The Principle of Austria
Vienna deputy mayor Christoph Wiederkehr's keynote speech attempted to reframe the debate about immigration and integration in Austria in liberal, pan-European terms
Servus!
On Friday morning, I was at what was billed as a keynote speech by Vienna’s deputy mayor Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) on immigration, integration, and fundamental values in the context of the Israel-Hamas war and its fallout in Vienna and across Europe. Over the course of the past few weeks, an Israeli flag was ripped down from the front of Vienna’s main synagogue, the city’s Jewish cemetery was the subject of an arson and vandalism attack, and antisemitic chants including “Khaybar, Khaybar, oh Jews, the army of Mohammed will return” have been heard at anti-Israel demonstrations.
As I explained the other week, such events have given rise to public discussion in Austria about what to do with Islamist antisemitism. This is sometimes misleadingly called “imported antisemitism” when, in fact, the Austrian parliament’s most recent study into antisemitism showed that second- and third-generation Turkish and Arab immigrants are more likely to agree with Israel-related antisemitic statements than recent arrivals. The debate, moreover, has largely been couched in right-wing language, as when Lower Austria governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner spoke the other week of an attack on “our Judeo-Christian values” and, casting a wide net, stated her “clear expectation that Muslims in Austria will also reject hatred and antisemitism.”
With that in mind, Wiederkehr’s slickly produced speech headlined Prinzip Österreich, The Principle of Austria, was an attempt to reframe the discussion about immigration, integration, and coexistence in Austria in both liberal and pan-European terms. He fashioned a dichotomy between the pluralism and diversity which exist in Vienna, which he believes are both assets to and challenges for the Austrian capital, and the populist simple-mindedness which are their opposite and enemy. He also offered further European integration including on migration policy as a counterpoint to the “Fortress Austria” mentality of the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ).
The centerpiece of his speech was a proposal to bring the debate about integration back to fundamental values. Wiederkehr listed three. Human dignity, that everyone has the right to live in freedom and according to their own values and ideals. Pluralism, that we should be tolerant of other people’s beliefs, worldviews, and sexual orientations. Democracy, which constitutes the basis for our societal coexistence. These values, Wiederkehr argued, are non-negotiable, should be abided by everyone who lives here, and should constitute the foundation of national integration policy.
More concretely, Wiederkehr proposed reforming Austrian policy on deportation and more tightly regulating formal religious and cultural associations, linking their funding to those aforementioned fundamental values. Austrian states that do not take in their fair share of asylum seekers should be fined by the federal government. Primary school students should all study a subject Wiederkehr called “life in a democracy,” a mixture of civics and ethics. He also proposed coupling benefits to integration, meaning those who failed, for example, to attend German language classes could have their entitlements gradually taken away.
Listening to Wiederkehr’s speech, there were times when his words could have been lifted from my own work: Austria is an Einwanderungsland in denial; without immigration, Austria has no future; integration is a two-way process in which both host and guest must participate. In a country in which the discussion on immigration has a particular hue, these points often go unsaid and Wiederkehr was right to state them. The meat and potatoes of his speech, however, demonstrated how perilous this topic can be for politicians in the center and on the left. For years, the biggest champion of linking benefits to integration has been the FPÖ. When other parties try and meet the far-right on their own terms, failure typically ensues. Given the choice between Coca-Cola and store brand pop, voters usually opt for the real thing.
Bis bald!
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