Multicultural Meanderings
Working site on citizenship and multiculturalism issues.
“Because it’s 2015 …” Implementing Diversity and Inclusion
Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote
Multiculturalism in Canada: Evidence and Anecdote (2016 Census data)
Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias: Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism
10 Inconvenient Truths: Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias Deck
Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias – One Year Later
Excerpt: Introduction
Media Quotes
Book Launch Speaking Notes
Reference Charts and Tables
Chart 1: Evolution of Canadian Diversity 1867 – 2017
Chart 2: Situating Immigration, Integration and Citizenship within Broader Context
Chart 3: Ministerial Outreach by Community
Table 1: Multiculturalism Program Evolution
Table 2: Citizenship and Multiculturalism Policy Shifts
Table 3: Contrasting Multiculturalism Priorities — 2004-5 to 2011-11
Table 4: Contrasting Ministerial Messaging 2003-04 and 2011-12
Table 5: Ethnic Community Specific Challenges
Table 6: Religious Group Specific Challenges
Table 7: Comparison Between Current and Proposed Programming
Table 8: Language Assessment and Equivalencies
Table 9: Diversity Paradigms
Table 10: Multiculturalism/ Interculturalisme Comparison
Table 11: Radicalization-Related Multiculturalism Projects
Table 12: Transition to CIC Organizational Structure
Appendix A: Source Country of Immigrants 2005 – 2012
Appendix B: Categories of Immigrants 2005 – 2012
Appendix C: Ministerial Speeches and Statements by Community 2007 – 11
Appendix D: Lapses in Multiculturalism Program G&Cs
Appendix E: Key Ministerial Messages in Annual Reports of the Canadian Multiculturalism Act
Appendix F: Citizenship Operational Statistics and Backlog
Appendix G: Source Country of New Canadian Citizens
Appendix H: CIC Datasets Sorted by Program Area
Deck – 10 Inconvenient Truths
Living with Cancer: A Journey
Canadian Bar Association Presentation 8 May 2015: Citizenship: “Harder to Get and Easier to Lose”
The Evolution of Citizenship: Policy, Program and Operations
The Evolution of Citizenship: Policy, Program and Operations: Sources
The new citizenship act is efficient. Is it fair?
A relentlessly upbeat take on citizenship: My Review of Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship
Multiculturalism: Getting the Balance Right
Role of Media in Integrating Immigrants: Metropolis Panel Discussion
Policy Arrogance or Innocent Bias
Resetting Citizenship and Multiculturalism: Optimum Online Vol. 43 Issue 2 June 2013
Excerpt: Discover Canada Citizenship Guide
ATIP
ATIP Delay Log
C-6/C-24
C-6 Committee Meetings
Alliance of Canadian Terror Victims Presentation – May 5
B’nai Brith C-24 Brief – April 30
C-24 Committee Meetings
Canadian Arab Institute
Canadian Association of Professional Immigration Consultants
Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers (CARL)
Canadian Council for Refugees
Christopher Thomson (pre-PR time)
Metro Toronto Chinese & Southeast Asian Legal Clinic Submission – May 12
New Citizenship Act is Efficient. Is it Fair?
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants – April 30
Parkdale Community Legal Services Brief – May 5
Parkdale Community Legal Services Statements – C-24 – May 5
Pre-PR Time Counts – Brief – May 7
Pre-PR Time Counts – C-24 Statement – May 7
Professor Elke Winter, University of Ottawa – Statement – May 7
Professor Patti Tamara Lenard, U of Ottawa – Brief – May 7
Unicef Canada
Election 2019 and Ethnic Media
Ethnic Media Coverage
Riding profile links
Top ridings by group
Interculturalisme
ICYMI: Far-right targets Austria’s first refugee minister
2020/01/13 Leave a comment
Of note:
Less than a week after Austria’s new conservative-Green coalition took power, it has already become a target for far-right supporters, who have railed against the country’s first minister with a refugee background.
Justice Minister Alma Zadic, who was born in Bosnia and fled the wars that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s with her family at the age of 10, has faced a wave of social media abuse — and even death threats.
The abuse has often appeared under posts from politicians from the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) — a junior coalition partner until May — revealing racist attitudes some say were fostered by the party during its time in office.
“A criminal Muslim woman becoming justice minister. Sharia (Islamic law) is coming soon,” read one such contribution.
In response Zadic, of the Green Party, has received support from across the political spectrum.
Conservative chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who also headed the coalition with the FPOe, vowed on Thursday to “fight online hate — whether from the left, Islamists or the right”.
“Alma Zadic and all others who are affected by this have my full support!” he tweeted.
– ‘Anything but pleasant’ –
Zadic grew up in Vienna’s multicultural Favoriten district.
She told the Kurier newspaper she did not speak a word of German when she arrived: “The teachers didn’t know what to do with me.
“My experiences were anything but pleasant for an ambitious young girl.”
Now, at 35 years old, she has reached the cabinet.
Austria has taken far longer to reach the milestone of minority representation at this level than many other Western countries.
As in neighbouring Germany, Austrian society traditionally saw immigrants as “guest workers”, according to sociologist Kenan Guengoer, who serves on an official expert panel on integration.
Historically, they were viewed as “people who are here temporarily and would go back”, Guengoer says.
Both “guest workers” and refugees made up the forerunners of today’s population of more than 530,000 who have roots in the former Yugoslavia.
But the reception to Zadic hints at other reasons that progress in Austria has taken so long.
– ‘Overachiever’ –
Austria’s Bosnian community is considered to be among the best integrated, according to journalist and former teacher Melisa Erkurt — who was herself born in Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo.
Erkurt describes Zadic as “an overachiever”.
After studying law in Vienna and at Columbia University in New York, Zadic gained experience at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia before going on to work for an international law firm.
She will need all of her skills to navigate a brief where the two coalition partners are expected to clash.
But some in the far-right FPOe, which left government after being engulfed in a corruption scandal, were unimpressed by her CV.
Their main gripe was a civil case in which Zadic was ordered to pay compensation to a student from a right-wing fraternity who had been photographed making a gesture some interpreted as a Hitler salute.
Zadic shared the image on Twitter with the words: “No tolerance for neo-Nazis, fascists and racists.”
The student in question insisted he was simply waving to friends. Zadic is appealing against the decision.
– Cautionary tale –
According to Erkurt, Zadic could serve as a much-needed role model for young ethnic minority Austrians whom she says have not traditionally been encouraged to aim for positions of power.
“I work with many young girls and I can say to a 14-year-old girl called Fatima: ‘You really can achieve anything in Austria, it’s not just a cliche,'” says Erkurt.
But at the same time, she says Zadic’s treatment could be a cautionary tale.
Zadic has been targeted “despite the fact she speaks perfect German, she has a doctorate, she doesn’t wear a headscarf”.
“In other words, you can do everything ‘right’ in Austria but still be met with racism,” Erkurt says.
Indeed, in defending Zadic the Green party felt it necessary to clarify she did not practise any religion.
Kurz also came in for criticism after he mistakenly said she had been convicted of a criminal offence then later tweeted a clarification, adding: “I know and value her and think she is qualified.”
