The reason? "Her candidacy is a positive symbol for the battle of rule of law and fundamental rights in Europe. We stand with our Italian allies against autocrats like Viktor Orbán and his barbaric methods of detention"
So the rule of law involves assaulting people in mobs? Great place Italy must be then. Oh, that is for only the filthy foreigners! Sorry, I forgot. The demagougy of this statement is astonishing. It is also interesting how Italy seeks to interfere with another country's judicial processes. Very democratic. Next thing we know, they send some exploding cigars or military advisors, a'la CIA in the '60s...
Imagine the uproar if the situation was reversed. This is an incredibly good demonstration of what people think of others living in the poorer parts of Europe -an actual example of cultural racism. Obviously if she was caught in Germany, all this would not have happened -but those untermenschen do not matter in the East. They can be beaten to death without us feeling any empathy. We need to save this poor woman!
And then the media-reaction: they immediately establish that the victims were ne-Nazis - which they were not by large. Out of the nine attacked there were plenty not having any connection to the far-right demonstration. But even if they were. OK? Even if they were -which, again, is not true- this is not actually something you would do in a civilized country, such as in Germany or Italy. So what does it say about you when you travel to some other place where you think you are free to do so? Or defend these people, hm? Are we back in the Weimar republic? Should we then allow the far right to beat people they think are Antifa? (Funnily enough, even reddit's very "progressive" community had a somewhat more balanced view on this... I guess not all is lost.)
Just read what the Guardian is writing - she was detained after a counter-demonstration, not after assaulting people. Obviously. Reuters was the only reasonably neutral source of information on this.
Second issue: instead of focusing on what they did, everyone is crying about prison conditions. Good job focusing on the main issue here, I guess. You may as well get the impression that these people were doing charity work and were detained in Iran... There are two things here. Yes, Hungarian prisons are not like the ones in Norway - if you want to be in those, well, do as Breitvik -over there. But neither are they full of rats, despite what the allegations (lies) state. Moreover: if you go to some "poor, backwater" place where you think you can beat people to the edge of death, well, you kinda need to face the realities there if you get caught. You get the same as all the other assholes breaking the law there. No special treatment for your entitled, superior little ass, no transfer to your country for you, ma'm, forgetting all about it, leaving some bloody mess behind. It is not tax evasion you did, but grievous bodily harm -no country will allow you to leave in such circumstances. Enjoy the prison sentence waiting for you in Hungary. You may be released in a couple of years if you behave yourself.
All in all, appalling reporting and appalling reactions to an Antifa action. (And just to repeat the first point: this is not to excuse this whole far-right jamboree happening in Budapest every year. But the problem is there is very little you can do about it in a country that still has vestiges of the rule of law...)
