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Austria shifts to right as conservative wins election

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By Shadia Nasralla and Kirsti Knolle

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32 Comments
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...young, fresh ideas....

Indeed. Youthful, ambitious and Austrian. Bodes well for us all....

8 ( +10 / -2 )

The Left in every Western country has brought this on themselves by putting the interests of others over the interests of their own people and by condemning anyone who questioned the wisdom of this course as racists ... while simultaneous endorsing a fundamentally right-wing globalist economic policy that benefits the rich and well-educated while leaving the working class behind.  

Brexit, Trump, Kurz ... different species of the same plant, springing from seeds planted by a cultural Left that does not value, let alone celebrate, Western culture or heritage and knows only how to wallow in guilt and self-loathing.

-4 ( +7 / -11 )

Austria does seem to have a long standing problem with the far right. Jorg Haider springs to mind.

Not to mention that other fellow back in the 30s and 40s...

Nice to see some young, fresh ideas enter stagnant European politics

Nothing fresh about fascism, young man.

4 ( +11 / -7 )

Nothing fresh about fascism

And may I ask what precisely makes Sebastian Kurz a fascist in your book?

0 ( +9 / -9 )

And may I ask what precisely makes Sebastian Kurz a fascist in your book?

I would question his credibility should he share power with the Freedom Party. In much the same way I questioned May's deal with the far right DUP.

In making alliances with the far right; this is nothing "fresh"; it is a dangerous political game that gives an air of legitimacy to such putrid groups.

7 ( +10 / -3 )

Youthful, ambitious and Austrian. Bodes well for us all....

But can he paint, though? That's the question....

8 ( +9 / -1 )

I would question his credibility should he share power with the Freedom Party. In much the same way I questioned May's deal with the far right DUP.

I'm not talking about credibility. I want to know what precisely makes Sebastian Kurz a fascist? Not the Freedom Party, but Sebastian Kurz. Can you point to something specific he has said or done, or something in his manifesto? Or has the word fascist basically lost all meaning and now means rightwing? Not everyone to the right of you is a fascist Toasted Heretic.

it is a dangerous political game that gives an air of legitimacy to such putrid groups.

And what other putrid groups would you like to see Kurz go into coalition with? The left wing Social Democrats? The party that has now admitted it was behind the crazy fake news sites on Facebook accusing Kurz of being an undercover puppet of George Soros who (contrary to all of his anti-refugee policies) is secretly planning to open the borders to millions of refugees in a bid to destabilise Austria once he gains power. You know, those sites that everyone thought the Freedom Party was somehow behind?

1 ( +7 / -6 )

You can cut off the oxygen to these types by pursuing sensible immigration policies.

By using the word 'sensible', does that make me a racist?

3 ( +6 / -3 )

There shouldn't be any borders, all people should be free to move where they want, when they want. We are one world, one human race. We all bleed red and we all need love and compassion. Dividing the world up into silly little nation states is ridiculous and only brings endless war and suffering.

-3 ( +4 / -7 )

@Jim

Of course not.

But “sensible” probably means different things to you and to Nigel Farage and to Nick Griffin....

5 ( +6 / -1 )

By using the word 'sensible', does that make me a racist?

Luca pretty much covered this already, but the usage of the word in and of itself is not racist. But what the person means by 'sensible' could potentially make them a racist.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

But “sensible” probably means different things to you and to Nigel Farage and to Nick Griffin....

Sharp as usual. I thought you'd get it. I remember I was attacked here for using the word 'sensible' - a word Nigel Farage used.

I was thinking of using 'controlled', but I thought that had overtones of Fascist dictatorship. I was weighing up 'limited', but decided that made me sound like a goose-stepping genocidal maniac. 'Sensible' seemed the most innocuous word but it may have shades of standing outside a gas chamber with a diabolical smile on my face.

You are more literate than myself. Can you give me a good adjective?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

How about “canny”?

It combines the Scots sense of “clever”, with the Geordie idea of “good”.

Probably wouldn’t work on the international stage, though : (

5 ( +5 / -0 )

'Canny' - I like it. Much better than mine.

I just worry it might be construed as conniving and sly as in burning down the Reichstag and blaming the communists.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Kim Jong Un must be piffed, he is 33 years old. He lost his world title.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The putrid left is being shoved from power everywhere in the industrialized world

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

The putrid left is being shoved from power everywhere in the industrialized world

Everywhere? I must have missed that.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Yes Austria has always been a conservative country, but the emergence of these new faces is a direct consequence of many of the EU policies ignoring the concerns of huge swathes of their people.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

There shouldn't be any borders, all people should be free to move where they want, when they want.

It could theoretically be done, but only if you are willing to completely abandon the modern social welfare state. Because nobody in their right mind would accept paying taxes to sustain a massive population of transient migrants who don't speak the language or share any other ties with the local population. As Milton Friedman said, you can have one or the other, but not both.

