For over two years, protests towards COVID-19 measures reminiscent of lockdowns and vaccinations have drawn tens of hundreds to the streets of Vienna.
They constantly make headlines for being a gathering house for far-right and neo-Nazi teams, and for his or her rowdy and generally even violent behaviour.
Now, their focus has shifted to Ukraine — however not in assist of the nation.
“Bucha was the largest Ukrainian false-flag operation till now”, mentioned a latest publish on a Telegram channel belonging to the German-language offshoot of the QAnon motion, gathering greater than 13,000 customers from Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.
They claimed Bucha was a “pretend” fabricated to discredit the Russian military.
Impressed by the conspiracy principle that started as a declare that US political elites ran a secret Satanic cabal slash paedophile ring from a pizza retailer, QAnon has was a strong political motion in the US and impressed numerous copycats throughout the pond.
Most of them collect supporters amongst individuals with robust anti-elite and anti-establishment leanings, and those that are sceptical of presidency initiatives — which is why these opposing vaccines and COVID-19 measures had been the primary to hitch.
Now, the German QAnon sings the praises of Vladimir Putin and his military and criticises the federal government in Kyiv – who they see as western puppets.
At latest rallies within the Austrian capital, the QAnon flag flown by the Capitol rioters on 6 January 2021 was proudly exhibited subsequent to that of Russia.
The letter Z, recognized for being painted on the perimeters of Russian tanks, has now additionally made an look.
For journalist and writer Michael Bonvalot, who frequently follows the anti-vax protests in Vienna, the truth that the Austrian far-right has brazenly shifted to Putin-worship doesn't shock him.
“From the very first protest in Vienna in April 2020 it was very clear that well-known far-right and neo-Nazi activists had been collaborating,” Bonvalot recalled for Euronews.
“It grew to become even clearer in Might of that yr when one of many demonstrations was formally organised by the FPÖ.
"From then you might conclude that the primary organisers of the protests had been far-right activists.”
Freedom Social gathering foregoes legacy to defend Putin
FPÖ, or the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, is the nation’s third-most-popular get together recognized for its anti-immigrant and anti-establishment positions. At instances, it has brazenly veered into open flirtations with Nazism, notably through the management of the late Jörg Haider.
Haider, a far-right populist who popularised the get together within the late Eighties, made a reputation for himself as Austria’s most scandalous son.
He engaged in public friendships with the likes of Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi, and made statements that minimised the Holocaust and showered reward for the Nazi German authorities and Austrian SS troops.
Nevertheless, he was staunchly anti-Kremlin. For Haider, one of many first mainstream politicians to brazenly name for pan-German unity after World Warfare II, Russia was an enemy because of its communist previous.
However FPÖ modified its route after Haider’s departure from the get together and his dying in a automobile accident in 2008 and grew more and more nearer to Putin, reminiscent of publicly supporting Moscow’s wars together with the 2008 invasion of Georgia and signing a cooperation settlement with the United Russia get together in 2016.
In 2019, a scandal erupted involving a leaked video with Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ chief Heinz-Christian Strache and his deputy Johann Gudenus, the place they had been revealed to have promised profitable Austrian authorities tenders to Russian oligarchs whereas on trip in Ibiza.
Ibizagate, because it has since been recognized, marks maybe the clearest indication of the smooth spot FPÖ has fostered for Russian political and monetary affect.
The leaked recording led Strache to lose his authorities publish and launched Austria right into a political disaster, inflicting Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to drop FPÖ as his ruling coalition accomplice.
This resulted in resentment each inside FPÖ and their supporters, who lent their assist to Kurz at a time when he wanted right-wing bona fides.
In response, get together chief Herbert Kickl and the likes of Strache mobilised their supporters and joined in on the anti-vax protests towards the federal government and Kurz himself.
By March 2021, the motion grew to the purpose the place police in Vienna got here out in giant numbers to watch the hundreds marching the streets carrying outdated imperial German flags within the colors of pink, white and black, but additionally placards complaining concerning the “Plandemic” in addition to QAnon banners.
Kickl, who was Haider’s former speechwriter and inside minister earlier than FPÖ was kicked out, gave an impassioned speech on 6 March centered virtually solely on Kurz, labelling the lockdowns and vaccine mandates as a “crazed obsession with energy".
“All of the measures this authorities has handed are the results of a rare power-trip on their finish,” Kickl mentioned, repeating that the energy of these gathered lies in “our numbers and our persistence and that's how we'll take down Kurz & Co”.
“We have now a robust immune system, particularly towards mutations which have abruptly been found by some individuals. Now we've got grow to be the immune system for our democracy,” Kickl acknowledged.
“This immune system turns into stronger every single day, and our opponents grow to be weaker.”
'Various unbiased channels' and 'magazines for patriots'
Kurz resigned in October 2021 after a corruption probe threatened to set off a vote of no-confidence in parliament. But, Kickl — who has defended Putin up to now and made repeated claims that NATO is at fault for the invasion — continues to seem with the anti-vaxxers.
Their motion is now bolstered by a full-fledged media outlet, AUF1, which labels itself as an “different unbiased channel”.
Its editor-in-chief Stefan Magnet is a former activist of the Bund freier Jugend or League of Free Youth, a neo-Nazi extremist group and main proponent of the “blood-and-soil” ideology.
Magnet was arrested in 2007 underneath accusations that he and two different BfJ members violated the Nazi Prohibition Act however ended up being acquitted after spending six months in jail.
In 2011, he based a media and promoting firm referred to as Medienlogistik, which produced promoting movies for the FPÖ regional chief in Oberösterreich, Manfred Haimbuchner.
