Die New York Review of Books beschäftigt sich ausführlich mit der politischen Lage in Deutschland und in Österreich. Nachdem die Sicht von außen bekanntlich die Perspektive erweitert, sei die Lektüre der beiden ausführlichen Artikel allen sehr empfohlen. Joshua Hammer, mir sonst durch seine Reportagen aus Krisengebieten bekannt, berichtet in Can Germany Cope with the Refugees? einerseits historisch von der Flüchtlingskrise, andererseits von seinen Begegnungen in Deutschland:
Samuel Schidem, an Israeli Druze who runs IsraAID, a charity that works with unaccompanied minors in the state of Brandenburg, told me that xenophobic violence is on the rise, particularly in the former East Germany. Young refugees—most of them Afghans—in the seven shelters in which IsraAID works are regularly harassed and threatened by local people. “Stones are thrown at them every day, and attackers break the windows of their shelters,” he told me. “The kids don’t feel welcome. There is huge disappointment and growing anger.”
[…]
Kipp, the spokesperson for the Tamaja organization at Tempelhof, told me that the refusal of the government to provide German-language courses for Afghans—though nearly 50 percent of them will be granted political asylum—was condemning many of them to isolation and joblessness. “It is a real failure,” she told me. Samuel Schidem of IsraAID has criticized much the same short-term thinking in the state of Brandenburg, where the government has refused to provide much support to unaccompanied Afghan minors, reasoning that many will eventually be deported. “The kids are rotting away in the middle of nowhere, getting no language training, no volunteers, no social programs,” he told me. “The kids could easily fall victim to the Salafists.” Germany’s early welcome and rapid mobilization on behalf of the refugees set it apart from the rest of the European Union. Unless the country can address the flaws and inequalities in its current system, it may create the very ghettos that Merkel is so desperate to avoid.
Jan-Werner Müller geht in Austria: The Lesson of the Far Right der Frage nach, wie ein so wohlhabendes Land mit einem großzügigen Sozialsystem in die Fänger von Populisten wie Norbert Hofer gelangen kann:
Just why has the far right done so well in Austria in particular? The country enjoys one of the highest per capita income levels in the EU, has an extensive welfare system, and has benefited enormously from the opening to Eastern Europe since 1989 (Vienna used to be shabby compared to Berlin; now it’s the other way around). Nor has Austria, until now, suffered from the devastating terror attacks that have afflicted France and Belgium. Picking up on Pope Paul VI’s praise of Austria as an isola felice, the country’s most important post-war political figure, long-time Chancellor Bruno Kreisky (in office 1970-1983), called it an “island of the blessed.” Nonetheless, the Freedom Party has been growing in Austria for more than two decades. If there were Austrian parliamentary elections today, the far right would win.
Gleichzeitig bekommt das internationale intellektuelle Publikum einen zeitgeschichtlichen Schnellkurs über Österreich und dessen Proporzsystem.
