>Is it a popular misconception that the Freedom Party in Austria is really
>a fascist party.
You're onto something that's vaguely bothering me, too, George.
What little I know of far-right parties is that their support is made up of
malcontents of many a stripe (with fascists among 'em, no doubt). But this
exceptionalism (that somehow the Freedom mob is very different from the
Turkish National Actionists or the Israeli far right parties - even our own
[rapidly disintegrating] Hansonites - all of whom have seats in parliaments
- well I find this disconcerting. Maybe it's because they're Germanic -
with all its connotations. Anyway, people who know a lot more about this
than I should get into print on this. We just might be waddling down a
counterproductive and mystifying path, here - indirectly legitimating all
kinds of entrenched scum in all kinds of places by seeking to make enduring
martyrs of (what might be) a few Austrian nonentities - whose leader
strikes me as a bit of a George W Bush, insofar as a few months in the
media glare that attends their new salience should be enough to take the
shine off him. The man's clearly a populist vacuum, for mine.
I'm prepared to be proven wrong - but that's my first take on it.
Cheers,
Rob.
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