Racism and fascism - in brief (4)
01 March 2005
Austria: Haider splits FPO to rebrand himself with a new party: A split within the far-right Freedom Party (
Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs, FPO) has seen the organisation partly replaced as a junior government coalition member by the Alliance for the Future of Austria (
Bundis Zukunft Osterreich, BZO). It is thought likely that the new organisation's coalition with the Austrian People's Party (
Osterreichische Volkspartei, OVP) will hold until the end of the parliamentary term in late 2006. The announcement of the BZO's formation took place at a hastily-called press conference on 4 April when many members of the FPO and most of its government ministers defected to join the new party. Haider's sister, Ursula Huubner who had led the FPO at the federal level, announced her immediate resignation. The FPO had been in crisis since entering into coalition and its popularity, which reached 27% in the elections of 1999, had plummeted to 10% by the parliamentary elections of 2002. This is the umpteenth time that Haider has attempted to abandon his past and rebrand himself as a respectable politician. However, his frequent expressions of admiration for the policies of Adolf Hitler continue to expose his real beliefs.
Independent 5.4.05.
Germany: Berlin bans far-right groups: The city of Berlin has taken action against far-right violence by banning neo-nazi organisations. The groups in question belong to the
Comradeship network which seem to have become the principle form of organisation, together with regional far-right alliances, of the skinhead movement in Germany. Police searched the houses of nine members of the
Berlin Alternative South East, the
Comradeship Tor and the latter's
Girl Group, confiscating propaganda material. Six preliminary investigations were started against group members for threatening behaviour against left-wing youth, police and journalists and incitement to racial hatred. The core of the group is reported to consist of 10-15 members, who are also linked to the NPD (
National Sozialistische Partei Deutschlands). The
Berlin Alternative South East organised itself around the ex-NPD member René Bethage, a leading neo-nazi organiser.
Süddeutsche Zeitung 10.3.05
Germany: Jail for "terrorist" Friekorps members: On 7 March, the Brandenburg regional court passed sentences against 12 young racist arsonists ranging from 8 months to four and a half years. The gang, which called itself
Freikorps (Free Corps), had set fire to ten Turkish and Vietnamese owned take-away shops in the region of Havelland. No one was injured but the damage was estimated 600,000 Euros. The group's ringleader, Christian H, received the four and a half year sentence. The
Freikorps was organised like an association, with membership fees and "statutes" which laid down the group's aim to rid Brandenburg of foreigners. The statutes provided the main argument in the public prosecution's case, defining the group as a "terrorist organisation" under paragraph 129a of the German Criminal Code (StGB). This is the first time since 1988 that the state has defined a far-right organisation as terrorist. The anti-terrorist clause, which allows for far-reaching interception powers, extendable remand imprisonment, curtails defence rights and allows for high sentences without the prosecution having to prove participation in criminal acts (only "membership"), is typically used against the left, where preliminary investigations are used to spy out left-wing networks and criminalise them, while the charges are usually dropped after a few years for lack of evidence (see
Statewatch Vol 11 no 1 & vol 14 no 1);
Süddeutsche Zeitung 8.3.05.