well, it’s been all over the news. the fpö, our highly valued far-right party, publicly demanded that the children of illegal immigrants should be banned from visiting schools in austria. since i read that announcement, i’ve been a.) sick to my stomach and .) interested to find out if there’s no law against that form of malicious agitation. and i found something. but before i get to that, let’s look at this concept in detail.

i think we can agree that education is fundamental not only for understanding and internalize concepts like democracy and the constitutional state, but also the path to a fulfilling and successful career, in most cases. now, if you deny children the access to an education, not only do you diminish any chances on the job market they might have, you also practically take their chance to integrate themselves into a democratic society away.

another point - language. so called illegal immigrants most likely have little to no contact to natives. how are their children supposed to learn the local language, if not through a school? answer: not at all. now, what do we have here?

when you leave immigrants, no matter if “legal” or not, without a chance to get an education, a job and some language skills, you get ghettos. they will stick to their families, to people who understand their language, and never integrate into society. you get the exact problem the fpö pretends to work against! now why would anyone want to do that, to openly work against their goals?

in the parliamental votes of 1999, the fpö got 26,91% of the votes. in 2002, they got 10,01%, and in current statistics, they rank somewhere along 9% of the votes. the fpö is losing voters like it became mandatory. and now they simply react the same way they always did - by trying to be in the media as often as possible. no matter if it’s sissi-land, sword duels or immigrant-bashing actions like this one.

but there’s more. for years, security and immigration have been the fpö’s main topics. any improvement in those topics would take ground from them. so i can only guess that they try to worsen the situation in order to stay necessary.

as for my claim in the first paragraph, let’s take a look at the convention on the rights of the child, article 28: “States Parties recognize the right of the child to education…“. as for a definition article 1 says that a child “…means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.” this declaration was signed by austria in 1992, by the way.

so, while the fpö’s request is not illegal, it would mean that austria would break a formerly signed treaty. and as the lawpeople say, pacta servanda sunt. qed.

Heinrich reminded me that it’s been a little over 5 years now since the first time a nationalist-conservative coalition rose to power here in Austria. 5 years later, they are still around, and it’s been a turbulent time. Massive demonstrations and sanctions from the EU in the beginning, lots of reforms, many of which failed in court, more minister swaps than you can shake a stick at (unless you are really good at shaking sticks at swapped ministers), a whole bunch of scandals, the end of free university education, and, oh yeah, we’ll probably get those eurofighters any day now. and don’t forget the regulated budget we almost had!

but there probably were good sides too, after all, the folks got re-elected, so i guess it can’t be all that bad. also, despite some predictions, the republic didn’t go up in flames, the revolution didn’t come, our economy didn’t collapse, and the world still has diplomatic relations with us.

truly, it’s been a wild ride, with probably a lot more fun coming at us. we here at vienna metblogs thought we’d use this time to reflect a bit on those last 5 years, think about how we saw it first, and how we see it now, remember what we did back then in february 2000, wether we would do it again, if we knew then what we know now, and so on. and we want your help. if you have any memories, stories, real-life or out-of-body expiriences, photos, films, sound clips, cave drawings or whatnot related with the whole schwarz-blau thing that you want to share with us, send it to us. Just note if you want to be mentioned by name, nickname or not at all, and as soon as we get some submissions, you’ll find a mix of postings from us and you here. a little marker in time, if you wish.

and what’s in it for you? glad you asked! back during the “donnerstagsdemonstrationen”, I became the owner of a nice self-made cd called “Heldenplatz”, featuring contributed music from 10 bands and musicians that deals with change of government through music. it’s still in mint condition after all those years, and the best submission, as decided upon by us authors, wins it!

okay, maybe it’s not a new car or a trip to the moon, but then, we don’t ask you to eat scorpions and wrestle with a dozen u.s. marines on steroids, either. so start sending those texts and images!

wer alle courage zusammennimmt und nachzufragen wagt warum er/sie hinter die gelbe sicherheitslinie zurücktreten, den mantel an der theatergarderobe abgeben, oder bei der einreise in diverse hochburgen der freiheit fingerabdrücke abgeben muss, bekommt eine kompakte universalantwort: aus sicheheitsgründen.

zur steigerung des subjektiven sicherheitsgefühls müssen wir uns eben das eine oder andere gefallen lassen.

