27-28 September 2010
The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) now seems prepared to resort to anything for the upcoming elections in Vienna. In a recent campaign advertisement the FPÖ use a quote from the well-known German feminist Alice Schwarzer; however, the FPÖ did not ask Schwarzer for her permission, while Schwarzer is not even sure that the quote is actually from her. The quote attributed to her is: “These people, the Islamists, we need to understand them as what they are – our enemies. And we must fight them politically.”
In response to the FPÖ’s actions Schwarzer wrote that she would not have allowed the FPÖ to use her in a campaign advertisement if they had asked her. While she stated that she may at some time have said something similar, she emphasized the necessity of distinguishing between Muslims and Islamists. Finally, she went on to criticize the main democratic parties in Europe for having left the theme of Islam to right-wing populists, such as the FPÖ.
