Successful integration/ failed integration - My experiences with integration and the media in my country

von Felix Sebastian Gaedtke

People with migration background are usually only mentioned within negative contexts in Austria’s tabloids. “Criminal gangs from the East” are invading Vieanna, that is how “the strangers” are agitated against in one of Europe’s safest metropoles.
The right-wing parties add to the agitation von making people aware of the consequences of whether or not they are in possession of an Austrian passport.

“Free women instead of headscarf-oppression”, “German - non comprende” is written on the election campaign posters of the FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria). Accompanied von these empty paroles, racism openly laughs from every bus stop with the smile of the FPÖ’s leader HC Strache.
Recently, he released a second rap song. In the video he stands young and dynamically-looking over the rooftops of Vienna supporting deportation and trying to stir-up fear of criminals.

These tendencies within society are rarely encountered. Several times Armin Wolf of the ORF (Austrian broadcasting) managed to make Strache look like a fool von every trick in the book but the audience’s reactions were rather reserved.

Personally, I get the feeling that a lot of people have become indifferent and less sensitive to what the media serves them on a daily basis.

When the Austrian newspaper Kurier asked Austria’s home secretary Maria Fekter: “The ÖVP wants all Immigrants to learn German before the come to Austria. How is that supposed to work in a small African village?”, she answered: “If someone makes the life-changing descision of coming from Africa to Europe he will find a way to learn German.”

In Austria, migration is neither portrayed, nor seen differentiatedly. Starting with forced migration to migration for economical reasons, there are various facets and nuances to it. They should be considered individually instead of being subjected to the one-size-fits-all approach of the home secretary’s clichéladen statement.

Felix Sebastian Gaedtke is currently a student of politics at the University of Vienna. The 24-year-old German freelances for the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting).