What is happening in Austria?

austrian-elections-exit-polls-collapse-far-right-support

I came across this article and found that it is quite good as to analysis and background. Take the time to read it.

Yet, for me it does not address the main issue. Why did Kurz despite his failings get a 37 per cent support?
Maybe because the Left is doing bad rather than Kurz doing well?

The saddest thing is that Austria is electing a politician promising tax cuts, meaning downgrading a social net that made quality of life in Austria one of the best in the world.
Maybe soon Austrian will start experiencing an NHS like system with long doctors and hospital waiting time. Then they will feel the need to run towards private medical insurance and private pensions.

Sad, I wonder if they understand what they voted for.

In the past, whether the Right won or the Left, the country was managed by a coalition of OVP and SPO, mainstream right and left.
This made a balance that preserved both competitive economy with superb social net system.

They never experienced a full rule of the Right with tax cuts, disregard for wealth distribution, and active destruction of the social net system.

What is really sad is that Social Democrats and Greens are not forming a coalition while in reality they meet over so many subjects and social issues.
Big business cannot be green, and most probably damage will be done before the Greens realize the real price of an alliance with Kurz.

Let's wait and see.
I just hope that populism and the failure of social democrats will not ruin a country that until now was a synonym of good life.

Though sadly many of its inhabitants do not understand or realize their luck.

Brexit: waiting for Godot

I feel and sound like a broken recorder.

Who is responsible for Brexit, why Brexit, is it possible that people are blind to the consequences of their choice, do those who voted Brexit hate Europeans or have they been duped about the benefits of insulare Britain, are they ready to sacrifice Scotland and Ireland...
Honestly, there is no rational explanation. It is all about clichés and populist politicians.

But behind Brexit there is another question that looms.
Why is the English political system as a whole and the Parliament in particular, failing to address Brexit?
Before Theresa May resigned we marathon voting in Parliament on motions related to solutions for the Brexit dilemma. Nothing came out of it, they could not agree.
Today, MPs barely pulled a vote against ''no deal Brexit''. The heroes of this vote are the Conservative deputies who sacrificed their careers to prevent a catastrophic outcome to Johnson's EU strategy.

Where is Labour in all of this? It would have been up to them to lead the country in another direction. Corbyn failed miserably.
He is a Eurosceptic himself who did not fight during the Brexit referendum on behalf of the 'remain vote'. But why? Europe defends workers rights, spearhead gender equality, protects the rights of minorities and freedom of sexual choices, issues strict environmental and health regulation on manufacturing, prevents the spread of genetically engineered crops. Aren't these aims and goals of what is called 'the left'?

Corbyn today has failed to lead on a solution to Brexit. He is not clear about a second referendum, he is not clear about Brexit strategy, he is not clear on anything. He is not trusted to lead a caretaker government and is not ready to compromise by appointing an acceptable person. And today, after the failed Johnson performance in Luxembourg, the buzz is that the EU does not trust Johnson, and equally does not trust Corbyn, so Europeans are starting to think that best for England to leave the EU as it is unstable and failing.

By exaggeration maybe, I would say the real culprit in the Brexit mess is Corbyn for his lack of leadership rather than any action he took or takes.

I am sad to say it, I am mainly disappointed.

Are we all bigots?

By We, I mean all those who are offended by Trump’s racist remarks or Johnson’s sexist terminology, or … in short, by the discourse that have seeped into political life all over the world and that is dubbed by many as populism.

We should take a deeper look at the reasons. A great number of voters are electing politicians that are ‘saying it as is’ without pandering to political correctness. Why? it is not enough to dismiss all of them as uneducated, bigoted, or stupid.
It is not true.

Look honestly into your deepest emotions, even if you do not like them.
Don’t you feel irritated when you see a fully veiled woman walking the roads of Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, or Beirut? I do.
Don’t you feel irritated when you see persons behaving in a manner that is not in line with the classical ‘proper behaviour in your country? Whether talking loudly or getting bathrooms wet in airport for ablution purposes? I do.
Don’t you sometimes feel that some feminists are taking harassment to excess. I do.
And I could go on forever about small insignificant irritations that could put me in the corner of bigots and sexists.

Yet, I am a woman activist, a human rights activist, and a person who does not believe that cultures clash. Rather I believe that cultural interactions enrich.
Anyway, what separate people is not culture, it is stage of development.

But I cannot deny my human deep dark emotions. What separate me from an extreme right or white supremacist person or bigot, or just a person afraid of the other he does not know, is that I know how to analyse these emotions and put them where they really belong.

We need to understand that adopting a superior elitist discourse is the main reason people that vote for the extreme right. We do not acknowledge, respect, and discuss their fears.

We and the Left all over the world lost the connection to other people’s fears and concerns.
We became the bigots.

She told me: I landed in Beirut

And what a shock!

After two months away in one of Europe's best quality life cities, it is a real shock!
Started on the plane. Noise and people talking at loud voice, then the moment the plane landed and way before the seat belt sign off, a real stampede. But before that, a bad smell seeping into the plane.

The airport was not too bad as to speed of processing and bag arriving quickly. But then, maybe because it is low season. Will have to wait and see.
The temperature according to the captain on the plane was 26 degrees, so was hoping for nice weather. What a mistake! Humidity so high that you feel like suffocating, or is it the pollution, I do not know.

The trip from the airport to home quite intriguing. At 11 pm the city is buzzing with life and full of lights. I wonder, why don't the government privatize electricity, it already is. Lebanese are ingenuous and managed to have alternate sources as the public electricity service is failing, but at what cost; generators churning pollution into the air!

In bed reading trying to settle for a night sleep, could not block the noise of people laughing and talking loudly though all my windows are closed. There is a definite buzz in the air that never stops.
This morning woke up to an electricity cut....

Looking forward to a breakfast of Mankoushe or maybe foul (fava beans), nothing can top Lebanese food!
Oh yes, I forgot my internet experience.
Connecting to my accounts, one must get used to click and wait until one is connected, as to updates, don't even mention, expect long long delays. The browsing experience in Lebanon teaches you patience.

Anyway, Beirut is a lively city that one might would enjoy visiting as a tourist, but for living, quality of life is not an option I would choose.

So yeah, a shock, but am not complaining, I will try to enjoy the food and the buzz keeping in my mind that I have the option to leave for a break when it becomes unbearable.