Florian Klenk, editor of the left-leaning Falter magazine, accused him of offering a “half-hearted” defence his minister.
Kurz’s fate is “connected to Zadic’s future”, Klenk wrote, adding: “She has become a symbol for this government.”
Source: Far-right targets Austria’s first refugee minister
Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with Alma Zadic, Austria, far right
Austrian State Plans 10 Commandments for Immigrants, Demands Refugees ‘Show Gratitude’ and Adopt ‘Austrian Values’
While some of the rules are normal (e.g., adhere to laws, learn German), others are less so (e.g., adhere to Austrian values however defined, show gratitude to Austria):
A state government in Austria is planning to introduce a new set of rules for immigrants to follow upon arrival in the country, which have become known as the “Ten Commandments of Immigration.”
According to Deutsche Welle, the list of demands will be issued to new immigrants—including refugees—as soon as they arrive in Lower Austria, the country’s largest and second most populous state.
According to German newspaper Welt, the project is being headed by Gottfried Waldhäusl, a member of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) and the state minister responsible for asylum policy. The FPÖ, which governs as a junior coalition partner with the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP), is well-known for its anti-migration stance.
The new rules will require migrants to learn German, adhere to all Austrian laws and adopt “Austrian values” in raising their children. It will also commit new arrivals to resolve conflicts nonviolently, respect religious freedom, prevent unnecessary suffering to animals—an implicit challenge to traditional halal or kosher slaughter—and show gratitude to Austria.
The commandments will be combined with integration classes, offered in 15 different languages, for foreigners applying for asylum. All those wishing to stay in Austria will be required to sign an agreement to follow the rules.
Waldhäusl told Welt the commandments would be issued to refugees alongside official asylum application documents. The minister did not specify when the new policy would come into force, but said it would do so “soon.”
Waldhäusl is known for his hard stance on immigration, which is in line with his party’s policies. He is the only FPÖ representative in the Lower Austria state government, which is controlled by the ÖVP and led by Johanna Mikl-Leitner.
Last year, Waldhäusl was criticized after establishing a fenced-off refugee center in the town of Drasenhofen close to the Czech border. The facility was designed to hold young “notorious troublemakers,” who were guarded by security staff and only allowed to leave their accommodation if accompanied by said guards.
Waldhäusl was also accused of prejudice last year when he proposed forcing Jews to apply for permits to purchase kosher meat. Though he argued that plan made sense “from an animal welfare point of view,” opponents said such a system would require a list of Jewish people to be drawn up, as under Adolf Hitler’s Nazi government in the 1930s and 1940s.
The FPÖ has regularly been accused of promoting and facilitating anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and xenophobic ideology, though its leaders have consistently attempted to distance the party from racism and predujice exhibited by some of its members.
The party was founded in the 1950s by former Nazi SS soldiers, and rose to prominence in the 2017 parliamentary election, becoming the third biggest party. It has since become a standard-bearer for resurgent right-wing politics in Europe, with hard-line anti-immigration views and demands for tighter border controls.
Source: Austrian State Plans 10 Commandments for Immigrants, Demands Refugees ‘Show Gratitude’ and Adopt ‘Austrian Values’
Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with Austria, values
Is there an Austrian link to New Zealand mosque attacks?
More on the possible Austrian link:
The Austrian authorities are investigating possible connections after it emerged that the main suspect in the Christchurch mosque attacks made a donation of €1,500 (£1,293) to the far-right Identitarian Movement in Austria (IBÖ).
The suspect visited Austria from 27 November to 4 December last year, according to Austria’s Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, who said that potential links to Austrian extremists were being looked into.
Police have searched the house of the charismatic, social media-savvy IBÖ leader, Martin Sellner, who has done much to raise the profile of the Identitarians throughout Europe.
The group is hostile to multiculturalism, and claims to defend Europe against migrants, especially Muslims.
Mr Sellner has firmly denied any involvement with the 15 March attacks, which killed 50 people, but admits he received the donation and wrote an email of thanks.
In a video posted online, he said: “I am not a member of a terrorist organisation. I have nothing to do with this man, other than that I passively received a donation from him.”
Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has said the group will be dissolved if it is deemed to be a terrorist organisation.
“There must be no tolerance for dangerous ideologies in our country – no matter if it’s radical Islam or right-wing fanaticism,” he said.
The main suspect in the Christchurch mosque attacks, Australian Brenton Tarrant, also seems to have had a preoccupation with Austrian history – something the interior minister said was being investigated.
Austrian landmark
The suspect’s clothes and weapons were covered with writing and symbols.
One of the words daubed in white on a gun magazine was “Vienna”.
There was also a string of names of historical figures, including that of Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg, the military commander of Vienna during the Ottoman siege of 1683.
Starhemberg and his company of 20,000 men defended the city against the 120,000-strong Ottoman army, which was eventually defeated by the combined forces of Poles, Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire.
The Battle of Vienna in 1683 is often cited by historians as the point where the Ottoman advance on Western Europe was stopped; the turning of the tide in the Muslim/Christian struggle for the control of Europe.
As such, it is a date celebrated by the far right, including, it seems, the Christchurch suspect, who is a self-confessed anti-Muslim white supremacist.
‘The Great Replacement’
The Documentation Archive of the Austrian Resistance (DOEW), which researches extreme-right activity, says there are “many rhetorical and ideological overlaps” between groups like the Identitarians and the suspected Christchurch attacker.
“The title of the attacker’s manifesto, The Great Replacement (which sees immigrants as a threat to “white” Western culture) was a slogan popularised by the Identitarians,” DOEW said on its website.
“Regardless of the outcome of the investigation,” DOEW says, the Identitarians seem to be sticking to their narrative “for the time being”. It points to an IBÖ statement from last week, which speaks of the “Great Replacement” and calls for “De-Islamification”.
The whole affair is uncomfortable not just for the Identitarians, but for Austria’s government as well.
Mr Kurz’s own conservative Austrian People’s Party is in coalition with the far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), making Austria the only country in Western Europe with a far-right presence in government.
FPÖ leader and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache said on Wednesday that his party had “nothing to do with the Identitarians”.
However, Austrian media published photos of FPÖ politicians with members of the group, and Bernhard Weidinger from DOEW told the BBC that there were many links between FPÖ politicians and members of the IBÖ, who often attended each other’s events.
In 2016, before he became interior minister, Herbert Kickl gave a speech to a far-right conference in Linz, called Defenders of Europe. The FPÖ politician addressed his audience, which included Identitarians, as “like-minded people”, according to Austrian media reports.
The FPÖ has also long celebrated the Battle of Vienna victory of 1683. In 2010 it even published a comic, set during the siege, featuring Mr Strache as a knight saving Vienna’s cathedral from an Ottoman minaret.
And when Mr Strache and Mr Kurz presented their government programme back in 2017, shortly before the coalition was sworn in, they broke with tradition, and held the event on Vienna’s Kahlenberg mountain, where the Battle of Vienna took place.
Asked if there was any historical significance to the choice of venue, Mr Kurz said no.
But in a video blog, Mr Sellner hailed it as “a good omen”.
Source: Is there an Austrian link to New Zealand mosque attacks?
