Covid in Austria: The Fragility of the Régime, A Status Update by Eric Angerer

The Coming Crash of 2023 will shatter many assumptions and might even clear much of dead-weight of the Second Republic

I was planning on writing up something about developments in Austro-Covidistan—and then I saw that Eric Angerer had already done so over at Rubikon, a Swiss-based ‘alternative’ media outlet. Published on 12 Jan. 2023 and entitled, ‘Fragility in Austria’, Angerer paints a very comprehensive picture of the advanced decay of the body politic.

For those of you who desire extended background information, I shall point you towards a piece I wrote in late November 2021. Subtitled, ‘An Obituary for the Second Austrian Republic’, I summed up the situation as follows:

Details of death: neglect by the citizenry, led (if that’s actually the right word) by a coterie of inept, if spine-less, tinpot authoritarians who are obviously way too inept to grasp what they are doing.

I propose that my writing muses, in many ways, with Eric Angerer’s piece, and I would love to read your considerations. The below piece has been lightly edited for clarity, and I have removed the references; all emphases are mine.

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Fragility in Austria

Rear-guard actions of the Corona Régime, massive price increases, and a record wave of immigration characterise Austrian politics at the beginning of the new year.

Contrary to Green plans, ‘covid measures’ have not been tightened again in the past months; only in social-democratic Vienna do Corona’s Witnesses torment the population to a greater extent. Inflation is driving more and more people into poverty, but for the time being cushioning measures are still having some effect. The number of asylum seekers in 2022 has exceeded even the previous record year of 2015 and is causing problems at various levels. The conservative-green government is hanging on the ropes and is only kept in office by fear of new elections. While a considerable resistance milieu has stabilised in the past two years, the right-wing populist FPÖ is leading the current polls.

Retreat of the Corona Régime

Already in June, the government of the Christian Democratic ÖVP and the Greens had cancelled the mandatory vaccination law [link added] that had been voted on in January 2022. The pressure from large parts of the population was too strong and they did not want to risk that the Green president Alexander van der Bellen, an obedient party supporter of globalism and the Great Reset, could get into trouble against the FPÖ challenger.

After the establishment had dragged the incumbent over the finish line by the skin of his teeth at the beginning of October, most expected a new tightening of measures, especially a renewed extension of the mask requirement—which the Green parliamentary party leader had announced as early as election night. However, this was less and less comprehensible to most of the population, esp. in view of the Europe-wide repeal of various measures and in view of a collapsing willingness to top-up up on ‘vaccinations’. The Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), which is under pressure from its rural base, and even the new Green Health Minister did not play along with a new tightening. They prevailed against the Green hardliners.

Then, before Christmas, the federal government also abolished the 3G requirements [Covid Passport] in the health sector. But this is not the end of the story, because the mask requirement remains in some areas: firstly, in the health sector; secondly in schools if there are ‘positive cases’ in classes; and, thirdly, Vienna’s SPÖ-dominated city government still does not manage to stop its crusade. In Vienna, the compulsory wearing of masks on public transport has been extended again, but more and more people are refusing to do so. And absurdity is added to the equation, because the 270,000 commuters to Vienna, if they use the public transportation, first sit next to each other most of the way without masks and then must put them on from the city limits onwards [link added]. And, of course, the SPÖ city councillor for health, Peter Hacker, a kind of Grand Mufti of the local vaccination Taliban [lol], has made use of the option to continue the 3G rule for health care in Vienna.

Then, of course, at the beginning of January, the federal government dutifully implemented the European Union’s (EU) recommendation to require Covid tests from travellers from China. Shortly before, Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg had declared that this was ‘not necessary’. In doing so, he had also welcomed the Corona relaxations undertaken by China and said that the zero-covid policy had proved disastrous. This is piquant in that Schallenberg, as a short-lived chancellor in autumn 2021, was the architect of compulsory vaccination [click the link for a piece I wrote about that shameful moment] in Austria, proclaiming at the time: ‘We want to tighten the reins on the unvaccinated.’ Herr Graf, like many perpetrators of the totalitarian regime, would now prefer not to know anything about this.

[Oh, I will write him up in German-language media, no worries; note, however, that Schallenberg is a scion of a second- or third-rate aristocratic family. Now, professionally, I’ve been studying the large proprietors of the Old Regime for more than a decade now, and I can therefore provide you with an expert’s assessment of the stunning decline of professionalism, taste, and education of these ‘high-born’ people, but it is also apparent that such a pedigree doesn’t prevent fascistic-totalitarian impulses. Shame on you, Herr Graf.]

All in all, we are dealing with rear-guard actions by the Corona Régime. The fact that the measures are not completely lifted, although even government ‘experts’ declare the ‘pandemic’ to be over, probably has several reasons:

On the one hand, it is apparently difficult for some actors to get out of the panic narrative they have been preaching for years, and they fear losing face [time to shed some crocodile tears, I suppose]. And for another, some people want to leave open the possibility of restrictions on fundamental rights—in the case of ‘new covid variants’ or a new plandemic prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Nevertheless, the development of the past months is also a success for the resistance movement, whose arguments have been joined by ever larger parts of the population.

