Österreich: Ein Sittenbild der Republik
ZEIT ONLINE: Dubiose Geschäfte, Geldverschwendung, Missachtung des Rechtsstaats – das System Haider wurde von der politischen Klasse hofiert

Jörg Haider mit dem libyschen Präsidentensohn Saif al-Islam al-Gadhafi auf einer Pressekonferenz in Wien im Jahr 2004. Bild: Zeit Online
Die Methode ist seit Langem bekannt: Das System Haider bestand aus einer Mischung von schlechtem Entertainment, inhaltlicher Beliebigkeit, trotzigem Postnazismus und schamlos frechem Umgang mit Geld. Wer hinsah, wusste schon vor Jahren, dass mit Jörg Haider »kein Staat zu machen« war, wie Erhard Busek meinte. Wer jetzt noch von den neuen Enthüllungen über Millionenkonten überrascht ist, sollte sich fragen, warum die Ausflüge des tödlich verunglückten Politik-Desperados zu Diktatoren zu keinen Konsequenzen führten. Warum die provokante Geldverschwendung, die zum Markenzeichen dieses Systems wurde, nicht verstärkt kritische Fragen nach sich zog. Warum die fortgesetzte Verachtung des Rechtsstaates (Stichwort: Ortstafel verschieben) nicht dazu führte, dass die »staatstragenden Parteien« diesem Mann die Rolle eines politischen Paria zuwiesen. >>> Von Anton Pelinka | Samstag, 14. August 2010

Ex-Muslim: This Is a Difficult Conversation | Sarah Haider

May 28, 2023 | Sarah Haider is a Pakistani-American writer, public speaker, and political activist. She created the advocacy group Ex-Muslims of North America (EXMNA), which seeks to normalise religious dissent and to help former Muslims leave the religion by linking them to support networks.

EXMNA.

WIKIPEDIA: Sarah Haider.

Sarah Haider on Substack here.

Jörg Haider Was Drunk at the Time of the Fatal Crash
MSNBC: Aide says far-right politician was above legal limit when car veered off road

VIENNA, Austria - Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider was drunk at the time of his fatal car crash, his spokesman said Wednesday.
Stefan Petzner said Haider's blood alcohol level was significantly above the legal limit when he crashed his car early Saturday in the southern province of Carinthia, where he was governor. Police said his high-powered Volkswagen Phaeton was speeding at twice the posted limit when it veered off the road, crashed and flipped.
Petzner said he felt obliged to confirm widespread speculation that the former Freedom Party leader was intoxicated. Austria’s Haider Was Drunk during Fatal Crash >>> AP | October 15, 2008

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YNET NEWS – Opinion: They Haven’t Learned a Thing
Lavish funeral for far-right leader Haider shows that Austria hasn’t changed

No. Many Austrians have proven yet again that they have not changed. They have proven that they have not learned a thing, and that they do not wish to learn or to change.

The funeral arrangements for Jörg Haider, the leader of a far right party, only served to prove that when it comes to Austria, what used to be there is still what we see there to this day.

The man who on more than one occasion praised his countryman, the fuehrer of the German Reich, got the kind of funeral usually reserved for kings or presidents, including a funeral ceremony and convey in line with all the military honors. His funeral was attended by hundreds of politicians, as well as senior officers and other dignitaries, including the Austrian president and prime minister.

Not to mention the tens of thousands of mourning and crying Austrians, many of whom are World War II veterans, who again proudly displayed the badges of honor and medals they received in their roles as the trusted and fanatical servants of the Reich, which was headed by their countryman for the 12 darkest years in the history of humanity - Adolf Hitler, born in the town of Braunau am Inn. >>> Noah Klieger | October 19, 2008

DIE PRESSE: Israel. Zeitung: "Viele Österreicher sehnen sich nach Drittem Reich"

Die israelische Tageszeitung "Yedioth Anoroth" kritisiert das "pompöse" Begräbnis für Jörg Haider. Es beweise, dass "viele Österreicher nichts gelernt haben". Und indirekt, dass sich viele nach dem Dritten Reich zurücksehnen.

