Human Rights A Day

European protests prompt resignation of right-wing Austrian leader Joerg Haider from coalition government. Austria’s history is full of far-right political movements, notably the willingness of many Austrians to join Hitler’s Germany prior to World War II. Even after the war, however, the far-right commanded popular support. The country elected former United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim as president in 1986 despite his well-known involvement as First Lieutenant in the German Army during the war. In October 1999, the right-wing Freedom Party won 27 per cent of the popular vote in national elections and a few months later became part of Austria’s coalition government. Joerg Haider, the leader of the Freedom Party, had a history of statements somewhat complimentary toward Austrian and German Nazis, and most Europeans regarded the party as extreme. So Europe’s swift reaction to the Freedom Party’s ascendancy was to condemn Austria in the European Union, downgrade diplomatic ties and freeze bilateral po