Letters from Vienna #14
Rays of Hope
A girl I once knew told me how, for her summer job, she’d “worked” in the “research department” of an Austrian newspaper. All summer long she had absolutely nothing to do and, although well-paid, was bored out of her mind. What was worse: the newspaper owned an opinion poll company. Whenever it published an “opinion poll” it drew on its own, extremely dodgy data. Thus, one has to be wary about “opinion polls” in Austria and it is somewhat difficult to form an accurate picture of what is actually going on in the hearts and minds of, even in normal times, extremely reticent Mr. and Mrs. Austria.
Yet, despite all the efforts on the part of the media and government to disguise the fact a sea-change, nay a veritable revolution seems to be silently under way. The days of the current government seem to be numbered. It might be the case that none of the politicians will face the prospect of being hung, which is a fate that might well await Boris Johnson, but jail time is certainly conceivable. After all: mass murder is not a minor misdemeanour. And the names of those responsible for the current vaccine jab mandate have now been made public (see letter #9). There is little any of those listed can do to escape their inevitable fate.
In my last letter I outlined, using sketchy scraps of information, what might be going through the minds of many Austrians: Covid is merely the flu, the government lied, while jabs have proven deadly. The result of all this has impacted the political landscape.
The story of 2021 was the slow but irreversible decline in the popularity of Sebastian Kurz and the ruling People’s Party (ÖVP) until his almost inevitable dismissal in October. He was then followed in rapid succession by the former Foreign Minister: Alexander Schallenberg, who threw in the towel in December and the former Minister of the Interior: Karl Nehammer, who is currently running the show.
In December the situation was bad for the ÖVP, it was jockeying neck and neck with the Socialists (SPÖ) at c.25%, with the Freedom Party (FPÖ) slowly advancing from c.20% while the Greens and Neos (Neo-Liberals) both hovered at roughly 10%. At least that is the image presented in many polls.
In January roughly every third Austrian was opposed to mandatory vaccinations. By February that figure had crept up to every second and this theme seems to be dominating everything else.
On January 30th, the people of Waidhofen, in Lower Austria, elected a new municipal council. A total of 9,820 people were entitled to vote and voter turnout was 71.9%.
Seven parties wooed their voters including the Waidhofen People’s Party (WVP) with Mayor Werner Krammer, who got 41.29%, and the SPÖ with Deputy Mayor Armin Bahr, who got 21.69% of the vote. The surprise upset was the MFG (Menschen Freiheit Grundrechte), who got 17.10%.
As the reader will doubtlessly remember the MFG featured in my letter #4 from January 30th with the catchy title: Menschen, Freiheit, Grundrechte, People, Freedom and Basic Rights. The party is led by Michael Brunner, who, I quote: “on the one hand specialises in property, tenancy and forwarding law and on the other on the dangers of arbitrary rule.” It has only one, real plank: the return to the rule of law, constitutional government and the abolition of the pernicious measures.
The interesting thing is that this result mirrors nationwide and not merely local support for the MFG. Ever since Waidhofen the ruling parties, which are now not merely threatened with electoral annihilation but extinction and imprisonment, have been, not surprisingly, in panic mode. Wild rumours are flying about the Internet. The Neos seem to have reconsidered their support for the vaccine mandates while many in the ÖVP wish to be rid of the Green Minister of Health, Wolfgang Mückstein, who is widely accused of incompetence. The sooner the repressive measures are ended, say many, who are frightened of losing their jobs, privileges and liberties, the better. Yet it remains to be seen whether the ÖVP can salvage any last vestige of support; they are now so utterly and completely discredited.
According to one rumour: “The ÖVP is about to jump, the coalition is hanging by a thread – the ÖVP wants to announce Freedom Day Austria at Easter and end all measures!!”
This source gives an account, which might be considered plausible:
“This Saturday the idiotic compulsory vaccination comes into force. And yesterday there was a big video conference of all federal states with the ministry, in which technical and organisational questions were discussed. Question from an officer: “How is the vaccination exemption organised? What is the procedure, where is it reported, how do we do it in practice?”
“Ministry’s response: not at all.”
“What, please?”
“Answer – no data can be entered for the exemption yet, because it
THE DATA PLATFORM DOESN’T EXIST YET!!”
Incredulous question: “And when is it coming?”
Answer: “AT THE EARLIEST end of April”!!!
“In other words – the police should control and punish from 15.3, but there is still no way to check any information if the controlled simply states that he falls under the vaccination exemption!!”
“In parliament, half the ÖVP team has sent out signals to the FPÖ and the other half to the SPÖ over the last few days. Mückstein and his bunglers are not in a position to answer the questions put by the Constitutional Court. The deadline is 18.2. It will expire and the VFGH will cancel EVERYTHING in the proceedings. Everything.”
“Mückstein is history. We will start the attacks via the media and experts in mid-February.”
“At the same time, we will – according to orders from St Pölten (one of the centres of power of the ÖVP) – make a total change, as soon as the numbers drop for a few days. We will announce “Freedom Day” at around Easter!”
This seems to have to do more with the drop in the support in the ÖVP homeland from 51% to 39% than any pangs of conscience at the crimes which have been committed. As the reader will doubtlessly realise from my previous letters concerning Popper and Wittgenstein: more data is needed before a hypothesis can be falsified or granted any degree of credibility.
In any case an interesting time awaits Austria. On February 27th municipal councils and mayors will be elected in Tyrol, where the MFG is strong, while the provincial governor in Lower Austria, Johanna Mikl-Leitner, faces re-election within a year’s time.
The sooner the spectre of MFG, which is exclusively focused on the Corona issue, is banished the better for the ÖVP. How exactly the politicians will talk themselves out of their crimes remains to be seen. I strongly suspect that not a few will be thrown to the wolves. The sooner they jump ship and abandon this madness the better for all concerned.
Whatever Austrians actually think and believe, and it is extremely difficult to fathom their souls for historical reasons (see Letter #7) it is a good idea to keep an eye on what’s happening here. Austria is, after all, the canary in the mineshaft and has long been, as Karl Kraus pointed out over a century ago: a laboratory, an “experimental station for the destruction of the world” (“Versuchsstation des Weltuntergangs”).