Austria vs covid, weekend edition
plus Russia vs Ukraine, Djokovic deported, 3 film recommendations, and a new podcast
I have so much to say I just can’t let it all simmer until Monday morning. I’m sorry and thank you for reading.
My kids wanted to see a movie last night. Normally, I would have let them take the tram in and maybe, if I was feeling generous, picked them up with the car. But following the colourful and extremely loud parade of an estimated 27,000 antivaxxers, neo-Nazis, and fake policemen marching around Vienna’s ring road yesterday on Twitter, I had a sinking feeling my kids would arrive at Schottentor at exactly the time all the madness arrived there too. I was not wrong. I offered to drive them instead.
Cars were stopped near Votivkirche. There were police vans everywhere. I left the car in an underground garage and walked my kids towards the noisy parade. I cannot convey how loud it was. Unlike any protest I’ve ever seen before. There were floats blaring terrible music, many Austrian flags, and police helicopters circling above. A thread with some videos here:
The people? Well it’s extremely hard to generalise and I didn’t spend a whole lot of time observing them, but at first glance they looked both absolutely ordinary but definitely not from Vienna, if that makes sense. Kind of in the same way you can see when someone is from the Midwest even if you don’t hear them talk. I know that sounds terrible but you know what I mean. Many men stood around drinking beer out of cans, their shoulders wrapped in Austrian flags. The women were dressed in those bum-warming hiking parka skirts, and in many, many layers. Some had dashed down to the tram stop at Schottentor to buy some quick take-away hot food. In was like a Vienna day for countryside folks, minus the shopping and museums.
Once we actually got inside the first district, it got quieter, and I was struck by all the Viennese people trying to carry on and pretend this was just another Saturday evening, although of course, there was nothing ordinary about the whole situation. Police vans drove towards the interior ministry on Herrengasse; my kids knew well enough not to expect them to brake at the zebra crossing. More helicopters. Poshly-dressed middle aged people off to meet friends for dinner or carrying home shopping bags. Teenagers at the start of a night out. I was dying to ask each and every one of them, what do you think of all this? By then, the horrible mixture of bad music and horns had moved towards Rathuasplatz. I walked to my car and drove home.
Late last night, I made all 3 kids take gurgle PCR tests, because I needed to drop them off this morning before 9am, so they would be “valid” for school tomorrow. I couldn’t believe it when it felt like half my neighbourhood was headed to the same BP gas station at 8:45 this morning. Everyone in Vienna is gurgling non-stop! The tests are collected at 9am and again at 2pm. Today at 1:55pm I also saw a young teenager practically running through the 16th district, little turquoise gurgle boxes in hand. There was a long line outside of a pharmacy PCR box in the same area. This is not because all these people think they have coronavirus; this is because they need tests for work or school.
Later today came the announcement by Austria’s government of its vaccine mandate, which will be voted on this Thursday, will go into effect in February, but you can’t be fined until mid-March, and actually the computer system won’t be ready until April anyway. You get the idea. It will only apply to people over 18, pregnant women are excluded, you can get a special doctor’s note if you go to one of the approved exemption doctors, and, as a little gesture of good will to all the antivaxxers whose votes politicians might need in the future: if you have covid in the past 180 days, you don’t have to get vaccinated. So basically, the law has so many holes you wonder why they even bother, considering the political pushback will be (already is) enormous.
The part that actually freaks me out the most are not the fines. There are a lot of wealthy antivaxx folks here who will have no problem to pay €600 fines a couple of times to make their point that they refuse to get vaccinated. I am really, really worried about police being given the right to just stop people and demand proof of vaccination and photo ID. I have been saying this in various ways for a while now, and it still feels like most people here are ok with this ever increasing creep of the police and the state into our daily lives.
I completely understand why they need to get as many people vaccinated as possible. I am questioning the means of enforcement. They have an ELGA database, why not use it and just send the fines by mail?
