How 'the Left™' Operates

A guest posting by Bernd Stracke who offers a wealth of insides into how 'the Left™' moves about and destroys the Western political system

While it may appear a bit like ‘inside baseball’, the below piece by friend-of-these-pages Bernd Stracke showcases the current state of mind (and affairs) in European countries where the Greens are in power.

This is a follow-up to an earlier posting on the more sinister realities of Austria politicking, but in reality the problems described therein are, of course, nothing particular about Austria (except for the names and places).

Covid in Austria: Continued Régime Decay as President Looses in Court vs. Independent Media and 'Experts™' Act as Block Wardens

What follows, then, is a story about the depravity of our times. Translation and emphases mine, the pictures come to you courtesy of Bernd Stracke.

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Complaints From Green ‘Sulking Prima Donnas’: Lawfare Campaigns are Used to Destroy the Opposition Politicians

By Bernd Stracke, via Report24.news, 28 June 2024 [source]

Recently, thin-skinned and lawfare-obsessed Green politicians have had little luck throughout Europe when they have taken their critics to court for alleged libel. A case in which Janine Bex, deputy leader of the Green Party [in the Tyrol, Austria], took legal action against the rebellious local politician Gerald Depaoli from the platform ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’ [lit. Just Innsbruck] list at the Innsbruck Higher Regional Court is probably one of the exceptions. An incomprehensibly harsh sentence, which he faced for ‘insulting the honour’ of Ms. Bex, could literally cost the politician his livelihood.

An [A]Morality Tale from the Holy Land of Tyrol

‘The Greens are suing like crazy’, the German magazine Focus summarised the situation recently. Members of the opposition parties had labelled various Green politicians with terms such as ‘complete idiot’, ‘stupidest foreign minister in the world’, ‘paedophile trulla’, ‘steamroller’, ‘station alcoholic’ [orig. Bahnhofs-Alkoholiker, i.e., homeless who are lingering around train stations], and many more. Although the courts did not like these ‘epithets’, they allowed them to pass with impunity as ‘satirical depictions’ that are ‘covered by freedom of expression’, which means: acquittals for some of these heroes with loose tongues.

Austrian President ‘Trampling on Democracy’

Readers [see the above-linked post] will also remember that Austria’s head of state Alexander van der Bellen pulled out all the legal and prosecutorial stops to make Report24 editor-in-chief Florian Machl a ‘felon’ because of his criticism that the Federal President had ‘trampled on democracy’ and ‘divided the population’ (in the matter of ‘compulsory coronavirus vaccination’). Eventually, Mr. Machl was acquitted by the Constitutional Court. The aged head of state, who always presents himself as a ‘moral authority’, can therefore be called out ‘trampling on democracy’ with impunity in front of the whole world (see here and here).

‘Assembly Line-like Lawsuit Routine’

On 26 June 2024, the internet platform Anonymousnews raised the question of whether the desire to sue can even be expanded into a revenue-generating business model, using the example of German FDP politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann: In a ‘lucrative victim role’, the ‘use of lawyers, criminal charges, and investigating authorities’ is described, with the stated aim ‘to increase her income with dubious claims for compensation for pain and suffering’. Strack-Zimmermann had even ‘made it her own business model to overwhelm the citizens criticising her with an avalanche of claims for damages for pain and suffering’ [in US parlance, this is what is known as a SLAPP suit, according to Wikipedia (!)].

German lawyer Joachim Steinhöfel, who is well versed in the subject matter, surmises that even politicians’ salaries could be exceeded in this way: the standard amount in civil law litigation is 5,000 euros, but Strack-Zimmermann sets a figure of up to 15,000 euros in some cases, which she ‘may collect as a warning sum’. The FDP politician is presumably only satisfied with an amount in dispute of just 1,000 euros if ‘there is nothing to be gained from the person concerned’. FDP party colleague and lawyer Alexander Brockmeier ‘searches the internet on Strack-Zimmermann’s behalf for legally exploitable statements’ and ‘then sends out letters for which he already has pre-printed forms’. The procedure therefore mimics ‘practically an assembly line routine’. This reveals ‘a quagmire of political-legal trickery in which courts…make themselves available as a kind of service branch in order to conduct a permanent legal crusade against normal citizens’.