Magnet additionally labored as an advisor to Information-Direkt, a web based outlet that manufacturers itself as a “journal for patriots”, recognized for occasionally publishing articles written by or about members of the Identitarian motion in addition to the likes of the Kremlin’s favorite ideologue, Alexander Dugin.
The Identitarians, led in Austria by Martin Sellner — who promoted AUF1 when it first began — are a pan-European far-right political group claiming that Europe belongs to whites and that they're now victims of the “Nice Substitute”, an Islamophobic conspiracy principle geared toward portraying immigrants as harmful to the continent’s societies.
Identitarian symbols are additionally usually seen at protests of vaccine sceptics in Austria.
Because the renewed invasion of Ukraine, AUF1 — which as much as that time centered on COVID-19 conspiracy theories — created a separate subsection devoted to the struggle in Ukraine, publishing content material stating that “it is a proxy struggle between Russia and the USA and NATO” or that Austria and the EU ought to "keep out of it".
They now frequently characteristic company reminiscent of Norbert van Handel, who was a overseas coverage advisor to Norbert Hofer, one other former FPÖ chief and transport minister underneath Kurz.
Van Handel, a proponent of a “Central European Union” inside the present EU bloc — which, in his view, ought to represent a traditionalist revival of the Austro-Hungarian Empire — is thought for his anti-migrant and Islamophobic views.
He was frequently essential of the 2014 sanctions towards the Kremlin over the struggle in Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, stating in 2017 in an interview for the Visegrad Put up that it was “foolish to have sanctions towards Russia, and there will probably be no good leads to the long-term.”
In response to disinformation skilled Ingrid Brodnig, the shift to Ukraine was the logical continuation of what she describes as a really small, but very loud minority in Austrian society.
“In German-speaking international locations, there's a area of interest of those conspiracy theorists who unfold and actually consider COVID-19 conspiracy theories,” Brodnig informed Euronews.
“For this ecosystem, the right-wing and far-right accounts are actually vital. Earlier than the pandemic, these far-right accounts had been already pro-Putin, so that you usually had articles portraying Putin as a sort of a robust chief, as a result of Putin is the antidote to a pluralistic Europe.
“Then the pandemic occurred and people right-wing accounts abruptly began speaking about COVID-19 and so they lured new individuals to their channels. And when the struggle in Ukraine began they made the swap again to specializing in Putin and Russia,” she defined.
“It's a superb matter, of their pondering, as a result of you should use your present stereotypes, like being towards the mainstream media, the criticism of Europe and European states, and simply apply it to a brand new topic. It’s how they keep alive as a neighborhood.”
Russian narratives show profitable with some
Brodnig, who was appointed Digital Ambassador of Austria to the EU by the Austrian Federal Authorities in 2017, identified that the impact that Russian propaganda had through the years throughout Europe shouldn't be underestimated.
“Throughout sure crises, you'll be able to see that Russian narratives are fairly profitable,” she mentioned.
Brodnig recalled the talk in 2017 across the Khan Shaykhun chemical assault close to Idlib within the midst of the struggle in Syria.
Though the worldwide neighborhood and human rights organisations reminiscent of Human Rights Watch all established that the forces of President Bashar al-Assad had been behind the poisonous gasoline assault that killed 89 and injured virtually 600, Russian state-run shops claimed it was a false-flag operation.
“I keep in mind that throughout that point I gave a variety of workshops and shows, and many others. and sometimes I'd have one one that would increase their hand ultimately and ask, ‘however isn’t it the case that’ or ‘I additionally learn that’ after which they might repeat such narratives.”
“For years, Russian media organisations have been attempting to lure people who find themselves serious about different media, and that works fairly nicely.”
Austrian neutrality, a standard Russian speaking level
Within the area of Oberösterreich, a celebration supporting vaccine scepticism referred to as Menschen-Freiheit-Grundrechte, or Individuals-Freedom-Rights, managed to enter the regional parliament, profitable three seats in September 2021. In response to the most recent polls, the get together has a shot at making it to the federal parliament on or earlier than 2024.
However though that is nonetheless a comparatively minor outcome, what the conspiracy theorists are actually profitable at is flooding public debate with their speaking factors and defining the speaking factors on a sure matter, and based on Brodnig, they're more likely to grow to be louder and extra influential.
MPs and official establishments just like the ministry of well being are constantly inundated with emails and calls by individuals who consider in conspiracy theories, she mentioned.
With army neutrality being one of many phrases that outlined the top of the Allied occupation since 1955, and with 76% of its residents favouring neutrality based on a ballot from March regardless of condemning Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, pro-Kremlin right-wing voices at the moment are demanding Austria keep out of the battle.
“I feel it’s an oblique impact, however there’s at all times the hazard that this small minority, even when it’s actually small, may appear greater than they're and may result in a variety of questions on how strict we’re going to be a few sure legislation or whether or not we actually need to have a sure debate,” Brodnig concluded.
Bonvalot, whose fixed protection of the protests led to threats on his life and security, says that whereas not everybody who seems at these marches is essentially far-right or pro-Russian — they don't thoughts being affiliated with them.
Individuals have such robust opinions on the pandemic — and the alleged freedoms that they declare it hampers — even when their opinions don't align with Putin supporters, Bonvalot explains.
“Individuals weren't bothered by the truth that Austria’s most well-known neo-Nazis and neo-fascists had been marching alongside them within the protest — they had been bothered by vaccines and obligatory vaccination,” he mentioned.
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