Syndicate: Letter by Robert Fleck

[Inke Arns <inke@snafu.de>]

From: "buergel-noack" <buergel-noack@EUnet.at>
Subject: Letter by Robert Fleck
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 18:25:39 -0000



Dear Friends,

in our view Fleck's idea of a boycott of Austria is highly irresponsible.
Its emphasis on the nationstate =96 AUSTRIA =96 as well as its
inside/outside-differentiation between the (allegedly) endangered Eastern
European countries and the civilized West is part of the problem, not of
the solution. The effect of cutting off the discourse of the international
art world would be same as the boycott of any banana republic shunned by
the West: the poor starve, in this case the people who try to resist the
implementation of an authoritarian regime. For our resistance we need
resources =96 art among other things. We need solidarity, no moral
gestures, no phone calls (because we are on the streets and, while
shouting, won't hear the cell phone ring). The idea with Naziland is fine
but far too easy. Maybe we have to invent some new categories to grasp
what's going on. People are quite right in highlighting a profound
continuity between the politics of the Socialdemocrats and the new
government. The FPOE is a party elected by a third of the young voters.
They are quite plainly not Nationalsocialists. Rather, they follow the
appeal of a leader who promises to keep privileges in times of change. We
have to win back these voters (or win them at all). Moral masochism, even
though it proves  entirely satisfying to some, offers no help.


Ruth Noack, Roger M. Buergel


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