Neo-liberalism and its relentless attacks have been undermining this compromise dating back to the 70ies. All phenomena of decomposition of the existing political systems experienced across Western Europe could be observed also in Austria, though maybe with more moderation. The more economic liberalism took a left-liberal cultural face, social opposition assumed right populist forms also employing Islamophobia. The authoritarian Corona regime, supported by the historic left, produced a significant and unprecedented opposition also on the streets. With NATO’s war on Russia the formally neutral country chose to fully take side with the West in flagrant violation of the constitution. A good part of the population opposes this ostensible subordination – a defiance which is being … [read more]

Graz Karlau, October 19, 2019 So, I communicate to you, all free human beings: I am the prisoner Abdel Karim Mohammed Abu Habel from the Gaza strip in Palestine. My family had to flee from Palestine in the Autumn of 1948. On the morning of black Sunday 20/05/1990 I was born, at the same time as the blood of our Palestinian people was being shed by the Israeli Zionist Forces. I was a young boy, like any other, playing with boys my age, despite the occupation, the killing and the blood; these things that were never bad before the occupation. On 20/07/2000, I was shot in the joint of my left foot by the IOF; I was nine years old, and I still suffer from that injury, to this day. A few years passed, after which we were taken by surprise from an offensive attack by the IOF on … [read more]

At first glance, the whole story sounds quite unbelievable. In our ostensibly peaceful and harmless alpine republic, the maximum sentence is rarely meted out. A maximum sentence for an act that was obviously politically motivated, to be carried out in occupied Palestine, and which actually wasn’t carried out after all, should raise your eyebrows. The defendant, Abdelkarim Abu Habel, was born in 1990 in Jabaliya in the Gaza Strip. At the age of 14, he was sentenced to nine years in prison by the occupying forces, an Israeli military court. According to media reports, he was denied visits by his father for five years – just one example of the severe conditions in Israeli detention. We don’t know the details about this case, but the general situation in Gaza and the disproportionate … [read more]

New ascendancy of FPÖ – social-cultural protest from below The sweeping success of Hofer, the Freedom Party’s candidate, is first of all expression of the protest by the subaltern classes. If the post-poll analysis can be trusted, about two-third of the workers cast their ballots for him. The pattern is known from earlier elections. In the historically industrial cities the lower segments of the former SP constituencies turn to FPÖ. For SPÖ has tied itself organically to the party of the big capital, ÖVP. Even more, it has taken the lead of the historic bloc of neo-liberalism. Parliamentary expression of this amalgamation is the explicit exclusion of the FPÖ from any governmental participation spelled out in the late 80s and adhered to ever since. Only by keeping this door … [read more]