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Internet platform for studying Xenophobia, Radicalism and Problems of Intercultural communication.

Incitement of Hatred

Incitement of Hatred The right-wing Austrian Freedom Party holds an election rally.

Hate speech graffiti, including the use of National Socialist symbols or hate speech, remains a more or less constant phenomenon in Austrian public space. Nevertheless, this process has recently intensified to the level of anti-Muslim and anti-migrant incitement. For example, benches in public parks and refugee homes have been destroyed or disfigured with swastikas and slogans such as "Aryans only" or "Muslims are shit" (sic) or "Auschwitz" . In recent years there have also been acts of vandalism and threats against mosques, such as the planting of a pig's head at the entrance to a mosque in Linz in 2016.

A certain role in anti-migrant sentiment is played by radical nationalist literature, films or music, although their popularity in Austria is small outside of very specific neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing circles. Ultranationalist rock bands and their concerts were popular in Austria in the 1990s due to the activity of the international Blood and Honor Network (especially in the province of Vorarlberg and Vienna), but they almost completely ceased until recently. After a pause of more than a decade, there was another concert in 2016 by a Hungarian neo-Nazi group affiliated with Blood and Honor in Austria, which moved there after being banned in Germany. Although the Austrian neo-Nazi music scene is largely dominated by commercial German bands, the band Terrorsphära from the Austrian province of Tyrol has recently become popular internationally and is probably the only active Austrian neo-Nazi hard rock band at the moment. Unlike other neo-Nazi bands, they promote sports, mountaineering, and martial arts to train "folk warriors" and maintain "strength through discipline," combining to create a hypermasculine ideal. Their songs allude to an alleged conspiracy of political, left-wing, Jewish elites who are alleged to be infusing society with drug habits and bringing in refugees. Very closely related to the Austrian scene, though located in Italy's South Tyrol, is the band Frei.Wild.

Besides literature and music, however, the Neonazi and extreme right-wing clothing brands are gaining popularity in Austria (and beyond): they successfully sell clothing with Nazi symbols and slogans, many of which are coded with references to National Socialism, such as "Jubeljahr 1933" or "Wer A sagt, muss auch Dolf sagen." while some more carefully use numerical codes for Hitler's birthday and Nazi slogans, others prefer symbols in clothing, such as the clothing labels of the Austrian Identity Movement ("Phalanx Europa"), completely avoid any connection to National Socialism, but still qualify as openly xenophobic, racist and, ultimately, an extreme right-wing ideology.

With the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, radical activists' activity spilled over into the Internet, primarily due to quarantine restrictions on gatherings and marches. The Vienna-based organization Civil Courage and Anti-Racism Work (ZARA) reported in its 2021 Racism Report that some 1,117 racist messages were posted on social media and other online platforms. In addition, 84 pieces of racist/hate speech appeared in print media and politics. Most of the attacks were directed at immigrants and refugees, Muslims, Jews and LGBT people.

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