Abstract
The Austrian chapter by Birgit Sauer emphasizes the electoral successes of the radical right, which since the 1990s have triggered the formation of civil society organizations that oppose the mobilization of hate against immigrants. It shows the weakness of Austrian civil society organizations in forging alliances and shifting their activities towards solidarity with other activists, common strategic framing, and transversal politics. It refers to some alliances that go beyond identity issues, but emphasizes that transversal framings of racism that actively include feminism, gender, sexuality, and class are overall missing. Only some civil society organizations explicitly link the issue of voting preferences for the radical right to neoliberal transformations of work and family and thus connect anti-racism to issues of social inequality and marginalization at the intersection of gender and race.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
See also Karner (2007), who analyzes the “counter-hegemonic regional press” in Austria.
- 2.
The empirical work for this paper has been conducted in the context of two EU-funded projects, eEAV and RAGE. I thank Edma Ajanovic, who did the empirical study in the RAGE project, and Stefanie Mayer, who conducted research in the eEAV project, for their work.
- 3.
Until 1971, homosexuality was criminalized in Austria.
- 4.
The largest concentration camp on Austrian territory was located in the city of Mauthausen.
- 5.
The MKÖ is the successor organization of the Austrian Concentration Camp Community Mauthausen, whose founders were camp survivors.
- 6.
The DÖW was established in 1963 by former resistance fighters, concentration camp prisoners, persons returning from exile, and academics.
- 7.
Founded in 1997.
- 8.
We selected the most publicly visible and the most diverse civil society organizations. We did not take into account organizations such as Amnesty International, Caritas, the Austrian Red Cross, and Volkshilfe, which also help migrants and asylum seekers by providing mentorships or “integration buddy programs” and by raising awareness about discriminative issues in this field.
- 9.
After WWII, right-wing dueling fraternities (Burschenschaften) gathered on 8 May at the Heldenplatz to remember the fallen Austrian Wehrmacht comrades and to grieve the end of the Nazi regime. Until 2013, only small (left-wing) groups demonstrated against this event, but since 2013, the Celebration of Joy has recoded this public space in the city center on 8 May to commemorate the liberation from National Socialism.
- 10.
In March 2017, SOS Mitmensch launched the campaign “Populistenpause”, which called for a break in public and media reporting on the radical right.
- 11.
It seems to be much easier for MiGaY to cooperate with political parties’ homosexual caucuses.
- 12.
Another example of the mainstreaming of the radical right is that both ÖVP and SPÖ before the latest elections sounded out possible coalitions with the FPÖ.
References
BMI. (2013). Wahl 2013. http://wahl13.bmi.gv.at/
BMI. (2014). EU Wahl 2014. http://euwahl2014.bmi.gv.at/
Campani, G., & Sauer, B. (2017). Neo-fascist and neo-Nazi constellations: The cases of Italy and Austria. In G. Campani & G. Lazaridis (Eds.), Understanding the populist shift: Othering in a Europe in crisis. London/New York: Routledge.
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43, 1241–1299.
della Porta, D., & Mattoni, A. (Eds.). (2014). Spreading protest: Social movements in times of crisis. Colchester: ECPR.
Detant, A. (2005). The politics of anti-racism in Belgium: A qualitative analysis of the discourse of the anti-racist movement Hand in Hand in the 1990s. Ethnicities, 5, 183–215.
Dolezal, M., & Hutter, S. (2007). Konsensdemokratie unter Druck? Politischer Protest in Österreich, 1975–2005. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, 36, 337–352.
Flecker, J., & Kirschenhofer, S. (2007). Die populistische Lücke. Umbrüche in der Arbeitswelt und Aufstieg des Rechtspopulismus am Beispiel Österreichs. Berlin: Edition Sigma.
Foltin, R. (2004). Und wir bewegen uns doch. Soziale Bewegungen in Österreich. Wien: Edition Grundrisse.
Hall, S. (1988). The hard road to renewal: Thatcherism and the crisis of the left. London/New York: Verso.
Hall, S. (2000). Rassismus als ideologischer Diskurs. In N. Räthzel (Ed.), Theorien über Rassismus (pp. 7–16). Hamburg: Argument.
Heaney, M. T., & Rojas, F. (2014). Hybrid activism: Social movement mobilization in a multimovement environment. American Journal of Sociology, 119, 1047–1103.
Heinisch, R. (2012). Demokratiekritik und (Rechts-)Populismus: Modellfall Österreich? In L. Helms & D. M. Wineroither (Eds.), Die österreichische Demokratie im Vergleich (pp. 361–382). Baden-Baden: Nomos.
Isin, E., & Nielsen, G. M. (Eds.). (2008). Acts of citizenship. London: Zed books.
Karner, C. (2007). Austrian counter-hegemony. Critiquing ethnic exclusion and globalization. Ethnicities, 7, 82–115.
Kubicek, K. (2014). Praxen politischer Intersektionalität. Eine qualitative Analyse der Zeitschriften und Veranstaltungen des Vereins MiGaY. Diploma thesis, University of Vienna.
Laclau, E. (1996). Emancipation(s). London/New York: Verso.
Laclau, E. (2005). On populist reason. London: Verso.
Laclau, E., & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy. Towards a radical democratic politics. London: Verso.