Breastfeeding a Baby in Innsbruck’s Municipal Council

Innsbruck’s former local councillor Gerald Depaoli currently feels like the victim of such a crusade, albeit in ‘the Tyrolean Green way’. In just happens that we’re talking about such a libel SLAPP suit that laypeople would probably classify as comparatively harmless. In 2023, Green councillor Janine Bex, now 40, provoked her colleague Depaoli from the ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’ party, who is known to be rather hot-tempered, by breastfeeding her baby during a session of the Innsbruck City Council while holding a bottle of beer in her hand. On an internet platform, Depaoli responded: ‘Having a beer and an infant being breastfed at the same time have no place in the municipal council. What about protecting minors?’

Ill.: Gerald Depaoli, former Innsbruck City Council member, via B. Stracke.

Depaoli’s downfall was that in his outrage (which, incidentally, was shared by many Tyroleans) he had overlooked the fact that the supposed evidence of the green mum was a bottle of non-alcoholic beer. Because the beer—which Depaoli had falsely diagnosed as ‘real’ [i.e., containing approx. 5% alcohol] from a distance—was considered a bad choice for a breastfeeding mother, a court ruled that Depaoli’s comments on social media were ‘defamatory’ and imposed a hefty fine on him and his [political] association ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’, whose chairman was also Depaoli. Incidentally, Ms. Bex was represented by the Viennese Green lawyer Dr. Maria Windhager (who, among other things, represents the Green Party’s Sigrid Maurer in court, but also became known for accusations of plagiarism: according to the ‘Blog für wissenschaftliche Redlichkeit’, Ms. Windhager allegedly ‘appropriated’ parts of her dissertation from legal scholars Jochen Frowein and Walter Berka).

Another fatal aspect of the Tyrolean case is that although Depaoli posted a beer-bottle-and-breastfeeding photo online, it was mockingly commented on by other users who are still completely unknown to Depaoli. The defendant had not had these third-party postings deleted quickly enough. Depaoli appealed against the judgement, whereupon the case went to the next instance. The President of the Senate of the Higher Regional Court, Dr. Birgit Berchtold, who is not exactly known for being hostile to the Green movement, and her assessors, Higher Regional Court Judge Dr. Astrid Tangl and Higher Regional Court Judge Michael Ortner, halved the damages award and overturned the judgement against the ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’ association. Fortunately for Depaoli, it turns out, because the original aim of the lawsuit was to make the municipal councillor Depaoli and the association chairman Depaoli, who was the same person, ‘bleed’ twice for just one offence did not succeed.

However, it took the judges a full 69 pages to justify their verdict and to brush aside weighty counter-arguments put forward by Patrick Gaulin, the lawyer representing Depaoli. One of the key sentences of the judgement: the detriment caused by the pictures on which the plaintiff was depicted represented a ‘particularly sensitive offence’ for her [remember: Ms. Bex was a city councillor who took her infant to a council meeting, breastfed the child, and held a beer bottle at the same time—and now we could have a debate whether elected politicians gathering for official business would be a ‘public’ matter, eh?]

High Penalties, Payable ‘Within 14 Days’

Bad luck for Depaoli: not only did the exorbitantly high amount in dispute set by Ms. Bex’ lawyer for the requested injunction and the legal fees of the other side exceed 35,000 euros (by comparison, the amount in dispute in the much more spectacular case of the Green EU mandate holder Lena Schilling was a measly 12,000 euros [see here]), Depaoli was soon caught between the fronts of the ‘party giants’ Green, Blue [Freedom Party], Black [ÖVP, mainstream ‘conservatives’], and a list run by a ÖVP defector [who won the recent mayoral race] in the Innsbruck municipal council election campaign and, despite a 30% increase in turnout, and only because of the newly introduced 4% threshold for entering the city council, Depaoli narrowly lost his seat—at least for the time being. A court case challenging these results is currently pending at the Constitutional Court.

