''Noua Dreaptă'' ( en, The New Right) is an

ultranationalist Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coercion) to pursue its sp ...

, far-right organization in Romania and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnistr ...

, founded in 2000. The party claims to be the successor to the far-right Iron Guard, with its aesthetics and ideology being directly influenced by the fascist movement and its leader,

Corneliu Zelea Codreanu Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (; born Corneliu Codreanu, according to his birth certificate; 13 September 1899 – 30 November 1938) was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or ''The Legion o ...

. Proclaiming itself as "radical, militant, nationalist and Christian Orthodox", ''Noua Dreaptă'' supports a merger of Romania and Moldova.

Beliefs

The group's beliefs include militant

ultranationalism Ultranationalism or extreme nationalism is an Extremism, extreme form of nationalism in which a country asserts or maintains detrimental hegemony, Supremacism, supremacy, or other forms of control over other nations (usually through violent coerc ...

and strong Orthodox Christian religious convictions. Noua Dreaptă's website indicates opposition to:

sexual minorities A sexual minority is a group whose sexual identity, sexual orientation, orientation or practices differ from the majority of the surrounding society. Primarily used to refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual, or non-heterosexual individuals, it can al ...

, Roma (Gypsies),

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...

communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences), is the process of foreign relation ...

, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, religious groups other than the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops vi ...

, race-mixing, territorial autonomy for Romania's ethnic Hungarian minority and immoderate cultural import (including some

American culture The culture of the United States of America is primarily of Western, and European origin, yet its influences includes the cultures of Asian American, African American, Latin American, and Native American peoples and their cultures. The U ...

, ''manele'' music, and the celebration of

Valentine's Day Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is celebrated annually on February 14. It originated as a Christian feast day honoring one or two early Christian martyrs named Saint Valentine and, thr ...

). They are against both Marxism and capitalism, following the

third position The Third Position is a set of neo-fascist political ideologies that were first described in Western Europe following the Second World War. Developed in the context of the Cold War, it developed its name through the claim that it represented a ...

ist ideology. The members of ''Noua Dreaptă'' revere the leader of the Iron Guard in the 1930s,

. ''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 The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea. As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...

, which represented Romania at its greatest geographic expanse before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The group also states it is strongly opposed to the principles of

representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...

, which it sees as an "inadequate" form of government. Some individual members are

monarchist Monarchism is the advocacy of the system of monarchy or monarchical rule. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government independently of any specific monarch, whereas one who supports a particular monarch is a royalist. ...

s. ''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 considered negative) cultural influences - such as

Affiliations

''Noua Dreaptă'' was part of the

European National Front European National Front (ENF) was a coordinating structure of European ultranationalist parties. There had been one elected MEP from ENF in the past. He was the leader of the Italian New Force, Roberto Fiore. Three parties of the European Nati ...

, 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: * Danskernes Parti (Denmark) * FE-La Falange (Spain) *

National Democratic Party of Germany The National Democratic Party of Germany (german: Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands or NPD) is a far-right Neo-Nazi and ultranationalist political party in Germany. The party was founded in 1964 as successor to the German Reich Part ...

(Germany) *

Forza Nuova New Force ( it, Forza Nuova, FN) is an Italian neo-fascist political party. It was founded by Roberto Fiore and Massimo Morsello. The party is a member of the Alliance for Peace and Freedom and was a part of the Social Alternative from 2003 to ...

(Italy) * Patriotic Alliance (Greece) * National Renovator Party (Portugal) * Renouveau Français (France) * Srpski Obraz (Serbia) * Nationale Alliantie (The Netherlands) *

Slovenská Pospolitosť The Slovak Togetherness ( sk, Slovenská pospolitosť) is a civil society group in Slovakia. 'Slovenská' means "Slovak" ; 'pospolitosť' is a rather archaic word meaning "solidarity" or "community" or "togetherness". The group has been characteris ...

