analysis
In Austria, coalition negotiations between the FPÖ and ÖVP are making progress. For FPÖ leader Kickl, the Chancellery is within reach. This causes fear in many people.
Temperatures were around freezing point when thousands of people gathered in front of the Federal Chancellery in Vienna last Thursday. A young woman with a piercing next to an elegantly dressed older man with a hat, diagonally behind him a father with a small child on his shoulders. All age groups are represented, and no one will be put off by the cold this evening. Whistles, chants and boos can be heard. The people here are united by their anger at the failure of the coalition talks between the centrist parties last week – and their fear of a Chancellor Herbert Kickl.
One of them is Alon Ishay. The computer science student is president of the Jewish university student body. He sees the fact that the task of forming a government in Austria has now been given to a party that is permeated by right-wing fraternities and that has never credibly renounced Nazi ideology is a clear threat to Jews in Austria:
“With the mandate to form a government to the FPÖ and Herbert Kickl, we are facing the most right-wing extremist government that has existed in Austria since 1945. The FPÖ is talking about wanting to deprive people of their citizenship and deporting people. All of this happened the last time 80-90 years and it's clear to us: We never want to go there again.”
“This is no longer my Austria”
But it's not just the Jewish community in Austria that is worried about Kickl's possible chancellorship. The climate in the country could also become significantly harsher for people who identify as other minorities. A young black woman has wrapped herself tightly in an EU flag. She says she is afraid of exclusion and would prefer to remain anonymous.
She is always gripped by the fear of being deported when she thinks of Kickl's concept of remigration, the mass deportation of people with a migration background:
Kickl only recently said, I don't know what's so bad about remigration. An Austria that only upholds Austrian culture, whatever that is supposed to be – schnitzel and beer – is no longer my Austria.
Asylum-Withdrawal procedure are already running
Syrian Abdulhkeem Alshater, 44 years old from Homs, sees it similarly. After becoming involved in the resistance against the Assad regime, he had to flee in 2015 and came to Vienna, where he founded the secular association Free Syrian Community.
He says he has experienced everything imaginable – a shift to the right in Austria cannot scare him personally. He has it more for his daughter, who then has to suffer more from racism and discrimination.
Asylum revocation procedures for Syrians have been running in Austria since the beginning of December, enforced under the old government led by the conservative ÖVP. Alshater receives hundreds of calls every day from people who can neither sleep nor eat. The Syrian community is completely unsettled, which is likely to become even worse under a black-blue government.
Kickl's far-reaching plans
Kickl-FPÖ's further plans include an end to the Russia sanctions, a reduction in public broadcasting, a ban on “political Islam” and “gender and woke madness”.
During the election campaign, Kickl repeatedly made it clear that he sees Austria in a culture war. In the beer tent, hate speech against the LGBTIQ community and its rainbow flags was always something that the FPÖ chairman could use to secure laughter and approval.
Are queer people losing rights?
Ann-Sophie Otte often appears with the rainbow symbol. She is the chairwoman of the Austrian Lesbian and Gay Association and, like many of the members, is worried.
Since Corona, society has been unleashed anyway, hate crimes against gays and lesbians such as spitting on the street or insults shouted afterwards are increasing. There is also a real fear that queer people would lose rights under a black-blue government.
There is great concern that access to adequate medical treatment for transgender people will deteriorate and that so-called conversion therapy, often referred to as “homo healing”, could become popular again – a horror scenario for Otte.
Progress in FPÖ-ÖVP talks
But the FPÖ and ÖVP have made progress in their coalition agreements and agreed on measures for budget consolidation – one of the issues on which the coalition negotiations between the centrist parties failed.
It sees It seems that there are no longer any major obstacles on the way to power for the man who wants to become “People's Chancellor” – a term that Hitler already used.
