National Journal: First published 20/03/2012
Immigration flood to spell end of Europe?
As the far-right Freedom Party takes the lead in Austria’s general election, its leader,
Heinz-Christian Strache, has told RT what he thinks of EU immigration policy and expansion
plans, and explained why he wants a national debate on Islamization.
RT: Why are Austrians so concerned about Islam?
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"Europe is a Western Christian land. It’s a fact. When they come
to us as guests, they can easily hold their rituals. They don’t need
minarets or muezzins."
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Heinz-Christian Strache: This is an area where there are too many thorny issues. The European
crisis is our main problem now. We also face problems in our immigration policy. This
largely concerns migration from non-European countries such as Turkey. More than 50% of
Turkish immigrants don’t want to integrate into Austrian society. They don’t want to
learn the language and organize parallel and opposing structures. The activities of radical
Islamists have become visible in our society. They hinder its peaceful and democratic
development. In this sense, we are certainly a political force that comes out against
any such radicalization.
RT: EU states refused to work with your party when it was in power five years ago.
What will be different this time?
H-CS: I think that Europe is living through a turning point in its development, just as
the whole world is getting through a turning point and a period of democratization. I
assume that the forthcoming elections in Europe, not only in Austria but also in France,
Belgium, Italy and Germany, will cause a wave of wrath and pressure. People are going
to give vent to their rage on long-standing parties at the polling stations. That will
lead to political changes. Since we are well prepared from this side too, European
governments will take these elections seriously and will respect their results,
unlike in the Middle East, where the authorities tried to deter democratic
transformation by imposing restrictions and with the help of other means which are
out of line with the principles of democracy.
RT: The president of Austria's Islamic community says “I have a vision where every town in
Austria has a mosque.” What’s your response to that?
H-CS: We also need to proclaim that we respect Islam. Islam is a world religion. Unfortunately,
it has emerging signs of radicalism, radical Islamism. We deny radicalism in any religion,
including Islam. It’s true of any other religion where there’s radicalism. We are against
it. But Europe is a Western Christian land. It’s a fact. When they come to us as guests,
they can easily hold their rituals. They don’t need minarets or muezzins. They can
pray here and religious freedom is guaranteed to them unlike Islamic countries where we,
the Christians, often discover that we don’t enjoy this kind of freedom; that Christians
are persecuted and forbidden to build churches.
That is why we see manifestations of intolerance to Christianity in some countries of
the Islamic world. What I mean is that we should make it clear to them that tolerance
should be two-sided and that both sides should observe each other’s rights.
Today, we
are witnessing radical Islamist trends, which are not perceived as a religion but as
a political order. Several months ago, the Turkish Prime Minister announced his
intention to head an Islamic Union, which, so to speak, will brush aside all other aggressors.
He wants to have a decisive voice in the sphere of world dominance. He wants to define
the future. His militant statement provides more than convincing proof of his intentions.
I think that we, the Europeans, should wake up and become more sensitive and more
conscious of our culture. This also concerns the preservation of European folk culture.
We need to do that so as not to disappear politically and demographically and so that the
loss of values doesn’t lead to complete disintegration. This is exactly what I am trying
to revive in Europe.
RT: Why did the Freedom Party create a video game where you can shoot down mosques and Muslims?
H-CS: I did not support this game, and I willingly made statements in public about it.
They are not to my liking. One should stick to the truth. It’s not like playing war, as
many mistakenly think. This game has been played in Switzerland for many years, and it’s
fully legal there, Nobody’s shot, and on the contrary, by pressing a “delete” button,
so to speak, they correct flawed tendencies like mosques. And it’s not a war; there are
no swastikas, no weapons. That’s what helps eradicate the flawed tendencies. And of
course it can’t be interpreted as a war.
RT: Should Turkey be allowed to join the EU?
H-CS: I respect Turkey. Turkey is a fantastic country, a proud country, with a fantastic
culture, with fantastic economic success which inspires respect. We respect Turkey’s
accomplishments. And every Turkish man may justly be proud of his country, just as we
are proud of our country. But Turkey is not a part of Europe. It does not belong
there either geographically or historically or culturally. And I want Europe to stay
within its borders. I do not want to see Europe expanding by including non-European
countries which will turn Europe into a European-Asian-African formation. It would mean
the end of Europe. And it would mean an end to the European idea of peace and social ideals.
RT: The President of France has banned the Muslim face veil – the burqa . If you become
President of Austria, would you go further?