Speaking of police, I was thinking yesterday, why are these massive protests tolerated every Sunday in Vienna by the federal government? First, the ÖVP know they are running out of future coalition partners for future governments. So they need to keep the far right close by. It’s just like how the GOP shifted right when Trump enlisted the crazies and now GOP candidates have to talk Trumpies’ issues to win primaries. We aren’t there yet, but we may be soon.
Second, the ÖVP still see Austrian life as a permanent fight between black and red. So as long as these marches are upsetting life in red Vienna every weekend, and the red mayor has no jurisdiction to control the black police force, I’m pretty sure the federal government logic is: anything that makes the SPÖ look worse is good for us. Plus, we kind of need the anti-vaxx crazies and the far right if we want to build a coalition in the future because the greens are toast anyway (thanks to us, the super smart squeaky clean ÖVP).
I even asked Nehammer’s press secretary about this yesterday, when I was genuinely upset to learn there would be yet another all-day disruptive protest in our city. This was his reply:
Finally, not exactly related but comes to mind — I saw some prominent Austro-Tweeters shaming a businessperson for going to apres ski and posting it on Instagram. I really don’t think that’s appropriate. Austria’s covid rules are illogical. They make no sense. Just because you flashed a vaccination QR code doesn’t make the indoor space you are about to enter safe. The 10pm rule is completely arbitrary. You can catch covid just as easily having lunch in a posh downtown restaurant which is totally legal. In general, I worry much of Austria has lost respect for people’s right to make their own covid choices and evaluate their own individual risk.
Gosh that was really too long on covid and Austria. I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking about it a lot this weekend. One of my kids really wants to catch Omicron exactly right now so as not to have to take a Latin Schularbeit on Friday. What a time to be alive.
Russia vs Ukraine
There has been so much information lately and so much speculation as to what may or may not happen in the coming days. I won’t add to it, but I would like to share a really great resource the FT published which covers everything from how the map of NATO changed over the years, to Russia’s war chest, and military capabilities. Hint: if you open the link on your mobile phone, it will work without a paywall.
My only caveat would be to add what I read this weekend, namely, what if Lukashenko throws his army in the mix, and this allows the Russians to quickly encircle Kiev (using the Russian spelling on purpose here). Not necessarily the most likely scenario, but a possibility nonetheless.
FT must be genuinely worried, as I see they also just published this op-ed a few minutes ago, urging Russia to reconsider the cost of war. It is excellent. Type the headline into a new browser window to read paywall free.
Djoković finally deported
Of all the hot takes on Novak losing his battle with the Australian authorities, this one is perhaps the most insightful:
I also think Australia, despite all of Novak’s nonsense and rules are rules etc, might have also done real damage to its own reputation, but they must have calculated the political cost of making one very public exception to their notoriously strict rules would have been worse.
Short term, I’m sure there will be hero parades in Serbia, lots of talk of the world hating Serbia again (a song I have been hearing since the 90s, I was practically raised on it, and am allergic to it in a big, big way). These interviews are one-sided as I’m sure you would find people in Belgrade who would say this mess is indeed all Novak’s own fault, although perhaps not on camera. In any case, I’m sure this drama will be useful for Vučić during his election campaign this spring, as you always need enemies to blame and gossip to distract from the real problems you face vis a vis your electorate.
Films! Three recommendations
It is the weekend, after all, so here are three fresh film recommendations, two from Netflix and one from Amazon. My interests are very limited and generally involve Russia, Italy, Balkans, mafia, very sad stories, or some combination of the aforementioned list. You won’t find me recommending romantic comedies or actually any comedies. If your tastes happen to coincide with mine, you’re welcome.
Napoli:
Milano:
Long Island:
Normal Gossip
Finally, I found this highly entertaining and not at all serious podcast called Normal Gossip and if you feel like something totally different, youthful, and light, I must say, this drew me in.
Thanks for reading even on a weekend, guys. I feel slightly better now.