Islamophobic election campaign during EU elections
During the EU elections in May the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) put forward the electoral slogan “Abendland in Christenhand” (The West in Christian Hands) and “Time for a Reckoning.” Various Christian churches criticised the slogan as being a misuse of religion and Christianity. However, the FPÖ General Secretary Herbert Kickl defended the slogan by referring to the “danger of a creeping Islamisation” and stated that the FPÖ wouldn’t “be shut up by the Church council.”
In response the Islamic community released the following statement: “The constant allegations that Muslims are working on a kind of infiltration of Austrian public life, or even a take over, in service of their religion, is very dangerous to the public and religious freedom of the country. These fantasies are complete nonsense from the point of view of Islamic theology. The repeated use of the term “Islamisation” is intended to cause fear, which is then used as a justification for discrimination and persecution of Muslims. These strategies of demonization and the stoking of anti-Islamic resentment, seem to be an attempt to disguise the fact that the latest slogan isn't just anti-Islamic, but also anti-Semitic, as all non Christians are lumped together, stigmatised and excluded.”
The poster was reported by a political scientist on suspicion of incitement to racial hatred. The prosecution was later dropped by the public prosecutions office as it did not fulfil the criteria for this offence.
Sources: ZARA Report 2009, http://www.zara.or.at/_wp/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/ZaraReport_09Engl.pdf, Date of access: 2011-10-30. Zeit Online, 2009-04-30, http://www.zeit.de/online/2009/18/europawahl-rechtspopulismus, Date of access: 2011-10-30. Biber, 2009-07-05, http://www.dasbiber.at/content/abendland-christenhand-%C3%B6sterreicher-zuerst!!, Date of access: 2011-10-30.