Filed under Multiculturalism, Radicalization Tagged with Austria, Christchurch, identitarians
British no more: Why some UK citizens face Brexit dilemma (Austria does not allow dual citizenship)
Yet another consequence of Brexit:
The number of UK citizens acquiring the nationality of another EU country has shot up since the 2016 Brexit referendum.
For many Britons living in Germany, France or Italy, dual nationality solves questions about freedom of movement to work in the EU, pensions and healthcare.
But a handful of EU countries, including Austria, do not generally allow dual citizenship.
That makes things complicated for people like British opera singer Stephen Chaundy, who has lived in Vienna with his family for many years, but often works in theatres and opera houses in Germany.
“Freedom of movement matters to me,” he says.
“I know from colleagues and friends how difficult third-country [non-EU] nationals can have it, in terms of complications of sorting out visas and work permits… and I have already had the situation where a theatre in one European country has said they’re unwilling to hear me,” he adds.
Because of this, Stephen may not be British much longer.
Surrendering Britishness
“Depending on what happens, I am seriously considering having to give up being British and asking to become Austrian,” he says.
Britons who live and work in Austria will be able to continue to do so after Brexit. But there are no guarantees for people like Stephen who rely on freedom of movement.
Jan Hillerman, the secretary of support group UK Citizens in Austria, says feelings about giving up British nationality in order to obtain an Austrian passport are very mixed.
“Some people have done that. Other people are very hesitant,” she says.
“Some people think that this might be an easy way out of the whole Brexit dilemma – but in fact it isn’t: it’ll be costly and take a lot of time.”
Jan says there have been attempts to lobby the Austrian government on the issue of dual nationality for British people after Brexit.
“But I gather that that came to naught and the Austrians have made pretty clear that that’s not on the table,” she says.
Austria does allow dual citizenship in a few exceptional cases, such as those who survived the Holocaust.
In the event of a disorderly Brexit, the Austrian government has said it will allow dual citizenship for around 25,000 Austrians living in Britain – but not for the 11,000 Britons living in Austria.
Why Austria has a problem with dual nationality
In general, the idea of dual nationality is frowned upon here – not least because of tensions with the Turkish minority in Austria.
The far-right Freedom Party – now the junior partner in Austria’s coalition government – has been behind an investigation into whether some Turks in Austria have illegally maintained both Turkish and Austrian nationalities.
Political analyst Thomas Hofer says this colours the whole issue of dual nationality.
“There was a heated debate… saying that there are a lot of Turkish people (who are) Austrian citizens living here and voting in Turkey, especially for President [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan,” he says.
Since then, dual citizenship has become “a touchy issue”.
“The government in the last couple of weeks and months did everything to be very harsh and very strict… the government said that it wanted to avoid this kind of double citizenship.”
A spokesman for the Austrian government, Peter Launsky, acknowledged that Austria had “a more restrictive approach to dual citizenship”.
But he said British citizens were welcome in Austria.
“It is very important to keep stressing that Austria does and will continue to receive British citizens with open arms, irrespective of the outcome of the Brexit process,” he said.
“Any of the British citizens in Austria are extremely well qualified and make a very active and positive contribution to the Austrian labour market.
“And we are very appreciative of that fact… everything will be done to ensure as much continuity as possible, irrespective of the question of citizenship.”
On stage Stephen Chaundy moves smoothly back and forth between the Viennese and English-speaking repertoire.
His latest role was as a Habsburg aristocrat, Count Tassilo – the lead in the classic Viennese operetta Graefin Mariza, at the Theatre Magdeburg in Germany. He is about to go to the Cologne Opera to play Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady.
But in life it is not so simple.
“Although I’ve spent over a third of my life in Austria, I am a Londoner, an Englishman, a Brit – but I’m also European and a big, big part of me is, of course, deeply attached to Austria,” he said.
“If Austria would permit dual nationality I would have taken it in a heartbeat. They are both parts of who I am. They’re both parts of my adult life.
“They’re both parts of my identity and it feels terribly unjust and unfair to have to be asked to choose.”
Source: British no more: Why some UK citizens face Brexit dilemma
Filed under Citizenship, Dual Citizenship Tagged with Austria, BREXIT
Austria’s Jews wary of far-right charm offensive
Rightfully so:
David Lasar’s family is sadly not unusual among Austria’s Jewish community in having lost several members in the Holocaust. But in one respect Lasar stands out — his membership of the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe).
At its foundation, the FPOe was led by two former members of the Waffen SS, so 66-year-old Lasar’s choice of political home might well be considered surprising.
Lasar says he initially joined in the late 1990s as the FPOe was “the only party close to the people, to employees and workers who had been forgotten by the left, while the centre-right was the party of capitalism and big business”.
Now as an FPOe MP he says he has an added reason for throwing his lot in with the party.
“We are fighting tirelessly against anti-Semitism, especially anti-Semitism imported through immigration.
“We are the only party to be fighting against this, together with our partners in government,” he says, referring to the centre-right People’s Party (OeVP) of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
Since entering the coalition government at the end of 2017, the FPOe has made great play of its efforts to foster a rapprochement with the Jewish community, and to establish relations between the party and Israel.
But the Jewish community has largely kept its distance in the face of repeated scandals suggesting that anti-Semitic attitudes are still present in the party’s milieu.
As for Israel, its government has maintained an official boycott of all FPOe ministers, including Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache and Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl, who while not an FPOe member herself, was nominated for the post by the party.
– ‘Political calculation’ –
Benjamin Hess, co-president of the Austrian Union of Jewish Students insists: “We see no change at all within the FPOe.”
Hess himself confronted Strache in a TV programme last year for having shared an anti-Semitic image on his Facebook page in 2012.
“It’s easy to say: ‘I’m against anti-Semitism, it’s much harder to distance yourself from it in reality,” Hess says.
He and others who are still sceptical of the FPOe point in particular to the party’s deep ties to the “Burschenschaften”, student fraternities known for their strident pan-German nationalism and whose alumni include many high-ranking FPOe politicians.
Strache, who himself flirted with neo-Nazism in his youth, has tried to clean up the party’s image, insisting that it rejects anti-Semitism and expelling some of its more embarrassing members.
He has also made trips to Israel, being welcomed on his last visit in 2016 by junior members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party. He also visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.
Lasar says he has also been to Israel on behalf of the party to foster better relations with the Israeli right, and boasts that he has made “excellent contacts”.
“The political calculation is obvious,” says Bernhard Weidinger from the DOeW institute, which researches the Austrian far-right.
When the current government came to power the European Jewish Congress (EJC) warned that “the Freedom Party can not use the Jewish community as a fig leaf and must show tolerance and acceptance towards all communities and minorities,” in an allusion to the FPOe’s anti-Muslim rhetoric.
– ‘No rapprochement’ –
The “imported anti-Semitism” that Lasar speaks of has become a favourite theme of Strache’s too, particularly as since 2015 the country has received some 150,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, many of them from Muslim countries.
In February, Strache launched his new think-tank with a podium discussion on “Islamic anti-Semitism”.