Russian Sanctions and Inflation

Austria is not directly part of NATO. Nevertheless, the Austrian government participates in the sanctions and the economic war against Russia and more or less also in the Western war effort, for example, through hundreds of military transports from NATO countries through Austria. Differences in the globalist party cartel are at best about how far the pro-Ukrainian war rhetoric goes and how sweeping the anti-Russian agitation is. Austrian mainstream media readily reproduce the NATO spin and conceal or gloss over everything that does not fit the desired image.

Austrian neutrality is being increasingly undermined, but openly hardly questioned, mainly because a very large majority of the population is in favour of maintaining it.

The [uniparty of] ÖVP, the Greens, the SPÖ and the liberal NEOS are following the sanctions against Russia imposed by the USA like lemmings; van der Bellen had even called all critics of the sanctions ‘collaborators’ of Russia. Only the FPÖ advocates an end to the sanctions and joining forces with Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. Resistance to the sanctions policy, which is suicidal for the European economy, is coming to some extent from the small and medium-sized businesses, i.e., from those parts that are not dominated by US investment funds. The interests of these ‘national’ industries have been cautiously articulated by Chamber of Commerce President Harald Mahrer or Upper Austria’s ÖVP state governor Thomas Stelzer.

Inflation has hovered between 10-11% in recent months [officially, it’s 8.6% now]. The causes are, on the one hand, the money subsidies of the ‘Corona Support’ and, on the other hand, energy price increases that affect all goods and services. Of course, people with low incomes, who hardly have any reserves, are particularly affected by this. But even better-off skilled workers, white-collar workers, and public servants are increasingly feeling the price increases to a threatening extent, especially as exploding utility bills are now becoming more and more noticeable. For many people, things are getting tighter materially in various ways and the state's cushioning measures are having less and less effect. How long the régime will be able to keep the growing discontent under control is not foreseeable at the moment.

The massive increase in energy prices is also an existential threat for many companies. So much so that the government has announced billions in relief for companies, but it still needs the go-ahead from the EU. In addition, tax breaks will of course go to corporations, while prices for consumers will presumably hardly go down as a result. Thus, the mass of the population will be ripped off twice, namely through high prices and taxes. And finally, it remains to be seen whether these measures can be sufficient to ward off the real recession predicted by many economists for 2023 [I wrote about this, too, in late August of last year], whether they can be sufficient to prevent the European economy from being driven against the wall by the USA, NATO, and the Great Reset globalists. Entrepreneur Gerald Markel, one of the most outspoken voices in Austria against the Corona Régime and the sanctions policy, has already called for a large-scale strike in the face of this prospect.

Record Immigration

In 2015, the record year so far, around 88.000 asylum applications were filed in Austria. In 2022, there were 102.000, and 91.3% of them come from—mostly young—men. They come mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, India, Tunisia, Pakistan, Morocco and various Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, there are 70-80.000 war refugees from Ukraine, 80% of whom are women and children. The 20% male Ukrainians are mostly gentlemen from the better-off classes who were able to bribe the Ukrainian customs authorities and are now cruising around Vienna in their luxury cars.

180.000 additional people in one year pose quite a challenge to the already overburdened asylum system in a country of nine million inhabitants. Until the presidential election in early October, the Régime was still relatively successful in keeping the issue out of public limelight. Since then, there has been political horse-trading over the accommodation of migrants and their financing.

The disbursement of heating subsidies to migrants who do not have heating costs because they live in state-owned places caused a lot of incomprehension.

And while unemployment is currently falling because the baby boomers are retiring and many industries are looking for employees, considerable numbers of those entitled to asylum are not useful for the labour market, either due to lack of qualifications, a lack of reliability, arrogance, and their undisciplined behaviour. They have to be permanently supported by the state, which pisses off many locals and Eastern European immigrants, especially when this group repeatedly draws attention to itself through violent crimes [Sweden, here we come…].

According to a poll in December, 86% of the population thought that the government was not in control of the asylum situation. In view of poor polling data, the ÖVP is once again trying to pretend activity in this area. Mostly, though, this is done by sloganeering, currently for example about ‘fences’ [a Trumpian Wall, anyone?] or the deportation of the rioters of Halloween night; yet, in practice, the ÖVP has hardly ever opposed or questioned the guidelines from Brussels. This time, however, Austria blocked the Schengen expansion to Romania and Bulgaria and demanded stricter external border protection in these countries. This immediately led to a reprimand by the Green president - and to increased tensions with the Green government partner.

Globalist Uniparty Cartel

Resentment against the impositions of the Corona Régime, the threatening inflation, the asylum chaos, and various corruption scandals have had dramatic consequences, especially for the ÖVP. While it garnered 37.5% of the vote in the 2019 federal elections, the latest polls now put it at only 19-21%. In the upcoming state elections in its heartland, Lower Austria, to be held at the end of January 2023, the ÖVP, which gathered almost 50% of the vote five years ago, must expect a drop to 40-42% and thus a loss of the absolute majority. This is likely to represent a turning point with unclear consequences for the party.

