Austria Essayist Gauss opposes the FPÖ's participation in government

The Austrian essayist, feature writer and chronicler Karl-Markus Gauss believes that the FPÖ should not be part of any government. One day after the national elections in Austria, he explains why to the Austrian news agency APA.

APA: What does the result mean for you emotionally, politically for the country and practically for culture?

Karl-Markus Gauss: "Two weeks ago, half the country sank, but we elected the party that denies climate change as the strongest party. The FPÖ's economic program is rabidly directed against the so-called little people, but they cheer on Herbert Kickl. My view of humanity has forced me to close my eyes to an obvious fact for many years: That stupidity is a force and gives birth to monsters. Because I want to preserve my image of humanity, to keep myself free from contempt, this choice affects me personally."

APA: What reasons do you see for this - FPÖ in first place, heavy losses for the previous governing parties, stagnation for the SP?

Gauss: "The two once major parties worked purposefully towards the triumph of the FPÖ. For years, the ÖVP has adopted the right-wing slogans of the FPÖ, forcing it to become ever more extremist in order to distinguish itself from its bourgeois plagiarist. And it has hoisted the basement Nazis (copyright: Oskar Deutsch) into state governments and thus ennobled them as democrats. So why shouldn't they take over the federal government if necessary?

In the self-destructive work of the Second Republic, the ÖVP had a reliable coalition partner in the SPÖ. The latter has been fighting against itself for years, presumably not only because of vanity and egoism, but also because of the lack of imagination of important functionaries: they can't even imagine what has already happened to other social democratic parties, namely that their party is sinking into insignificance."

APA: To what extent is this "home-made" or part of an international trend - and if the latter, does that make anything better?

Gauss: "The digital formation of our society has led to a kind of shortness of breath in all areas, to permanently excited snap breathing, anger shoots up quickly, hatred has found its medium. Digitalization makes it difficult to rely on reason or enlightenment and to be heard with the better arguments."

APA: Which government would you like to see in view of this constellation?

Gauss: "Since there can be no doubt that the FPÖ considers bourgeois democracy itself to be the "system" it wants to abolish, it should not be part of any government. Nor should one be persuaded that the opinion of 29 percent of voters outweighs that of the 71 percent who do not rave about wanted lists for political enemies and reporting offices for unruly teachers. The idea of a three-party coalition of ÖVP, SPÖ and Neos is not very seductive. As things stand, it will probably be a political and democratic necessity, but it must not fail like the German model."

Karl-Markus Gauss was publisher and editor-in-chief of the literary magazine "Literatur und Kritik" from 1991 to 2022. He is known to a wide audience as a columnist for the "Neue Zürcher Zeitung", the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" and several Austrian newspapers. His work consists mainly of essays and also includes travel reports and journals. In them, he takes a stand for a humane world with a keen eye for the ambivalence of modern life. Gauss has been awarded the Austrian Art Prize for Literature (2014), the Jean Améry Prize (2018) and the Leipzig Book Prize for European Understanding (2022), among others. He was born in Salzburg in 1954, where he still lives and works today.

SDA