Apocalyptic scenes with harrowing music: A year before the parliamentary elections in which the FPÖ emerged victorious, a video broadcast by the extreme right condemning “population exchange” and “rainbow terror” is causing a stir.
We see images of fires in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral and urban riots, contrasted with those of young people with torches in their hands in nature, of dancing in traditional costumes or of soldiers with weapons over their shoulders.
The two and a half minute clip, uploaded to the YouTube channel on Sunday by the youth department of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), sparked numerous reactions from the political class and the media, who were outraged by the so-called Nazi reminiscences in the country’s birth Adolf Hitler.
And while the party has caused a stir in the past, commenters believe it has reached a milestone in brown aesthetics with this video.
The conservative Chancellor Karl Nehammer was outraged on Wednesday about a production that “plays with the images of the past we know” and “multiplies historical allusions in a dark and threatening way.”
“Great” initiative
“We are Austria’s last chance” in the face of “left-liberal indoctrination” and “multicultural dystopia,” announces the spokesman for the “Freedom Youth” and praises “the homeland”.
In light of the controversy, Herbert Kickl, the vicious FPÖ leader, defended the “impressive” commitment of these young people and said there was no reason to “scandalize”.
The former interior minister, who took over as party leader two years ago after a stormy reign, has won back voters after defeat caused by a high-profile corruption scandal in 2019.
Given the survey curve, their increase appears solid: the movement founded by former Nazis is now in the lead in the fall election of 2024 with around 30% of voting intentions.
This puts him well ahead of the conservatives, who are currently in power together with the Greens and whose hardening of the discourse is hardly bearing fruit.
From defending closed borders to refusing to support Ukraine, Herbert Kickl takes a hard line that appeals to activists.
For political scientist Peter Filzmaier, this “disturbing” video marks an escalation in which the young FPÖ is equated with the radical Identitarian Movement with “disturbing and even frightening” elements.
“It recalls the darkest periods of Austrian history,” he told AFP.
Hitler’s balcony
For example, we can see the famous balcony of the Imperial Palace in Vienna, from which Hitler celebrated his annexation to Nazi Germany on March 15, 1938. Journalists are also portrayed as “enemies” who need to be killed.
Bernhard Weidinger, researcher at the Documentation Center for Austrian Resistance (DÖW), notes “the accumulation of more or less open references to the ideologies of the most extreme right, be it through the terms used or through theoretical references.”
These include writings by the French authors Alain de Benoist and Pierre Drieu la Rochelle as well as the Portuguese dictator Antonio Oliveira Salazar.
According to Austrian media, the video was investigated by the intelligence service (DSN) and reported to the courts.
When contacted by AFP, the DSN said it was “monitoring individuals and groups likely to carry out extremist and unconstitutional activities” but could not provide information on “possible investigations.”
According to Mr. Weidinger, the FPÖ is holding nothing back as it is “comforted by the wave of popularity that has been observed in its direction for months.”
Especially since he by no means became persona non grata, but rather formed coalitions with his political opponents in three Austrian regions.
“In this context, there is little incentive for the party to change its approach,” says the expert, who notes a strategy that contradicts its European colleagues.
While elsewhere it is more time for “de-demonization,” such as in the French National Assembly, the FPÖ, “in the run-up to power, without batting an eyelid, is sending signals towards the outermost peripheral areas.”