Wie zum beispiel verschärfte schubhaft, nicht weiter begründungspflichtige sicherheitshaft und wegweisung aus dem öffentlichen raum.

die forderung unserer (vor allem wasserwirtschaftlich versierten) justizministerin Karin Miklautsch nach verpflichtenden dna tests hat mich nun endgültig ans ende meiner rezipierbarkeit von subjektivem sicherheitsgefühl gebracht.

was Miklautsch meint ist, dass jedeR österreicherIn (und natürlich jedeR alsylwerberIn) per Gesetzt dazu verpflichtet werden soll auf (sogenannten) verdacht einen genetischen fingerabdruck abzugeben.

zur abschreckung sollen auch hilfe beim untertauchen, verleitung zum missbräuchlichen stellen von asylanträgen und asylerschleichung unter strafe gestellt werden. (man erinnere sich an die menschenrechtsanwälte Bürstmayer und Lorenz gegen die das innenministerium letztes jahr wegen schlepperei [!] ermittelt hat, weil sie asylwerbern rechtshilfe angeboten hatten.)

nur was wenn diese maßnahmen nun gegen ordentliche bürgerInnen ergriffen werden? “Das Faktum, dass es in Österreich möglich ist, dass Politiker abgehört werden” findet FP klubchef Herbert Scheibner “unglaublich”. zumindest dann, wenn ein ordentlicher bürger und einfaches parteimitglied wie der kärntner landeshauptmann (unbewiesener und unbestätigter weise) davon betroffen ist.

der selbe übrigens, der diese methoden die unser subjektives ehschowissen steigern sollen, vehement gefordert hat.

warum werden wir tageszeitungs-zib-weblog-rezipienten in den letzen tagen rund um den FPÖVP sicherheitsgipfel mit all diesen wortspenden eingedeckt? auch darauf hat Scheibner eine antwort: “Wir sehen bei der ÖVP, dass grundsätzlich versucht wird, sich strategisch am besten zu positionieren.”

Allerdings muss die FPÖ (wenn es nach Scheibner geht) “schauen, dass wir nicht ins hintertreffen kommen”. die justizministerin hilft ihm dabei.

When i left Philip and Nex it was snowing. it is still snowing, and i feel somewhat russian like. in a weird way.
anyways.

i came back to the city around 5am, that was 1 hour ago, thats right. since i doubt i can go back to sleep i thought about getting breakfast. Ever tried to find a store that is open at 5am? well, there is none. i thought that at least the Anker stores would be open to sell bread and stuff, but no, they arent.

so i googled the hell out of it and found Der Mann

thats the most weird bakery website i ever saw.
for the english readers: “let yourself get spoiled by the man who is able to do that.” said with a semi erotic voice. its a bakery store, not a porn shop. sex sells, even if its just a bread shop.

but theyre open now. YAY.

I found this little gem on Zieglergasse today. It speaks right out of my former-far-left heart. It also features the most lovely cross-hair bunny I’ve ever seen in this life. Zieglergasse, and the whole 7th district is actually a paradise for graffiti, especially stencil graffiti. Both big players like thehotdogs and newcomers practice their trade there, creating a very artsy urban feeling.

If you like stuff like that, I can recommend the Blue Box in Richtergasse 8. Not only do they offer great food and drinks and a great mix of non-shitty music, the place is filled with many larger-than-life graffiti from god’s favourite dogs.

Nex, Daniela and I visited the Karlsplatz today to find the much-debated “Schutzzone” (Protected zone) that has been erected around two schools at there. The idea is that the police can remove “suspicious” persons from this zone without any other reason. We had a hard time finding it, however, since there are no notes, shields, lines or anything displaying the beginning and end of the zone. We found some nice fake signs from the Kunsthalle, however.

After a lot of walking around, we found 3 policemen who explained to Daniela just where the zone begins and ends. It starts here, at those two very visible blocks:

And it ends inside the tunnel system at the McDonalds:

Nex wrote his own article about the evening, complete with some fancy spy-cam photos.

For those who want to know the exact demarkations, there is a placard affixed to the police station in the tunnel network, which offers an exact description. I won’t translate this, because I’m pretty sure my brain would melt in the process.

Südliche Begrenzung der Resselgasse (Hausfassaden) von der Wiedner Hauptstraße nach Osten bis zur Einfahrt in den Großen Hof der Technischen Universität, dann in nördliche Richtung die rechte/östliche Begrenzung der Resselgasse (Hausfassade des Hauptgebäudes der TU) bis Karlsplatz, weiter die Fassade (südliche Begrenzung des Resselparks/Karlsplatz) des Hauptgebäudes der TU nach Osten bis zum Ende des Hauptgebäudes, dort in nördliche Richtung bis zum Oval (Grünzone) des Kinderspielplatzes, am nordöstlichen Rand dieses Spielplatzes (Begrenzung durch einen Zaun) hinter der dort aufgestellten Sesselreihe Richtung Zugang zur U-Bahn-Station Karlsplatz/Fußgängerdurchgang Akademiestraße.

