Racism and Xenophobia in Austria
Richard Parncutt
Politics
Police
Drug dealers
Financial racism
Global and local solutions
Academic racism
Visiting Austria
Racism in Australia
Because Austria is surrounded by so many countries with contrasting
languages and cultures, it has always been a multicultural society and
has a long history of openness to cultural diversity. The Austro-Hungarian
Empire (1867-1918) included Croatia and Hungary, and officially
recognized 14 languages; the constitution stated that "All races of the
empire have equal rights, and every race has an inviolable right to the
preservation and use of its own nationality and language". Although
most Austrians are Roman Catholics, Islam
has been officially recognized in Austria since 1912. Today, Austria is
home to very many cultural groups and interculturally oriented NGOs.
Racism and xenophobia also have a long history in Austria. Austrians' traditional dislike for specific groups such as Turks, Serbs and especially Jews climaxed during the Second World War. After the war, things did not improve as fast as they did in Germany. Austrians were regarded both at home and abroad as victims of the Nazis, so denazification was not taken so seriously. Nor did Austrians feel the need to share responsibility for the holocaust.
Today, according to the Eurobarometer survey, levels of racism and xenophobia in Austria are near the EU average. Northern and Western countries tend to be less racist, Southern and Eastern countries more so (presumably due to differences in educational and general living standards). Is that a reason to sit back and do nothing? Consider the following:
Austrian politics. An astonishingly large
number of Austrians think it is ok to vote for the two far-right
parties, FPÖ (Austrian Freedom Party) and BZÖ (Alliance for
Austria's Future). In the 1999 federal election, the FPÖ received
27% of all valid votes and subsequently entered government in coalition
with the centre-right (ÖVP); the EU responded with several months
of sanctions against Austria. In the 2008 federal election, the
FPÖ got about 18% and the BZÖ about 11% of the vote, together
about 29%.
Many Austrians consider FPÖ and BZÖ to be democratically legitimate parties, even if they do not vote for them. But these parties combine nationalism and (a kind of) socialism in a way that is reminiscent of Hitler's National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP), which was democratically elected to power in Germany in 1933. Although this connection is apparent to people observing Austria from the outside, in Austria it is a taboo topic, and those who talk about it openly run the risk of being socially and economically marginalised. FPÖ and BZÖ are both nationalistic in the sense that they defend the rights of "genuine" Austrians and restrict the rights of "foreigners". A "genuine Austrian" is generally understood to be a member of a traditional Austrian family, while a "foreigner" is understood to be someone who looks different (e.g. Africans and Asians), behaves and dresses differently (e.g. Muslims) and/or sounds different (speaks German with an accent), regardless of passport. FPÖ and BZÖ are "socialist" in the sense that they want to improve social services for "genuine" Austrians and reduce or eliminate social services for "foreigners", but they are not socialist in the traditional, international, cosmopolitan sense.
FPÖ and BZÖ are reminisent of national socialism in another important way. They encourage "genuine" Austrians to regard themselves as victims of "foreigners", who are perceived to be taking away their money and undermining their culture. In fact, Austria is one of the richest countries in the world; if some people do not have enough money, the problem can only be solved by redistribution of wealth. The first step is to make the rich pay more taxes (where else will the money come from?), and if people want that, they should be voting on the left side of the political spectrum - not the right. In the 1930s in Germany, "the Jews" (a diverse group of independent German citizens) were accused of causing the depression; the Nazis were supported by "genuine" Germans who considered themselves victims of the depression, and hence victims of "the Jews". Today, the scapegoats have changed, but the victim mentality, racially oriented arguments and blatant distortions of the truth have not.
Those in Austria today who vote for FPÖ and BZÖ do so for two reasons, which appear to be about equally important. The first reason is a good one: they want to protest against the failings of the traditional grand coalition government of centre-left (SPÖ) and centre-right (ÖVP). But there are other ways to do that: you can vote for the greens, liberals, communists, or an independent candidate - or not vote at all. The second reason is that FPÖ and BZÖ voters don't like foreigners, and consider themselves victims of an unfair political system (that includes globalization and immigration). What they do not realise is that a vote for the far right is a recipe for disaster. It's about the worst possible thing that you can do for the country that you love - and it's hard not to love Austria, with its rich and diverse landscapes, architecture and cultural traditions. No-one seriously expects a re-united German Reich under a new dictator, a new European war, new concentration camps, or the return of industrialized mass murder. But far-right populist politicians who do not completely reject national socialism are unlikely to constructively address today's most pressing national and international political issues, which include not only migration and cultural integration, but also global warming, the international economy, international shortages of basic resources, international poverty, and of course international armed conflict.
