In July 2010 Karl Oellinger, Green MP in Austria, addressed 88 parliamentarian questions concerning nazi- and rightist extremism activities in Austria to the Minister of Interior, Maria Fekter. The questions refer to the website www.alpen-donau.info, which ist online since April 2009 and within a year turned out to be a major project aiming to coordinate and aggravate activities of rightist extremists beyond particular groups. Although Austrian law was violated on the website repeatedly, security forces have not taken efficient measures to stop the threat. In reply to a former parliamentarian question concerning the website, Austrian Minister of Interior, Maria Fekter, declared to be bound by the fact, that the website technically is located on a server in the USA.
This, of course, is an insufficient excuse for the inactivity of the Austrian security forces, as a number of activists or people in contact with activists of the website is already detected, but yet were not questioned by the police. Pointing on alleged liberal laws in the USA further is inappropriate, as the activists of the nazi-website not only violate the Austrian Nazi Prohibition Act of 1947 (which in fact couldn’t be prosecuted in the USA), but also several other laws, of which many are much more effective in US-legislation and jurisdiction than in Austria (especially concernig hatecrimes and forming of terrorist groups).
The 88 parliamentarian questions of the Green Party in Austrian Parliament aim to activate Austrian security forces as well as to gain support in the USA. In the following we briefly describe the background of the parliamentarian questions in an abstract.
The website declares to be a joint activity of several groups of activists spread over Austria fighting the „hated“ Republic of Austria as “an instrument of genocide, that exhausts the corpus of the people (in German the website uses the word “Volkskörper”, which is a specific Nazi-Code), robs its boundaries, injects alien toxics and detains the last existing sane elements.“ (Feb. 25th, 2010)
Members of these groups have been violating law for several times, especially by agitation of hatred, damage of property or violation of the Austrian Nazi Prohibition Act of 1947. www.alpen-donau.info definitely approves acts of law violation, as it calls for „creative“ and „direct action“: „Don’t get caught and be creative. Hate towards the system must be acted out, or we could love the system as well.“ (Feb. 10th, 2010)
The website threatens critics especially by publishing pictures, names and addresses in combination with furthergoing threats and the announcement of physical attacks. The internet-forum aligned with the website (alinfodo) doesn’t shy explicit commitment: „The day of revenge will come.“ A user with the alias „Dr. Brandt“ (referring at the personal physician of Adolf Hitler) declares: „Violance is no solution – the cowards and the wimps always say. Of course violence solves all problems and is an international language everybody can understand.“ According to Dr. Brandt, debates with political enemies, especially with jews, are detestable. „You don’t converse with bugs, louses or fleas. You just try to eliminate them.“ Severely intimidating is the fact, that the website as well as the forum praise paramiltary groups and violence in several European countries (as for instance Hungary, Czechia,…) and thereby propagate an ideal of activists attacking the victims of their hatred-propaganda. Not suprisingly, the number and the intensity of nazi-attacks on people of color and antifascists in Austria has doubled within the last years, includig two people killed and a number injured in 2009 and at least two case of severe arson in hostels in 2010.
The activists responsible for the website and the forum not only propagate violence and hatred, they also preach for cooperation with legal right-wing groups and parties. In several notes they call for cooperation with the Austrian Freedom Party (which has several MPs in Austria) or other extreme right-wing organisations. Several users of the forum declare to be members of the Freedom Party and repeatedly internal papers and informations of the Freedom Party were published on the website. On the other hand, Freedom-Party-activists are promoting the website in their facebook-accounts or in similar ways.
www.alpen-donau.ifo technically is sited on a server in the USA and therefore doesn’t fear Austrian prosecution, so the people in charge of the site display explicit terms and admit their ties to the nazi-ideology. They also directly offend and verbally attack Austrian politicians, journalists, political activists and artists as well as women in official positions, members of ethnic minorities, homosexuals or disabled people (for instance by publishing their adress requesting to „visit“ them or to „get in contact“), constantly in combination with terms like “the day of revenge will come” or referring to torture and murder performed by the nazi-regime or other inhuman regimes.
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