Ten days later, a prominent FPOe politician sent a letter to the Israeli ambassador in Vienna, saying that “supposed far-right extremist incidents” linked to FPOe members in recent months were down to “nothing more than agitation by the FPOe’s political opponents”.
Last year the party’s lead candidate in a regional election, Udo Landbauer, was forced to stand aside after it was revealed that the student fraternity that he belonged to had previously published virulently anti-Semitic songbooks.
He has since returned to politics for the party.
Weidinger points to the fact that the party has taken out adverts in publications that have included anti-Semitic content.
And all this against a backdrop of what Austria’s Forum Against Anti-Semitism says was a doubling of anti-Semitic incidents between 2014 and 2017.
Lasar says that “many Jews” admit to him: “I vote for the FPOe because you are the only ones who are there for us on issues around security and who speak out against radical Islamism.”
But Hess says this is still a minority view within the community.
“You find lots of different opinions among the community in Austria, but one thing unites everyone: no rapprochement with the FPOe.”
Source: Austria’s Jews wary of far-right charm offensive
Filed under Antisemitism, Multiculturalism Tagged with Austria, Austrian Jews, Freedom Party
Dual nationality Turks being stripped of citizenship by far-Right in Austria’s ‘Windrush’ scandal
More dispiriting news from Europe and Austria:
Thousands of people could be stripped of their Austrian citizenship in what is being called the country’s version of the Windrush scandal.
In a campaign orchestrated by the far-Right Freedom Party (FPÖ), hundreds of Austrians of Turkish heritage are currently under investigation by the authorities on suspicion of illegally holding dual citizenship – and authorities say they may widen their investigations to thousands more.
Eighty-five have so far been stripped of their citizenship, but human rights campaigners say the case against them rests on suspect evidence.
Much as the UK invited the Caribbean immigrants of the Windrush Generation, in the sixties and seventies Austria encouraged Turkish people to move to the country, and many eventually became citizens.
But the Freedom Party, which is junior partner in the Austrian coalition government and controls the interior ministry, claims to have obtained a copy of the Turkish electoral register which it says proves thousands of secretly retained their Turkish citizenship as well.
Except for rare cases dual citizenship is illegal in Austria, and the authorities are pursuing the cases in court. But lawyers say the evidence is unreliable.
The Freedom Party has refused to say where it got its list of Turkish voters — and it has already been proved that some of the names on the list are not Turkish citizens.
Cigdem Schiller, who was born in Austria to immigrant parents, was able to prove that she had legally renounced her Turkish citizenship.
“We were shocked when we got a letter about this. My wife burst into tears,” Ms Schiller’s husband, Ingo, said. “We went round to sort it out right away. But the official told us the Turkish electoral list was proof she had a Turkish passport.”
After repeated visits to the Turkish consulate, Ms Schiller was able to provide proof she had renounced Turkish citizenship. And she is not the only one: according to Austrian press reports 72 people named on the Freedom Party’s list have proved they are not Turkish citizens.
That hasn’t stopped the courts accepting the list as evidence. In one case earlier this year a court upheld the decision to strip one man of citizenship on the basis such a list could only have been drawn up by the Turkish authorities.
That has raised fears some people may end up being made stateless. Lawyers say their clients are being forced to prove they are not Turkish citizens, rather than having a case proved against them.
Some have found themselves left in a Catch-22 situation. Peter Weidisch, a laywer for a man named on the list, told Germany’s Welt newspaper the Turkish consulate had refused to help his client obtain the proof he needed — because he wasn’t a Turkish citizen.
Source: Dual nationality Turks being stripped of citizenship by far-Right in Austria’s ‘Windrush’ scandal
Filed under Citizenship, Dual Citizenship, Multiculturalism Tagged with Austria, Turkish
Secretive Fraternities Are Feeding Anti-Semitism in Austria – The Atlantic
Good long but disturbing read:
Like many Austrian fraternities, Germania zu Wiener Neustadt sometimes uses a songbook at its get-togethers. It looks ordinary enough, with its red cover, gold crest, and curling script. The cover is studded with metal nails called “Biernagel” that keep the book slightly elevated so it doesn’t get wet when lying in beer.Unlike most other songbooks, however, it contains lyrics about killing Jews. “Step on the gas,” one line reads. “We’ll manage the seventh million.”
When the Vienna-based newspaper Falter (for which I am a frequent contributor) wrote about the book in January, it promptly derailed the political career of one of the fraternity’s most notable members: Udo Landbauer, who was running as a candidate for Austria’s right-wing Freedom Party (FPÖ) in state elections on January 28. One day before the vote, the Austrian president suggested he step down. On February 1, Landbauer resigned from all political positions. He had been a city councillor in Wiener Neustadt and the head of the FPÖ’s district office in that city.
Landbauer, 31, who was also the deputy chairman of the fraternity for a couple of years, claimed he hadn’t known about such lines: “Not being a gifted singer, I didn’t go through all the pages,” he said in a television interview. The songbook outraged the nation anyway. The prime minister of Lower Austria, Johanna Mikl-Leitner of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP), said she wouldn’t work with Landbauer. Bad international press followed, causing embarrassment the FPÖ could ill afford. In the six weeks since it had become the junior partner in a coalition government with the ÖVP at the federal level, it had struggled to appear respectable. The party had gotten negative press just two weeks earlier, when its minister of the interior proposed “concentrating refugees into camps.” The Jewish community of Vienna, where the majority of the country’s 12,000 to 15,000 Jews live, has been boycotting the FPÖ; it refused to participate in the government’s official Holocaust memorial ceremony last month.Heinz-Christian Strache, Austria’s vice chancellor and head of the FPÖ, announced that he would install a committee of historians to examine the party’s ties to anti-Semitic groups. The party revealed last week that former FPÖ parliamentarian Wilhelm Brauneder will head the commission. Brauneder, who during his tenure as the dean of Vienna University’s law faculty in the late 1980s permitted an event organized by a German right-wing extremist, gets to choose the members of the commission, which is set to issue its first report this October. Whether or not the historians will also study the fraternities’ history depends on whether the fraternities, which are private organizations, voluntarily grant them access to their archives.
Then, this week, the FPÖ suffered another blow. Falter published a new story, this one reporting that the Viennese fraternity Bruna Sudetia also used a songbook containing the same anti-Semitic song. Its head, Herwig Götschober, works on social media for the cabinet of Norbert Hofer, the FPÖ’s minister of infrastructure, and is a district councillor for the FPÖ in Vienna. Götschober reacted by saying that he rejects these lyrics, and added that he had never seen this songbook before. The fraternity is now under investigation, as the circulation of Nazi content is prohibited by Austrian constitutional law; Götschober went on leave from his post.On its homepage, Götschober’s fraternity has a section about its history: World War II is only mentioned when the bombing of its Vienna headquarters in 1944 is described. This silence about the Nazi era has been typical of Austria for much of the 20th century, when the nation saw itself as the first victim of Hitler’s expansionist politics. In 1986, the Nazi past of former UN general secretary and presidential candidate Kurt Waldheim resulted in international pressure. Consequently, then-chancellor Franz Vranitzky acknowledged Austria’s complicity in the war and Nazi crimes in 1993. It took until 2012 for the government to recognize May 8, the anniversary of the capitulation of the Wehrmacht in 1945, as the Day of Liberation. German-nationalistic fraternities still commemorate the dead soldiers on that date. Arguably, scandals like those involving anti-Semitic songbooks keep bubbling up because Austria has yet to grapple with its WWII past as thoroughly as has, say, Germany.