More importantly, would you still enforce private property rights in the borderless society? Because if that's the case, then it only mean that borders move to the front door of everyone's home or property. You would still decide who is allowed to cross the border into your home to drain your family's household resources, much in the same way that the nation decides this for us on a national level. In my case, the dozens of families who live in my apartment would have a common border at the entrance of our building. We might print little passports to distinguish ourselves from the marauding mobs outside. We might set up businesses and social welfare programs in the building for the exclusive benefit of residents. It could be like a medieval city state. Eventually the building next door might see the advantages of working together in a tightly knit group and join us, then perhaps the entire neighbourhood, and then the city, and eventually the country (again).

Countries and borders have evolved over hundreds of years because they actually work quite well and offer significant economic and social advantages for organising societies. They aren't just useless constructs that have been dreamt up by xenophobes and racists. The open borders folks probably need to brush up on history.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Congrats, Herr Kurz!

FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who has accused Kurz of stealing his party's ideas, declined to be drawn on his preferred partner. "Anything is possible," he told ORF. "We are pleased with this great success and one thing is clear: nearly 60 percent of the Austrian population voted for the FPO programme."

Haha, yeah, sort of. I think euro far right parties still think they have a monopoly on patriotism and tough immigration policies, mostly because euro lefts, and even rights in some countries, never really knew how to talk about immigration, what it means to be Austrian/Italian/German/French etc. I think, and hope, this has changed in the last few years as left to centre right movements have finally detabooised and desacralized the subject of immigration and even national identity.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

I hope Austrians will come to see that migrants can contribute positively to society, living, working and loving their fellow citizens as much as the next person. Most of the time the different face you see on the bus beside you isn't a monster, it's a human being with the same hopes and worries as you.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Turks, etc have helped rebuild Austria after WWII, also a very large Jewish population since over 100yrs ago.

Vienna build a mosque from city funds(following all rules) so that people could worship decades ago.

Current refugees are different from people that settled there decades and more ago and have integrated.

HTH.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

I hope Austrians will come to see that migrants can contribute positively to society, living, working and loving their fellow citizens as much as the next person

Yes, that's an ideal and that ideal is best achieved through canny ( thanks, Luca ) immigration policies. Huge influxes increase the risk of bringing in people who don't share the same values of tolerance you want, put many people already living there ( including immigrants ) on edge and fuel the trash right.

I share Goldorak's optimism to a point that it is becoming more acceptable to speak honestly about immigration, but there are still those who would regard the paragraph above as racist. Those people ( I'm not including you here ), are a danger to the well-being of a country.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

What always gets me the most is that that when someone from the right who is democratically elected always gets instantly labelled with being a fascist or a racist. Do those one the left really believe that they are so morally superior that they know better than the people of Austria who expressed their democratic right to elect who they wish to lead them? Its astounds me sometimes. Just because you are on the right hand side of the political spectrum doesn't make you automatically evil, in fact there have been as many racist and tyrannical leaders on on the left as there have been on the right! Maybe more?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

in fact there have been as many racist and tyrannical leaders on on the left as there have been on the right! Maybe more?

Quite possibly.

But there's no schadenfreude or celebrating moral superiority. Racist leaders and regimes are reprehensible, regardless of their position on the political spectrum.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

I share Goldorak's optimism to a point that it is becoming more acceptable to speak honestly about immigration, but there are still those who would regard the paragraph above as racist. Those people ( I'm not including you here ), are a danger to the well-being of a country.

For sure.

There are undoubtedly some people who enter other countries who really shouldn't be coming in.

That applies to both to stricken countries and the better off ones. There are people who have come to Japan from the "good" countries that scare me far more than people from maligned places.

I don't know. Perhaps the west will think twice over waging their unwinnable wars and giving aid to questionable regimes when its suits their purposes. Perhaps the west will learn that such actions have consequences like more conflict, internecine and civil. That famine, mass carnage and despair will lead to refugees and mass human upheaval and displacement.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Fascim is growing in Europe, after the historical win of far right in Germany, it is like we are entering a domino effect... Now how have we come to this situation ? Immigration some says, but then it is something present for decades, what REALLY has changed to make some people thinks that immigration is at fault for ... pretty much everything then?

Maybe we should in fact a bit dig and analyse the socio economic of our modern society and see if there are notable changes for X reasons and how this has affected millions of people living in Europe.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Fascim is growing in Europe,

thats alarming!

Where??

Examples please.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

The rise of fascism

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/19/the-rise-of-the-far-right-in-europe-is-not-a-false-alarm/

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/abraham-h-foxman/rising-anti-semitism-in-e_b_7835610.html

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

So you’re saying that Europeans that want to Perserve their culture are racists?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Oh well, if the Huffpost sez it’s true, it MUST be!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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