Welcome to a new edition of evil:austria!

This time, evil:austria is not quite as extensive as usually, because the last one came pretty late, and this issue is roughly in schedule again.

We've got a question: We would be very grateful regarding help in producing the translations of this newsletter, especially by persons who can do (good) French translations, as our translator is overworked. We
will also be glad about translations to language not covered up to now...

Once again, for newcomers, an explanation what this newsletter is about and why we produce it:

evil:austria is our monthly newsletter providing information about the situation in Austria (and regarding the consequences of FPOe/OeVP government). We decided to produce this newsletter since we realized that knowledge regarding the actual situation in Austria is not very widespread abroad. The government, after discussions about EU-'sanctions' against Austria were dropped, succeeded in removing the daily insanity from the attention of the international public. Meanwhile 'sanctions' have been lifted, which almost all political groups here celebrated as a victory, and the 'interest' taken in the development in Austria has decreased even more. The 'normalisation' of the right-wing/right-extreme government continues, and therefore information about the aggravation of the situation in Austria is even more important. It is therefore highly desired that you spread this newsletter as widely as possible, so that as many people as possible get to know about the situation in Austria. So please spread, spread, spread this. Of course you may also use this material (also in excerpts) for magazines and papers, but we would be glad if you sent us a short mail in this case.

Any criticism and comments please send to (if possible, please write in German and English):

raw@raw.at

Have fun!

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[1] A defeat in Vienna.....
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[2] Critical media coverage unwanted even abroad
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[3] The party of the "Industrious and Decent" (1)
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[4] The party of the "Industrious and Decent" (2)
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[5] The party of the "Industrious and Decent" (3)
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[6] Joerg Haider is the model....
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[7] Report on Racism in Austria
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[8] Constitutional Court on Omofuma-case
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[9] Amnesty International on Austria
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[10] Nazi attacks
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[11] Do you still believe Austria is a constitutional state...
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[1] A defeat in Vienna.....
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Despite anti-semitic and racist comments, FPOe faced a defeat during the recent elections in Vienna. Many people did not vote at all, or returned from voting for FPOe to SPOe. Comments from the population: Why SPOE? "Because Haider did not keep his promises." What promises? "Well, the
foreigners are still here."

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[2] Critical media coverage unwanted even abroad
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An article in the Polish anti-fascist paper NIDGY WIECEJ (Never Again) which criticized FPOe/OeVP led to a protest by the Austrian embassy in Warsaw. At first, a diplomat phoned the editors and complained about the
article which was published by anti-fascists in "Popular Weekly", a trade union paper. But this was not sufficient for the genuine and eager Austrians, so they also wrote a long letter defending FPOe.
Now what a blow to these diplomats that criticial media coverage can't be stopped abroad as easily as it can be stopped in Austria.....

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[3] The party of the "Industrious and Decent" (1)
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FPOe always presented itself as the party of the "industrious and decent". Industrious in telling lies, spying out persons, and cheating, that's what they are, but apparently all this is not done in a 'decent' way, because
they get found out too often ;))). As in the case of an FPOe assistant of Herr Wymyn's Minister Haupt (FPOe): In Austria, people with academic titles are well respected. But some prefer to be called "doctor" or "M.A." without having been to university, as this assistant of Herr Haupt. Which is pretty embarassing when one gets found out....

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[4] The party of the "Industrious and Decent" (2)
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Patrick Ortlieb - a former skiing star and presently M.P. for FPOe - is known in parliament for being taciturn. He now became even more taciturn:
At Innsbruck airport, a scarcely clad and disoriented womyn was found. Pictures taken by a security camera in a parking lot revealed that this womyn got off Ortlieb's car before. Ortlieb commented: He had been drinking with this womyn and then he took her to the airport because he assumed she would be able to get a taxi there (so that's why he kicked her out in a parking lot). So, driving under influence (for any 'normal' citizen, this will mean the loss of one's driving licence) and an incident which leaves the odour of scandal about Ortlieb....
There are investigations against Ortlieb because he is suspected to have commited a sexual assault.

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[5] The party of the "Industrious and Decent" (3)
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The list of candidates of Vienna FPOe for elections to the parliament of the federal state presents many "industrious" rightwing radicals:

Helmut Kowarik:
He is a committee member of "Austrian Landsmannschaft". According to the documentation archives of Austrian resistance, this is "a rightwing extreme organisation which, because of its ideological and cultural
activities, has an important integrating function for the nationalist and rightwing extreme scene".

Barbara Schoefnagel:
Also a committee member of "Austrian Landsmannschaft". She announces her trips to the Romanian region of "Siebenbuergen" in the rightwing extreme paper "Der Volksfreund" [The friend of the people].

Harald Stefan, Dietbert Kowarik und Alfred Wuerzner:
They are members of rightwing fraternity "Olympia". Due to its activities, this fraternity was described as "a place for educating cadres for the nationalist and rightwing extreme ideology" by the Ministry of the
Interior during the 90ies.
Alfred Wurzer got himself a reputation already at the beginning of the 80ies: He was a member of a support committee for Neonazi Norbert Burger who ran as a candidate in presidential elections.

Othmar Kremser:
He was active in "National Democratic Party" which was banned under the law of forbidden re-introduction of Nazi activities....

Mattias Lawugger:
At the end of the 80ies, he was active in the environment of Gottfried Kuessel and his "VAPO" [Non-parliamentary Opposition true to the people] which was banned by courts for being an Nazi organisation prone to violence.

John Gudenus, professional officer:
He used to be an MP for Vienna. In 1995, Joerg Haider himself took away his mandate. Reason: During a public discussion at the opening of the "Wehrmacht" exhibition, "Crimes 1941-1945", Gudenus said in public: "Gas chambers? I won't comment that. I believe in everything presecribed by dogma." Last year, he got into papers for explaining his views on recompensation for forced labourers: "This recompensation is nothing but blackmail money we are supposed to pay" because "us Austrians are not responsible for the conditions during that time."

