Death of a Salesman

Author’s Note: I’ve moved to Vienna, Austria for the year and started a travel blog, omnia vincit amor [also linked on the right side of the page under Brenda Kay]. I’ll be cross-posting quite a bit and here’s my first attempt, some observations about current Austrian politics.

I am so sick of this American election season. Save for a couple weeks in September after the VP announcements, I have basically been disengaged since February. With every passing week I have less affinity for those involved and grow increasingly frustrated with how our system works.

This is why I was so pleased to arrive in Austria when I did, a week and a half before their national elections. An entirely different system, more than two parties from which to choose, and a new cast of national characters to embrace or revile, to admire or disdain

Now news of Austrian politics rarely reaches the shores of America. Archduke Franz Ferdinand aside, on an international scale they have made few waves and produced even fewer memorable figures in the last 100 years. This is why I was surprised when I recognized one of the candidates running for Bundeschancellor, one Joerg Haider.

From my murky recollections of PS 385, I remembered Haider as an infamous far-right figure, drawing equal parts love from his supporters and hate from his critics. A quick glance at his wikipedia entry will suffice to fill you in on his Nazi pedigree, his rise from law school hotshot to internationally sanctioned party leader, and a host of other fascinating tidbits about his life both personal and professional.

Because I had heard of Haider, and because I knew what a controversial figure he struck, I jumped on the chance to see him give a campaign rally in Stephensplatz, the heart of Vienna. As the capital city and metropolitan center of Austria, Vienna leans heavily liberal; thus Haider finds few friends here. So I had the distinct feeling at the rally that many of the people were there to glower rather than cheer.

Still though, there were plenty present whose faces completely lit up when he came on-stage. They clapped and cheered and listened in rapt attention as he laid out his dreams for a better Austria — largely dependent on reduced immigration and the deportation of many newly arrived immigrants. Though my sub-par German listening skills left my mind constantly racing to understand him, at one point I’m almost certain he said something along the lines of [and my friend who attended confirms], “If I could, I would put all the foreigners on a bus right out of Austria.” To which the crowd erupted in applause and adoration. To be completely fair, Haider and his allies aren’t talking about foreigners like myself. They take issue with eastern Europeans like Poles and Czechs, who since the recent European Union accessions may now freely move to Austria. They take equal [but, I was surprised to learn, no greater] issue with Turks and other Muslims. And of course, as a far-right party in Europe, Haider’s crowd quietly but surely harbors great animosity towards Jews.

As I watched Haider and observed the crowd, it was easy to see how this man had managed to convince so many people to believe in him. His charisma was incredible; just the way he would address the crowd, saying “Ladies and gentlemen,” bespoke complete control, absolute confidence, total certainty in self and philosophy. I did not fully understand his words, but I saw in every gesture, every facial expression, the look of a man who knew what he was doing. He breathed out power, and I watched the enticement of the crowd, a people fed-up with paying 50% of their wages in taxes to support people whom they felt did not deserve to even be citizens of their homeland, much less beneficiaries of the extremely generous social system.

In the elections last week Sunday, Haider’s party and the other far-right party together received nearly 30% of the vote. Nearly 1/3 of Austrians voted for the extreme right parties.

Early Saturday morning Joerg Haider died in a car crash, on his way to his mother’s 90th birthday party. As of now, no foul play is suspected. On the news I watched his supporters light candles and weep. “The sun has fallen from the sky,” Haider’s deputy said.

The question now is whether Haider’s death will cue the end of his extreme right-wing populism, or whether his supporters will rally together with ever more strength. I could argue both ways. No doubt Haider was the life force behind his party. Without him it will likely limp on for a few years, then be absorbed into the other far-right party.

However, the rise of far-right parties is a trend across much of Europe right now. As America has slowly shifted to the left the last decade, Europe has quietly shifted the other way. And quietly, quietly, the youth [who voted in great numbers for the far-right] grow up learning precious little about the destruction right-wing extremism once led to.

In Austria, it is illegal to own a copy of “Mein Kampf” or wear a swastika. But schoolchildren learn less about the Holocaust than their American counterparts. So “Never forget” is watered down — only remember you musn’t revere Hitler, you musn’t be a Nazi. And the more important message, indeed one of the most crucial messages anyone can learn, is lost. That you can never allow yourself, not even for a moment, to believe anyone is less of a human being than you are. That the second you see that person as having slightly less value than yourself, or those you love, you’ve taken the first step toward every awful thing humans have ever inflicted on each other. This is a message every generation has to learn for itself, and from my first month here I have no evidence to make me believe this one is learning it.