ECUMENE.ORG
sted July 22 1999
The Political Situation in Austria, February 3, 2000 By Hubert Feichtlbauer
This will be a terribly difficult presentation because it will be impossible to make clear to everyone why everything is different from what media convey. So I will try to present facts to the best of my knowledge and conscience.
The FPÖ which is now to enter the cabinet is no Nazi party. If you look at its program it presents a clear yes to democracy, basic rights, human rights. That is the difference to Hitler´s NSDAP which had proclaimed the overthrow of democracy before it was voted into power in 1932. However, the party under Jörg Haider´s leadership has been very opportunistic and populist and always fostered sentiment against „those who take away what diligent Austrians have worked for and honestly earned": the „privileged people" in Government and public jobs, the foreign laborers and asylum seekers who „receive more social support than hard working Austrians" and then act as „drug dealers"(which of course some of them do, but not the overwhelming majority). This kind of anti-foreign propaganda has contributed to the FPÖ´s (well deserved) bad reputation of the party by human rights activists. We despise such political approaches from the depth of our hearts and have often said so publicy.
Jörg Haider himself is no Nazi, has on various occasions condemned Nazism and deplored the Holocaust, but has played on populist approaches more than anyone in his party and with loose language created awful impressions inside and outside of Austria. His verbal diorrhea is a catastrophe and in the opinion of most of us will remain to be one. The problem is: The majority of his voters did not vote for him because of occasional gaffes that can be interpreted as Nazi sympathies but because he denounces the bigshots in government and promises change.
For the past 55 years Social Democrats and Christian Democrats have ruled the country. In 51 years the Social Democrats (SPÖ) were members of cabinets, for 42 years the Christian Democratic Peoples´s Party (ÖVP). This is unique in Europe. These two parties have great merits: They pulled Austria out of war destruction and Nazi infection, reestablished a democratic republic in 1945, gave it status and respectability: great! But there is a reverse side to it: To build mutual trust they divided up among themselves all important jobs in the country: government, education, hospital administration, nationalized industries´ CEOs, everything you can think of. A new generation wants this situation definitely to change. But for whom shall they vote? We now have three parties of approximately equal strength (SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ) and a small green party. To constitute a majority in parliament two of the three must join forces. If for moral reasons it can only be SPÖ and ÖVP this is a growing frustration for the advocates of change: They can only vote for FPÖ, but in whatever strength they do it,they are charged with Nazism and in the opinion of many (including our Federal President) should not be admitted to government.
After 30 years of a Socialist Prime Minister and after months of negotiating with the SPÖ again, the ÖVP this time decided it should finally cut the knot and try a cabinet with the FPÖ. Everybody knew there would be international protests, but what was the alternative? New elections now would mean, as all polls indicate, that frustrated we-need-a-change voters would make the FPÖ number one. Would such as result make the solution easier? After years in which SPÖ and ÖVP tried to eliminate Haider and his party by making him an outcast, the ÖVP now tries to tame him by burdening his party (not himself, he will not be am member of the cabinet) with co-responsibility: an attempt with high risks, as the ÖVP leadership knows full well. But is making such a desperate try really worth worldwide denunciations and applying the technique of isolation which failed with Haider to all of Austria?
The government promises in a solemn declaration adherence to the principles of democracy, human rights, and human dignity. It will go out of its way to fulfill moral obligations vis a vis victims of the Hitler regime. Knowing that Austrian behavior will be wachted more closely than ever, the government will do everything to disperse doubts (which many of us hold). But there is no indication that anybody will have to fear any discrimination in Austria, let alone in Europe. Therefore an overwhelming majority of Austrians feel we do not derserve the avalanche of criticism and measures to downgrade diplomatic contacts before the government has said a single word or carried out a single action. There was no such big outcry when professed neo-fascists in Italy became members of a (short-lived) cabinet nor was there any action taken against Communist ministers in a French cabinet. The Italian example showed that Neofascists of Mr.Fini could indeed be „tamed" in government. Is it so much more immoral to try the same thing in Austria? Furthermore, the FPÖ was already in an Austrian cabinet – under a Social Democrat from 1983 to 1986. It could be argued: It was a small party then and not led by Haider. But it can also be argued: At that time the party leader Friedrich Peter had been an officer of the Waffen SS, whereas Haider (for reasons of youth) had never played a role in the Nazi era.
27 per cent of Austrian voters voted for Haider in 1999 – 73 per cent did not! I am sure none of our members has ever voted for Haider or the FPÖ. (I never did and never will). We dislike him, we detest his populism and his stand on immigration and foreigners. Many of us will fight the new government in the political arena. Others will want to give it a chance to avoid new elections and try to lure the FPÖ away from its negative attitude. Because it is opportunistic, it once was very much in favor of the European Union, then turned around to oppose the EU and now let itself be turned back by ÖVP chairman Schuessel to favor EU: despicable indeed. But no reason for sanctions from the partner countries in the EU. Please, let us come to terms with our problems without denouncing our country as the only one to be immoral while Western politicians travel to Moscow and shake hands with the slaughterers of human beings in Chechnya.
Austria´s Church, indeed, Austria´s Christian churches have so far taken no official stand because the new government is a matter of politics of which they keep out. This position of the bishops in our opinion is correct, we share it and hence We Are Church will not issue a separate statement as long as there is no need for it. However, as chairperson of We Are Church AustriaI have co-signed a letter sent today (3 February) by Catholic Action Austria to the ambassadors of the remaining 14 EU states in Austria deploring the diplomatic sanctions announced and requesting their retraction. The statement acknowledges that the causes of the present crisis come from Austria and that the concern of many friends abroad are shared and understood by us. Catholic organizations have often denounced xenophobia, racism and any attempt to belittle Nazism, the statement says, but the problems causing our common concern can be found in other European countries too and it would not behelpful to single out one country and make it the only scoundrel.
„Austria geographically lies at the heart of Europe," the letter says. „Help us that it be not marginalized politically!" Other Catholic organizations and also the bishops were invited to join this declaration. It was mailed immediately after Schuessel and Haider had signed a pro-democracy, pro-human rights manifesto in the presence of Federal President Klestil and had presented in a media conference an impeccable, pro-EU government program. We don´t like this cabinet, we will watch its actions closely, we will fight any potential violation of principles, but we ask our friends abroad to refrain from unfair and unbalanced comments not substantiated by the facts.
(End of Statement)
Last revised 3 February 2000
Electronic edition copyright © 2000 Ingrid H. ShaferLast revised July 22, 1999