Wolfgang Jung:
A colleague of Gudenus', MP for FPOe and member of fraternity "Albia". In 1999, he had severe qualms when deserters from the Nazi army were to be rehabilitated: "Someone who shot his officer to escape from Norway to Sweden according to my point of view is not honourable."

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[6] Joerg Haider is the model....
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...imitated by Ewald Stadler (FPOe). During an election campaign rally, he said: "Starting from Israel, a movement began, involving the entire European Union and America, in order to prevent us from getting into the government. This was the true background of the sanctions!" And continued with threats against Czechia: "Up to the seventh and eighth decade after the war, they are demanding recompensation, while others do not pay anything at all! For example "the Czechs": Either you take back the Benes edicts and you recompensate the displaced persons, or you'll stay right where you are!" (which hinted at Czech plans to join EU).
Finally, he thanked "all mothers who, after the war, raised children under difficult conditions". To be a mother "should be one of the outstanding tasks for our people!".....

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[7] Report on Racism in Austria
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The "Commission against Racism and Xenophobia" of the European Council (ECRI) in a report covering the time up to June 2000:
Immigrants, people applying for asylum, and refugees are still victims of racism, xenophobia, and discrimination in Austria....

The ECRI report expresses a "deep concern" about racist and xenophobic propaganda in politics. "The conduct of police towards members of minorities is another important issue", the report says. Especially black persons will be victims of discrimination. "ECRI is deeply concerned about the high number of racist and xenophobic comments in the Austrian political arena, and in this context about the immense success of FPOe during elections, since FPOe has made use of racist and xenophobe propaganda", the report says in its chapter "Use of Racism in Politics".

The commission further criticizes the coverage of some newspapers which adds to a climate of xenophobia. Humyn Rights groups have noted discriminating practices in hiring personnel, under which especially foreign citizens will suffer, but also naturalized citizens.

Anti-Semitism: "Despite the Austrian Jewish community being small (approx. 7,000 members), anti-semitism is still to be found in Austria and gets manifest in different ways. Among them are the distribution of anti-
semitic material (e.g. per Internet), graffiti, harassment, and the descration of cemetaries. Articles with anti-semitic undertones are published in newspapers.
The harshest forms of anti-semitism are punished in observance to the criminal laws against National Socialist organisations." (This, however, is not correct: this law ONLY applies to the reintroduction of National
Socialism and does in no way apply to anti-semitic comments, note RAW).

Regarding media: "ECRI is concerned about some "mainstream" papers covering the issues of immigration and asylum in a way which contributes to an atmosphere of animosity and rejection of members of minorities.
These papers often describe immigrants in a negative way using stereotypes and exaggerating incidents in which members of minorities happened to take part."
ECRI assumes that these papers do have an important impact on public opinion.

An important note: the ECRI reports will first be sent to the respective country they deal with. The final version of each report is then produced in a dialogue with authorities of the respective countries and will then be sent to the government of this country via European Council Committee of Ministers. Two months after the report has been handed over to the government, the report will be published, except if the respective country
is against publishing the report.

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[8] Constitutional Court on Omofuma-case
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In Austria, you can after all go to court regarding the right to live. The Constitutional Court just confirmed the right of Marcus Omofuma's daughter to sue.

Marcus Omofuma was handcuffed and gagged during his deportation by three police officers accompanying him. He suffocated slowly. Since then, authorities try to drag investigations. The officers involved are on their "job" again. Omofuma's family protested formally against the violence used by authorities during the deportation before the Independent Administrative Court (UVS). UVS turned them down claiming that only the affected persons (i.e. the person who died) was in a position to complain.
Now the family was given their right by the Constitutional Court.

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[9] Amnesty International on Austria
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Humyn rights organization amnesty international (ai) in a new report presents massive accusations against Austrian authorities: They report cases of torture by officers using pepper spray as well as beating and
kicking persons. According to the report, authorities did not take any consequences and failed to prevent abuse and torture up to now, ai criticizes.
After the UN comitee against torture in November dealt with cases that occured in Austria, amnesty international now presents an addition to the UN comitee's work with cases they looked into. Eyewitnesses as well as medical investigation support suspicions regarding abuse and torture by police officers. Victims of these incidents were predominately non-white persons who also got abused verbally in a racist way.
AI above all criticize dragging investigations following these cases:
"Investigations are not only much too slow, in many cases they were not done in a thorough way." Only in a few cases, the officers' conduct has been dealt with by a court of justice. On the other hand, victims will
often face charges by police and diffamation.
The humyn rights' organization also shows concern about the racist language accompanying abuse and torture in part of the cases.

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[10] Nazi attacks
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The number of Nazi attacks is increasing. In most cases, victims are persons with an outer appearance which is "not Austrian enough". It is difficult, however, to establish correct figures, since media do not report these incidents resp. de-politicize the attackers - who in most cases are described as "youths". Only rarely, media will speak about attacks by Nazi boneheads. In many cases, one only gets to know about the true nature of attacks when reading smaller regional papers.

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[11] Do you still believe Austria is a constitutional state...
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... then you are beyond help: The informers' affair is getting more and more 'amusing' - it is well established that Minister of Justice Dieter Boehmdorffer, former lawyer of Joerg Haider, is pretty close to FPOe.
What's new is the lack of attempts to evoke the impression of the existance of an independent juridical system. After the investigating judge complained about receiving only a small part of the documents, he is about to be taken off this case, since he apparently is willing to really investigate....

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EPILOGUE
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See you again next month,

NO PEACE WITH AUSTRIA!!!