The far right in Austria has a long and vocal history of anti-Semitism, but recently it has been trying to shed that image, instead prioritizing anti-Muslim rhetoric. As part of this shift, members of the far right at times claim they want to protect Jews against Muslims. But their relationship with the fraternity system proves they haven’t shed their anti-Semitism either.The chances are extremely slim that a reassessment of the sort Strache announced would eliminate anti-Semitism in the FPÖ. In order for the party to rid itself of anti-Semitism, it needs to cut its ties to the fraternities—a structural problem that is nearly impossible to tackle.
Austria has many high school and university student associations. What makes these fraternities (“Burschenschaften”) unique is that they’re infused with German nationalism. They originated in German university towns in the first half of the 19th century and stood for a united German nation. During the Nazi era, the fraternities were merged with the Nazi students’ associations. They reemerged after the war. Today, not all members of these fraternities are far-right extremists, anti-Semites, or neo-Nazis; some are right-wing conservatives who adhere to old traditions, like a mask-free fencing ritual that often leaves members with scarred faces.
Members swear to secrecy about what happens during their gatherings—which is why the songbooks shocked many. It also means that people don’t know how much other Nazi material is being circulated. In his most recent book, the journalist Hans-Henning Scharsach lists several fraternities that still include former Nazis, such as Rome’s Gestapo chief Herbert Kappler, among their honorary members. Another group organized a carnival party in 2008, photos of which appear to show guests dressed up as Ku Klux Klan members and Orthodox Jews.
In total, there are no more than 5,000 members of such fraternities nationwide, yet these members are important because they’re overrepresented in the ranks of the FPÖ. Strache himself is a member of the fraternity Vandalia. (He is also known to have had frequent contact with neo-Nazi groups in his youth, which he described as a “youthful folly” but never said was a mistake.) Among the party’s MPs alone, roughly one-third are members of various fraternities. The fraternities are an important source of highly educated and loyal personnel.
Which makes Strache’s announcement somewhat hard to believe: “Fraternities have nothing to do with the FPÖ,” he said the day after the Germania zu Wiener Neustadt songbook was made public.“That was a real slap in the face for the fraternities,” said Nina Horaczek, a journalist with Falter who broke both stories, adding that Strache’s attempt to distance himself from them isn’t a good long-term strategy for him. After all, his brothers backed him when he became the head of the party in 2005. “If fraternities need to leave the party, Strache would be the first to go.”
Although the fraternities are by no means the only source of anti-Semitism in the FPÖ, they are considered a gateway into the party. Severing these ties isn’t just difficult, it’s undesirable for the party—which means that the FPÖ will continue to at least indirectly foster a safe space for anti-Semitic thought.
“As long as Strache doesn’t say, I was a neo-Nazi in my youth and I apologize for it, any sort of historical examination is worth very little,” said Doron Rabinovici, an author and historian of Austrian Jewry.
Martin Engelberg, a Jewish MP for the conservative ÖVP, is more optimistic. In a TV debate on the Austrian channel Puls4, he said, “This process won’t happen in just one day,” referring to the plans of his coalition partner, the FPÖ. At a recent MP swearing-in ceremony, the FPÖ’s MPs didn’t show up wearing cornflower pins—the symbol Nazi party members used in Austria before 1938—as they had in previous years. Instead, they wore edelweiss flowers, a rather neutral symbol of Austria. Strache had also given a speech at the fraternities’ annual ball a few days earlier, saying that they had to stand against racism and anti-Semitism. “Those are [positive] signs,” Engelberg said.
The FPÖ has also been trying to present itself in recent years not as anti-Semitic, but as decidedly supportive of Jews—a stance that seems politically opportunist. One way they attempt this is by showing support for the Jewish state: Strache and other party officials have been visiting Israel and meeting with far-right membersof the ruling Likud party (official Israeli policy, however, is to boycott the FPÖ). In December, Strache said it would be his wish to move the Austrian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He has also said Israel has the right to build West Bank settlements.Several scholars, a few of whom were featured in a recent Haaretz article, have made the case that some European far-right parties have adopted similar stances:
Cas Mudde, a political science professor at the University of Georgia … highlighted the stance of many radical rightists on the Jews. Jews, says Mudde, are seen to embody a modernity to be defended. Europe’s large Roma minority, on the other hand, are seen as barbarians living on the fringes of modernity, while Muslims are seen as barbarians living inside modernity—the enemy already inside the gates, according to the far right.
As a result, the philo-Semitic turn of many far-right parties, in the words of sociologist Rogers Brubaker, comes directly from these parties’ preoccupations with Islam. Writing earlier this year, Brubaker argues that the far right has come to redefine Jews as fellow Europeans and exemplary victims of the threat from Islam.
Another far-right European party that has tried this strategy is France’s National Front. Founded in 1972 by Jean-Marie Le Pen, who made statements offensive to both Jews and Muslims, the party was taken over in 2011 by his daughter Marine Le Pen. She expelled her father from the party and gave it a facelift, publicly embracing Jews while continuing to speak negatively about Muslims. In 2014, she told French Jews, “Not only is the National Front not your enemy, but it is without a doubt the best shield to protect you. It stands at your side for the defense of our freedoms of thought and of religion against the only real enemy, Islamist fundamentalism.”
As the historian Ethan B. Katz has written, “The extreme right in France has repeatedly invoked Muslims and Jews in the same breath, at once highlighting both groups as different from the rest of the population and seeking to rally them against one another.”
These kinds of tactics may have influenced the FPÖ. “It’s possible that Marine Le Pen played a role in the FPÖ’s move away from anti-Semitism,” said Danny Leder, an Austrian journalist who has been based in France for decades and has covered the right-wing parties of the two countries extensively. “On a European level, the FPÖ was always the National Front’s junior partner.”Leder emphasized that “the threat [against Jews] is real.” In recent years, France has experienced several deadly Islamist terrorist attacks directed at Jews. The Austrian watchdog NGO Forum gegen Antisemitismus reports a steady increase in anti-Semitic incidents over the past few years, and in its 2015 report the increase in Islamist anti-Semitism was significant.
Both the National Front and the FPÖ have used these incidents to foment further hatred. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest anti-Muslim sentiment has become more widespread. Le Pen, in 2010, compared Muslim prayers in the streets to the Nazi occupation. And in Austria, “Daham statt Islam” (“Home instead of Islam”) was Strache’s campaign slogan in 2006. Last November, Landbauer called Johanna Mikl-Leitner, his rival in the state elections, “Moslem-Mama Mikl,” and claimed that she was “pushing Islamization in kindergartens” because a syllabus for kindergartens required that children be introduced to holidays from various religions.