H-CS: I would strongly support a ban on disguising a person’s appearance. By that, I
first of all mean the full covering-up of the face. It’s not about certain people, but
about the fact that people should not hide their face, and that you could see and
recognize everyone in our society. And I also would like to explain that the legislation,
like the one in effect in Turkey for so many years is – in public schools, in public
universities, in the civil service, in other words for the officials – there is a law
prohibiting the wearing of a head scarf because it’s not needed in such places. And
everyone is free to do whatever one wants in their own leisure time. But people
arriving in our culture have to integrate, adapt to our conditions, and observe our laws.
And we expect it from them. People who do not want to are not forced to come here and are not obliged to stay.
RT: You believe Greece isn't right for the euro – what about other struggling economies
like Portugal?
H-CS: Europe is not a balanced block and that’s the problem with the EU’s development. The
EU is trying to manage everything in a central and centralized way, taking everything in
its hands, so to speak. That is the wrong way to go about it. There are different national
economies in Europe, different speeds. Europe is more than the EU. There are many
countries which do not belong to the EU. That’s why we should reject centralism and
stick more to federalism – we should strengthen national parliaments, regionalization,
and federalization. Also we should sort out the problems with the common currency
before we face a great fall which will have an impact on every European nation.
At
the moment the tired and flawed systems haven’t changed.
There has been no change in the banking system. There has been speculation, and there has
been no procedure for a bank going bankrupt. They continue to prop up a failed system
with tax-payers’ money, they help a system which may end up imploding with hyperinflation,
and eventually it may put an end to the order of life in European nations. Nobody thinks
about it. That’s why we need to rethink the system and think if it’s wise and right for
the strong national economies to leave the Eurozone and return to their currencies. Or
maybe strong national economies should create a new strong currency, not the super euro,
or whatever they call it, but a currency that will see Europe having two gears, a
Europe which will not get dragged down by misfortune with the two parts involved.
RT: You won't rule out Italy's South Tyrol region becoming part of Austria – why?
H-CS: In South Tyrol we have sort of an autonomy for which we had to make a big effort.
But today Tyrol does not have the right to self-determination. In the EU they speak a
lot about the right to self-determination, but in fact we can see that inside the
EU it’s not always applied.
I think that South Tyroleans will be able to obtain the right to self-determination
sooner or later, that at present they are probably at different stages and developing
in the direction of becoming a free state. And then, when they probably become a free
state, they will be able to use the right of self-determination and decide if they
want or do not want to stay inside Italy or return to Austria.
It’s legal. We all belong to one and the same European Union, so there must be no
problem with that. But up to now we still have such bans. And I think it’s an
absolutely positive step and there must be a possibility to support it. For example,
like the regional interests of the Northern League – they actively support the desire
for autonomy of regions which are not even Italian. That’s why we do not contradict;
on the contrary, the position of the federal political party is the same on many issues.
RT:You've made a rap song that people can listen to on your website – let's have a
listen to that first.
H-CS: I consciously will not do it. I am a politician and there is a responsibility on me.
But at the same time I do my best – and it’s really hard for me – to use new means of
communication too, like Facebook, Twitter, rap music and comics. I do it consciously
because I want to start a dialogue with people, especially young people, who are often
disappointed in politics, and in whom politics excites feelings of disgust.
I want to involve them in discussion. And I succeed. I love to be recorded: I record
my rap tracks and upload those videos onto YouTube, where you can watch them. But I
do not arrange concerts.
I am a people’s representative, so to speak, and maybe the one who can persuade you.
This line, this line can be continued as long as possible. “Those who do not want
to integrate, I have a destination for you: back to your motherland, have a nice
trip! We have enough unemployed here!” Like this.
RT: The rap on your site says “Viennese blood”. What does that mean?
H-CS: Wiener Blut is a global trademark of beautiful Vienna and the culture of living of
Vienna’s citizens. Wiener Blut – an operetta by Strauss, a magnificent performance you
can see every year in concerts around the world. Millions of people listen to this
high-class music. And it is Vienna’s advert to the world. Wiener Blut is described as
boiling and has passion. We show this passion in a good way, it’s good that we speak
about it – we said “More bravery” to Wiener Blut and to our culture. We do not speak
badly of everything foreign.
We say that it’s bad when we become a minority in our
motherland; this way no nation and no culture will be happy on Earth. When you are
a minority in your motherland, that means that you have lost your motherland.
There exists a human right, a right to have a motherland. And it’s very important
to us. It’s the right of all nations on Earth, as well as for the Kurds and many
other nations, who have recently been denied this right.
Source: rt.com/ - 23 November, 2011
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