Autumn
Apologies it has been several days. Life kind of took over. An overview post, of sorts.
I snapped this on an unseasonably warm Saturday morning walking through Vienna’s Museum Quartier. If you zoom in you will see professional photo shoots for social media amongst the new plants and fountains. What a time to be alive.
I find myself a little more obsessed than normal with the gossipy, sugary side of TikTok. You open it and find video after video analyzing Taylor & Travis, Victoria & David. I think the escape from our lived reality into celebrity fairytale feels more tempting than ever right now. With so much horrific news in the real world, news that is so bad it doesn’t even logically squeeze into our collective brains, you reach for something fluffy and unreal. At this point I would much prefer to read a 5000 word essay on celebrity romance than yet another think piece on the war in Ukraine and now Israel/Gaza which will do nothing to ease the suffering of anyone on the ground, but will help the author pay his bills in the comfort of his/her home which is not currently being bombed. In other words — when reality becomes unbearable, it is a perfectly human response to want to cling to the fantasy. At least that’s what I tell myself because at the moment I would much rather watch videos of Taylor & Travis out to dinner in NYC than open Twitter or Blue Sky where everything feels some overwhelmingly awful plus none of us have any influence whatsoever. In that sense, my conscience is clear. When I had the opportunity to help refugees here in Austria, I did so. I continue to help them, now more with information and lobbying than direct aid, but that is the point we are at right now.
Regarding the war in Israel/Gaza (and the Polish election for that matter), I will try to refrain from any armchair analysis because I don’t know the region, I cannot offer any value added. I will try to continue to highlight articles and podcasts which helped me to deepen my own understanding. I really appreciate those who try to dig a little deeper and share the nuances with us.
For example, I found this podcast (in German) on “Hamas’ allies within Austria” to be very informative. Tensions are very high in many European capitals as pro-Palestinian protests have not been granted official permission in many places for fear of violence against Jews and public displays in support of terrorism. Yes there are many people with these views living in Europe, and how Europe will manage their reactions to the war is still unclear. Yesterday evening, my teen showed me a live TikTok of an angry pro-Palestinian group, shouting and marching through Vienna’s historical downtown 1st district. At first, they were alone. It took several minutes for the police to arrive, and then the video went down. I opened Telegram and wrote a short message to the Ukrainians, just a heads up to be cautious if you are in the area around Stephansplatz. They start panicking. I immediately regret having said anything. I tried to explain, calmly, that I was in the city center on Saturday evening and everything was calm (very calm, in fact, I was surprised to see the Israeli Cultural Center in Wien seemingly totally unguarded by police at night), but at the moment I think a certain amount of increased awareness is warranted. I think it is fair to say that there is a heightened risk of terrorism at the moment, and although we should not change our lives as a result, we should also use our eyes and ears. It is all anyone can do.
Austria’s ORF has an excellent correspondent, Tim Cupal, in Israel who is giving very balanced reports on the current situation. On the radio this morning he warned about the potential border opening (has not yet happened) to allow civilians to flee Gaza, and gave a very good update. The link is here, begins about 9:16:
https://fm4.orf.at/radio/stories/fm4morningshow/
This all made me think just how much is weighing on Blinken’s shoulders right now. I am really happy to see the U.S. urging for these protections for those caught in the crossfire, and I 100% agree with the last sentence here. Leaders who sit in five star hotels in another country while the millions of ordinary people they claim to represent are left to pay the price for the unthinkable acts of terrorism launched by those leaders — it shocks me that the Arab world collectively doesn’t see this for what it is. I suppose they collectively hate the U.S. and Israel more than they are willing to look themselves in the mirror.
