new news about Austria- the new rise of racism and antisemitism

[Ruth Wodak]

Dear Friends,
we have almost but not really become used to the new rhetoric here...but -
due to the restitution negotiations, the Vienna election campaign (election
date 25.3.2001)and probably many other things, the rhetoric has changed
again , antisemitism is en vogue again and the elites keep silent.
Thus, please write about this, distribute etc. I will try and send more
precise quotes as soon as they are translated!
Please write letters, if you can, to the President Dr. Thomas Klestil,
Hofburg, 1010 Vienna and /or to the chancellor, Dr. Wolfgang Schuessel,
Bundeskanzleramt, Ballhausplatz 2, 1010 Vienna, and pass this information
on....
Details are of course also available on the internet, at www.derstandard.at;
www. profil.at and www.fpoewatch.at
Best
Ruth
From: Rosado, Frances [rosaf at adl.org]
Sent: Monday, March 12, 2001 8:46 PM
Subject: Joerg Haider



        FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Contact:  Myrna Shinbaum (212) 885-7747
                 Sara Ladenheim (212) 885-7715

ADL CONDEMNS AUSTRIAN EXTREMIST HAIDER
FOR ANTI-SEMITIC STEREOTYPING

New York, N.Y., March 12, 2001 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today
said Austrian right-wing extremist Joerg Haider is "continuing his
flirtation with anti-Semitism and has crossed the line into anti-Semitic
stereotyping" with his latest diatribes about Jews.
Haider, governor of the Austrian province of Carinthia, is a member and
former leader of the Freedom Party, a right-wing party with nativist and
xenophobic policies.  The inclusion of the Freedom Party in Austria's
governing coalition led to outrage in the international community and within
much of Austrian society.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

                More than a year after the Freedom Party entered Austria's
governing coalition, Joerg Haider continues his provocative flirtation with
anti-Semitism and has crossed the line into anti-Semitic stereotyping.  In
criticizing an Austrian agreement on restitution for Holocaust-era property,
Haider repeatedly invoked the image of the alleged powerful Jewish lobby by
accusing the Austrian Chancellor of seeking approval from "the East Coast,"
an allusion to Jews living in the East Coast of the United States.   He also
mentioned "Greenberg," a reference to Stanley Greenberg, a prominent
American political strategist who is advising Vienna's mayor in his current
campaign, thus implying that the mayor is under Jewish control. Haider's
provocative statements about Ariel Muzicant, the head of the Austrian Jewish
community, go beyond any conception of civilized political discourse. It is
important that Haider's outrageous remarks are met with an avalanche of
public condemnation by all Austrians.

                In addition to Haider's ongoing outrages, the Freedom Party
continues in its path of xenophobia, nativism and intolerance.  In the
current municipal election campaign in Vienna, the Freedom Party's slogan,
"Foreigners: I understand the concerns of the Viennese People," breeds an
environment of divisiveness and hatred.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading
organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that
counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.


Ruth Wodak
Professor of Linguistics
Department of Linguistics
University of Vienna
Berggasse 11
1090 Vienna
Austria
and
Research Center „Discourse, Politics, Identity"
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Strohgasse 45, 1030 Vienna
Tel: 7102510/6201
Fax: 710250710