Oskar Deutsch, the president of Vienna’s Jewish community, does see Islamist anti-Semitism as a significant threat, but he doesn’t believe the far-right is a true ally in combatting it. “Muslims, Roma and Sinti, and Jews—as minorities, we’re all sitting on the same branch,” he said. “If you’re sawing off one of our seats, we’re all falling.” But some Jewish leaders, like Engelberg in Austria, or the French Jews who voted for Le Pen, have seemed willing to give far-right parties a chance, perhaps encouraged by public displays of philo-Semitism.
Meanwhile, anti-Muslim sentiment helps to keep the far-right base happy. This base, however, has not abandoned its anti-Semitic strain, and party leaders still at times project anti-Semitic signals. Strache’s 2010 visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where he wore his fraternity hat when head-covering was required, perhaps illustrates this best.
Still, the FPÖ keeps framing scandals such as the songbooks as isolated cases, in its attempt to convince people that Jews are no longer the enemy of the party. Fraternities are clearly enmeshed with the FPÖ, which means that—despite all public claims to the contrary—the party will likely keep its ties to anti-Semitism intact.
Source: Secretive Fraternities Are Feeding Anti-Semitism in Austria
Filed under Multiculturalism Tagged with Austria, far right, The Atlantic
i24NEWS – Austria pledges to grant citizenship to Holocaust victim descendants
Will be interesting to see whether there is much take up by descendants:
The newly minted Austrian government will grant citizenship to the descendants of Holocaust victims, Haaretz reported Tuesday.The decision comes in the wake of a diplomatic spat between Israel and Vienna as Austria’s new coalition between the conservatives and the far-right Freedom Party was sworn in on Monday, rekindling an alliance from the early 2000s which prompted unease around Europe.
The Freedom Party, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, has a past stained by frequent anti-Semitic incidents and instances of Nazi propaganda, which is why a harsh Israeli response was widely expected
According to a statement released by the Israeli government, “Israel will continue to work with civil servants of the Ministries headed by members of the Freedom Party”, but will also “continue to struggle against Anti-semitism” and “for the commemoration of the Holocaust.”
Some Israeli media have interpreted the statement as a “boycott” of the Freedom Party Ministers at the political level, since it says that “working relations” will continue with “civil servants”.
Others have emphasized that working relations will go on, reading the statement as a weak reaction. The reaction is certainly milder than in 2000, when the Freedom Party first joined a coalition government and Israeli authorities withdrew the Ambassador from Vienna.
Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache has traveled to Israel a number of times, and developed ties with representatives of the Israeli right. In one of his last trips, however, late Israeli President Shimon Peres had refused to meet him.
via i24NEWS – Austria pledges to grant citizenship to Holocaust victim descendants
Filed under Antisemitism, Citizenship, Multiculturalism Tagged with Austria
Austria accepted its Holocaust guilt. So why is its far right on the rise? | Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Good long read:
When it comes to the Holocaust, Austria has made a lot of progress assuming responsibility.
In recent years, Austrian officials have consistently acknowledged their country’s support of Adolf Hitler, an Austria native, and his war of annihilation against Jews. In the early 2000s, the government dropped the claim that the country was mostly a victim of German Nazism, citing “the special responsibility imposed on Austria by its recent history.” Instead, teaching about the Holocaust has become mandatory, with visits to former death camps and teacher training in Israel.
The government has paid nearly $1 billion since 2005 in compensation to Holocaust victims, and since 2012, Holocaust memorial projects have popped up at an unprecedented rate. They include the opening of a learning center at the Mauthausen former death camp, a monument for Vienna’s deported Jews and an international exposition, commissioned by the national railway firm, on its own role in murdering some 65,000 Austrian Jews.
Yet in spite of this increased sensitivity, nationalism still has a firm grip on Austrian society: The far-right Freedom Party, which was founded in 1956 by a former Nazi SS officer, is on the rise. In last month’s national elections, the party garnered 26 percent of the vote with a platform that included denouncing “forced multiculturalism, globalization and mass immigration.
As a natural ally of the center-right People’s Party, which won the most votes, the Freedom Party is poised to enter Austria’s government for the second time — it was part of the governing coalition in 2000.
Amid the ascendancy of far-right populism across Europe, its revival in Austria is seen as particularly alarming, as it suggests a failure by society to learn from its recent history. After all, if a country that does nearly everything “right” when it comes to Holocaust education can fail to inoculate itself to the kind of hatred that makes genocide possible, what hope is there for other countries in the region, such as Hungary and Poland, which face rising nationalism amid complicated reckonings with their own Holocaust legacies?
Experts on Austria say the rise of its xenophobic far right is connected to fears over Muslim immigration, as well as a perceived need to protect the nation’s sovereignty from an increasingly interventionist European Union. But it’s also connected to the Austrian government, which deflected its guilt for decades and failed to purge Nazi supporters from positions of influence.
Unlike neighboring Germany, Austria did not have an organized, judicial denazification effort in the aftermath of World War II — in fact, no one has been convicted of Nazi war crimes in Austria in more than 35 years.
“In Germany, and quite a few of the countries that were under Nazi occupation, many people involved in Nazism were convicted or at least not permitted to be civil servants, teachers, police officers, etc.,” said Tina Walzer, a Vienna historian. “But this has never happened in Austria and we are witnessing the results of this crucial difference.”
This has entrenched populist ideas in a way that has seemed resistant to increased Holocaust awareness.
“When you look at the population as a whole, you don’t feel there has really been a change,” said Milli Segal, founder of the newly opened For the Child museum in Vienna honoring the young Holocaust refugees who fled to Britain through an arrangement known as the Kindertransport.
“Well, there’s change, but in very, very small steps,” she added after a pause. “It makes you feel voiceless.”
Many in Austria share Segal’s feeling of powerlessness over the Freedom Party’s recent successes. Its strong showing last month follows an even greater electoral feat in last year’s presidential elections in which the party’s candidate, Norbert Hofer, won 49.7 percent in the first round of voting. Hofer lost in the second round to the left-leaning candidate Alexander Van der Bellen, 53 percent to 46 percent.
The close election indicates that far-right populism is a “ticking political bomb,” warned Barbara Wesel, a senior Europe correspondent for Germany’s Deutsche Welle broadcaster.
The Freedom Party, for its part, rejects claims that it plays on Nazi and other racist sympathies. Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache has vowed to kick out members caught engaging in racist rhetoric, and has indeed done so to a former lawmaker who supported online the assertion that “Zionist money-Jews worldwide are the problem.”
The Jewish Community in Vienna considers the Freedom Party a racist entity, according to Oskar Deutsch, the community leader, who has called on Chancellor-elect Sebastian Kurz to prevent the Freedom Party from reaching power.
“It’s a facade,” Deutsch told JTA of Strache’s statements against anti-Semitism and racism. “Despite this talk, they position themselves as the go-to address for people with Nazi sympathies.”
A case in point: On Nov. 9, when the outgoing chancellor, Christian Kern, spoke in parliament to commemorate the 79th anniversary of Kristallnacht — a series of pogroms that the Nazis carried out in Germany and Austria — the Freedom Party’s lawmakers were the only ones who demonstratively did not applaud.
“These subtle signs are how they signal and excite their supporters,” Segal said. “If the Freedom Party will be part of the government, it will become difficult to commemorate the Holocaust in the same dignified way that we have now in Austria.”
