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Its not game over. Austria stopped rightwing populism in its tracks
Saturday 31 December 2016 10.00 GMT
It was to be the last great domino of 2016, but the country showed that victory on the radical right is not inevitable
In 2016, the tide of rightwing populism has seemed unstoppable. From Britain’s vote to leave the EU after a referendum campaign soaked in foreigner-bashing, to Donald Trump’s elevation to the White House. Britain’s Nigel Farage, France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders were rarely spotted without a smirk etched on their faces.
The last great domino of 2016 was supposed to be Austria. A narrow defeat for the xenophobic right in the second round of the presidential elections in May was annulled, and the Freedom party’s Norbert Hofer looked set to become the first far-right Austrian-born head of state since the fall of Adolf Hitler.
“For those who think 2016 has been an awful year, and I for one am not one of them, I think it’s been rather good, well I’m sorry there’s a lot more bad news to come,” crowed Nigel Farage. Among his predictions was that Austria, too, would succumb to rightwing populism: “A candidate will win the campaign committed for Austria to have a referendum of the membership of the union.”
Well, Farage, your boy got a beating. In fact, Hofer lost nearly 100,000 votes in six months; Green-backed candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, on the other hand, gained more than 200,000. Somewhat comically, Hofer partly blamed Farage for his loss, saying his intervention “didn’t help, it hindered us” and denounced it as a “crass misjudgment”.
But in truth, it wasn’t Farage who caused Hofer’s defeat. It was the forces of hope organising in Austrian society. It was a “massive civil society mobilisation,” Maria Mayrhofer from activist organisation Aufstehn tells me. “In the repeated election it was all about mobilisation,” above all, encouraging “undecided or frustrated” people to vote. Van der Bellen pulled together a broad coalition, and a diverse range of NGOs, sport clubs and neighbourhood initiatives got involved.
...
In 2016, the tide of rightwing populism has seemed unstoppable. From Britain’s vote to leave the EU after a referendum campaign soaked in foreigner-bashing, to Donald Trump’s elevation to the White House. Britain’s Nigel Farage, France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders were rarely spotted without a smirk etched on their faces.
The last great domino of 2016 was supposed to be Austria. A narrow defeat for the xenophobic right in the second round of the presidential elections in May was annulled, and the Freedom party’s Norbert Hofer looked set to become the first far-right Austrian-born head of state since the fall of Adolf Hitler.
“For those who think 2016 has been an awful year, and I for one am not one of them, I think it’s been rather good, well I’m sorry there’s a lot more bad news to come,” crowed Nigel Farage. Among his predictions was that Austria, too, would succumb to rightwing populism: “A candidate will win the campaign committed for Austria to have a referendum of the membership of the union.”
Well, Farage, your boy got a beating. In fact, Hofer lost nearly 100,000 votes in six months; Green-backed candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, on the other hand, gained more than 200,000. Somewhat comically, Hofer partly blamed Farage for his loss, saying his intervention “didn’t help, it hindered us” and denounced it as a “crass misjudgment”.
But in truth, it wasn’t Farage who caused Hofer’s defeat. It was the forces of hope organising in Austrian society. It was a “massive civil society mobilisation,” Maria Mayrhofer from activist organisation Aufstehn tells me. “In the repeated election it was all about mobilisation,” above all, encouraging “undecided or frustrated” people to vote. Van der Bellen pulled together a broad coalition, and a diverse range of NGOs, sport clubs and neighbourhood initiatives got involved.
...
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/31/not-game-over-austria-stopped-rightwing-populism-election
8 replies
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Do your realize what has happened a the state level over the past 10 years!
We are doomed.
I don't see how it can be rolled back. 