In an article on The Local AT’s website, a writer recently asked “Why is support for Austria’s FPÖ rising?”
A question I found mind-blowingly naive that the writer even needed to ask it.
After all the FPÖ, Austria’s right-wing populist political party, has been gaining support from Austrians and non-Austrians all over the country in the last two years.
In fact, so fast has the FPÖ’s popularity grown, the party has even been able to push through a coalition with the center-right ÖVP and, as a result, will now be part of Lower Austria’s government.
The FPÖ is also leading in national polls, with at least 28 percent of respondents saying they would vote for them. (You can find poll results around the country on the Österreich Wählt Twitter account).
Apparently, a surprise to The Local’s writer but no surprise to me as, hell, at this point, if I could legally vote in Austria, I would vote for the FPÖ as well.
Why would I vote for the FPÖ if given half a chance?
As both a British and American national, and an immigrant to Austria, I have said for the last two years, if I could vote for a political party in Austria, the only one I would vote for these days is the FPÖ.
Seven years ago when I moved to Austria, I never thought I would say that.
After all, as a then-liberal until I came to my senses last year and became a moderate conservative, I disagreed with just about everything the FPÖ stood for, while particularly disliking the FPÖ’s anti-immigrant political stance.
Fast forward a few years and after three years of living under Austria’s authoritarian government while they pushed the Covid panic as hard as they could, it would be a cold day in hell before I voted for any political party other than the FPÖ.
And in particular the odious Die Grünen and the even worse Karl Nehammer-headed ÖVP.
Except maybe the Bierpartei (aka The Beer Party), as an Austrian friend who is sick of every politician swears he will be doing at the next general election.
Now, why would the FPÖ be my current party of choice? Even though I still disagree with about 80 percent of their political positions?
Pretty simple really, and it boils down to one absolute thing — something that Benjamin Franklin once said:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety
A liberty in Austria that was never given up by me, but was taken away from me by the Austrian government of the ÖVP and The Greens. A coalition that was more than happy to remove liberty from everyone if it meant a few people might be “safer” from Covid-19.
The same two political parties that mandated:
- FFP2 masks be worn almost everywhere for the better part of 18 months (2 years in Vienna). Masks that don’t stop the spread of a virus, as can be seen by Austria ultimately becoming the country with the third highest number of Covid cases worldwide per million population. Despite it having one of the strictest mask requirements.
- A mandated Covid “vaccine” for every adult in the country. A “vaccine” that, if you refused to get it, would have resulted in expensive fines or possibly a jail sentence. An improperly tested “vaccine” that has since been proven to not only be ineffective against Covid (it doesn’t stop a recipient contracting Covid, transmitting the virus to somebody else, getting sick from Covid or even possibly dying from Covid). A “vaccine” that comes with ever-increasing possible side effects as new reports continue to come out, and that has already caused the severe injuries of many worldwide, and the deaths of some.
- That “unvaccinated” people like me not be allowed to leave their homes for approximately four months in late 2021/early 2022, except to go to work, exercise outside, or go to the supermarket, pharmacy or doctor.
Now, when I moved to Austria back in 2016, I don’t remember signing up to live under the thumb of an authoritarian government. Especially in a country with a problematic recent history no other country I have ever lived before in has had.
A government that attempted to take away my human right to make my own medical decisions, my decision to suffocate or not under an FFP2 mask even medical professionals in the U.S. said should never be continually worn, and one that even took away my actual freedom of movement for the better part of half a year.
All due to a virus that has now been proven to have a survival rate of approximately 99.8 percent, unless you are over the age of 70 with severe pre-existing conditions or morbidly obese.
And no, I am neither of those.
Thanks to the FPÖ speaking out against these human rights violations over and over again for more than a year, and to the hundreds of thousands of people who supported them, I was able to remain in Austria when the “vaccine” mandate was eventually removed.
A country I do enjoy living in.
If it had not been for the FPÖ, however, that Covid “vaccine” mandate would have remained in place, and I would have been forced to go ahead with my plan of packing my belongings and moving back to the United States.
That is why then, if I could legally vote in Austria, my only choice would be the FPÖ.
Because, if you do not have freedom, you have nothing.
Special note: You will notice I put the word vaccine in quotes throughout this article. That is because what is still being called a Covid-19 vaccine by many is not a vaccine.
After all, from 1796 when the first smallpox vaccine was created by Edward Jenner onwards, the meaning of the term vaccine has always been a medical treatment that stops the recipient from contracting a specific disease.
In 2021/2022, after Pfizer et al were forced to admit their ‘vaccines” didn’t stop contraction, transmission, becoming ill from Covid or even dying from Covid, the “new definition” of a vaccine suddenly became “something that might stop you from getting sick or dying”.
A bullshit definition backed by inept and panicked governments around the world. Most of whom to this day refuse to admit they were conned by Big Pharma.
Second note: I have had people living in Austria tell me I am “selfish” because I refused to get a Covid-19 “vaccine”. Apparently, without one, I was “killing grandma”. Regardless that said “vaccine” doesn’t stop transmission.
Something that is difficult for me to understand as, unlike the many people I know who are “vaccinated” and “boosted” and have since contracted Covid once, twice and, in one case, three times, I apparently still can’t catch Covid-19 if I lick door handles.
Third note: I have had people tell me, because I moved to Austria, I should follow the law and get a mandated “vaccine”. My response to that, as someone who has no intention of ever getting a Covid-19 “vaccine”, I did follow the law by packing up my belongings with a plan to move back to the United States before the mandate went into law, as I knew I would never be abiding by that law.
As it turned out and thanks to the FPÖ, that mandate, a mandate only implemented by the current government of Austria and a handful of banana republics, was removed.
That removal allowed me to stay.
So, yes, roll on the next general election and, even though I am not allowed to vote and even though I still disagree with 80 percent of the FPÖ’s political stances, I will still be supporting them all the way.
After all, out of every political party in Austria, the FPÖ is the only one that supported my basic human rights. I will always be grateful to them for that.