In other words: Depaoli, a family man with two children, is currently out of his political income and financially thrown back on his professional pension as a former fire chief of the Innsbruck professional fire brigade, which is far below 2,000 euros. As he was unable to pay the fine imposed, the compensation for the offended breastfeeding mum and the court costs ‘within 14 days’, his pension has already been mercilessly seized down to the minimum subsistence level and, of course, he has also had unpleasant visits from the executor [in Austria, foreclosure is done by state officials, not ‘just’ a sheriff’s deputy delivering a note, like in the U.S.]. Just a few days ago, the ‘cuckoo’ [in Austria, foreclosure stickers bear the seal of the federal gov’t, which Austrians semi-lovingly refer to as ‘cuckoo’] was stuck on three old motorbikes discovered in Depaoli’s shed. The former small party premises rented by the ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’ list had to be cleared out at the drop of a hat and returned to the landlord; the inventory, including the ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’ party history, ended up in the rubbish [remember: the court explicitly held that Depaoli the man and Depaoli the politician were two individuals, but the state is still seizing the latter’s party’s stuff].

At Ground Level and on the First Floor

The situation is rosier for the breastfeeding mum who prevailed in court: Janine Bex, loyal follower of the former Green mayor of Innsbruck and choirmaster Georg Willi, who has since been spectacularly driven out of office by the voters and is now deputy mayor under Johannes Anzengruber, a former ÖVP career operative. Bex can not only look forward ‘on the first floor’ to the ‘compensation’ euros painstakingly scraped together by the now-penniless Depaoli, who lives ‘on the ground floor’. Ms. Bex furthermore disposes of a lavish salary as ‘acting city councillor’ (insiders estimate it at 12,000 euros 14 times a year, to which could possibly be added expense allowances for her office as deputy Green Club chairwoman and one or two supervisory board positions). According to insiders, another blatant inequality between these two parties is that Ms. Bex does not have to bear any cost risk if she loses the case because the federal Green party are supposedly ‘standing next’ to her. If, on the other hand, Mr. Depaoli loses, he will be personally ‘stuck’ with all the costs.

The Hallein-born Bex, whose C.V. after graduating from the Missionsprivatgymnasium Bischofshofen [i.e., she has a high school diploma] is adorned with such breathtaking qualifications as the job of a ‘Commis de rang’ (according to Wikipedia, a ‘low-ranking waiter’) in the ‘Knödelei of the Munich Oktoberfest’, but also a certainly highly qualified collaboration in the ‘Feminist Climate Conference of the Green European Foundation’ financed by the EU Commission.

Previous Histories on Both Sides

There are, of course, previous histories about both parties to the dispute: during his service as a city councillor in Innsbruck, Depaoli was also chairman of the city controlling committee for many years and, as such, also had the duty to keep a close eye on (and, if necessary, slap the mayor’s wrists) the green mayor Willi and his team in the interests of the taxpayer. Depaoli achieved successes by, among other things, taking a critical X-ray look at the contractual details surrounding the head of the personnel department, Katharina Bonauer, who was favoured by the Green mayor. This led to a extraordinary municipal council meeting and, as a result of which, the controversial civil servant was put on leave for the near future with a gag order (see here and here). Depaoli provided further examples as an annoying supervisory authority in matters such as the ‘forestry office vs Höttinger Alm’, the ‘Green frenzy for paving over everything’, the ‘tree murder in Saggen’, and, last but not least, the ‘expensive paving of the Boznerplatz’. All these matters represent cases in which the city’s governing Greens did not come across in a very good light.