Für die auflagenstärkste israelische Tageszeitung "Yedioth Ahronoth" ist das "pompöse Begräbnis" für Kärntens Landeshauptmann Jörg Haider der Beweis dafür, "dass sich Österreich nicht geändert hat". In einem Kommentar der englischsprachigen Online-Ausgabe des Blattes, "Ynetnews", wird behauptet, viele Österreicher sehnten sich nach wie vor nach dem Dritten Reich zurück.

"Österreicher haben nichts gelernt"

"Viele Österreicher haben wieder einmal unter Beweis gestellt, dass sie sich nicht geändert haben. Sie haben bewiesen, dass sie überhaupt nichts gelernt haben und dass sie gar nichts lernen oder sich verändern wollen", so die Meinung von "Ynet"-Autor Noah Klieger.

Ein Begräbnis wie für Könige

"Dem Mann, der bei mehr als einer Gelegenheit seinen Landsmann, den Führer des Deutschen Reiches, gerühmt hat, wurde ein Begräbnis beschert, wie es nur Könige oder Präsidenten erhalten..." Das Blatt weist auch darauf hin, dass an dem Begräbnis hunderte Politiker, darunter auch der Bundespräsident und der Bundeskanzler, teilgenommen haben. >>> | 19. Oktober 2008

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Seif Gaddafi with Claudia Haider
Seif Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi’s son, was a personal friend of Jörg Haider. Photo of Seif Gaddafi with Claudi Haider, Jörg Haider’s wife, courtesy of ’Die Presse’
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Austrian Election: What Some of the Papers Have Said
THE TELEGRAPH:
Austria Election Delivers Gains for Far Right: Mr Strache has campaigned for a ban on Islamic dress which, he said, made women look like "female ninjas". He also seeks to overturn strict Austrian laws banning the display of Nazi symbols, such as the swastika.

Senior Freedom Party officials used the elections to mourn the days when immigration turned Austria's sausage stands into kebab shops and to lament the good old days when Austrians ate schnitzel instead of "falafel, couscous or whatever that stuff is called". >>> By Andreas Sam in Vienna and Bruno Waterfield | September 28, 2008

THE GUARDIAN:
Extreme Right Emerges as Strong Force in Austria: Austria was shaken by a political earthquake yesterday when the neo-fascist right emerged from a general election as a contender to be the strongest political force in the country for the first time.

The combined forces of the extreme right took 29% of the vote, with Jörg Haider almost tripling the share of his breakaway Movement for Austria's Future to 11%, while his successor as Freedom party leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, saw his party soar to 18%.

The far right's vote doubled compared with the last election in 2006, putting it within less than a point of overtaking the poll victor, the social democrats. >>> By Ian Traynor, Europe Editor | September 29, 2008

MAIL Online:
Austria Races to the Right as Nearly a Third of the Voters Back the Extremists >>> By Allan Hall | September 29, 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
Anti-Foreigner Campaign Boosts Austrian Far-Right: Populist far-right parties made sweeping gains in Austria's closely fought general election yesterday, making their strongest showing since 2000 when the country suffered EU sanctions after a far-right party won power for the first time since the Second World War.

The Freedom Party, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, gained more than 18 per cent of the vote – nearly doubling its share of support – after running a vitriolic campaign against "foreign criminals" and "asylum cheats" and pledging to take Austria out of the EU. >>> By Tony Paterson in Berlin | September 29, 2008

GLOBE AND MAIL:
Far Right Surges in Austrian Vote: The far right surged to almost a third of the vote in Austria's parliamentary election on Sunday, complicating prospects for the biggest mainstream party, the Social Democrats, to forge a stable coalition government.

The right's record showing heralded political instability in the affluent Alpine republic since the two main centrist parties will be hard put to re-establish a broad coalition even if they resolve the feuds that killed off their last alliance.

"Terrible," political analyst Anton Pelinka said of prospects for stable government in the near future.

"The strength of the far-right parties will make formation of a coalition incredibly difficult if you don't bring either into government," he told Reuters. Social Democrats have ruled out an alliance with the right over its anti-foreigner stances. >>> Reuters | September 28, 2008

WELT ONLINE:
Rechtsruck macht Regierungsbildung kompliziert: Mit zusammen fast 30 Prozent der Stimmen haben die rechtspopulistischen Parteien FPÖ und Jörg Haiders BZÖ in Österreich enorme Gewinne verzeichnen können. Eine Regierungsbildung wird jetzt schwierig. Denn Wahlsieger SPÖ will auf keinen Fall mit den Rechten koalieren.

