Welcome to a new edition of evil:austria!

This edition will be shorter - after all, it's holiday time also as far as politics are concerned, and the holidays have only been interrupted by floods. Nevertheless, there's some gems here again.

And now a short explanation (for the newcomers) of what this newsletter should be and why we write 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 realised 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 or English):

raw@raw.at

Have fun!

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[1] Nazis, arrested
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[2] Writing for Nazis
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[3] Stories from Southern Tyrol
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[4] Police brutality
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[5] police brutality - flip side
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[6] Death in arrest awaiting detention
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[7] The 'evil' consequences of lust
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[8] Christian ideologies
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[1] Nazis, arrested
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At the beginning of August, the Neo-Nazi group SS-Kampfgemeinschaft Prince Eugene was raided by police. Three persons were arrested; they were just busy carrying off arms and ammo from a depot. During the following raids of private quarters, police found more than 50 guns - among them several machine guns -, explosives, and large stocks of Nazi propaganda material. The three persons arrested made public appearances for "Doeblinger Initiative for Car Owners' Rights" (DIAR) which operated as a cover-up organisation.

Police and legal system are presenting the late Georg Grasser as the group's central figure. Grasser died in June 2002. During the 70ies, he was active in Neo-Nazi "Action New Right" (ANR - Aktion Neue Rechte) and by the mid-80ies appeared in a leading function in a fraternity called "European Fraternity Company at Table Vienna" which was considered too extreme even in the extreme right scene. Another person who held leading functions there at the same time was Wolfgang Haberler who meanwhile has advanced to the position of Vice Chairperson of FPOe in Lower Austria.

Further evidence leads to another - former - functionary of FPOe: former county representative and holocaust denier Wolfgang Froehlich, who is more or less thoroughly looked for by authorities with a warrant (cf. evil:austria 0702).

(source: http://www.doew.at / http://derstandard.at)

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[2] Writing for Nazis
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Once again it becomes evident that FPOe functionaries cannot as much as be bothered to cover up their relations to overt rightwing extremists and Neo- Nazism: On August 2, German "National-Zeitung" [National Paper] of German Nazi Gerhard Frey published a text by Bernhard Blochberger, FPOe chairperson in a Vienna constituary, in which he comments the so-called Causa Stadler and the question whether Austria had been liberated in 1945 (cf. evil:austria 0702). Blochberger e.g. says that politicians who show gratefulness towards the Red Army were "deriding our people".

Blochberger by no means is a newcomer: During the 80ies, he was active in Neo-Nazi National Democratic Party (NDP); after NDP was banned, he showed up as a candidate on the list "Ein Herz fuer Inlaender" which was a cover- up. Apparently, these are the appropriate prerequisites to gain a top position within FPOe....

(source: http://www.doew.at)

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[3] Stories from Southern Tyrol
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Neo-Nazi Stefan Topitz, from the town of Linz, has suffered severe injuries during the attempt to built a bomb, six fingers have in part been ripped off. Topitz tries to depict himself as a-political in public; however, extensive amounts of Nazi propaganda materials found in his appartment and also his previous activities point to the contrary: he had contacts to NSDAP/AO and to US Neo-Nazi group National Alliance (NA) whose late leader William Pierce wrote the "Turner Diaries", the most important book on terror for the extreme right scene which is supposed to have provided basic hints for the attack in Oklahoma.

The incident receives a special importance since it happened in Topitz's appartment in the town of Lana near Meran/Southern Tyrol in Italy - i.e. in a region in which Austrian Neo-Nazis have already before, especially during the 60ies, committed assaults with some approval by the Austrian state. Austrian authorities reacted in a very caring way and brought Topitz into a hospital in the town of Innsbruck, taking him out of reach for Italian authorities. In his car, more explosives and a map with police stations marked were found.

(source: http://www.doew.at)

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[4] Police brutality
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At the beginning of August, two legal suits against Austrian police officers were finished: first, those three officers in whose 'custody' Marcus Omofuma 'suffocated' during his deportation (cf: evil:austria 0402) got nine months on probation each for "manslaughter under dangerous circumstances". All three officers will of course not be dismissed.

In the second case, the officer who shot Imre B. "unitentionally" while on duty (cf evil:austria 0602) has been acquitted (he was also accused of manslaughter).

(sources: http://no-racism.net / http://derstandard.at)

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[5] police brutality - flip side
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Persons who dare to protest against police brutality and random attacks by police on the other hand will face more serious consequences. One protester who - with approx. 100 others - participated in a spontaneous demo after Imre B. was killed, first got rounded up by police and was beaten severely (cf evil:austria 0600). Now he got sentenced to nine months in prison, six of them on probation with serving a term of three months. He was accused of having "persistently and with special brutality followed" a police officer with a "weapon" to "cause him to fall down". In fact, the person was 'armed' with a bike. The legal process was one-sided. The judge hardly took the effort to even pretend he was trying to find out the truth. Apart from racist rhetoric from the judge, he also did not pay any attention to contradictions between the evidence given by police officers, nor could he be bothered to look for persons who could give different evidence.

It is also interesting to see which detail, according to the judge, was the top evidence against the protester: "The allegedly non-violent protesters carried sheets of paper with the telephone numbers of Green MPs which shows that they were indeed prepared for violent clashes with the police and intended to ward off possible consequences through intervention by these MPs" (as the judge contended). No further comment necessary...

(source: http://www.falter.at)

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[6] Death in arrest awaiting detention
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In the morning of August 3, 2002, police officers discovered a detainee dead in his cell in the town of Bludenz. According to first new reports, nothing gave reason to suspect suicide or a severe disease. Since then, no further news reports were available, although the post mortem should have taken place meanwhile.

The detainee had been transported back to Austria from Switzerland and had stayed in custody in Bludenz for three months until August 3. Apparently, authorities in both countries did not manage to find out his country of origin. Commenting upon the person's death a police officer remarked: "He did not make things easy for us".

(sources: http://no-racism.net / http://derstandard.at)

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[7] The 'evil' consequences of lust
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A surprisingly liberal booklet with info on the facts of life published by the Social Ministry raised some commotion. Especially churches and conservatives were outraged about the booklet titled "Love, Sex, and so on". The harshest critic seems to be Salzburg bishop Andreas Laun who is the godfather of militant pro-lifers. In an article, he saw reason to quote the Bible in the following way: "Those who lead astray the little ones believing in me would be better off if thrown into the sea with a stone tied to his neck". This was followed by a few inavoidable paragraphs regarding the terrible consequences of "lust". Laun even managed to blame those for the decreasing birth rates in Europe. This could be a cause for amusement, however, the bishop has some followers: The Ministry of Education, dominated by conservative OeVP, meanwhile distanced themselves from the booklet, saying it "will not be recommended". Among the things criticized is the fact that the booklet lists up "too high" a number of advice centres for homosexuals.

(source: http://derstandard.at)

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[8] Christian ideologies
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Kurt Krenn, bishop in the town of St. Poelten, once again allowed insights into his ideology: he felt compelled to announce that Islam was "an aggressive religion" and said "It makes no sense to say nice words to a Muslim in this respect. I believe we have to engage in a hard argument with him".

Krenn also informs us about his racist views of migration: "We have previously twice been beleaguered by the Turks - the third siege is taking place now" - and presently "it is taking place in a different way".

(source: http://derstandard.at)

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NO PEACE WITH AUSTRIA!!!