The ‘Paving Stone Affair’

The sensational Innsbruck ‘paving stone affair’ [orig. Pflasterstein-Affäre], which Depaoli has repeatedly brought into focus since 2019 and which resurfaced in 2022 and 2024, does not seem to be over. It is about thousands of square metres of old cobbled stones which were said to have been given to a private construction company under the responsibility of Bex’s green city councillor colleague Uschi Schwarzl (who has now definitely left office after several motions to vote her out of office), with the taxpayer likely to have suffered damages worth millions. The city’s civil engineering office, which was under the control of former Green mayor Willi at the time, vigorously denies everything. Depaoli also claims to have discovered that only ‘blasted’ paving stones were used for a sample area laid with Lusern gneiss in the old town, but not ‘tumbled’ paving stones as required in the tender. Given the enormous amount of building material (and money) used, this would make a considerable difference in cost [i.e., the allegation is that contractors knowingly used cheaper building materials while billing the gov’t for the higher-priced paving stones: a classic]. The issue only made the headlines in the Tiroler Tageszeitung [the Tyrol’s mainstream daily news] this March.

International Peace Researcher Banned from Appearing

When the Green mayor Willi banned the internationally renowned Swiss peace researcher Dr. Daniele Ganser from giving a lecture in Innsbruck’s Kongresshaus in breach of contract, Depaoli demonstratively made a pilgrimage to Ganser’s sold-out replacement venue in Seefeld. Willi’s revealing ‘revenge’ took place on election day via state broadcaster ORF’s evening news ‘Zeit im Bild’: Willi was ‘most pleased’ that his opponent Depaoli had been kicked out of the municipal council.

The Puppet Affair

Depaoli became legendary back in 2020 with the ‘puppet affair’ and the trial cascade that ended in his acquittal, which made headlines in Austria’s largest daily newspaper, the Kronenzeitung, among others. A papier-mâché doll with a rope around its neck, made by Chris Moser, 48, a self-defined ‘anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-sexist, and anti-capitalist activist and artist’, was placed in Innsbruck’s Waltherpark in 2019 and thrown into the River Inn by a 43-year-old woman. The fact that Depaoli thanked this initially unknown perpetrator via video for ‘disposing’ of the figure triggered criminal proceedings against the ‘Gerechtes Innsbruck’ mandatary for ‘condoning damage to property’ that dragged on for years.

‘I didn't see it as a work of art, but as a multi-cultural crap [orig. Klumpert]’, Depaoli said bluntly. For him, a doll depicting suicidal behaviour is unacceptable, especially next to a playground. He had often witnessed the tragedy of suicides during his time working for the Innsbruck fire brigade and was glad that the doll was suddenly no longer there. Because a court expert ruled out the possibility that the object could be recognised as a work of art by a layperson at first glance, Depaoli was finally acquitted.

Green Cottage in the Forest

The ‘Hungerburg-Stadtwald affair’ surrounding the reputation-sensitive Green councillor in Innsbruck, Janine Bex, caused quite a stir (she is, of course, presumed innocent until proven guilty). There has been a lot of media discussion about slashing and burning near the Bex family’s property on the Hungerburg, Innsbruck’s elite ‘balcony’ [a bit like the Beverly Hills in L.A.], as well as speculation about high development costs for the access road and sewage system for the Bex house in the middle of the forest at the taxpayer’s expense (see also here). Initially, the Kronenzeitung, alluding to Bex, ran the headline: ‘Political celebrity clears city forest for main residence in the countryside.’ The article also referred to a ‘bargain price’ and a ‘doubling of the total building mass’. [Ms. Bex is said to have acquired a plot zoned as ‘greenland/forest’ at a very favourable price; thereafter, the zoning code was changed to ‘construction property’, or Bauland, which was much more expensive].

