The (Im)possibility of Creating Counter-hegemony against Right-wing Populism. The Case of Austria

Since the mid 1980s Austria is characterized by a strong right-wing populist party, the Austrian Freedom Party (Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs, FPÖ). Austria’s integration into the European Union in 1995, economic globalization, the neoliberal restructuring of the country, and cuts in social welfare created the window of opportunity for nationalist right-wing populists. The FPÖ’s strategy to maximize votes and to constituency has been since then to form ‘the people’ as a community of ‘us’ against the ‘others’ based on ethnicity and nationality. Moreover, this anti-immigrant-strategy is fostered by the construction of others such as Muslims, intellectuals, the political elite, the EU, feminists, and LGBT people. Since the turn of the century the Austrian rightists’ aim to creating an anti-hegemonic consensus rests on chains of equivalence, which start by focusing on Muslim immigrants. This anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim consensus draws on a strong tradition of ‘institutional racism’ as wells as on xenophobic opinions of the Austrian population combined with an ‘anti-genderist’ and ‘anti-feminist’ tone. These attempts to forge an anti-immigrant consensus triggered counter forces in the Austrian civil society but also within political organizations of the strong Austrian social partnership. The first publicly visible event was a manifestation in 1993 protesting against an anti-immigrant referendum launched by the FPÖ. This paper asks if and how civil society organizations are able to fight right-wing populism, racism and anti-genderism by organizing a counter-hegemonic discourse. What are the conditions for forging discursive coalitions and joint critical citizenship acts against racism and ‘othering’. A special focus will be put on intersectionality at the interface of immigration, gender and sexuality. The paper draws on focus group interviews with nine Austrian civil society organizations in the field. It will analyze the activities to create counter-hegemony based on an intersectionality approach, the resources available for these activities, the framing of acts of citizenship as well as dissenting frames in the fight against right-wing racism. Also, the chapter will assess the role of the state in the mobilization and organization of civil society organizations.