“Are you furious because of African cannibals infesting Europe?”: A Case of Rhetorical Failure in Hungarian Far-Right Activism

Populist, far-right or post-fascist politics has gained significant attention in recent literature; however, this research tends to be interested mainly in the successful movements or actors. This study aims to turn the attention on an unsuccessful attempt on persuading the audience. It analyses a YouTube video published in 2018 by Hozz Világra Még Egy Magyart Mozgalom (Bring Another Hungarian into the World Movement), a far-right organization with a goal of urging explicitly Hungarian women to give birth or not choosing abortion. Besides the analysis of the video’s persuasive tools, this chapter also interprets comments from two ideologically differing portals. In addition, it studies several media articles which have reported on the video. The chapter investigates how the anticipated audience is addressed through the speech and the visual elements. It explores the means by which the arguments in the video are targeted to specific audience, how the speaker aims to scaffold her claims, and how commentaries and media articles about the video reflect on the failure of this attempt. The reception of the video evidences how the intervention of the activist ended up failing despite the general popularity of right-wing populist governments in the country with very similar ideals and goals.