(Slovakia) * Mișcarea Național Creștină Moldova (Moldova) *

Nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

(Belgium) * National Revival of Poland (Poland) * Bulgarian National Alliance (Bulgaria) * Fiamma Tricolore (Italy) * Russkii Obraz (Russia) ''Noua Dreaptă'' is also reported to have had ties with the following political groups: *

Eurasian Youth Union The Eurasian Youth Union (ESM; russian: Евразийский союз молодёжи; ЕСМ; ''Yevraziyskiy soyuz molodozhi'', ''YeSM'') is a Russian traditionalist political organization, the youth wing of the Eurasia Party headed by Ale ...

(Russia) *

England First The England First Party (EFP) was an English nationalism, English nationalist and Far-right politics, far-right UK political parties, political party. It had two councillors on Blackburn with Darwen council between 2006 and 2007. Formation an ...

* Nacionālā Spēka Savienība (Latvia)
Jednota Slovenskej Mládeže
(Slovakia) As of 30 May 2018, Noua Dreaptă is a member of the

Alliance for Peace and Freedom The Alliance for Peace and Freedom (APF) is a Far-right politics, far-right European political party founded on 4 February 2015. The main member parties had been involved in the now defunct European National Front. The party wishes to establ ...

. The AFP is a far-right and

European political party that also includes

Kotleba – People's Party Our Slovakia People's Party Our Slovakia ( sk, Ľudová strana naše Slovensko, ĽSNS) is a far-right neo-Nazi political party in Slovakia. The party claims to derive its origin from the legacy of Ľudovít Štúr, Andrej Hlinka and Jozef Tiso. Positioned ...

and

National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * ...

among others.

Extremist reputation

''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 Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

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. Due to its imagery's uses and its methods, the party is sometimes described as neo-Nazi by news outlets. ''Noua Dreaptă'' has aligned itself with organizations elsewhere in Europe with strongly anti-Semitic views, although it has not focused its efforts against Romania's currently small

Jewish community Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. Rather, the group has concentrated its rhetoric and efforts against the ethnic Hungarians, Roma (Gypsies),

and minority religious faiths. 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 Bucharest Pride, known previously as GayFest, is the annual festival dedicated to LGBT rights in Romania, taking place in Bucharest for nearly a week. Current event organizer is Kyle David Kipp. It first took place in 2004 and now occurs in May� ...

pride parade in Bucharest. 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 The Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (DAHR; hu, Romániai Magyar Demokrata Szövetség, RMDSZ; ro, Uniunea Democrată Maghiară din România, UDMR) is a political party in Romania which aims to represent the significant Hungarian m ...

leader

Béla Markó Béla Markó (born September 8, 1951 in Târgu Secuiesc, Covasna County, Socialist Republic of Romania) is a Romanian politician and writer of Hungarian ethnicity. The former leader of the Democratic Alliance of Hungarians in Romania (UDMR), he ...

to criticize Cluj's mayor

Emil Boc Emil Boc (; born 6 September 1966) is a Romanian politician who was Prime Minister of Romania from 22 December 2008 until 6 February 2012 and is the current Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, the largest city of Transylvania, where he was first elected in Ju ...

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."Noua Dreaptă, subiect de dispută între Boc şi UDMR"
in ''

Evenimentul Zilei ''Evenimentul Zilei'' is a formerly physical and now exclusively online newspaper in Romania. Its name means "today's even (news)". History and profile ''Evenimentul Zilei'' was founded by Ion Cristoiu, Cornel Nistorescu and Mihai Cârciog, and ...

'' 17 March 2008 (in Romanian)

Electoral history

Legislative elections

Local elections

References

External links

Noua Dreaptă official siteNoua Dreapta Basarabia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noua Dreapta 2000 establishments in Romania Anti-communism in Romania Anti-Hungarian sentiment in Romania Antisemitism in Romania Antiziganism in Romania Anti-Islam political parties in Europe Far-right political parties in Romania Fascist parties in Romania Registered political parties in Romania Political parties established in 2000 Racism in Romania Romanian nationalist parties Third Position Nationalist parties in Romania Organizations that oppose LGBT rights Romanian irredentism Anti-communist parties Political parties with anti-Hungarian sentiment Neo-fascist parties