Nach der Wahlschlappe bei der österreichischen Parlamentswahl berät die konservative Volkspartei (ÖVP) über die Zukunft von Parteichef Wilhelm Molterer und die Koalitionsoptionen. Die Sozialdemokraten (SPÖ), die sich als stärkste Partei halten konnten, schlossen eine Minderheitsregierung nicht aus. >>> | 29. September 2008

DIE PRESSE:
Ausländische Pressestimmen: ''Haider wiederauferstanden'' >>> | 29. September 2008

THE JERUSALEM POST:
The End of Austrian-Israeli Relations?: Sunday's Austrian election could mean a break in diplomatic relations between Israel and Austria if extreme right-wing parties enter a coalition government. Heinz-Christian Strache, who leads the Freedom Party, took part in paramilitary activities with neo-Nazis in the late 1980s and has been known to use the Nazi salute.

According to polls, the Freedom Party could garner close to 20 percent of the vote. In 2000, the inclusion of the Freedom Party in the Austrian government prompted Israel to recall its ambassador to Vienna.

Then-prime minister Ehud Barak said the party's presence in the government "should outrage every inhabitant of the world."
"The Jewish people, wherever it may be, led by the State of Israel, will never allow the world to conduct business as usual in light of the events in Austria and their possible implications," Barak said at the time.

In a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post last week, Dan Ashbel, Israel's ambassador in Vienna, said, "We are very concerned about the situation and parties who are xenophobic and base their policies on xenophobia. It is a danger and it is a very sad fact that this repeats itself." >>> By Benjamin Weinthal. Berlin | September 28, 2008

LE MONDE:
Forte progression de l'extrême droite en Autriche: Selon les premiers résultats, les deux partis d'extrême droite auraient réalisé, dimanche 28 septembre, un score historique aux élections législatives autrichiennes. Les sociaux-démocrates, bien qu'en recul, arriveraient en tête, devant les conservateurs.

Deux estimations estiment que le SPÖ (sociaux-démocrates) obtiendrait autour de 29 % des voix, en recul de près de 6 points par rapport à 2006. Les conservateurs de l'ÖVP ne récolteraient que 26 % des suffrages, en chute de 8 points. Le parti social-démocrate, l'un des plus vieux partis politiques européens, fondé en 1885, et les démocrates-chrétiens du Parti du peuple (ÖVP) enregistrent leur plus mauvais score depuis le début de la République autrichienne, en 1918. Les Verts, autour de 10% des voix, sont en léger recul par rapport aux 11,5 % récoltés il y a deux ans. >>> LEMONDE.FR avec AFP et Reuters | 28.09.2008

LE FIGARO:
Forte poussée de l'extrême droite en Autriche: La gauche arrive en tête des législatives tandis que les conservateurs accusent une chute de près de neuf points.

Les Autrichiens sauront-ils se façonner une coalition stable après les législatives anticipées de dimanche ? Rien n'est moins sûr. Les sociaux-démocrates (SPÖ), bien qu'en net recul, sont arrivés en tête, mais le vrai gagnant est l'extrême droite, en très forte hausse, selon les résultats officiels provisoires, annoncés dimanche soir par le ministère de l'Intérieur. >>> Stéphane Kovacs (avec AFP, Reuters) | 29.09.2008

CORRIERA DELLA SERA:
Austria, trionfo dell'estrema destra: La coalizione al governo per la prima volta sotto il 60%, mentre la Fpoe e la Bzoe di Haider totalizzano il 30% >>> | 28 settembre 2008

LA REPUBBLICA:
Parla Heinz Christian Strache, trionfatore a Vienna: "Pronto alla cancelleria
vecchi partiti, addio": VIENNA - In Austria è finita l'epoca di un sistema politico dominato da due partiti. Socialdemocratici e cristiano-popolari, grandi fino a ieri, sono stati ridimensionati e adesso devono fare i conti con noi, la vera nuova destra. Così parla alla tv Orf Heinz Christian Strache, il giovanissimo (39 anni) vincitore delle elezioni politiche di ieri in Austria, ex delfino e rivale di Joerg Haider. … >>> di Hans Buerger | 29 settembre 2008

NEW ZEALAND HERALD:
Poll Boost for Hardliners as Voters Punish Feuding Govt: PARIS - A spectacular advance by anti-immigrant, far-right groups in elections in Austria yesterday will raise questions about the country's stability and fuel concerns about the lure of the xenophobic siren song in Europe.

