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‘Burqa ban’ law signals rightward political turn in Austria

George Jahn — Sat, 30 Sep 2017 00:20:05 +0000

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Carla Amina Baghajati from the Austrian Islamic Religious Community gestures during an interview in Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2017. A law prohibiting any kind of full face covering but known popularly as the “Burqa Ban,” takes effect in Austria on Sunday, Oct. 1. ~RONALD ZAK/AP

VIENNA — A law prohibiting any kind of full-face covering, known popularly as the “Burqa Ban,” takes effect Sunday in Austria, where the strong support for it portends potential political upheaval in the upcoming national election.

Parties campaigning on an anti-migrant message are poised to win on Oct. 15 and to form a coalition government. Such a rightward swing in a country that’s had centrist governments almost consistently since World War II could have repercussions across Europe, emboldening politicians who take a hard line on Islam and immigration.

Last week, the right-wing, anti-migrant Alternative for Germany party won seats in Germany’s national parliament for the first time after featuring posters with the slogan “Burqas? We prefer bikinis” in its campaign.

The Austrian law — called “Prohibition for the Covering of the Face” — forbids off-slope ski masks, surgical masks outside hospitals and party masks in public. Violations carry a possible fine of 150 euros (nearly $180) and police are authorized to use force with people who resist showing their faces.

But its popular name reflects the most prevalent association — the garments some Muslim women wear to conceal their whole faces and bodies. The garments are rare in Austria even after the recent surge of migrants into Europe. Support for the law is strong nonetheless, reflecting anti-Muslim attitudes in the predominantly Catholic country.

“It’s not right that those living here don’t show their faces,” said Emma Schwaiger, who expressed support for the ban in a straw poll on the streets of Vienna.

Five in seven of those who said they backed the law also said they will vote for the two parties that critics link to anti-Muslim sentiment — the traditionally xenophobic Freedom Party and the People’s Party. The People’s Party avoids the Freedom Party’s inflammatory talk, but has swung radically from the center under new leader Sebastian Kurz to echo that party’s positions on migration.

The Social Democratic Party, currently the majority partner in the government coalition with the People’s Party, has been left struggling.

Under Chancellor Christian Kern, the Social Democrats are focusing on social topics and claiming credit for Austria’s recent economic upturn. But Kern’s message is not coming across well.

A Unique Research poll of 1,500 respondents published Thursday showed the Social Democrats with 27 percent support, ahead of the Freedom Party at 25 percent but trailing the People’s Party with 34 percent. The poll had a margin of error of 2.5 percentage points.

Previously associated with stagnation and lack of direction, the People’s Party was trailing in third place until Kurz, Austria’s telegenic 31-year old foreign minister, took leadership in May after securing party pledges of full authority.

He already was known Europe-wide for shutting down the West Balkans route into the prosperous EU heartland for migrants. With early elections set after the breakup of the coalition with the Social Democrats, he rapidly remade the party in his own image.

Although the People’s Party was part of the government coalition that opened its borders to more than 100,000 migrants in 2015, the party now says that “the political establishment failed in dealing with the refugee crisis.”

Calling for zero illegal immigration, he says migrants intercepted on the high seas should be shipped to refugee centers in North Africa instead of Europe. Migrants waiting for a decision on their asylum applications should be forced to work menial jobs in exchange for pocket money. And instead of the normal six-year waiting period for Austrian citizenship, those receiving asylum should wait for 10 years, he says.

Kurz has something else in his favor for an electorate disaffected with the status quo. “He was able — even though he was in government for more than six years — to present himself as the ‘change guy,'” said Thomas Hofer, a political analyst.

He now campaigns as the head of “Sebastian Kurz List.” Posters with his image mention the People’s Party as an afterthought. Turquoise has replaced the party’s official color of black.

Kurz also attracts Austrians who support the Freedom Party and its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, on migration, but dislike the radical way they frame the debate. Kurz, says Hofer, “uses a different kind of language, and it’s not extreme language — it’s plain talk.”

