Re: <nettime> alex van der bellen wins austrian presidentials!!!

[Armin Medosch <armin@easynet.co.uk>]

Hi Patrice and all,

I happen to live in Austria and I would warn against false
dichotomies. It is simply not true that those who voted for the
rightwing populist Hofer are all, what is called in German "looseres
of globalisation;" maybe there are some but a quite large number
of people who vote for them are fairly well of. They tend to live
in rural areas and small towns (where they have never seen any
refugees), they have houses and garages, well paid jobs or small
businesses. The going might be a bit tougher than in the past, but
that's complaining on a high level. So there might be other patterns
at work, a bit like the Dutch middle class's retreat from society, a
disengagement on a larger scale (50%). I think we need more work like
Merijn Oudenampsen's study of how populism works. Also, in Austria,
historically, the biggest support for the Nazis was from the petty
bourgeoisie, not from workers. Those beer swelling, sausage muncheing
prolls do exist, but there are not that many of them left anymore and
there is that other class which I deem more dangerous, the volkswagen
audi driving who combine their lederhosen with techno, are ambitious
and extremely egocentric who are now "making it" and don't want any
obstacles and less tax in a country where remnants of the welfare
state actually do exist

all best
Armin




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