[sacw] [ACT] Support Austrian women & Oppose Fascism in AUSTRIA

[Harsh Kapoor]

Please write letters to the Austrian Govt. & Protest. Posted below is a
letter requesting support from Austria
In Solidarity
(South Asia Citizens Web)
http://www.mnet.fr/aiindex

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WAVE AND THE AUSTRIAN WOMEN'S NGOS NEED YOUR HELP

Dear friends,
Please help us because otherwise most of Austria's women's NGOs have to
close down. The work of decades can be ruined very soon. Please, remember
last week's plead. Send us lists of addresses (preferably e-mail) of the
most important media and politicians in your country!!
Here is our statement which we will ask you to pass on:

& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &
Women's NGOs threatened Right-wing Austrian government abolishes Women's
Ministry
& & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &

Most of the Austrian women's organisations and projects are faced with the
possibility that they will receive no or not enough state funding as a
result of the controversial right-wing government's decision to abolish the
Ministry for Women's Affairs. This not only means that women's affairs have
been demoted to a junior department in a sprawling Ministry of Social
Affairs but also that the budget will come to about forty per cent of last
year's level.
This accords with the overall policy of the new government, comprising the
conservative People's Party and the populist right-wing Freedom Party,
which defines its policy with regard to fifty per cent of
>the population basically as an integral part of family policy.
Vice-chancellor Susanne Riess-Passer claimed in a televised interview on
=46ebruary 8, 2000 that the former women's ministry had been merely symbolic
because it had no budget and no powers (both claims untrue). She used this
argument to justify the ministry's abolition altogether. There will not be
a larger budget for women; at least not for independent organisations.
Discrediting NGOs
The new coalition partner, the right-wing Freedom Party, is not reticent in
voicing its opinion on the role of NGOs. For thirty years, they claim, they
have received funding ? from a government lead by Social Democrats ? for
doing nothing. This not only discredits the invaluable work done by NGOs in
Austria (and world-wide) and disregards the recognition NGOs have received
in all the relevant international bodies like the UN and the EU. It is
slander.
Massive protest in Austria Since it became clear that for the first time in
Europe a party whose members praise the Nazi regime and play down its
atrocities will be allowed into government, a wave of protest has spread
across the country. Peaceful demonstrations by thousands of people are
being held every evening. A big rally will be taking place on February 19,
2000. About a quarter of a million demonstrators from all over Austria are
expected.
We urge you to support the women's NGOs in their struggle to survive and
all Austrians who are strictly against allowing racists and neo-fascists to
govern a country in the European Union!
Please, write letters of protest to the new Federal Chancellor Wolfgang
Sch=FCssel who is mainly responsible for bringing the Freedom Party into
government (schuessel@o...) =B7 to Austrian President Thomas Klestil
(thomas.klestil@h...)

MEDIA
Please, also support us on an international level and address your
governments to put further pressure on this shameful Austrian Government, =
=B7
address the media in your country to keep reporting on the situation

MONEY
Please, help us with donations to get us through this crisis: our account:
Verein autonome =F6sterreichische Frauenh=E4user WAVE our account number: 61=
0
782 021 our bank details: Bank Austria, Mariahilfer Strasse 70, A-1070
Vienna, Austria, bank code: 20151, international swift code: BKAUATWW
____________________________
SOME EXAMPLES who we were supported so far:
>Date: Fri, 04 Feb 2000 14:54:23 +0000 >To:
<thomas.klestil@h...>, schuessel@o... >From: Stigamot
<stigamot@s...> >Subject: From icelandic women > > >Mr. president
Thomas Klestil and mr. Foreign Minister Wolfgang Schussel! > >
The women at the icelandic incestshelter strongly protest against the new
government in Austria! We are afraid that the new government will cause a
lot of organisations to close down and that the situation of Austrian women
in society will certainly severely deteriorate. > >We want you to know that
we are ashamed of the Icelandic government, that is not going to protest
against you! > >How could you get Haider's Freedom Party into power???? >
>On behalf of the women at the Icelandic incestshelter > Runa Jonsdottir >
_____________,

Dear Sir, I am writing on behalf of my organisation, (The Green socialist
Network), our organisation is at the forefront of libertarian socialism and
had looked to your country as one of the most politically stable in Europe.
However I must express the GSN's revulsion at the inclusion of the Freedom
Party in the new coalition government for your country, a party that
represents the most extreme racist and facist ideas in Europe today. We
fully understand that you have got both the Peoples Party and the Freedom
Party to sign statements committing them to democracy. It is our concern
that, as with Adolf Hitler in Germany, many promises were made only to be
broken later and launch Europe and the world in to the bloodiest conflict
ever seen. We believe our concerns are confirmed by the speeches and
writings of Jorge Haider, leader of the Freedom Party. Speeches that have
favoured Hitlers approach to employment and supported the Waffen SS.
We regard it as an insult to all who suffered under Nazism that you, as
President of Austria, can sanction the Freedom Party in government and with
the majority of ministerial posts. We also regard it as very dangerous,
your action will be seen to legitimise every pocket of facist and racist
activism in Europe however small, already we see reports of the Northern
League in Italy supporting Haider openly. It is our hope that you listen to
the protest of the vast majority of the Austrian people, other nations
within the EU and elsewhere and groups like ourselves who do want to start
the new century with the worst elements of the last. Please for the sake of
humanity take immediate steps to reverse your decision and earn Austria the
praise it deserves rather than condemnation.

Peter Brown Chair person, Green Socialist Network, 15 Linford Close,
Harlow, Essex, CM19 4LR Great Britain.
_______
Thank you very, very much!!
Verena & Birgit
WAVE Office
c/o Information Centre Against Violence
Austrian Women's Shelter Network
Hofgasse 9/1/4 A-1050 Vienna, Austria
phone: ++43-1-5482720 fax: ++43-1-5482720-27 <wave@x...> web site:
<http://www.wave-network.org >