Kurz has pledged that the face-cover ban will be rigorously enforced. But Hofer dismisses the law as a “symbolic issue.” Muslim women leaders see as insincere the claim the law is intended to help oppressed women.

Carla Amina Bhagajati of the Islamic Religious Community in Austria said the “handful” of fully veiled women she knows of in Vienna “now are criminalized and … restricted to their homes.”

“This open society is, in a hypocritical way, endangering its own values,” she said.

Source: https://www.stripes.com/news/europe/burqa-ban-law-signals-rightward-political-turn-in-austria-1.490457#.WdA1fWhSyUk

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Germany’s small parties go for the jugular

Matthew Karnitschnig — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 00:14:08 +0000

BERLIN — Germany’s moribund election campaign just got interesting.

A day after Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Social Democrat challenger Martin Schulz muddled through a television standoff lampooned as “more of a duet than a duel,” the country’s smaller parties clashed in a pair of fast-paced, engaging debates in the race for third place.

In contrast to the largely harmonious exchanges between Merkel and Schulz on Sunday evening, Monday’s debates left little doubt about the differences between the smaller parties. In back-to-back confrontations, the first between the junior parties now in parliament — the Christian Social Union (CSU, the Bavarian sister-party of Merkel’s conservatives), the Greens and the Left party — and a second one that added the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), candidates squared off on issues ranging from domestic security to tax policy to digitalization.

Though both debates were shorter than Sunday’s 97-minute marathon between Merkel and Schulz, the moderators managed to cover more ground and for the most part succeeded in keeping the candidates on topic.

At several points, the exchanges became heated, a reflexion of how tight the race is between the cluster of parties vying for third.

“Everything you’re saying is wrong, it’s a bald-faced lie,” Left party leader Dietmar Bartsch told his Green rival when challenged about his party’s environmental record.

The FDP, Greens, the Left and AfD are all at between 8-10 percent in the polls, suggesting the shape of the next government could be decided by a very slim margin.

Merkel’s Christian Democrats and the CSU stand at a combined 38 percent. Their preferred partner is the FDP, but it’s far from certain the party will win enough votes for a two-way coalition. That could force either a three-way combination with the Greens or another grand coalition between Merkel’s bloc and the SPD.

In Monday’s debates the CSU candidates, as representatives of the current government, found themselves under fire from all sides.

Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the CSU struggled to defend his handling of the ongoing diesel scandal. The studio audience broke into laughter when Dobrindt said the government had done everything in its power to deal with the manipulations by Germany’s auto companies.

When Dobrindt tried to blame the Greens for the threat of diesel car bans now hanging over many German cities, Green leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt shot back: “It was your responsibility to undertake regular controls … the driving bans are yours because you didn’t ensure that the rules were respected.” The audience applauded.

The second debate, which included FDP chief Christian Lindner and AfD candidate Alice Weidel, was no less feisty.

Overall, the candidates for the Left, the FDP and the Greens appeared to score the most points, though there wasn’t a clear victor in either of the two debates. The CSU and AfD representatives, meanwhile, seemed largely on the defensive and isolated.

Though the candidates offered detailed arguments on the fight against terror and the refugee crisis, the primary focus was domestic. Both Turkey and Russia were discussed, but surprisingly little attention was devoted to Europe. As was the case with Merkel and Schulz, hot button topics in the EU, such as Brexit, French President Emmanuel Macron’s blueprint to reform the eurozone and Poland, weren’t even mentioned.

Nonetheless, most observers welcomed the aggressive back-and-forth as a kind of vindication for Germany’s political culture after Sunday’s lackluster performance.

“There is still passion in Germany’s political landscape after all,” German talkshow host Frank Plasberg declared at the close of Monday’s debates.

Source: http://www.politico.eu/article/germanys-small-parties-go-for-the-jugular/

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