Austrian patriots mull reunification
by Andrew Redmond
The highly http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5766 of nationalist leader Joerg Haider has led to speculation that Austria’s two patriotic forces may unify in the wake of the tragedy. Such a move would be a blow to those who hoped that Haider’s demise would decapitate the Austrian wing of a progressive nationalist and populist movement that is gaining strength in practically all European nations.
Haider’s death came in the immediate aftermath of an outstanding legislative electoral performance on September 28 by the two nationalist groups, the Freedom Party (FPO), which Haider once led, and his new political vehicle, the smaller Alliance for Austria’s Future (BZO). The election, which rocked both the Austrian establishment and corrupt elites across Europe, saw both groups scoring a total of 29% of the votes, equalling the center left Social Democrats and beating the conservatives. (As elsewhere in Europe, the far left was annihilated at the polls, an ongoing function both of Marxist incoherence since the Soviet collapse and their related abandonment of the working class in favor of advocacy on behalf of Third World immigrants).
Haider was a charismatic, photogenic and dynamic figure demonized by the “mainstream” media as much as he was loved by his constituents. Like Jean-Marie Le Pen in France, Haider was an instantly recognizable figure nationwide. But personality disputes led to Austrian nationalist forces splitting, and Haider forming his Alliance for Austria’s Future in 2005. Years of building core support by both groups, as well as continuing Third World immigration and rampantly inept leadership by conservatives and Social Democrats alike led to the 2008 successes.Across Europe, the increasingly demoralized ruling classes depend on so-called “purple coalitions,” alliances of center left (“red”) Social Democrats and (“blue”) conservatives in coaliton governments. The 2008 elections came about when the Austrian conservatives pulled out of a Social Democratic dominated coalition government, leading to the nationalist ballot box numbers which disrupt the status quo and point to future change.
Haider died conveniently for the technocrats, special interests, globalists and corporations who have a vested interest in what they consider to be a stable political environment of kept politicians, as nationalists entered negotiations for a reconfigured national political pecking order. The mass media and political elites have done their damnedest to slander Haider even in death. The government announced that his death was a “human tragedy,” not a political or national one, hardly the kinds of words reserved for a national figure, elected official and regional governor. (Haider was a friend of another Austrian governor: Arnold Schwarzenegger).
The media also plays up the fact that Haider was travelling at “88 miles per hour” when the single car “accident” occurred, with one report saying that, as in his political life, Haider was driving too fast. 88 is a number consistently linked by the mass media to neo-nazism; H is the 8th letter of the alphabet and 88 (for Heil Hitler) was the code used by National Socialists in the runup to the German “Anschluss” annexation of Austria in 1938. Constant attempts to link any kind of nationalism or white self awareness to nazism are a tried and true tactic to hatebait, marginalize, criminalize and incite violence against dissidents, and the specifically Austrian context of the “88” code has deep resonance in the Austrian psyche. Haider himself was routinely slandered as a “neo-nazi,” to little effect, a fact which must have enraged his enemies.
The latest character assassination attempt on Haider is the claim in English language reports that he was “drunk” at the time of the accident, “slightly above” the legal limit of alcohol. European alcohol limits are much more strict than those in the United States, and so “drunk” could well mean one or two recent glasses of wine. Even these conclusions are suspect given how much Haider was hated and feared by the bosses of those who would draw such conclusions.
Indeed, the timing and circumstances of Haider’s death have drawn the suspicions of many Austrians, whose reaction has been compared to those seen in the wake of Princess Diana’s demise, with thousands coming out to memorials and laying wreaths at the crash site. The suspicions seem better founded than many conspiracy theories: Haider had just helped to smash the dominant political paradigm, part of a trend across Europe; he had many enemies, from corporations to bureaucrats to even http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5772’s Mossad; he was in the midst of tense negotiations about the makeup of the next Austrian government; he embodied and legitimized the concerns of millions of ordinary Austrians about government policy, especially immigration; he was beloved by millions and had the votes and recognition to prove it and was better known than many of Austria’s grey, most officially “important” politicians and national figures; in his final interview he called for the prosecution of those who engineered the financial meltdown that continues across the Western world; he could only grow more powerful, along with the worldview he represented. Lastly, but certainly not least, there is precedent: if Haider was indeed murdered he would not be the first politically incorrect European leader in recent times to fall to an assassin.
The climate of hate spun around nationalist dissidents legitimizes the kind of violence which claimed the lives of Netherlanders Pim Fortuyn in 2002 and Theo van Gogh in 2004. Another Dutchman, the politician Geert Wilders, has been threatened so often that a SWAT team has to protect him, while Nick Griffin of the British National Party was targeted by a bomb attack in Sweden and, like all European nationalist leaders, has to be protected by a security team at all public appearances. Politically correct terrorists have gone so far as to physically threaten the children of BNP members. In France, politically correct terrorists have regularly targeted Le Pen and his Front National with violence, claiming one of Le Pen’s eyes in one attack and attempting to blow up his apartment building. This violence often comes from fringe “leftists,” many of whom are also simple criminals, who have been incited by special interests and who are often protected by police and governments, serving as de facto paramilitary armies against nationalism. Often government support is open; in the recent attempt to such down a conference on the Islamization of Europe in http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5661 and censor them for expressing “dangerous” opinions.
The death of Joerg Haider was clearly seen as a benefit for Austria’s rulers. But instead of the confusion and disorientation that Haider’s death could have left at the top of the nationalist scene, his untimely departure has led to nationalists exploring chances to present a united front that could well come to dominate Austria’s political scene.
While the nationalists will miss the leadership and “star” quality of Joerg Haider, the Freedom Party has an able leader in Heinz-Christian Strache, a youthful Viennese with a lot of attraction for younger, urban Austrians, who, like youth everywhere, viscerally despise official attempts to jail opinions. For many youth Strache is hip, such ironony for Austria’s political elite, many of whose members cut their teeth on Baby Boomer rejection of tradition. Strache is widely seen as someone able to unite nationalists around an effective program. But most importantly, the objective facts that have allowed the “far right” to gain so much influence at the cost of both the “purple” pencil pushers and the Marxists are the worst enemies of the status quo. No matter how many courageous dissidents conveniently die, the ruling caste still has now answers except more of the same things which have sparked dissent in the first place. Europe is now on a http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=5274 with history; misleaders have brought her to this place, and their time at the top is rapidly drawing to a close.