More on Austria’s Authoritarian Descent

They say the first time’s a tragedy, so: what about the second attempt?

As reported two days ago, the ugly head of authoritarian designs rears again in Central Europe. It came about by the now-conventional government ‘style’ of press statements masquerading as lawful politics, with Chancellor Schallenberg and Health Secretary Mückstein announcing, at 10 p.m., the introduction of new anti-Covid measures.

(For the record, democratic republics usually work like this: parliament discusses and passes laws, which is also known as ‘primary legislation’. Government then directs the various departments to come up with enabling rules and regulations based on the law, which is known as ‘secondary legislation’. Do note the clearly derivative nature of this.)

Instead, late last Friday, the government announced a slate of new mandates. For this, a (third) rewriting of the regulations based on the second Covid law was necessary, which the government managed to get done by around 11 p.m. yesterday, i.d., about one hour before these same measures were supposedly entering into force.

Here’s what’s happening now, according to left-leaning daily Der Standard (click on the link and marvel at the original URL, which reads: ‘timely-before-midnight-government-has-published-2g-regulation’; note that the article’s header has since changed):

‘The previously valid 3G [= vaccinated, recovered, or tested] regulation is thus largely replaced by 2G [= vaccinated or recovered]. Unvaccinated people are thus no longer allowed to go to the hairdresser, to restaurants or to leisure and sporting events.’

State broadcaster ORF explains:

‘2G applies to close-body services, restaurants, night catering and the like, the cultural sector (theatres, cinemas and operas, but not museums), sports, leisure facilities and for visitors to hospitals and old people’s and nursing homes.

Exceptions are visits in the field of palliative and hospice care and birth attendance, where an FFP2 [KN95] mask can be worn as an alternative. Each facility can also set stricter access requirements via its house rules.’

Initially, the government wanted most of these mandates to affect ‘only’ the ‘unvaccinated’. Apparently, someone who is able to read (perhaps, the constitution with its bill of rights?) then told them that this wouldn’t stand, hence a flurry of rules, regulations, and exceptions, such as this (from the same ORF article):

‘All persons after the end of compulsory schooling, i.e., older than 15, for whom a regular vaccination option exists, fall under the 2G rule. People who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons and children up to twelve are excluded. For young people up to 15, the “Ninja Pass” [test certificate for kindergarten and school kids], which maps the school tests, is recognised under 2G. Tests are also sufficient for employees in hotels and restaurants. However, in sensitive environments such as night catering and large events, a PCR test is required.

In addition, a transitional period comes into effect: In the first four weeks, the initial vaccination—together with a PCR test—is also valid for these establishments. Antibody tests, on the other hand, are not recognised.

A FFP2 mask must be worn everywhere where no proof is required. In concrete terms, this means: In all retail, public transport, museums and libraries, the mask obligation will be extended to FFP2 compulsory throughout Austria.’

In addition, the government arbitrarily introduced a number of caveats with respect to the Covid-19 vaccine card (source as before):

‘The certificate is valid for up to nine months after the second vaccination—after that, a third dose is required for the “Green Passport”. For all vaccinated persons who were vaccinated the first time with the vaccine from Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), a second dose for the “green passport” is necessary from 3 January 2022. For those who have recovered, the recovery period must not be more than six months.’

As vaccine failure becomes more widespread, it is reasonable to expect ever more arbitrary measures to avoid the unavoidable outcome: by next summer, the 17th ‘booster’ will probably allow you to visit a friend for the next 4 hours or so.

I meant, of course, a reckoning with the sovereign (the people): at some point, this will not do, and the one remedy ‘envisioned’ by Interior Secretary Nehammer—who has promised ‘800 more police officers’ to check papers—will fail, too, before too long. Austria, while a small country, has 9+ million inhabitants and covers come 84,000 square kilometres. The government was unable to check a handful of counties in the past two weeks because there are too few police officers and soldiers to actually keep up that level of control-freak-ish intensity.

‘Your papers, please.’ (Still taken from the 1998 movie ‘Opernball’, about the authoritarian turn in Austrian politics after a gas attack by right-wing extremists that killed most of the country’s elite congregated in Vienna’s State Opera; novel by J. Haslinger, info via Wikipedia.)

In other (old) ‘news, it may very well worth pointing out that there’s no shortage of Authoritarian Personalities anywhere, as this nugget from Year 1 B.C. (‘before Covid’, i.e., 2018) shows: in Burgenland, one of Austria’s nine federal states, the movie ‘The Wave’ will no longer be shown, as tabloid Heute explained:

‘After a group of pupils acted out The Wave, the state school board decided not to show the film in class for the time being.

Pupils of a new secondary school in Burgenland were charged with reenactment. They acted out The Wave during breaks at the school. A teacher had discussed the book with the fourth graders and watched the film with them, believing that the 13- to 14-year-olds had understood the content.

But the opposite was the case. A group of pupils and their pack leader then began to act out scenes. They slipped into the roles of SS men and Jews.’

These events do make at least me wonder whether more, not less, history would be required to make better citizens.