Two extreme right groups together picked up 29 per cent of the vote for Parliament, while two centrist parties, locked in a feud-riddled governing alliance over the past 18 months, polled their lowest scores since the end of World War II.

The Freedom Party under Heinz-Christian Strache gained 18 per cent, an increase of 7 percentage points over the last ballot in October 2006, and Joerg Haider's Alliance for the Future of Austria nearly tripled its score, to 11 per cent, according to preliminary official figures.

Both targeted working class voters alienated with the establishment parties. >>> By Catherine Field | September 30, 2008

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Kärnten ehrt Jörg Haider mit einem Museum
TAGES ANZEIGER: Das Leben des umstrittenen Rechtspolitikers wird in einer Ausstellung in Klagenfurt verewigt. Thema ist auch die nationalsozialistische Vergangenheit von Jörg Haiders Familie.

Der im vergangenen Jahr tödlich verunglückte Politiker Jörg Haider soll in Österreich ein eigenes Museum bekommen. Die Ausstellung in Klagenfurt im Bundesland Kärnten, in dem Haider Regierungschef war, soll zum Todestag am 11. Oktober eröffnet werden. >>> vin/sda | Donnerstag, 16. Juli 2009

L'extrême-droite autrichienne a trouvé son maître
L'ancien rival Heinz-Christian Strache est désormais le nouveau visage d'un FPÖ puissant et réunifié. Crédits photo : L’Express.fr
L’EXPRESS.fr: Les frères ennemis ont liquidé ce mercredi l'héritage Haider. L'ancien rival Heinz-Christian Strache est désormais le nouveau visage d'un FPÖ puissant et réunifié.

Sans leader, pas de parti. Les héritiers de Jörg Haider n'auront pas survécu à la disparition de leur chef. Ils ont rejoint ce mercredi le parti qu'ils avaient quitté avec fracas en 2005, abandonnant toute prétention politique pour survivre. L'éphémère BZÖ (Alliance pour l'Avenir de l'Autriche) disparait alors de la scène politique, malgré la résistance des durs de durs, regroupés autour de la soeur de Haider, élue au parlement, et qui se déclarait hier "humainement déçue". >>> Par Blaise Gauquelin | Jeudi 17 Décembre 2009

Jo[e]rg Haider and His Boyfriend Revived an Old Tradition
TIMESONLINE: Past Notes: the number of gay men in Hitler's Brownshirts was well known

Jörg Haider's last hours - involving an argument with his boyfriend and a search for solace in a gay bar - has surprised those who thought the late far-right demagogue and father of two was a pillar of respectability. His party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, will not be honouring his wish that his boyfriend, Stefan Petzner, should take the helm.

Now deputy leader, Mr Petzner has nonetheless revived an old tradition of the nationalistic Right. For his relationship with Haider had a parallel in the Nazi Brownshirt movement. Also known as the Sturmabteilung or SA, the Brownshirts were the Nazis' stormtroopers whose thuggery helped to clear a path for Hitler's rise to power.

Their chief of staff was Ernst Roehm. He counted his deputy, Edmund Heines, among his many male lovers. Although homosexuality was illegal, there was not much effort to conceal the widespread gay activity among the paramilitary groups. “It was quite well behaved but thoroughly gay,” the art historian Christian Isermayer recalled, having once attended a Brownshirt knees-up.

Indeed, many of the formative meetings of Germany's right-wing extremists took place in gay pick-up joints. In Munich, Roehm's favourite was the Nürnberger Bratwurstglockl. Two other leading Brownshirts, the bisexual Karl Ernst and Paul Röhrbein (widely known as “Frau Röhrbein”) planned the New Order in Berlin's notorious nightclub, Eldorado. >>> Graham Stewart | October 25, 2008

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Claudia Haider dementiert Gerüchte
KURIER: Die Witwe erklärt Verschwörungstheorien für "Unsinn". Die Obduktion solle auch nicht im Ausland stattfinden, stellt sie richtig.