The podcast I mentioned above does a good job of discussing a very uncomfortable topic here in Austria, and Europe more broadly: the racism one learns about home. Anti-semitism is on the rise in part because of what children of certain ethnicities hear at home. Schools can barely counter this. Or perhaps they don’t try hard enough. It is such a strange thing if you stop and think about it. Large groups of people sought protection in safe countries within the EU and North America, yet do not adopt our liberal mentalities about all people deserving respect, being equal, etc. It is almost as if modernity cannot overpower tribalism, and our iPhones only fuel this, as you can search your favourite hashtag and find your “team”. It is frightening that people who have a “good life” do not embrace the values which make all of our collective “good lives” possible. I think, although I did see a few shocking videos out of Canada this week, but in general, I think the U.S. and Canada do a better job within their school systems of teaching anti-racism, anti-discrimination. Europe doesn’t like to talk so much about its own painful history. And when you don’t talk about things, it doesn’t mean they fixed themselves. Quite the opposite.
Yesterday, Poland voted, and Twitter cheered what looked based on exit polls to be a great result for an opposition coalition and a disappointing day for conservative current government. I know nothing about Polish politics, so I will leave that to the experts, but the huge turnout of 72%, more than any other election since the fall of Communism, made me wonder how much of this was driven by women fighting back against the draconian abortion bans in Poland which the conservative government put in place a few years back, and have since led to the deaths of several pregnant women. I wonder if last night was middle class, modern women standing up and saying enough is enough. This long read illustrates the brutal reality of the abortion rules and how they are affecting ordinary families.
Poland is so interesting in the sense that it became an economic powerhouse while not becoming that much less Polish. I would be hesitant to celebrate voters in Poland embracing the political left and center and use that as a model of what might happen in Germany or Austria, because Poland did not let in waves of migrants of non-European backgrounds since 2015. It is exactly this issue which perhaps more than any other drives voters in German-speaking countries to the far right. Economic sluggishness and an increase in ethnic diversity on city streets are tied together in these voter’s minds. They want to live in an all-white utopia in which everyone has a factory job and a solid car. They want to turn the clocks back to 1980, having erased from their heads all the problems society had back then, too. Poland’s voters did not vote on the issue. They voted on many issues, but waves of non-European immigration and its affects on their own country was not one of them. Important therefore not to draw rash conclusions for the rest of western Europe.
Here in Austria, I have been busy doing the usual: answering questions in the Telegram group, still sending out the occasional supermarket gift card (thank you), and writing my little speech for our press conference tomorrow. I wrote it in English, translated it via Deepl, and to my amazement the organisers said they don’t need to edit a word. Technology does amazing things sometimes. While the timing is less than ideal, and this did give me pause at first, the idea behind the press conference is to draw the attention of journalists and the public to the ongoing challenges Ukrainians who fled the war face in Austria. The organisers have also started a petition which you can sign here to demand Austria’s politicians grant Ukrainians the same access to social and financial programs as those immigrants who have had their asylum claims approved. As I have written here many times, the core root of so many problems here is the Grundversorgung system and its restrictions. The argument is to move Ukrainians out of this entirely.
I will be joined tomorrow by two Ukrainians from my Telegram group, one of whom will talk about schools, and the other on what it is like to live in organized housing when you are given only €40 per month. Jenia, Austria’s leading expert (not by choice!) on the Zuverdienstgrenze for Ukrainians in Grundversorgung will also be speaking. I will publish tomorrow my speech in German after the event. I am really trying to give a voice to those who are not often heard from.
The Ukrainian reaction has be interesting. Many are completely terrified that making any kind of demands on politics will backfire. They are worried that if you ask for more, you might end up with nothing. Some understand the democratic political process and how lobbying works and know that demanding something doesn’t mean you will get it — it means you started a public conversation and increased awareness. It has been a learning experience for me to see this play out inside our Telegram chat. I find myself explaining over and over what the goal is. Some are fearful, having heard from those who applied for asylum that they cannot travel back to their homelands. “Will they ban us from going home to Ukraine?” is a common question. You definitely feel, leading into yet another winter of war, the marks trauma has left on ordinary Ukrainians. The immediate panic, the distrust, the fear. I try to tell myself that is what is talking each time I am the recipient of a message which is on the surface aggressive and il-informed.
I also received this message this morning and it makes me so sad, especially because there really is no good advice to give other than “try to find a new school”. We cannot expect refugees to afford private tutoring. I do understand the teachers too must also be overwhelmed. We will try to talk about education tomorrow, too.
