2023-07-19 09:59:26
Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen read the riot act to politics in his opening speech at the Bregenz Festival. He calls for an end to “populism” and “diversionary struggles” and instead “the best solutions” for the country. Read the most important passages of the speech here.
Actually, Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen would have liked to have spoken regarding art and culture at the opening of the Bregenz Festival. Visiting major cultural events is definitely one of the most pleasant appointments for a head of state. Unless a country is in a primary race like it is now. The tones in domestic domestic politics (both between the coalition partners and between the government and the opposition) have become sharper and sharper over the past few weeks, and it took less than two minutes for Van der Bellen to move from high art to the lowlands of politics in his opening speech abbog: “And believe me, I would like to talk regarding the importance and value of what makes our homeland so beautiful – the Bregenz Festival is undoubtedly one of them. But it’s time once more
also to address what needs to be addressed”, the Federal President introduces his speech, and then gets straight to the point: “It seems as if some things in our country are not developing in the right direction.” He means with that Above all, the political rhetoric, which, according to Van der Bellen, has primarily focused on what divides people in the past few weeks.
“Who is ‘normal’ and who isn’t?”
Without naming them, Van der Bellen speaks of the narrator of the Lower Austrian governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner, who last spoke of “normal thinkers”, or of FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, who calls himself “People’s Chancellor”, or of SPÖ Boss Andreas Babler, who last spoke of “our people” on his tour of Austria. “We must not get used to the fact that language is once more used for exclusion.
We mustn’t get used to people talking regarding ‘we’ and ‘the others’ once more,” says Van der Bellen, thinking through such a development using the examples: “We, that’s ‘the normals’, that’s our people’,
that is ‘the people’. Then who or what are ‘the others’? The people, are they all Austrians? The inhabitants of other origins, are they ‘the others’? Who are ‘our people’? So don’t we care regarding ‘the others’? Who says who belongs and who doesn’t? Who decides who is ‘normal’ and who isn’t?”
Land of Broken Windows
In order to recognize the development in time and to counteract it, Van der Bellen mentions the so-called broken window theory. This states that if a broken pane is not repaired immediately in a part of the city, all the window panes will soon be broken. Because then the impression is created that it doesn’t matter that nobody cares regarding this part of the city, which in turn leads to vandalism and decay very quickly. “A small cause that is overlooked or passed over and left uncorrected can quickly be taken as a license to destroy more and more. Why do I mention this theory? Because there are some windows being broken in our country right now. And we shouldn’t get used to that ” said Van der Bellen.
“Dangerous Terms”
Not being “normal” is not a bad thing when you look at extraordinary personalities from art and research. “Was Mozart normal? Of course not.” It is therefore “dangerous to use such terms in such an absolute way, because they are very quickly reproduced thoughtlessly and thus contribute more and more to the break-up of our community”. In the meantime, not only the “usual suspects” would use such terms, but also other parties. “Sometimes I feel like I’m in a high election campaign. It’s not a nice feeling. Some political actors, it seems, have lost hope that factual arguments and substantive concepts will get through. That you’ll be taken seriously.”
“Populism wants to increase problems”
On the contrary, more and more politicians would rely on populism. “But populism is not interested in finding solutions. Populism wants to separate, wants to exclude. ‘Those up there’ – ‘we down there’. Populism wants to find problems and increase them. And they want them to stay. Because these problems Helping populists stir up emotions and, it is hoped, win elections,” said the head of state. Van der Bellen therefore appeals to all campaigning parties: “Stop it!” And further: “Stop the distraction fight over terminology and interpretation sovereignty. Rather fight for the best solutions. And then fight to convey these solutions to people in such a way that they understand what their personal benefit is.”
“Populism doesn’t bring out the best in people, it brings out the lowest”
In any case, there would be enough topics. Environmental protection, increasing prosperity, a functioning social system, education. All of these are burning issues of our time. “I know we have the solutions. But some of them are defamed. That’s the nature of populism. Populism doesn’t bring out the best in people, it brings out the lowest.” Many things are not as bad as populists portray: “Let’s think regarding it very selfishly. What is there for me in climate protection, for example? Environmental protection is actually a very selfish process. We need intact nature for us. And because we want tourists . And because we love being good hosts,” said the Federal President. Or: “What’s in it for us in migration? We are facing a massive challenge for the good life in our homeland, there is a massive shortage of skilled workers in Austria. Migration alone will not solve the problem, but can we get by without it?”, asks Van der Bellen. And he goes on to ask the question: “What is in it for us in integration? We have fought hard for human rights. And they also go hand in hand with human obligations. These too must be respected. People who come to us and accept this will benefit from it benefit. From learning our language. From our customs and customs. From the absolute equality of women and men, which we have not yet achieved but which we are striving for. From our openness towards sexual orientation.”
Liberal democracy is also a great asset and must be upheld, also with the means of a cultivated exchange of different opinions: “Let’s talk regarding the challenges. Let’s do it in a solution-oriented way. Let’s argue calmly. Argue constructively. Bring we bring out the best in us and in Austria and not the lowest.”
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