Sorry, German only.

Link

Hans Dichand, born in 1921, founded the Austrian “Kronenzeitung” (”Crown newspaper”) in 1959 and still acts as its editor in chief to this day. With over 40% market share, this right-wing populist paper has a unique position of power, and Dichand used this to influence Austrian politics to a great extent. This media-political practice earned him the nickname of “Kanzlermacher” (”He who makes the chancellor”).

Shortly after Mr. Dichand started blogging in November 2007, another weblog under his name appeared, where an unknown writer spoofs the newsmaker by using his rather unique tabloid writing style to express
views and ideas contrary to those of the original, and to poke fun at the mighty newsmaker.

This fake blog has gathered quite a bit of media attention over the last weeks, especially since the original Dichand saw it necessary to write about “The Forger”, as the fake blogger has been called on numerous occasions.

http://blog.krone.at / Original Dichand blog
http://hansdichand.blogspot.com / Fake Dichand blog

Our resident artist David Fine went on a tour of “Red Vienna”. Vienna, as you may know was a very progressive socialist city in the 20’s. David joined Richard Barbrook to see some of the Red Viennese buildings, like famous Karl Marx Hof, the longest housing building in the world and site of battle during the Austrian Civil War.

Here is David’s Flickr set.

Richard Barbrook is one of the most radical critics of the neo-liberal cyber-elite. In contrast, Barbrook thinks that the importance of the latest wave of technological innovation lies precisely in its ability to challenge the ideologies of the self-proclaimed opinion leaders. The Net allows for the emergence of spontaneous and flexible virtual communities, defining themselves less by market exchange than by social convention.

He’ll present his new book ‘Imaginary Futures’ @ QDK (Museumsquartier) on Wednesday, October 24 (7 PM).

Link

Currently there is a big discussion about child benefits in Austria. The rule is: for every kid there will be child benefits payed for by the government. The amount is 436 € per month for three years. Yes, that is a lot, because the last conservative government wanted people to stay home and have kids (and not party and have sex without getting kids, as one minister put it.)

Unless the mother or father staying home to tend to the kid earns more than 14.600 € aside, then they don’t get anything. It doesn’t matter how much the other parent earns by the way.

After the Kinderbetreuungsgeld runs out there is Familienbeihilfe, another 150 € per child and month unless the annual income is less than about 8.500 € until the kid is 18 (or 26 if it goes to university). (If you need counseling on these matters, better not ask anybody blogging, but someone at your local council or magistrate.)

Anyway, now it seems that 2 in 5 recievers of child benefit earned more than that on the side and now face having to pay back 2-5.000 € per year.

This matter is even more interesting, when taking in account that the average income in Austria of employed people is 16.600 € net. (info from www.statistik.at, which is becoming one of my favorite sites for hard facts.) That means that 2 in 5 parents claiming to stay home are actually working full time. Otherwise I would like to know what kind of part-time jobs those are, because I’d switch instantly.

Reading the articles written by Washington Post and The New York Times raise a few questions concerning their coverage of Dr. Kurt Waldheim. And if you aren’t a careful reader, you would end up believing what you read.

Like any soldier of war, if you desert your troop, you are ordered to be sentenced. And if you disagree to the ruling government or ideology, you better hide or else you are dead. This is more or less the scenario during this era.

Despite the negative mood that the US mainstream media create about him, this memorial tablet goes to show that if you were a non-Jew/non-gypsy/non-gay Austrian and not a pro-Nazi but a communist/socialist that time you would be dead.

Just like the Viennese Viktor Christ, an ordinary citizen who was murdered in 1941 by the Nazis.
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Sunday, June 10:

3 PM : Wake up! - European Digital Futures at stake? Eva Lichtenberger / Christian Engström
5 PM: Snack and talk @ QDK; provided by the conference organizers: monochrom, Team Teichenberg, Transforming Freedom and Metalab.
7 PM: Next Step Politics!? Pirates to Brussels 2009?!
- Keynote by Rick Falkvinge
- Panel discussion with Eva Lichtenberger, Erich Möchel (tbc), Rick Falkvinge a.o.
9 PM: Drinks

Location: ErsteArena @ Museumsquartier, Vienna.

Link / Conference page
Link / FM4 report

A conference weekend with Rasmus Fleischer, Rick Falkvinge, Christian Engström (Swedish Pirate Party), Eva Lichtenberger (MEP of Green Party, Austria), Chris Jeitler, Erich Möchel (Quintessenz.at).

June 8-10, 2007; Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. All talks in English language.

Presented by: Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, Transforming Freedom, Metalab, monochrom, Teichenberg and Quartier für Digitale Kultur (QDK).

Link (German language)

When Angela Merkel rubbed arms with Putin on the news somebody around remarked: “The cold war is coming back.” Interestingly enough, everywhere I look I see signs of the Eighties returning:

* concerts by Throbbing Gristle, The Cult and OMD in Vienna. Even The Mission have re-united.
* two girls playing with Rubik’s cubes on the subway
* movies are dominated by sequels again, as if the 4th part of “Die Hard” alone wasn’t sign enough
* the comeback of the yuppie (disguised as creative industries manager)
* nuclear power plants are missioned as the best alternative to fossil energy sources

What else?

To be more precise: I get the right wing blah blah message, but I don’t get the typo-thingy…
Why [ ] ?