Does that mean that some 20-30% of Austrians are racist? It depends on how you define racism. Many of the far-right voters presumably received an inadequate education, which is the fault of the education system. High school children should be learning more about politics.
Austrian police. Another interesting question
is whether the Austrian police force suffers from a similar problem:
In all three cases the responsible police officers were tried but not punished - unless you regard public embarassment as punishment. In each case the court's verdict was several months of bedingte Haft. Although Haft normally means imprisonment or custody, bedingte Haft does not, as one would expect, mean "conditional imprisonment", but merely a suspended sentence. In other words, the responsible police were allowed to continue working provided they did not kill, stand on, or beat up any more people for the next several months. Does that make the Austria police force and legal system racist? Normally, to answer a question of this kind one would compare such cases with equivalent cases in which the victims were white. The trouble is, there are no such cases. As far as I know, in recent years and decades Austrian police have not treated whites in this way. Please tell me if I am wrong!
Austrian drug dealers. A large number of
Austrians seem to believe that (i) most drug dealers are black or (ii)
most blacks are drug dealers. Because that's what media reports on drug
crime have repeatedly suggested over the last few years. Austrians
reveal this belief by apparently innocent statements such as "Not all
drug dealers are black" or "Not all blacks are drug dealers", which in
both cases implies that almost all of them are.
The truth, then, is: (i) the vast majority of drug dealers in Austria are white and (ii) the vast majority of African Austrians are innocent (just as the vast majority of white Austrians are innocent). The facts could be set straight by the media if only they emphasized these simple facts in their stories about drug crime. As long as the media do not do this, thousands of innocent African Austrians are discriminated against as a result of irrational beliefs about the relationship between skin color and drug crime. That's on top of the everyday racism that they have to deal with in just about every country in the world. Does that make the Austrian media racist?
Financial racism. Any discussion about
"foreign criminals" or "black drug dealers" should be set in its
historical context. The poverty, hunger, disease and conflict that
often plague African countries are - to a considerable extent - the
legacy of centuries of racism in the form of slavery, colonialism and
unfair trade - that is, personal, cultural and economic exploitation.
In recent decades, the West has been both politically and financially
in a position to pay its moral debts and help African countries to
recover (or at least stop indirectly preventing them from recovering).
Instead, we have done little more than scratch the surface. The problem
evidently lies in our own arrogance, greed, prejudice, negligence and
ignorance. These words are carefully chosen and not exaggerated:
consider the following comparisons, both of which would seem absurd if
they were not part of our everyday life.
In this context, it is unrealistic to expect foreigners in Austria to adopt Austrian rules of politeness, abide strictly by Austrian laws and so on. (Here, I am not talking about people who sell dangerous drugs, who of course belong in jail or - if they are foreigners and do not qualify for asylum - on an aeroplane.) Of course foreigners in Austria should try to integrate themselves appropriately, and we should do our best to help them do that. But we should not forget that these local matters are trivial by comparison to the enormous crimes being committed constantly by rich players in the global economy, and that these enormous crimes are the ultimate reason why so many people are applying for asylum in Austria. Moreover, it is our responsibility (as much as anyone else's) to address these big global problems.
The bottom line is that we are outrageously rich, other countries are outrageously poor, and we are outrageously greedy. That's how immoral the "civilized", "Christian" West has become. In Germany and Austria it is even possible for a company to attract customers with the slogan geiz ist geil (stingy is sexy). And if you think it's ok and normal for blacks to have less money than whites, for whatever reason - that's racism. Who are we to complain about foreigners? We are the lucky ones - and if we are not, that is the fault not of foreigners, but our own political system. We waste a lot of time and energy complaining about "criminal foreigners" and making it increasingly difficult for foreigners to enter Austria - knowing at the same time that the economy increasingly depends on immigration. (How else will pensions be financed? The birth rate is decreasing at the same time as life expectancy is increasing.)
Global solutions. We should instead be
developing long-term plans to reduce the incidence of poverty and corruption,
both at home and internationally. There is no easy solution, and
progress will in any case be slow, but the problem is so big that it is
worth addressing in a big way. The West must collaborate with African
governments and NGOs to significantly and sustainably reduce rates of
poverty, hunger, disease and conflict. Perhaps the most urgent matter
is to close down the tax havens. That would make a big difference. If
the IMF and the World Bank are not corrupt, they should announce their
intention to do that, work steadily towards this goal. If they are
corrupt - and I guess they must be if they are not doing that - we will
have to wait until the citizens of developed countries are informed
about the extent of this scandal by NGOs such as TJN
and it becomes an election issue. Beyond that, many different
strategies need to be combined, including investing money in
think-tanks, organising academic conferences, supporting appropriate
NGOs, UN initiatives etc. The difficulties are significant but not
insurmountable (see Wangari Maathai's autobiography Unbowed).