Wilde Spekulationen kursieren um die verschobene Einäscherung von Jörg Haider. Witwe Claudia Haider weist jedoch die Gerüchte zurück: "Alle diese Gerüchte, wonach es eine Obduktion im Ausland gegeben haben soll, sind völliger Unsinn". In die gleiche Kategorie würden diverse Verschwörungstheorien fallen.



Der Leichnam ihres Mannes werde mit Sicherheit nicht irgendwohin ins Ausland gebracht werden, erklärte sie. Eine zweite Obduktion könne sie aber nicht völlig ausschließen. Zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt sei es aber äußerst unwahrscheinlich, dass sie sich zu diesem Schritt entschließe. Darüber hinaus wolle sie zu all den Spekulationen und Gerüchten, die derzeit kursieren, keinerlei Stellungnahme abgeben. Den Medienhype um den Tod ihres Mannes bezeichnete sie als "widerwärtig".



Die Witwe betonte, dass sie nichts verschweigen wolle, sie zur Zeit aber weder zu Interviews noch zu öffentlichen Stellungnahmen bereit sei. Eine Freundin Claudia Haiders bat darum, "ihr die Zeit zu geben, mit der ganzen Sache fertig zu werden". Die Witwe werde irgendwann öffentlich Stellung nehmen, allerdings müssten bis dahin noch einige Dinge geklärt werden. >>> apa/ce | Freitag, 24. Oktober 2008

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Austria about to Turn Sharp Right?
DEUTSCHE WELLE: Fed up with government bickering and growing economic uncertainty, Austrian voters could hand the far right big gains in general elections on Sunday.

If opinion polls prove correct, the Austrian far-right may notch large gains in general elections on Sunday, Sept 28.

Austria's voters appear to be fed up with rising inflation (at 3.9 percent, a 15-year high), poor integration of the country's large immigrant population, and the inability of the current government to do much about either.

The combined poll numbers of Austria's two far right-parties, the Freedom Party and the Alliance for Austria's Future are hovering around 25 percent. That would represent the best draw for the Austrian far-right since 1999, when then-Freedom Party (and now Alliance) leader Jörg Haider stunned Europe by garnering 27 percent.

Such a tally might well leave Austria's neighbors aghast, but one pollster, Andreas Kirchhofer of IMAS, told news agency Reuters that Austrians may be casting their votes against their current leaders more than for the rightists.

"They are fed up with the left-right coalition," he said. "They want another kind of government, but they don't really know exactly what that should look like." Disenchanted Austrian Voters Could Turn to Far Right >>> |September 26, 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Strong Support for Strache and Haider in Austria: Heinz Christian Strache: “We must not allow our own sons to be insulted as ‘pigeaters' in our schools and our daughters to be exposed to the greedy stares and gropings of whole hordes of immigrants.” / “Homeland instead of Islam.” / “Vienna must not become Istanbul.” >>> | September 26, 2008

THE INDEPENDENT:
Austria Opens the Polls to 16-Year-Olds: Austria becomes the first country in the European Union to grant its 16-year-olds the right to vote in a general election this weekend but the move has provoked widespread controversy and criticism, even from the teenagers heading for the ballot box for the first time. >>> By Tony Paterson in Berlin | September 26, 2008

EURO NEWS:
Östereichs zwei rechte Parteien rechnen mit reichlich Zulauf: Vor der österreichischen Parlamentswahl am Sonntag dürfte bei den vielen Unbekannten nur eines sicher sein: Die beiden Parteien am rechten Rand können mit reichlich Zulauf rechnen. Schließlich wird dieser Urnengang zwei Jahre vorfristig nötig, weil die große Koalition aus ÖVP und SPÖ kläglich gescheitert ist. Gelegentliche Anmerkungen von Volkes Hand wie hier “ Nazis raus” auf ein FPÖ-Plakat geschrieben, kann man eher als Ausdruck von Hilflosigkeit werten. >>> 25. September 2008

Heinz Christian Strache: Website und Bio

Dr. Jörg Haider: Website und Lebenslauf

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Austrian Far-Right in Comeback
TVNZ: Austria's far-right Freedom Party is ready to re-enter government after three and a half years in opposition and the two main parties must decide if they will do business with it after this month's election, its leader Heinz-Christian Strache says. 
 