The dissonance between Austria’s Holocaust commemoration efforts and the far-right’s popularity can be unsettling.
On Oct. 19, for example, a Vienna city official inaugurated a Holocaust memorial installation outside the Herminengasse subway station, near an alley in which the Nazis imprisoned hundreds of Jews during the war. From there they were taken to be deported as non-Jewish locals watched from their balconies. The inauguration ceremonies were held during election season; nearby hung a giant poster of a smiling Strache bearing the slogan “Fairness.”
Does the party’s recent success suggest that such commemoration projects are ultimately failing to make a difference politically?
“You might say so,” Deutsch said. “But the Jewish community will not remain silent.”
To Efraim Zuroff, a hunter of Nazis and historian for the Simon Wiesenthal Center who is based in Israel, the success of the far right in Austria reflects how Holocaust commemoration projects in urban areas hardly reach people who live in smaller towns — the Freedom Party base.
“Holocaust education, which only recently really began developing in Austria, happens there in pockets — in the big cities, in the artists’ scene,” he said. “It has big visibility but isn’t penetrating the way it has in Germany, where the effort was much more robust.”
Zuroff said this has a lot to do with Austria’s failure to prosecute Nazis.
“Holocaust education efforts in Austria are having limited impact because they are done in two voices,” he said. “There was a belated admission of guilt by politicians. But the judiciary, whose work sends a much stronger message in society, was a total failure.”
To some activists against racism, the Freedom Party’s rise is motivation to invest even greater efforts in Holocaust commemoration.
The far-right’s success in Austria “only strengthens our resolve,” said Brigitte Prinzgau, an artist who designed the newly inaugurated Aspang Railway Station Memorial, near where 47,035 Austrian Jews were dispatched from Vienna to death camps. “Now educators and artists will make even more monuments confronting fascism and xenophobic populism.”
via Austria accepted its Holocaust guilt. So why is its far right on the rise? | Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Filed under Antisemitism, Holocaust, Multiculturalism Tagged with Austria
These are the countries you can ‘buy’ citizenship to – Business Insider
Another good overview of the various schemes, and the relative advantages for those shopping for citizenship:
Most countries offer citizenship (passports) the hard way. But 7 sell them outright, and 3 have “powerful” passports. “Citizenship Planning” is a thing.
For people who need a second citizenship and passport to dodge the long arm of their government, there is something called “citizenship planning,” similar to “financial planning.” But when it comes to just outright buying a citizenship and passport without having to languish for years as mere non-citizen resident, the Huddled Masses need not apply. And not any passport will do. In fact, there are only three for sale that are really good.
Which are the best passports to get?
There are quality standards for everything, especially if it’s costly. The most powerful passports are those that allow visa-free travel to the most countries.
There are other considerations, for example those that drive US citizens nuts when they live overseas, due to the US government’s onerous reporting requirements on them and on banks that do business with them, and due to US taxation of their worldwide income no matter where they live. Few other governments treat their citizens that way.
In terms of visa-free travel, here are the 25 countries with the most powerful passports, according to a new ranking by Henley & Partners, which is into “citizenship planning.” But among them is only – Austria – one whose citizenship can be bought (more on that in a moment):
Germany: visa-free travel to 176 countries.
Sweden: 175 countries
Denmark, Finland, Italy, Spain, and the US: 174 countries.
Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, UK: 173 countries
Republic of Ireland, Japan, New Zealand: 172 countries
Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Switzerland: 171 countries
Australia, South Korea: 170 countries
Iceland: 169 countries.
And how do you get one of those passports?
In most countries, the hard way: Legally immigrate and obtain residency, and then fulfill the residency requirements to get citizenship and that second passport, which takes years. Most countries, including the US, have special programs for “investors” to obtain residency, such as a green card, essentially on the spot, but even then it takes years to obtain citizenship and a passport. If it’s possible at all, such as in Germany.
Then there’s the direct way: Buy a citizenship and the passport that comes along with it. These citizenship-by-investment programs are not for folks on a tight budget. According to Henley & Partners, only seven countries offer this convenient route, only three have powerful passports, and only one is in the top of the heap above.
Passports from EU countries are the best. If you’re from Russia or China or Iraq and become a citizen of one of the 28 EU countries, you’ll get a country-specific EU passport that allows you to live and do business anywhere in the EU. There are all sorts of offshore benefits. And travel around the world is a breeze.
But citizenship in most EU countries is not for sale. You can buy only residency, similar to programs in the US. But there are three exceptions:
Citizenship is almost impossible to get for normal foreigners already legally in Austria. But the super-rich and famous have a way. The government, through paragraph 10, section 6 of the Citizenship Act, can confer citizenship “because of the services already provided by the foreigner and the extraordinary achievements still to be expected of him in the special interest of the Republic.” This usually involves a big direct investments of unspecified magnitude plus some other “extraordinary” contribution, such as being famous or creating jobs. Few succeed. In some years, none succeed.
They’re playing hard to get. But the rewards are huge for the few that succeed, including an impeccable EU passport with visa-free travel to 173 countries.
In 2012, as the EU-part of the divided island was veering toward bankruptcy, it offered citizenship through a “fast-track” scheme to dodge the normal residency requirements. But the price tag was €10 million in direct investment. Too expensive for the average oligarch.
In 2013, Cyprus became desperate. Its offshore financial industry, the main breadwinner of the economy, had collapsed in a cesspool of corruption. The banks had taken much of the foreign money – particularly Russian money – down with them. Cyprus needed some moolah. It slashed the price of citizenship to €3 million of direct investment. Russians who’d lost at least €3 million in the collapse would also be eligible for citizenship.
Since then, the price was further slashed, to as low as €2 million. And it’s fast: about three months for citizenship and an EU passport, with visa-free travel to 159 countries. And that €3-million investment can be sold after three years. An adequate house would likely do.
The tiny EU member state with 417,000 residents spread over three islands is convenient for foreigners, with English being one of the two official languages. In 2013, during the still rough waters of the euro debt crisis, Parliament passed legislation that put Maltese citizenship up for sale at €650,000. A spouse costs another €25,000; unmarried children between 18 and 25 and dependent parents cost €50,000 each. There are no residency or investment requirements. The money goes into government funds.
This citizenship is a product to be marketed. If it sells 100 per year at €650,000 a pop, it would generate annual revenues of €65 million – or 1.75% of total 2016 revenues (€3.7 billion). Given the limits on budget deficits under EU Treaties, everything counts.
This Maltese product includes an EU passport with visa-free travel to 166 countries. Folks can stop by, jump through some bureaucratic hoops, pay, get their citizenship and passport, and settle in Germany or wherever. At the time, Simon Busuttil, leader of the opposition Nationalist Party, warned that Malta could end up being compared to shady tax havens in the Caribbean. And that’s our last stop.
Source: These are the countries you can ‘buy’ citizenship to – Business Insider
Filed under Citizenship Tagged with Austria, Cyprus, Henley & Partners, investment, Malta
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Brexit: Irish PM Leo Varadkar says deal 'very difficult' by deadline
October 9, 2019 admin	0 Comments
Media captionIrish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he wants a deal “but not at any cost”
It will be “very difficult” for the UK and the EU to reach a Brexit agreement before the 31 October deadline, Irish leader Leo Varadkar has said.
