Owen Jones rightly identifies the Austrian Freedom party (FPÖ) as having an unashamedly dangerous Nazi pedigree (On the streets of Vienna, I saw Austrians’ rage at the march of the far right – but also their helplessness, 8 October). When it first joined a coalition with the ÖVP in 2000, the majority of Austrians were mortified and took to the streets. The new ministers had to use a tunnel to avoid the wrath of the protesters.
It seems the Overton window has lurched quite a bit to the right since then, and the Freedom party has become salonfähig (respectable). This time no one was ashamed to admit who they would be voting for, and thus their victory came as no surprise, except to me and many others here. Why? Because these were not typical far-right extremists choosing the FPÖ. Weirdly, those new voters did not seem informed (or to care) about the more sinister aspects of this party’s platform.