When Freedom first joined a national government in 2000 under then party boss Joerg Haider, its anti-immigrant stance so alarmed Austria's European Union partners that they briefly ceased co-operation with the Alpine member state. 
 


Haider has since left to form a splinter party.

But Freedom, which rails against the EU and has demanded a halt to immigration and a ministry for repatriating foreigners, is polling around 18% and could play an important role after the September 28 election. 
 


At 28% and 26% respectively in the latest poll, the Social Democrats and conservative People's Party - partners in an unhappy coalition which has survived less than two years - are set to win less than 60% combined for the first time since World War Two. 



"Which partner is ready to enter into government with us while letting us keep our true values?" Strache said in the interview next to a rain-sodden campaign stand, encircled by young and middle-aged men. 
 


"When there is a partner like this then it makes sense to be in government. When there is no partner it makes no sense," he said, as supporters took pictures of him on their mobile phones. 



Next interior minister?

The coalition between the centre-left Social Democrats and centre-right Austrian People's Party collapsed in July following disagreements about everything from privatisation to health reform to European Union policy.

"Both have said they can't bear to enter into a coalition with Freedom," Strache said, adding that he wants his party to become the third-largest in Austria in the election, ahead of the environmentalist Greens.

Strache, a 39-year-old former dental technician, has put Freedom back on a hard-right path after Haider left to form the rival Alliance for Austria's Future in 2005. Austrian Far-Right in Comeback >>> | September 17, 2008

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Kärnten: Gedenkstätte für Haider am Unfallort
DIE PRESSE: Ein geplantes ''Marterl'' soll 30.000 Euro kosten. Es wird an der Stelle errichtet werden, an der Haider alkoholisiert und mit stark überhöhter Geschwindigkeit verunglückt ist.

Geht es nach den Plänen des Kärntner Landeshauptmanns Gerhard Dörfler (B), soll an der Unfallstelle des im Oktober tödlich verunglückten Jörg Haider eine Gedenkstätte entstehen. Laut Medienberichten soll das geplante Marterl 30.000 Euro kosten. Mit der Gestaltung wurde der Kärntner Künstler Giselbert Hoke beauftragt. >>> | Sonntag, 28. Dezember 2008

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Petzners Beziehung zu Haider war der Partei zu intim
TAGES ANZEIGER: Der nach dem Unfalltod von Jörg Haider zum neuen Chef des rechtspopulistischen Bündnisses Zukunft Österreich (BZÖ) ernannte Stefan Petzner ist von seinem Posten zurückgetreten.

Er habe den Entschluss freiwillig gefasst und sei nicht demontiert worden, sagte Petzner dem Fernsehsender ORF.

Petzner war ursprünglich Generalsekretär der Partei und galt als Ziehsohn des Kärntener Landeshauptmanns. Nach Haiders Tod Mitte Oktober wurde er einstimmig zum neuen BZÖ-Chef gewählt.

In den vergangenen Wochen zog er sich jedoch den Unmut vieler Parteifreunde zu, da er in Interviews ausführlich über seine innige private Beziehung zu Haider berichtete. >>> | 20. November 2008

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As Europe Slumps, Is the Far Right Rising?
TIMESONLINE: The death of Jörg Haider has cast a light on the resurgence of facsist politics in Austria and Italy

The death of the Austrian far-right politician Jörg Haider has again focused world attention on his country's ambivalent attitude to its Nazi past. The son of an SS officer, Haider won notoriety by praising Hitler's welfare policies and describing concentration camps as work camps. None of this seemed to bother Austrian voters, who gave him and his fellow-travellers a third of the vote in the last elections.

In Italy, too, right-wing politicians have recently showed signs of a positive attitude to the fascist regime run by Mussolini from 1922 to 1945. The election of Gianni Alemanno as Mayor of Rome was greeted by supporters shouting “Duce! Duce!” - the name taken by Mussolini and Hitler, while the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has declared that his movement is “the new Falange”, in a reference to the Spanish fascists of Franco's day.

