With national socialist offences by the Austrian FPÖ Party increasing in
frequency, the FPÖ Party needs to improve and reinvent itself - also in
view of links between the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings and the
far-right Identitarian Movement (IBÖ); which is linked to the FPÖ Party.
Otherwise the FPÖ Party must be made illegal; as it is Austria's duty to
combat the resurgence of neo-Nazi activities by way of law. It should
also be noted, that at the World Holocaust Forum in January 2020, which
marked 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz - the former German
Nazi death camp where over 1.1 million Jews were murdered - survivors
issued a warning against a new wave of anti-Semitic violence in Europe.
And in an exclusive interview with 'The Times of Israel', President
Reuven Rivlin chastised Eastern and Central European governments that
glorify Nazi collaborators as national heroes and downplay their
citizens' complicity in anti-Jewish atrocities. At the same time, he
slammed populist right-wing politicians in Europe who campaign on
xenophobic and anti-Semitic platforms, in an apparent reference to
parties such as Austria's Freedom Party, the FPÖ Party. Evidence-based
research also indicates that the FPÖ Party is responsible for neo-Nazi
activities and hate speech in Austria; by exploiting negative cultural
identity issues in Austria - such as anti-Semitism, ethnocentrism and
authoritarianism. It must also be emphasized, that the FPÖ Party's
founder was Anton Reinthaller, a former Nazi functionary and SS officer.
Hence the FPÖ Party should change its name, to get away from the Nazi
stigma - which might be beneficial for the FPÖ Party to get more
far-right voters; but is actually very damaging to the FPÖ Party and to
Austria's reputation at large. So perhaps the FPÖ leaders can all just
swallow their pride and show some 'Zivilcourage' and change the name of
the party, so that Anton Reinthaller's negative legacy - who was a
former Nazi functionary and SS officer - no longer stains and tarnishes
the party. Such a change of name by the FPÖ Party would finally make the
Freedom Party truly 'free' of any Nazi links. It is also important to
emphasise, that the FPÖ Party is responsible for neo-Nazi activities in
the Republic of Austria, and hence a disgrace to the International
Community. It should also be noted, that the FPÖ Party's contribution to
global peacebuilding and human rights work is absolute zero.
