Joerg Haider in historical perspective
From: M.D.Pittaway@open.ac.uk
Author's Subject: Query: Joerg Haider in historical perspective
Date Posted: Thu, 10 Feb 2000 10:52:33 -0500
In response to Steve Beller let me say precisely what I mean: 1) "recession" - like much of Europe at the beginning of the decade. The 1990-4 period was when the FPOe began to make serious gains at the expense of the SPOe. 2) "unemployment" - around 2.5% at the end of the 1970s, around 7% for much of the 1990s. It might not seem high when compared with some places but everything is relative. 3) "insecurity" - I have visited Austria every year since 1989 - Austrian contributors to this list will have a much better take on this than I do. I have felt greater insecurity about the employment situation, about the strength of the social safety net, about Austria's place in the world after 1989 and its proximity to a perceived "unstable" region in East-Central Europe. Yes, Austria is prosperous and more prosperous than the EU average. Perhaps EU membership has bought benefit to consumers. The problem is that Austria has become a two thirds-one third society over the past fifteen years. Social polarisation has increased. The problem with benefits for consumers is that one has to have money to benefit and the gap between the majority who can, and an increasingly sizeable minority that can't has grown. I don't believe that anyone contributing to this discussion is a supporter of Joerg Haider's right-wing populist politics and I am certainly an opponent. Polemical discussion that seeks to ignore the background to his growth is only going to obscure the real issues that his kind of politics raises for Austria and for the region. I don't question the justice of the EU's action against an OeVp-FPOe government supported by Haider - but I do question its wisdom. We can shout "unacceptable" at lots of movements we find abhorent but can't make them go away. The EU can and probably will undermine the Schussel government - but there will still be Joerg Haider and there will still be a blocked political system. It is ultimately for Austrian society to solve that problem but they probably ought to expect a constructive approach from a supra-national organisation of which they are a member. We also should remember that Austria is not the only European state that has right-wing populist movements that draw on racist sentiments. In Italy in 1994 both the neo-fascist Alleanza Nazionale and the right-wing populist Lega Nord participated in government without the kind of response from the EU we have in this case. Dare I say political movements in my native Britain do not have entirely clean hands when it comes to the politics of race and immigration, or of making comments that many deem unacceptable. Mark Pittaway The Open University