What drives the radical politicians of the new Right is, in the first place, hostility to immigrants, a feeling that is likely to get worse as the European economy slides into recession. Added to this are fears of the collapse of law and order. The rhetoric of fascism provides a handy symbol for the far Right's determination to deal firmly with immigrants and criminals. It contrasts with the complacency of conventional politicians in Italy and Austria who for decades after the Second World War cosily arranged everything for their own benefit in coalition governments built on political compromise.

This collapsed in Italy a few years ago, and seems to be collapsing in Austria today. In both countries, support for the far Right offers voters the most obvious means of giving voice to their protest and disillusion.

Such rhetoric arouses little public hostility because Austrians and Italians have never felt guilty about their fascist past, as the Germans have. In Germany today you will see former concentration camps turned into sombre monuments to the murderous cruelty of Nazism; small brass plates in the pavement outside houses and shops whose Jewish owners were driven out in the 1930s, with the names of those owners inscribed on them; a monument to Jewish victims of Nazism installed at the centre of the capital city, Berlin. The Nazi past is everywhere, and people's rejection of it is universal and comprehensive.

True, in parts of the former East Germany, the far Right has made some headway, building on popular resentment, especially among the young and unemployed, of the economic shock therapy administered after its absorption into the West in 1990. But it has always remained on the fringes of politics, completely ostracised by the mainstream.

Not so in Italy and Austria, where the far Right is an acceptable coalition partner for leading parties, and few seem troubled by its positive references to the national past. As Europe Slumps, Is the Far Right Rising? >>> Richard J. Evans | October 14, 2008

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Right-Wing to Do Well in Austrian Elections
THE TELEGRAPH: As Austrians head to the polls on Sunday, an economic downturn coupled with rising anti-immigrant feeling makes a swing to the right look all but inevitable.

Surveys on the eve of the Sept 28 general elections show the far-right Freedom Party and the Alliance for Austria's Future capturing between 25 and 27 per cent of the vote–something unmatched since Jörg Haider led extreme rightists to a 27 per cent victory in 1999.

Now, with inflation at a 15-year-high of 3.9 per cent and a resurgent xenophobia helping stir voter passions, the country is teetering in political uncertainty.

"Xenophobic feelings are a lot stronger in Austria than in other EU countries," said Helmut Weixler, European parliamentary spokesperson for the Greens.

"A large part of the population has problems [accepting] immigration, and guys like Haider and [Heinz-Christian] Strache exploit those populist feelings. They're very good at that."

Mr Strache, who is 39 and the new face of Austria's virulently anti-foreigner right wing–his Freedom Party promotes slogans like "Vienna must not become Istanbul!" and "Home instead of Islam"–made great strides in elections in 2006 calling for Austria to expel all illegal immigrants and close the doors to new arrivals.

Particularly effective in whipping up the public's fear of foreigners is Kronen Zeitung, an arch-right tabloid run by Hans Dichand that reaches some 40 per cent of the population and wields enormous political influence. Far-right to Do Well in Austrian Elections >>> By Michael Levitin in Berlin | September 27, 2008

TIME:
Austria’s Far-Right on the Rise >>> By Andrew Purvis | September 19, 2008

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The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

The Apostate Report: Leaving Islam in North America (with Sarah Haider)

Jul 6, 2021 • Sarah Haider, co-founder of www.exmuslims.org, joins us to talk about a just-released survey of North American ex-Muslims and its compelling findings.

Ex -Muslims dot org here.

Apostate Report here.

Isa Haider Alaali Case: Bahraini Teen Fears Torture After Losing Asylum Claim

THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY: A Bahraini teenager fears he will be tortured when he is deported to the repressive Gulf state this week after his asylum application was rejected by the British Government.

Isa Haider Alaali’s deportation comes as the Royal Family have been playing host at the Royal Windsor Horse Show to the King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and his son Prince Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who faces a High Court judicial review over whether he has immunity from prosecution for alleged torture.

Activists staged protests over the weekend at an equestrian event as Prince Andrew – long criticised for his cozy relationship with the Gulf state – entertained Bahraini royals at Windsor on Friday.