The large amount of money that such a comprehensive project will cost
is peanuts by comparison to the money that changes hands daily on
international markets.
Local solutions. For several years, an NGO
called Zivilcourage und Antirassismus Arbeit (ZARA) has been documenting racist
incidents in Vienna and legally advising the victims. Hundreds of
incidents are documented and hundreds of individuals supported every
year. ZARA has enormous difficulties financing this important work,
which is almost entirely carried out by volunteers. The federal
Austrian government gives them nothing. Does that make the Austrian
government racist?
Dear reader: If you observe or experience any kind of racism in Austria, please inform ZARA (Zivilcourage und Anti-Rassismus Arbeit). ZARA is the best source of legal and practical advice.
Academic racism and discrimination. Is there
any academic basis for racism? In the past, scientists have repeatedly
wondered whether different
"races" have different abilities (I put "race" in inverted commas,
because modern geneticists generally reject the concept). In the
Olympic games, for example, black
athletes seem to have an advantage over whites. Do they really? An
article published in Science in 2005 also demonstrated that athletes
wearing red win more often - at least in the 2004 summer Olympics
in boxing, taekwondo, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling.
What is going on here? And even if certain whites (from a
specific region or culture) and certain blacks (from another
specific region or culture) do have different inborn abilities (which
ultimately depend on the region or culture and are in fact independent
of skin colour), any genetically determined differences are relatively
small. And they cannot by any stretch of the imagination justify
ignoring the staggeringly unequal distribution of wealth in today's
world. Moreover, even the most convinced racist must admit that s/he is
not doing her/his children and grandchildren a favor by failing to
address global injustice - for the longer the problem is ignored, the
more pressure there will be on rich countries to grant asylum to
people who were persecuted in their native country for their political
opinions or religious beliefs. The DDR was condemned for shooting
people along the Berlin wall - but now the entire EU is heading in the
same direction.
There is presumably less xenophobia and racism at universities than elsewhere, because people are (hopefully) better informed about xenophobia and racism and therefore more sensitive to the issues. For me personally, that makes a university a pleasant (but somewhat artificial) place to work. As a white male academic, I never thought I would experience discrimination in any serious way, and my political activities in the area of interculturality such as fAIR were never meant to protect me from discrimination. But in recent years it has become clear to me that even I have repeatedly been discriminated against on the basis of my nationality:
As a result of these experiences of academic discrimination, I am concerned to promote academic collegiality and improve objectivity in professorial selection committees for the benefit of future generations - as well as the general cause of academic quality.
Visiting Austria. The aim of this page is to
raise awareness of an important problem. It is not to discourage people
from visiting Austria. Compared to most other countries, and even
Western countries, Austria is a peaceful place - there is relatively
little violence. If after reading this page you are afraid that you
will be personally affected by racism on your visit to Austria, please
remember that it is very unlikely that you will experience a physical
threat of any kind. You may also notice some very positive things on
your visit, such as a thriving NGO scene in just about every city and
frequent multi-, inter- and transcultural events.
PS: Racism in Australia. I grew up in
Australia and lived there until the age of 27. Since 1998 I have lived
in Austria. It is therefore appropriate that I write something here
about racism in Australia. Australia and Austria may both be described
as racist countries, but in different ways. Great Britain invaded
Aboriginal Australia in 1788, and proceeded to fight a guerilla war
against its inhabitants that lasted for most of the following century.
Since the British had firearms, they gradually managed to push the
frontier back toward the desert, in which many indigenous Australians
still live, often in appalling conditions. The land was everything to
the Australian Aborigines: it was their source of food, water, medicine
and spirituality. The theft of their land destroyed their health,
identity, and self-respect. During the first century of "white
settlement", many thousands of Aboriginal Australians were murdered at
the frontier; and in the second century, many thousands of
part-indigenous children - often, the children of white men who had
raped black women - were taken from their parents by representatives of
the Australian government and assimilated into white society, in an
attempt to accelerate the decline of the Aboriginal "race" (the "stolen
generations"). At the beginning of the 21st century, Australia is
slowly making progress towards reconciliation. But racist attitudes are
still astonishingly prevalent.
The
opinions expressed on this page are the personal opinions of the author.
Suggestions for improving and extending the content are welcome.
© Richard Parncutt 2006-2010