Posted on 12/03/2016 6:46:21 AM PST by mandaladon
Can far-right, anti-immigrant, gun-loving politician Norbert Hofer become the next anti-establishment figure to lead his country?
Norbert Hofer is the friendly face of far-right politics in Austria.
The 45-year-old engineer is well-tailored and gun-loving - and he sells anti-immigrant policies with a smile.
Mr Hofer has also struck a chord with an increasingly polarised electorate.
The senior member of the nationalist 'Freedom Party' told a packed audience at his final campaign event for the presidency that the time had come to put ordinary people first.
"Austrian men and Austrian women have a strong will to succeed - to make this country a success," he said. "The old dust has to be shaken off and we will be proud again to be Austrian."
If you think that sounds a bit like "make American great again", you'd be right.
Norbert Hofer is riding the anti-establishment wave, decrying "the system" and the career politicians who run it.
He is also exploiting fears of mass immigration.
It would be better, he says, if immigrants and asylum-seekers stayed at home.
"These people aren't working (in Austria) so I say give these asylum seekers the skills so they can rebuild in their own countries. Now that would be a meaningful task."
Immigration and Austria's membership in the European Union have dominated the national debate of late and it is clear that a Hofer presidency would make officials in Brussels very nervous.
He has called for a Brexit-style referendum if the EU permits Turkey to join.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
I do love Austria. Right now its my favorite European country. I hope they elect this guy.
Good luck to him. Sunday is election day!
When nationalism prevails everywhere, what comes next? Separatism.
The Austrians canceled the previous election in May due to widespread fraud. It’ll be interesting to see if Hofer wins. The last election, even with fraud, was relatively close.
It is not a Trump wave. It an awakening of the middle and working class to the fact that they come last on the list of concerns of the ruling elite. I hope it is awakening to the fact that socialism leads to tyranny.
Nations have minorities. Minority areas have ethnic pockets. Ethnic pockets have dissident neighborhoods. Neighborhoods have families and families have black sheep. It is every man, woman and child for their own self.
Heard it’s nice.
May have to learn some of the Austrian language in case I can go one day.
An engineer in charge. A real profession unlike community organizer.
Jörg_Haider:
Wiki
“the heads of government of the other fourteen EU members decided to cease cooperation with the Austrian government, as it was felt in many countries that the cordon sanitaire against coalitions with parties considered as right-wing extremists, which had mostly held in Western Europe since 1945, had been breached. For several months, other national leaders shunned diplomatic contacts with members of the Schüssel government”
I think the euros ran Haider out on a rail!
He may have built a nice wall given the chance.
Is that related to the Australian language?
G′day, mate !
Like Canadian, only different?
Did that SOBama sign another E.O., forcing that into our schools?
For all the draft dodging, Trump quaking queers?
47 Days 13 Hours 34 min...
https://www.timeanddate.com/countdown/generic?p0=263&iso=20170120T00&msg=Time%20left%20until%20Obama%20leaves%20office%22
Exactly. US media also uses the same dishonest appellation.
The last election was .3 percent close. Remove the (proven) fraud and he wins.
“May have to learn some of the Austrian language in case I can go one day.” LOL I know what you did there. Mr. Mercat and I spent five weeks in Europe this fall, most of them in southern Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. The German I studied six months prior (four hours a day) was “High German.” It helped but only because the nice people in Switzerland and Austria also spoke that dialect and a lot of them spoke English. In the Alps whether Austria or Switzerland - there is something called “dialect” which they claim is a form of German but was totally incomprehensible to me. I guess its a bit like creole in either south LA or the Caribbean. Not that it sounds like that but the folks in LA and the Caribbean are not aware that they are not speaking English. I love languages. If I were starting over I would study as many different languages as I could. At 68 its a lot harder than it would have been at 9.
He will not be the executive leader. It’s more of a ceremonial position, but nonetheless his election would be a statement by the electorate.
It is mostly just a ceremonial position, but Hofer already said he would consider calling the parliamentary elections early if he wins (one of the few actual powers the Austrian president has). This might allow the leader of his party, Heinz-Christian Strache, to become the Chancellor and have the real political power in the country. Hofer’s win would also send a larger message about the mainstreaming of the populist right in the Western World and the fight against Islamization.
I’d make a distinction between Switzerland and Austria here. Swiss German is practically a different language (with many regional dialects within it too). It’s at least as different as spoken Swedish and Norwegian are to each other. Austrian German, even in its regional varieties, strikes me as much closer to standard “Hochdeutsch,” just sometimes with a very thick accent. There are actually language programs available to learn Swiss German, but Austrian German is just considered to be German.
With my imperfect High German, I can still understand Austrians fairly decently, even when they are from Vorarlberg, which has strong Swiss influences. In contrast, I couldn’t make out more than a word or two here and there of Swiss German. I noticed interestingly that on Swiss TV they mostly show High German programming from what I’ve seen.
Absolutely! I was just trying to point out that the Austrian presidential office is not on the same power level as that in the US, prompted by some comments here.
AustriOut !
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