Home Office documents obtained by The Independent show the 19-year-old is due to be flown back to Bahrain on Thursday morning. Mr Alaali, who was sentenced to five years in prison in absentia by a Bahraini court in March on charges of illegal gathering and rioting, is unable to appeal the decision. » | Alex Delmar-Morgan | Sunday, May 18, 2014

Jörg Haiders Wüstenspuren: Die Ära Schüssel in neuem Licht?
NZZ ONLINE: Die undurchsichtige Affäre um Jörg Haiders schwarze Konten in Liechtenstein ist um eine Facette reicher. In einem irakischen Dokument ist die Rede von Zahlungen des Diktators Saddam Hussein an Haider und einen Parteigenossen in Millionenhöhe.

Unbeirrt von den Dementis der Staatsanwaltschaft Vaduz und des deutschen Bundeskriminalamts zu den angeblichen schwarzen Konten des früheren Kärntner Landeshauptmanns Jörg Haider in Liechtenstein, setzt das österreichische Nachrichtenmagazin «Profil» seine seine Recherchen fort. Kleine Zuwendungen >>> Charles E. Ritterband, Wien | Mittwoch, 11. August 2010

Austria’s Far-Right: Now a Powerful Political Force
THE TELEGRAPH: Austria's far-Right has become the country's most powerful political force in an election that gave mainstream parities their lowest level of support since the Second World War.

According to early poll results, leaders of the country's two far-Right parties who had campaigned on anti-immigrant and anti-European Union platforms, took almost 30 per cent of the vote to deliver a stunning blow to Austria's political establishment.

The Freedom Party, headed by Heinz-Christian Strache, who was accused of xenophobia during the election campaign, took 18.4 per cent of the vote.

A new far-Right party, the Alliance for the Future of Austria, founded by Jorg Haider, Mr Strache's former mentor before a 2005 split from the Freedom Party, won 9.7 per cent of the vote.

The election has been a catastrophe for Austria's moderate parties, with the centrist Social Democrats capturing only 29.5 percent and the conservative People's Party taking only 26 per cent of the vote.

Both parties, which have ruled Austria either alone or in coalition since the end of the Second World War, faced the worst election results in their history as their votes dropped under 30 per cent each for the first time.

Austrians went to the polls after a "grand coalition" between the Social Democrats and the People's Party collapsed after 18 months of a government that was paralysed by constant disputes and rifts.

Most Austrian commentators expect that the Social Democrats will try tod form a new government by either attempting to revive the grand coalition or by entering into a deal with the far-Right, a move that could provoke international condemnation. Austria Election Delivers Gains for Far-Right >>> By Andreas Sam in Vienna and Bruno Waterfield | September 28, 2008

FORBES:
Austria Far Right Surges to Historic High: VIENNA - The far right surged to almost a third of the vote in Austria's parliamentary election on Sunday, complicating prospects for the biggest mainstream party, the Social Democrats, to forge a stable governing coalition. >>> Reuters | September 28, 2008

EURO NEWS:
Haider Blames EU Interference for Austria’s Isolation in 2000 >>> | September 17, 2008

NEWS 24:
Austria Swings to the Right: Vienna - Austria veered sharply to the right in snap Parliamentary elections on Sunday, with its two ruling parties each losing significant ground to the far-right, preliminary estimates showed. >>> SA | September 28, 2008

STUFF.CO.NZ:
Rightists Surge, Main Parties Sag in Austria Vote >>> Reuters | September 29, 2008

AFP:
Austria Swings to the Right in Snap Elections: VIENNA — Austria's two ruling parties, the Social Democrats and conservatives, received a severe drubbing in a snap general election here Sunday, which was marked by a resurgence of the far-right. >>> | September 28. 2008

TIMESONLINE:
Heinz Christian Strache: … people were scared to see women in burkas running around “like female Ninjas”. “Many decent people have come here and they integrated: Poles, Hungarians, Croats and also Serbs. We are all European brothers because we do not want to become Islamised.”

His disdain for Islam and Muslim customs even extends to culinary matters, demanding that “one should not roast mutton in council flats. I would also not grill a wild pig in Istanbul.” >>> Bojan Pancevski in Vienna | September 29, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>