A former member of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) for the Vorarlberger region has been sentenced to either two years in prison or an unconditional fine of 1 200 Euros for Islamophobic comments that he had posted online. Though the man’s comments had received no support for his party, leading to his being…
In this portrait of Vienna’s 20th district, Brigittenau is described as a region that was originally highly influenced by the large Jewish population that used to live here. Unlike nearby Leopoldstadt, however, following the deportations of the Second World War the local Jewish culture was not reestablished. Today it is a multicultural district, with 27,1%…
One year ago, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) was found to have been using state funds for an educational seminar on Islam in which the religion was equated with fanaticism and extremism. During the seminar in question, entitled “The Basics of Islam,” the speaker Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was quoted as having said that “Islam is…
The far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has criticized the Austrian national public broadcaster (ORF)’s documentary program, Am Schauplatz and its producers, Ed Moschitz and Julia Kovarik, for their recent coverage of a protest against an Islamic centre in Vienna. The documentary, entitled “The Fear mongers,” follows a pair of right-wing skinheads who participated in…
When Leopoldine Weidinger found out that the Turkish Islamic centre across the street from her was planning on renovating its interior so as to receive five hundred people a week for prayers, she decided to act. Weidinger founded the “Citizen’s initiative – Rappgasse” in an effort to halt the expansion of the centre’s activities, which…