The mom writes me now “we fully accept everything new and thank them for helping us a lot. But time passes and children lose the knowledge they acquired in Ukraine. I am now showing with my own example how important it is to know the language, that this is the future. That knowing the language will open up more opportunities. And I see that they are able to learn the language, that they are slowly starting to speak and understand something. What worries me very much is that there is no mathematics for example. They are now solving mathematics for the 6th grade of a Ukrainian school, we try to do the assignments at home, at least sometimes. What is needed is a system. Same with German. How can you be in the same class with children with age difference of 4 or 5 years?” I agree with all of her points and promise to try and express some of them tomorrow, time permitting.
Finally, I was also dealing at the end of last week with a complicated, very concerning situation of vulnerable people reportedly being manipulated en masse by those in a position of power. The situation did receive some local press coverage last year, but never got any better. As I am not a professional journalist, nor do I have a legal background to understand what is and isn’t against the law here, I think the best thing for me to do is pass on all the evidence I have from brave Ukrainians who approached me, asking someone to do something, to both those in government and professional journalists who can do a proper report, I hope.
I don’t like writing cryptically, but in this case I must. A brief summary: there is a private organization founded by Austrians which positions itself as helping refugees and operates a privately-run housing complex. The organization recruits refugees using social media in Ukraine and offers free bus transportation and help crossing the border if, for example, they don’t have international passports. The recruiting is said to be done by a female Ukrainian rumoured to be in a romantic relationship with one of the Austrians. The locals are influential and well connected within their community. They position themselves as do-gooders. Once the desperate Ukrainians arrive, elderly, mothers with children, they sign pages and pages of living agreements (the woman I spoke with signed at 4am after travelling for days) which essentially demand they hand over the benefit money they receive from the Austrian state to the landlord, in exchange for their beds and cafeteria meals. When I say all payments, I mean it: Grundversorgung monthly stipend, Familienbeihilfe child benefit, even the Klimabonus!
The women tell me the food is expired and not enough, and that there is a cupboard with chocolates set aside just in case inspectors come, to show what is there for kids, but the kids never see this stuff. Locals apparently also donated backpacks and school supplies, but the kids went to school empty-handed. The donations are put in storage as if to show how everything is in full supply. There are “jobs” on site, €52 paid for a 14 hour shift, 10 shifts per month. And on and on and on. Smart mothers figured out how to find other housing and ran away. They are now being threatened with bills from the organization running the place. Mothers with children of course make great tenants, as they receive extra money from the state.
One of the mothers who contacted me went to an NGO in Austria technically responsible for oversight of this region. They listened to her, and advised she file a complaint with the police. She discovered when she went online to apply for a regional school supply payment for children that someone had already filed a claim on behalf of her children. But it wasn’t her. And she says the organisation running the campus is the only place that would have this information. They even, I was told, go with Ukrainians when they open bank accounts, and then demand residents hand over the cash they receive from the government. This is all even documented, on paper; there are receipts for payments in cash.
An Austrian lawyer told me they might not even be breaking any laws charging exorbitant rent. Morally, another question. Although you would think things like child benefit should be, in theory, untouchable. In short, it’s complicated and certainly dubious from the sounds of it. Actively searching for new recruits over social media in Ukraine? As this mother told me: they stayed in their city until the last possible moment. They were hungry in Ukraine, and they ended up being hungry in Austria, too. There was no work at home. She finally decided to leave with her kids when the windows of their apartment blew out. That was this summer. She is now living in a privately-rented room and is happy to have been able to find this solution for her and her kids. She wants to learn German and work. She wants to stay here. She stayed in Ukraine as long as she could, and then decided to leave when it became unbearable. And then she encountered these people.
It makes your blood boil, when you hear it from the perspective of the Ukrainians, and yet I am sure the other side will tell a very different story. Therefore, the story needs to be properly told by professionals, and those in a position to investigate must do so, I hope.
Phew, more than enough for today. Wish us luck for tomorrow. I will share my speech with you all after the event.
Thank you for reading.