Make Austria a Pariah Again

The End of the Austrian Second Republic, Pt. 3

Ladies and gentlemen, did I over-promise this? Here’s RT on the ongoing situation in Austria: ‘1st-ever nationwide lockdown for the unvaccinated is on the cards’ it was reported yesterday (my emphasis):

‘On Sunday, Austria may become the first country in the world to impose a lockdown on just the unvaccinated among its population…The idea of a nationwide lockdown exclusively targeting the unvaccinated was first floated by the government in September…Should the government in Vienna go ahead with the lockdown plan, Austria would be the only country in the world to impose a lockdown solely on the unvaccinated.’

Well, there’s some ‘movement’, I guess, about these things that are quite telling about Austria’s descent—reversal—into authoritarianism. That RT article closes talking about the only opposition to these excesses and abuses of power are—nationally, ‘the right-wing Freedom Party and locally…the newly formed People, Freedom, Rights party’.

In a shot across the bow of its partially ‘unvaccinated’ work force, state broadcaster ORF announced the following measures, well before any regulations or the like were written, as DerStandard reported yesterday:

‘ORF tightens its protection measures and unprotected employees face consequences under service law…in TV and radio studios, vaccination against or recovery from Covid-19 is required. Studio guests are also affected by the tightening of the Corona protection measures. For external persons invited to “sensitive zones” or studios, the 2G rule (vaccinated or recovered) also applies, in addition to a current test (rapid antigen test not older than 24 hours, PCR test not older than 48 hours).’

This means, in effect, as the above article holds, that

‘people who cannot or do not want to fulfil the 2G requirement—such as Freedom Party chairman and anti-vaxxer Herbert Kickl—alternative interview situations would be provided. For example, an alternate studio or feeds. ORF-2 editor-in-chief Matthias Schrom explains the measures as follows: “Every guest is welcome, but at the same time we take care of the safety of all participants—also in information and discussion programmes. Those who, for whatever reason, cannot comply with the 2G+ rule will be given the opportunity to be connected to discussion rounds and interviews.”’

It’s apparently fine to exclude uncomfortable politicians who were deemed ‘unacceptable’ long ago (see here), but it has been de rigueur to do so now by virtue signalling-cum-public castigations. Say what you want, one doesn’t have to agree with a politician of any stripe to consider this kind of exclusionary tendency problematic.

Also, it’s not ‘just’ the Austrians who do it: the Latvian parliament forbids its ‘unvaccinated’ MPs access to the chambers, too (which ORF reported on without further comment).

Let’s return to the ORF for one more moment, though. Internally, the following paper was circulated, according to the above-mentioned news article by DerStandard:

‘“The currently unvaccinated employee makes a binding declaration to his/her supervisor that he/she will ensure that he/she receives the first partial Corona vaccination by Wednesday, 17 November 2021. This declaration must be made in writing”…the regulation—as stated in the communiqué—was drawn up in agreement with the Workers’ Council [Zentralbetriebsrat].’

According to the Freedom Party, ‘it is also particularly dramatic that the Workers’ Council of the ORF did not offer any resistance here and thus show once again which side they are on––that of the…government’.

There was a time, about twenty years ago, when the first government of the mainstream conservatives and the Freedom Party was frowned upon by Austria’s fellow EU members (under Wolfgang Schüssel in 2001, on which see Wikipedia and a scholarly accounting here; the picture shows Schüssel and then-president Thomas Klestil, who was distinctively ‘not amused’).

These days, it seems that every European country is trying to out-do their neighbours in terms of ever-harsher measures.

Furthermore, it’s really worrisome when the only politicians who argue for constitutional government and workers’ rights are those on the far-right, especially if about a third of the electorate is as ‘unvaccinated’ as their chairman, Herbert Kickl.

However this will end, it’s probably not going to be a very happy end.

To the contrary, the odds are that Austria will not be frowned upon due to these massive restrictions and authoritarian impositions by its government.