The non-partisan platform Democracy Austria has been touring the country for a week now and is providing information about the anti-democratic background of the term “People’s Chancellor”, which FPÖ chairman Herbert Kickl has been using to describe himself for some time. The focus of the tour is a mobile large screen that shows short educational videos on the topic in public places, which are met with great interest everywhere. The “reconnaissance tour” began on September 5th in front of the Federal Chancellery and is currently on its way to the southeast of Austria – after stops in Vienna, Linz, Salzburg and Innsbruck.
Robert Luschnik, board member of the Platform for Democracy Austria, draws a positive interim conclusion: “Every stop shows us how important this is. The vast majority of people are shocked that the Kickl-FPÖ advertises with terms that were already part of Nazi propaganda. But only a few were aware of this beforehand.” According to Luschnik, in the last week alone, “around half a million Austrians – either on the street or online – saw a video of us.”
Kickl created the “Streisand effect”
Meanwhile, the FPÖ continued its untenable attacks against the Democracy Austria platform. Most recently, FPÖ chairman Kickl insinuated that she had compared him to Adolf Hitler during an ORF duel for the 2024 election. In fact, the Democracy Austria Platform has never made this comparison, according to Luschnik: “Herbert Kickl is once again taking on the self-imposed role of victim, that is a tried and tested pattern of the FPÖ.” With its activities, the Democracy Austria Platform is simply pointing out that that the term “People’s Chancellor” is extremely problematic due to its historically verifiable use by the National Socialists. “If a politician like Herbert Kickl still uses this historically charged term from the Nazi era for himself in the election campaign, then he must accept that this is discussed and critically questioned.”
In any case, the false claims, lawsuits, advertisements and other attempts at intimidation by the Kickl-FPÖ will not stop us from further highlighting the problem of the term “People’s Chancellor,” said Luschnik. In fact, the FPÖ has actually had the opposite effect: “Since the FPÖ launched its public attacks against us three weeks ago, we have had tens of thousands of visitors to our website every day www.demokratie-oesterreich.at and the number of online donations has increased tenfold. That’s what you call it Streisand effect.
The “People’s Chancellor” educational tour was only possible because of this, after all, the platform relies on donations for its information and educational work, said Luschnik, who ended with a corresponding appeal. Anyone who wants to support the work of the Democracy Austria Platform can do so at https://www.demokratie-oesterreich.at/spenden/ again.
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