Ill.: dirt access road leading to Ms. Bex’ estate, via B. Stracke

The political and media establishment hastened to play down the case, describing it as an ‘everyday, normal procedure’, excusing the phenomenal appreciation of the property through rededication with the ‘legal exploitation of a loophole’, to present the clearing of the neighbouring Bex property as ‘damaged timber removal’ and ‘minor, necessary timber removal after storm damage and snow breakage’, and finally to qualify the stately Bex family property in a prime location as a ‘mountain hut in the forest in need of renovation’ [let’s not mince words here: the Green (sic) politico had many trees felled so she could build a mansion on property previously unavailable for development]. However, the municipal director Gabriele Herlitschka, who at the time was under the authority of the Green Mayor Willi, provided official ‘clarification’ in a letter to the effect that ‘the requested clearing permits for the forest path and the construction project were granted by the General District and Municipal Administration Office on the basis of expert opinions from the specialist departments of the municipal authority and in application of the statutory provisions’. Even the Hungerburg volunteer fire brigade was called out to have the Floriani commander Christof Schlenz comment on the clearing measures: ‘There was imminent danger here’.

In an original way, Depaoli drew attention to the visual imbalance of the facts by inviting people to an ‘evening walk’ on site, which the establishment immediately qualified as a ‘personal attack’ and prompted Willi to jump to the defence of his deputy Bex with the accusation directed at Depaoli that ‘the mob is forming’ [talk about projection].

Ill.: the property in question, via B. Stracke

For once, Depaoli was not alone in his criticism in this matter: Benjamin Plach, [nationally syndicated union] ÖGB lawyer and SPÖ party leader in Innsbruck City Council, relativised the serious accusations that were initially made, but still managed to stick to his guns:

Politically, I am 100% against such shenanigans [i.e., Mr. Depaoli inviting the public to check out the site]. The paragraph needs to be reformed, new residences in open land should be made impossible if at all possible. I find the necessary development particularly worrying in view of the hillside location. At a time when living space has to be re-dimensioned and strict settlement boundaries are necessary, single-family building projects are a clear, misguided development and a fatal signal. I am convinced that our own political positions must also apply to private actions.

Political scientist Renate Krammer-Stark, who has since converted from being a former Green supporter of Bex and Willi to an ÖVP candidate, explained: ‘This time the finger of blame is pointing at the Greens themselves.’

The case has an additional ‘flavour’ in that Ms. Bex is now responsible for the departments of urban planning, mobility and integration, climate-neutral city, building, water, trade and road law, building and fire police. Shame on anyone who thinks evil of these circumstances…

Sugar in the Gas Tank, Windscreen Wipers Torn Off

Understandably, Depaoli did not only make friends in this way. Unknown perpetrators, who could not be traced by the police, put sugar into his gas tank, tore off windscreen wipers and rear-view mirrors, and removed the licence plates from his car. Anonymous ‘friends’ reported the politician to the tax authorities on suspicion of tax evasion. As little came of this as of an anonymous (revenge?) complaint about an alleged Depaoli illegal building project in Innsbruck-Mühlau.

A Hands-On, Likeable Oolitician who Will be Missed by the People of Innsbruck

In summary, Gerald Depaoli and his ‘Just Innsbruck’, a shirt-sleeved, likeable politician who has always enlivened the Innsbruck political debate in an original way, will be sorely missed by many Innsbruck residents. Many would like to make a financial contribution to ensure that the critical voice that has been silenced for the time being can be heard again from the coming election period.

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Bottom Lines

This is a very long posting already, hence I’ll delimit myself to noting two issues: first, even if you’re inclined that only half of what Bernd Stracke writes about would be true, it’s an indictment of the self-serving projections of what passes for ‘the Left™’ these days. In case you thought that German-speakers may be a bit more orderly and well-organised, well, you might wish to re-think this.

Second, the main problem here is that most legacy media is so entangled with political actors and state governments (mostly via advertisement and access to ‘players’) that most ‘newspapers’ won’t go there out of less-than-enlightened self-interest. Oh, lest we forget, we haven’t even talked about the deference to Covid policies or Ukraine that virtually all politicians and media people subscribe to.

Thank heaven for people like Bernd Stracke who call out these shenanigans.

Join me tomorrow for another story from Innsbruck to illustrate a few more things that are horribly wrong with our societies these days.