Welcome to the new edition of evil:austria!

There is an anniversary this month: evil:austria is one year old. Even though we don't really feel like partying given the reason we initiated this newsletter (i.e. the rightwing/rightwing extreme government in Austria), but we are content that the newsletter is well established by now. A good reason to party (and we will! ;)) ) is that Rosa Antifa Vienna will be six years this months. Enough of this now and now for something important: the infos.

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] Exhibition about persecution of homosexuals in 3rd Reich damaged
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[2] The "positive aspects of Nazi regime"
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[3] A spicy report
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[4] About Wagnerians and "100% Jews"
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[5] Haider lost again
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[6] Elimination of informers's affair continues
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[7] When even the President refuses his signature
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[8] Gaggin of deportees is "no mistreatment"
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[9] Boehmdorfer takes over
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[10] Award causes scandal
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[11] Perception of hystory...
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[12] Haider - Hitler - a legitimate comparison?
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[13] Graz activist sentenced
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[1] Exhibition about persecution of homosexuals in 3rd Reich damaged
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One day after its opening, the exhibition "From life" about the national-socialist persecution of homosexuals in Vienna between 1938-1945 got devastated. Eleven of 14 massive items have been ripped out and thrown down. Just one week before, the governing parties OeVP and FPOe voted against compensation of homosexual NS victims in parliament.

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[2] The "positive aspects of Nazi regime"
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During a confirmation, the abbot of Kremsmuenster monastery felt compelled to spread his ideas about the NS aera. He seems to have been especially impressed by the feeling of community during this time: "One people, one Reich, one Fuehrer, and we were all marching then." In an interview, he confessed afterwards he was enthusiastic and complained about a "twisted presentation of history". Of course, there were no consequences.

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[3] A spicy report
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FPOe severely intervened against a paper which is pretty embarassing for them: The Ministry of the Interior annually issues a "Report on Rightwing Extremism". The report again mentions - due to the "rightwing extreme ideology spread by them" - the students' fraternities of whom some FPOe ministers are members. Fraternity member and Minister of Social Affairs Haupt commented: "It is good that the state observes rightwing extreme tendencies. I do believe, however, that left extremism is far more dangerous in Austria nowadays."

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[4] About Wagnerians and "100% Jews"
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An offensive manoeuvre planned to bring relief turns out to be quite the contrary: The director of Richard Wagner Festival in the town of Wels thought she was especially clever when denying any reproaches of anti-semitism commenting that the "100% Jew Marcel Prawy" was participating, too.

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[5] Haider lost again
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Haider lost a legal action against Austrian daily paper "Der Standard": The court ruled that Haider had no reason to protest his comments being compared to the Nazi aera. The paper published a critical comment due to Haider having remarked the teachers were "parasite elements".

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[6] The elimination of the informers' affair continues
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After it has become evident over the last months that the investigating authorities don't really take an interest in finding out the truth about the informers' affair and investigations against leading FPOe politicians were dropped eventually without really having taken place (cf evil:austria 0501), also investigations against Vienna FPOe politicians Kabas and Kreissl have been closed, in Kreissl's case partially. But certainly his FPOe colleague and Minister of inJustice Boehmdorfer will think of something to be able to drop investigations altogether.

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[7] When even the President refuses his signature
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Minister of inJustice Boehmdorfer seems to be especially convinced about the qualities of his old friends. He insisted on promoting his old friend Heinz-Peter Neuwirth to vice president of Vienna court of justice, although two independent senates viewed him only as second best candidate.
The top candidate, however, was the daughter of a former trade union lawyer. Even President Klestil thought this was too much and refused to sign the promotion documents. But don't worry: The Minister of inJustice's friend did get the job, since the other candidate withdrew her application.

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[8] Gagging of deportees is "no mistreatment"
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Carinthian public prosecutors have decided that gagging deportees is no mistreatment or premeditated cruelness. Background for this verdict is a legal action against three police officers. Chinese deportee Ma Haibin in 1999 claimed to have been mistreated during his deportation by officers of foreigners' police who put adhesive tape across his mouth. Public prosecutors say that they could not even see that the officers intentionally exceeded their authorization. In May 1999, Nigerian deportee Marcus Omofuma was killed when being gagged during deportation.

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[9] Boehmdorfer takes over
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Judges have presented severe criticism to reform of criminal case regulations planned by Minister of inJustice Boehmdorfer. The draft plans to shift competences from the independent judges to the public prosecutors who are not independent. This would give the Minister of inJustice even more possibilities to take an influence on legal actions.

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[10] Award causes scandal
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When US medical ethic Loewy received an award in Villach, there was a scandal: during his speech, Loewy - who had to emigrate from Austria because of the Nazis in 1938 - warned because of the increasing xenophobia and anti-semitism, also attacking the governing parties and Joerg Haider. The FPOe politicians present left the room in protest during Loewy's speech.

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[11] Perceptions of hystory....
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The compensation debate again reveals the perception of history within FPOe. FPOe General Secretary Peter Sichrovsky said short time before the visit of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder: "While after 1933, Jews were systematically humiliated and pushed out of society in the German Reich on the basis of criminal racial laws with a wide support from the population, there was no official persecution in Austria prior to the invasion of the German army and no expropriation of members of the Jewish congregation. Austria, apart from a later partial responsibility for many crimes of the National Socialists, was the first victim of Nazi-Germany." Schroeder, in a "tradition of sanctions" of the red-green German government, would attempt to continue not only the politics of isolation of the democratically elected Austrian government, but also the historic lie developed by his Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer that there was a common responsibility of Germany and Austria because of the National-Socialist past.

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[12] Haider - Hitler - a legitimate comparison?
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Joerg Haider once again has withdrawn legal action for insult. The German daily paper "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" in 1999 compared quotes from both Haider and Hitler in an "ideological quiz". The official reason of the withdrawal: "jurisdiction has changed", "severe insult" now would be tolerated. Of course the reason won't be he's afraid a court will confirm that Haider uses the same rhetoric as Hitler.

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[13] Graz activist sentenced
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After long police repressions, an activist from "Checkpoint Austria" (cf evil:austria 1200) has now been sentenced to three months conditional arrest for "slander in a severe case". On December 5, he operated a sound system on a lorry during blockades in protest against cuts effected by the government. When police officers stormed the lorry to turn off power, he tried to protect the sound system. After an exchange of words with the officers, he shouted out to the other protesters that one of the officers had just threatened him with the words: "Look, when we meet in some back alley, then - a bullet to your head".

Well, that's something a police officer would never say, would he?

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EPILOGUE
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See you again next month,

NO PEACE WITH AUSTRIA!!!