I've seen specific mention of:
- welfare cutbacks. Is this exceptional?
- a recovery of national history for the right. The re-election of the Liberal-National Coalition here was preceded by the history wars too, and the refusal of what our current PM calls 'black armband history'.
- a halt to migration. Doesn't sound that exceptional to me. Nor would I make a qualitative distinction between narrowing to such an extent and in such a way that deaths result (eg, Italy and the US) and 'halting' which would have the same effect.
- praise for the "employment policies" of Germany in the 1930s. We already know this isn't an exceptional position. Just yesterday, a proposal was put before to the Australian Cabinet to use asylum-seekers who are locked up in detention camps as fruitpickers to defray the costs of their imprisonment by the Department of Immigration.
So, what's the big deal about Haider? As I read it, the only tangible and specific difference lies in the expansion of NATO and the EU.
Angela
Ken Mck cited:
> Toronto Star, Feb 15, 2000 A12
> by Olivia Ward
>
> "But even diplomats from countries that oppose the Freedom Party are
privately
> concerned that isolation will drive more Austrians into Haider's camp in
> protest...."
>
> "A recent poll, in fact, showed that backing for the far right party has
risen
> from 27% durning the Feb 4 election to 30% last week."
>
> Hella Pick, a Berlin-based expert on Central European politics, stated,
"Haider
> is cashing in on the criticism."