http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/?p=754#more-754
Haider: The Death of a Populist
by Srdja Trifkovic
Jörg Haider , the best known Austrian politician, was killed in a car crash on
October 11. His death marks the end of a colorful career untypical for a
"far-Right" figure. Armani-clad fitness fanatic, Arnold Schwarzenegger's pal
with a permanent tan, Haider cut a figure vastly different from the bland
establishmentarians who have ran Austria for decades. Villified by the European
elite class as a neo-Nazi anti-Semite, he was a talented man of uncertain
principles, great ambition, and dubious judgment.
Haider died only weeks after his Alliance for the Future of Austria (Bündnis
Zukunft Österreich, BZÖ) won an impressive 11 percent of the vote in the
general election, while the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) which he had led
from 1986 until 2000, and from which he split in 2005 gained 18 per cent. It
was the best result for Austria's opponents of rampant immigration and EU
integration in the history of the Republic
Born in 1950 to a lower-middle-class family in Upper Austria, Haider never
forgot various indignities that his parents suffered after the war for alleged
Nazi sympathies. Common folks like they took the rap for the "really big
Nazis," he later complained.
Academically brilliant and popular among peers, in his teens Haider excelled as
an actor in school plays. This talent he put to ample use in later years: in
the course of a single day he was known to change three or four outfits, from
the traditional Austrian jacket to suit-and-tie to jeans and sweater, depending
on the audience. He also had a gift for rhetoric, winning a debating contest at
16 in support of the motion that Austrians are in fact German.
After obtaining his law degree in Vienna Haider lectured briefly in
constitutional law, but politics was always his true vocation and the Freedom
Party, which he joined in 1976, seemed the obvious choice for a man with his
views. Founded in 1955, for decades the FPO combined pan-Germanism and what
might be called Central European libertarianism. It was by no means a
"far-Right" political force when Haider joined, but its position on the issue
of national identity attracted him to its ranks. Haider rapidly became the
leader of the FPÖ youth movement and quickly rose through the ranks. By 1979 he
was the youngest parliamentary deputy ever in the Austrian Republic.
In the early 1980s Haider grew impatient with the party leadership, which he
regarded as too soft on immigration, wishy-washy on national identity or
sovereignty threatened from Brussels, and resigned to single-digit election
results. By 1983,after he became party chairman in the southern province
ofCarinthia, Haider became openly critical of theaiderFPÖnational
leadership.Three years later he staged a successful coup at the party
convention againstits leader, Norbert Steger, a "moderate" who was at that time
Austria's vice-chancellor in coalition with the Socialists(SPÖ). Haider's Young
Turks were enthusiastic. The new spirit was captured in a party activist's
quip, "With Haider I'd march into Russia again, but with Steger I would not
even go on holiday."
In1989Haider broke the Socialists' traditional hold onCarinthiaby winning 29
percent of the local vote,formed a coalition with theÖVP,and was
electedLandeshauptmann (or governor) of the province.His tenure is remembered
mainly for a 1991 debate in the provincial assembly at Klagenfurt that resulted
in his resignation. ASocialist deputy attacked Haider's scheme to cut
unemployment payments for recipients he described as
"freeloaders,"claimingitwas similar toforced work placement in the Nazi era.
"It would not be like the Third Reich," Haider replied,"because the Third Reich
developed a proper employment policy, which your government in Vienna has not
once produced."In addition to causing Haider's resignation, this exchange also
prompted the ÖVPto swith partners and enter acoalition with theSPÖ.
In the course of a national election campaign in 1995, Haider met a group of SS
veterans, of whom he said: "There are still decent people of good character who
also stick to their convictions, despite the greatest opposition, and have
remained true to their convictions until today." He made a sudden U-turn on the
issue of national identity during that same campaign, however, announcing that
pan-Germanism was finished and that he was an "Austrian patriot." Somewhat
bizzarely, at that time Haider also described himself as a follower of Newt
Gingrich, whose "Contract With America" he used in his manifesto. The
electorate was not enthused.
Four years later Haider focused on social issues and immigration and improved
his party's standing dramatically, gaining 27 percent of the vote. TheFPÖformed
the ruling coalition with the People's Party, although Haider himself was not a
member of the new government (in early 1999 he was re-elected the governor of
Carinthia). The move nevertheless caused an uproar in Brussels: the European
Union decided to impose sanctions on Austria even before the government had
announced its program. "There is a lot of excitement in the European chicken
pen," Haider quipped, "and the fox hasn't even got in."
This episode merits some attention because it reveals in a raw form the mix of
authoritarianism and hypocrisy characteristic of Brussels. On January 31, 2000,
the European Union informed Austria that it would face boycott if its new
government included the FPÖ. On February 4 Chancellor Schuessel nevertheless
went ahead and brought members of the Freedom Party into his coalition. He was
acting in full accord with the rules of parliamentary democracy: the new
government had a clear majority of 104 out of 183 parliamentary deputies. EU
governments duly severed all bilateral political contacts with the Austrian
government. They also restricted the promotion of Austrians at EU headquarters
and ignored Austrian ministers at EU meetings. The measures also included ban
on school trips, cultural exchanges and military exercises. The U.S. joined the
bandwagon and the State Department called Ambassador Kathryn Hall back to
Washington for "consultations."
Although the measures had no impact on the lives of ordinary Austrians, they
triggered a backlash among the Austrian public. They also caused an outcry in
some smaller EU nations notably Denmark fearful of the domination of more
powerful members, such as France, which pushed for punitive measures. For
months thereafter the EU's Portuguese presidency maintained that the sanctions
would remain, but after the EU foreign ministers' Azores meeting in June 2000
it was obvious that the embargo could not be sustained.
The EU sanctions were illegal because the decision to apply them was taken
outside the EU structures and without due process: the Austrian government was
not allowed have its point of view heard before the other members states took
action against it. The EU action was doubly contentious in view of the fact
that Mr. Haider's party was democratically elected and had not done, or even
said, anything contrary to Austria's constitutional system or European law.
Even those Austrians not sympathetic to Haider came to believe that EU's
heavy-handedness was an insult to their country.
By that time Haider's ambiguous statements on the Third Reich had ceased to be
part of his politically operative vocabulary. On the other hand, his main
message that there are too many foreigners in Austria and that immigration
threatens the country's economy and traditional ethnic composition is even
more valid today than a decade ago.That message is now shared by two parties.
One of them (FPÖ) Haider led to national prominence; the other (BZÖ)he created
from scratch. They command 29 percent of the electorate between them, but were
unlikely to cooperate because of the bitter personal animosity between Haider
and the current FPÖ leader and former Haider protégé Heinz-Christian Strache.
Ironically, the Austrian nationalist Right may be better poised to achieve
unity that has eluded it for years now that its poster boy is no longer with us.
"For us, it's the end of the world," a visibly distressed spokesman from
Haider's party, Stefan Petzner, told the press; "Joerg Haider was a politician
who changed the face of politics in this country."
The end of the world it certainly is not: nearly 50 percent of under-30s now
support either Heider's original party or the one he founded three years ago
and led at the time of his death. Joerg Haider's legacy will live on for many
years to come.
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