The election in Austria on October, 3rd 1999

[Ruth Wodak]

Dear John!
Thank you for your comments. Of course, there are similar symptoms around
the world. But, in this particular case, the European dimension and the
post World War II dimension are crucial aspects. This is why I do emphasise
the Austrian peculiarities as well. I think that this kind of populism
which we are witnessing here and in France and elsewhere in Europe is
strongly connected with the European search for identity and also with  the
impact of globalisation and search for new economic concepts; i.e.
neo-liberalism. And the populist parties are reacting. But on the other
hand, other aspects are of great relevance as well: The long antisemitic
tradition in Austria and Austrias history of a big monarchy pre World War
I.  The constant dilemma of constructing an own identity vis a vis Germany
etc.
I would be very interested in your results. In our project on "Employment
policies in the EU" (see WWW. wittgenstein.univie.ac.at), we have been
discovering the big impact of globalisation rhetoric and the threat which
this means for many; specififcally issues like flexibility and
competitiveness; and the FPO has been extremly clever in using this and
constructing fears, although Austria is such a rich country. So, one can
ask for example, why Spain with such high unemployment does not have
similar racist and populist parties....
Best Ruth
PS The headline in the Kurier today states that Israels Foreign Minister
Levy is threatning to cut diplomatic relationships with Austria should the
FPO come into government. There, the specific role of Austrians in the
Second World War is relevant. Now, it is clear that the "Waldheim
phenomenon" could come again....
-----Original Message-----
From:   john flowerdew [SMTP:ENJOHNF at CITYU.EDU.HK]
Sent:   Thursday, October 07, 1999 6:31 AM
To:     CRITICS-L at NIC.SURFNET.NL
Subject:        Re: The election in Austria on October, 3rd 1999

>>>>

<excerpt>Date: Thu, 07 Oct 1999 12:28:48 +0800

To: "ruth.wodak at univie.ac.at" <<ruth.wodak at univie.ac.at>

From: john flowerdew <<ENJOHNF at cityu.edu.hk>

Subject: Re: The election in Austria on October, 3rd 1999

In-Reply-To: <<01BF0F55.C11CF340.ruth.wodak at univie.ac.at>


Dear Ruth

I read your message with interest. However, I do not think what you talk
about is only a European phenomenon. Here in Hong Kong, the local
government recently connived with the Central Government to overturn a
ruling by Hong Kong's (so-called) court of final appeal, which would have
allowed large numbers of people from the Mainland to live in Hong Kong.
The rhetoric promoted by the government was that these people (who are
ethnic Chinese, like the people of HOng Kong, who are also mostly
immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants) would put an
impossible strain on Hong Kong's social services and threaten Hong Kong's
standard of living and <underline>international
competitiveness</underline>.

I am currently collecting the data to write this up from a discourse
perspective.

Best wishes

John Flowerdew



At 05:19 PM 10/5/99 +0100, you wrote:

>Dear Members of the Critics List!

>Many people in Austria are under shock. This is an attempt , a first
one,

>to try to understand and to describe what happened! The short version
of

>this piece will be published as guest editorial in Discourse and
Society,

>2000, first volume.

>Comments very welcome!

>Ruth Wodak

>University of Vienna

>

>

>

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