We’ll be having elections in Vienna on October 11. Of course FPÖ, our right-wing populist party, the former party of late Jörg Haider, now led by some blue-eyed clone named Heinz Christian Strache, profits from the recent wave of refugees.
There is hardly anything disgusting that they don’t try (how about Facebook campaigns against corporations and organizations helping refugees?), but immoral behavior does not seem to disqualify them in the eyes of a large part of the general public.
There is nothing wrong at all in Vienna, but for some reason the newspapers seem to be in a frenzy. Nobody wants Strache in government (nobody in his right mind wanted Hitler either), but everybody seems to be fascinated by the idea, that Strache could win the elections and “take Vienna”.
Even the idea causes me nightmares. The last time this party was in government, we ended up with a series of completely incompetent ministers and wide-spread corruption. The courts are still busy. Nevertheless people seem to fail recognizing continuity.
Vienna currently is the stable tower, the mighty fortress of the Social Democrats (SPÖ), a party that has ruled Vienna since after World War II. At the moment they are in a coalition with the Green party and that’s what I’ll vote again. Green can only go with Red, and the stronger Green is, the more likely it is, that Red can only go with Green. Seems to be a safer bet than voting Red 🙂
If Vienna really falls, the repercussions would likely tear SPÖ apart. The result would unfailingly be another coalition of Conservatives and Far Right, just as we had it in 2000, only this time it would be a much longer night of corruption, austerity for the poor and lower taxes for the rich.
But then, I still hope that there is an upper limit to stupidity 🙂