The other members of the globalist party cartel are not much better off. According to current polls, the Greens stand at 9-10% (in the 2019 federal election, the gathered 13.9%), the libertarian NEOS stand at 10-11% (2019 8.1%). The SPÖ is currently polling between 24-26%, compared to 21.2% in 2019, i.e., it is only moderately able to exploit the potential of an opposition party in the face of a badly battered government. This is probably due to the fanaticism of the federal party leadership and the Vienna SPÖ on all things Covid, the appeasement of the asylum problem by chairwoman Pamela Rendi-Wagner, and her conflicts with the party wing around Burgenland governor Hans-Peter Doskozil, who has his ear more to the ground of ordinary people [that’s the Social Democrat party we’re talking about, keep it in mind…] and advocates more pragmatic policies along the lines of Danish social democracy.

All these parties are committed to globalism and the Great Reset with its diverse aspects. This applies to global ‘health policy’ à la WHO and Gates Foundation, to neoliberal mass immigration to Europe for the purpose of breaking up the nation states, to submission to the USA and NATO, to the ‘climate question’, all aspects of ‘gender’, and transhumanism. The SPÖ and the ÖVP, because of their remaining roots in the working class and the rural population, respectively, have to make certain allowances for their voting bases’ opinions. NEOS, and especially the Greens, on the other hand, which are mainly based on privileged urban academics, can act as extremist whips of the globalist totalitarian regime.

Resistance Milieus and Perspectives

26% of the Austrian population—despite massive pressure and temporary compulsory vaccination mandates—have refused the experimental gene injections. That is just as many as in Sweden where there was no such pressure. This shows—contrary to the cliché of the cosy and obedient Austrian—a considerable power of resistance in the population. In addition to these 26%, there are all those who initially gave in to the pressure to ‘get vaccinated’ but who now regret it or have at least dropped out of the Pfizer subscription; the ‘4th jab’ has only been received by 18% [it’s not a perfect correlation and certainly not entirely true, but add the current polling data of NEOS and the Greens at 10-11% and 9-10%, respectively, and you’re almost ‘there’; I’m not suggesting that no SP supporters or Conservatives has taken the 4th jab, but it’s quite in line with blanket support for the Covidian régime].

Many people will not forgive the Régime quickly for these interventions in their bodies, the absurd restrictions on fundamental rights, and especially the reprisals against their children. The Corona Régime has created a milieu in Austria of probably at least 30-35% of the population that deeply distrusts the political and media establishment and cannot be easily recaptured.

This milieu is found in the most diverse networks and structures. However, the new party party Menschen-Freiheit-Grundrechte (MFG [People, Freedom, Basic Rights]), which emerged in resistance to the Corona mandates, is, at least outside its stronghold of Upper Austria, in crisis. This is due to internal disputes, and this has made electoral success at the federal level a distant prospect. Parts of the resistance milieu are likely to stay at home in future elections, while other parts will vote for the FPÖ. With regard to the Corona mandates, the FPÖ can look back with pride on the consistent resistance of its chairman Herbert Kickl.

Contrary to the forecasts of the mainstream, Kickl is firmly in the saddle within the party. This is no wonder, given that the FPÖ is leading the current polls with 28 to 30 percent; in the 2019 National Council elections, the party had just 16.2 percent. In addition to its stringent line against the Corona regime, the FPÖ also graspingly addresses the price explosions and, of course, the wave of immigration.

Depending on the extent of the energy crisis and inflation, there will be further conflicts in the political system. Resistance to the consequences of the Great Reset destruction policy and the economic war against Russia was still cushioned in recent months, but the shocking energy bills are still looming in most cases and people's reserves are increasingly being depleted. A number of middle-class entrepreneurs who are facing the effective destruction of their companies will not only increase the pressure on the ÖVP, but will also open themselves to calls for resistance from Gerald Markel and others.

In the first place, however, social protests against inflation and company closures will come from the working class and small traders. Faced with economic livelihood destruction and poverty, many of them will also take to the streets. Who will dominate these protests politically is still open.

Social democracy and trade union leaders are fundamentally committed to various projects of globalist big capital, but they may come under pressure from their labour base and feel compelled to carry out street mobilisations. Of course, they will be concerned with blowing off steam and keeping resentment under control, but this will not necessarily succeed. At the same time, it is possible that the heterogeneous resistance milieu that has formed against the Corona regime can play a strong and leading role in upcoming social protests.

In this context, it will be important to continue to build their own media that are independent of the mainstream. But this will not be enough. What is needed above all is the development of structures that go beyond the organisation of demos. In order to really put pressure on the regime, it will also be necessary to take action such as strikes. In order not to leave this to the trade union leadership, which is loyal to the system, independent networks and organisations should be built up in the working class, especially in the workforces of larger companies, but also among small and medium businesses. After all, workers and small business owners are the most critical groups in society. Without them, everything comes to a standstill. Their power potential is great.