Außerhalb der Passage wieder im Bereich des Resselparks entlang der nunmehr (vorübergehend) angebrachten Absperrung (Plakatwand) in großem Bogen bis zum östlichen Fahrbahnrand der Wiedner Hauptstraße, diese in südliche Richtung bis zur Resselgasse, wobei die Schutzzone am östlichen Fahrbahnrand der Wiedner Hauptstraße in gedachter Verlängerung der Hausfassade der Resselgasse endet.”

This is completely off-topic, but, folks, HE is dead. Hunter Thompson committed suicide.

The creator of Gonzo Journalism and author of such great pieces as “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas”, “Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail”, “Hell’s Angels”, is dead. I admired his books for the last 7 years, when I got in touch with his work for the very first time, in a bus travel over night from Copenhagen to Vienna. (This is some kind of connex, no?) If you don’t have yet, read and get the idea of what the American Dream is all about. This is one of his best.

Edit - This is not completely off-topic - after all, Thomspon was one oft the first who showed that “involved journalism” could be a good thing. And personal, subjective coverage is pretty much what blogging, and metroblogging in particular, is all about. He was a great man, and he will be missed. - Philipp

Türken gibt es einige in Wien, ich mein diejenigen wo man was zu essen bekommt. Wenn, dann sind es auch die Läden die (vielleicht) 24h offen sind oder “offen on demand” so wie es sich gehören sollte genauso wie jedem erlaubt sein sollte Cola auf der Strasse zu verkaufen. Oder am Sonntagmorgen oder dann wenn auch sonst alles verloren ist und sogar Mat´s hotdog bude die Läden unten hat. Die Allgemeine Mentalität ist aber leider unten wie die Wirtschaft, der Laden ist zwar voll aber ich mach zu und kehr euch raus. Das ist Ausrichtung. Auf die Türken ist verlass, vielleicht nicht politisch aber auf ihr Essen und im speziellen auf ihre Süssigkeiten. Wieso ist eigentlich die Schweiz das Schokoladeland und nicht die Türkei das Süssigkeitenland? Egal.

Bei mir um die Ecke gibt es so einen von denen, hat nicht mal ein Namen und wenn du versuchst jemandem zu erklären wo es ist wird er es sicher nicht finden. Aber einmal drinnen… man staunt: Moschee, Friseur, Supermarkt, Kaffeautomat, Restaurant, Zeitungen (türkisch zwar..) und viele viele tolle Süssigkeiten die noch kein Mensch gesehen hat. Auf einer Fläche der grösse meines Wohnzimmers. Oder kleiner. Unbedingt mal reinschauen. Zweite Haltestelle vor Praterstern 21er Tram nach Türken fragen. Fisch mit Reis 4Euro. Fleisch mit Reis 3Euro. Linsensuppe 2Euro. Haareschneiden 5Euro. Moschee gratis aber Schuhe ausziehen

Der Typ auf dem Bild ist mein bester Freund 083 mit dem allerbestenEinzeiler blog aller Zeiten

as luc already mentioned, we have a meetup.com group - let me explain what this is, and what it can do.

meetup is a web system to organize real-life meetings. it really helps a lot with the whole community-controlling date-appointing sorry-can’t-come-this-time-ing stuff. when we first started the metblog, we wanted to hold monthly meetings to keep everybody in touch and to discuss things we want to do, or not do. sadly, due to technical difficulties, we only managed to have two of those meetings in total. now, with a mostly new writer crew and a new year to boot, maybe we could try again.

but this is not only for people who write at the metroblog. everyone can join up, and i guess many of us would like to see the faces behind the nicks that post here someday. so, join the group, vote for a meeting day and have fun as usual.

i also apologize for my present unfrequent posting as i did not experience relevant vienna tales the last two weeks and spent the last five days in madrid doing decibelio and sunny afternoons, haluzinating the windsor building fire in a taxi ride 11am on the way to one more afterhour. expect more to come in march as abroad next week aswell

i just had a look at our meetup site. maybe we can fix a date this week plus some more people to join? i guess anyone interested can do so. join join