Lentin, A. (2000). “Race”, racism and anti-racism: Challenging contemporary classifications. In social identities. Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture, 6, 91–106.
Mayer, S. (2015). Politik der Differenzen. Ethnisierung, Rassismen und Antirassismus im weißen feministischen Aktivismus in Wien. PhD thesis, University of Vienna.
Mayer, S., & Sauer, B. (2017). “Gender ideology” in Austria: Coalitions around an empty signifier. In R. Kuhar & D. Paternotte (Eds.), Anti-gender campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing against equality (pp. 23–40). London/New York: Roman and Littlefield.
Mayer, S., Sori, I., & Sauer, B. (2016). Gendering “the people”: Heteronormativity and “ethno-masochism” in populist imaginary. In M. Raniera (Ed.), Populism, media and education: Challenging discrimination in contemporary digital societies (pp. 26–43). London/New York: Routledge.
Omi, M., & Winant, O. (2002). Racial formation. In P. Essed & D. T. Goldberg (Eds.), Race critical theories: Text and context (pp. 123–145). Malden: Blackwell.
Pelinka, A. (2002). Die FPÖ in der vergleichenden Parteienforschung. Zur typologischen Einordnung der Freiheitlichen Partei Österreichs. ÖZP, 31, 281–290.
Penz, O. (2010). Vom Sozial- zum Wettbewerbsstaat. Arbeitsbeziehungen und politische Regulation in Österreich. In A. Grisold, W. Maderthaner, & O. Penz (Eds.), Neoliberalismus und die Krise des Sozialen. Das Beispiel Österreich (pp. 139–178). Böhlau: Vienna/Cologne/Weimar.
Poglia Mileti, F., Tondolo, R., Plomb, F., Schultheis, F., Meyer, M.-H., Hentges, G., Flecker, J., & Mairhuber, I. (2002). Modern sirens and their populist songs: A European literature review on changes in working life and the rise of right-wing populism (Literature review (Deliverable 1, SIREN)). Vienna: FORBA.
Pühretmayer, H. (2002). Antirassismus als emanzipatorisches Projekt und die Probleme antirassistischer Praktiken in Wien. In M. Bojadzijev & A. Demirović (Eds.), Konjunkturen Des Rassismus (pp. 290–311). Münster: Westfälisches Dampfboot.
Pühretmayer, H., & Görg, A. (1999). Antirassismus in Österreich. Strategische Potenziale gegen Rassismus. Auszug aus unveröffentlichtem Forschungsbericht. http://no-racism.net/article
Rein, M., & Schön, D. (1994). Frame reflection toward the resolution of intractable policy controversies. New York: Basic Books.
Roos, F. E., & Oikonomakis, L. (2014). They don’t represent us! The global resonance of the real democracy movement from the indignados to occupy. In D. della Porta & Y. A. Mattoni (Eds.), Spreading protest: Social movements in times of crisis (pp. 117–136). Colchester: ECPR.
Ruzza, C. (2000). Anti-racism and EU institutions. Journal of European Integration, 22, 145–171.
Sauer, B., & Ajanovic, E. (2014). The rise of racism across Europe. In M. Sedmak, Z. Medaric, & S. Walker (Eds.), Children’s voices (pp. 17–32). London: Routledge.
Sauer, B., & Ajanovic, E. (2016). Hegemonic discourses of difference and inequality: Right-wing organisations in Austria. In G. Lazaridis, G. Campani, & A. Benveniste (Eds.), The rise of the far right in Europe: Populist shifts and “othering” (pp. 81–108). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Schumacher, S. (2008). Die Neuorganisation der Zuwanderung durch das Fremdenrechtspaket 2005. http://www.oeaw.ac.at/kmi/Bilder/kmi_WP12.pdf
Siim, B., & Mokre, M. (2013). European public spheres and intersectionality. In B. Siim & M. Mokre (Eds.), Negotiating gender and diversity in an emergent European public sphere (pp. 43–60). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Stavrakakis, Y. (2014). Discourse theory, post-hegemonic critique and Chantal Mouffe’s politics of passion. Parallax, 20, 118–135.
Talos, E. (2006). Politik in Schwarz-Blau/Orange. Eine Bilanz. In E. Talos (Ed.), Schwarz-Blau. Eine Bilanz des ‘Neu-Regierens’ (pp. 326–343). Münster: Lit-Verlag.
Wiegel, G. (2013). Rechtsverschiebung in Europa. In P. Bathke & A. Hoffstadt (Eds.), Die neuen Rechten in Europa. Zwischen Neoliberalismus und Rassismus (pp. 112–125). PapyRossa: Cologne.
Yuval-Davis, N. (1997). Gender and nation. London: Sage.
ZARA. (2014). Rassismusreport. Vienna: ZARA.
Zerbes, J. (2012). Österreich zuerst! http://www.univie.ac.at/unique/uniquecms/?p=1149
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Sauer, B. (2019). The (Im)Possibility of Creating Counter-Hegemony Against the Radical Right: The Case of Austria. In: Siim, B., Krasteva, A., Saarinen, A. (eds) Citizens’ Activism and Solidarity Movements. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76183-1_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76183-1_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-76182-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-76183-1
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)