He told Irish broadcaster RTE “big gaps” remained between the two sides.
Amid claims on Tuesday that talks were close to collapse, he also suggested the language around the discussions had turned toxic “in some quarters”.
Mr Varadkar and Boris Johnson are expected to meet for further Brexit talks later this week.
The UK has said the EU needs to “move quickly” to stop it leaving without an agreement at the end of the month.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who spoke with Mr Johnson by phone for about 45 minutes on Tuesday, said he would strive until the “last moment” to reach a deal with the UK, but “not at any cost” to his country, Northern Ireland and the rest of Europe.
He also downplayed the chances of any agreement being struck before the crucial summit of EU leaders on 17 October, during which next steps for Brexit are likely to be decided.
Media captionA new Brexit deal is possible but cannot come at any cost, says Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney
“I think it’s going to be very difficult to secure an agreement by next week, quite frankly,” Mr Varadkar said.
“Essentially, what the UK has done is repudiated the deal that we negotiated in good faith with prime minister [Theresa] May’s government over two years and have sort of put half of that now back on the table, and are saying that’s a concession. And of course it isn’t really.”
Mr Varadkar added that it was his job to hold the UK to commitments it had made since the 2016 referendum to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland and uphold the Good Friday Agreement.
The Irish leader’s comments came after a No 10 source claimed on Tuesday that Germany was now making it “essentially impossible” for the UK to leave the EU with a deal.
That assessment followed a “frank” phone call between Boris Johnson and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during which they discussed Brexit proposals the UK prime minister put forward last week to the EU.
After the call, a No 10 source said Mrs Merkel had made clear a deal based on the prime minister’s plans was “overwhelmingly unlikely” – though the BBC’s Adam Fleming said there was “scepticism” within the EU that she would have used such language.
The No 10 source also suggested Mrs Merkel told her counterpart the only way to break the deadlock was for Northern Ireland to stay in the customs union and for it to permanently accept EU single market rules on trade in goods.
This, the source said, marked a shift in Germany’s approach and made a negotiated deal “essentially impossible”.
PA Media
Angela Merkel and Boris Johnson spoke on the phone on Tuesday morning
In response, the EU’s top official, European Council President Donald Tusk, accused Mr Johnson of engaging in a “stupid blame game”.
In a tweet to the prime minister, he added: “At stake is the future of Europe and the UK, as well as the security and interests of our people.
“You don’t want a deal, you don’t want an extension, you don’t want to revoke, quo vadis (where are you going)?”
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said that if negotiations fail, “the explanation will be found in the British camp (because) the original sin is found on the islands and not on the continent”.
Speaking to the French Les Echos newspaper, he added: “A no-deal Brexit would lead to a collapse of the United Kingdom and a weakening of growth on the continent.”
In his interview with RTE, Mr Varadkar was asked whether he was concerned the language around the talks was “getting toxic”.
“I think it is, from some quarters, but you know I don’t play dirty. You know, I don’t think most EU leaders do either. We’ve been very straight up from when the referendum happened.”
‘Real catastrophe’
The prime minister also hosted European Parliament president David Sassoli in Downing Street on Tuesday, but the MEP left saying “no progress” had been made.
Mr Sassoli later told the BBC’s Newsnight programme: “Angela Merkel’s opinions must be taken seriously. We are all very worried because there are only a few days left.
“Because we understand that going out without an agreement leads to having a real problem, if not a real catastrophe.”
Media captionConfused by Brexit jargon? Reality Check unpacks the basics
Following the meeting, Downing Street said there was “little time” left to negotiate a new legally-binding withdrawal agreement, but Mr Johnson remained committed to doing all he could.
“We need to move quickly and work together to agree a deal,” a No 10 spokesman said.
“He [the prime minister] reiterated that if we did not reach an agreement then the UK will leave without a deal on 31 October.”
The PM’s pledge comes despite legislation passed by MPs last month, known as the Benn Act, which requires Mr Johnson to write to the EU requesting a further delay if no deal is signed off by Parliament by 19 October – unless MPs agree to a no-deal Brexit.
While negotiations are continuing in Brussels, Mr Sassoli said a deal likely to command the support of MEPs was a “long way off”.
Meanwhile, 19 Labour MPs have written to the European Commission president Mr Junker calling for a Brexit deal to be made with the government without any further delay.
Caroline Flint, who represents the leave-supporting constituency of Don Valley, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the “uncertainty of Brexit has gone on too long” and the group did not think it was “impossible” to resolve the Irish border issue.
Timeline: What’s happening ahead of Brexit deadline?
Tuesday 8 October – The House of Commons was prorogued – suspended – ahead of a Queen’s Speech to begin a new parliamentary session.
Monday 14 October – The Commons is due to return, and the government will use the Queen’s Speech to set out its legislative agenda. The speech will then be debated by MPs throughout the week.
Thursday 17 October – Crucial two-day summit of EU leaders begins in Brussels. This is the last such meeting currently scheduled before the Brexit deadline.
Saturday 19 October – Date by which the PM must ask the EU for another delay to Brexit under the Benn Act, if no Brexit deal has been approved by Parliament and they have not agreed to the UK leaving with no-deal.
Thursday 31 October – Date by which the UK is due to leave the EU, with or without a withdrawal agreement.
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Brexit: UK may 'clarify' new offer after EU urged 'fundamental changes'
October 5, 2019 admin 0
Tony Blair praises 'courageous' Independent Group MPs
David Cameron: Johnson and Gove behaved 'appallingly'


Maryland Flouts Regional Tax Competition with Historic Tax Hike
William Ahern
Download Fiscal Fact No. 124
Fiscal Fact No. 124
Governor O’Malley has now put the icing on his first term’s biggest cake, a historic tax hike. We see no record of any state having raised all three of its major tax rates in one fell swoop, but Maryland has done just that.
The icing is a so-called millionaire’s tax, a 6.25 percent rate on income over $1 million, which on top of the local income tax will bring the rate on most Maryland income over $1 million to about 9.45 percent.1 Effective January 2008, the state also raised the corporate tax rate from 7 to 8.25 percent, the sales tax from 5 to 6 percent, and the cigarette tax from $1 to $2, but this paper focuses on the more complex personal income tax hike.
With all the talk about socking it to millionaires, many people have overlooked the middle-income taxpayers — say from $50,000 to $100,000. They are still more heavily taxed in Maryland than in any other state in the region. In fact, there are now only five states in the U.S.—California, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine and Oregon—where a couple with $75,000 in taxable income might be in a higher bracket than an average Maryland couple.2
The Maryland rate for middle-income workers is about 7.5 percent (4.75% state plus 2.73% local), well above the rate paid in any neighboring state (see Table 1).
Personal Income Tax Rates (State Plus Local) for Middle-Income People* in the Maryland Region, as of January 1, 2008
Delaware (a)
* A couple with $75,000 in taxable income.
(a) No sales tax in Delaware.
Note: Maryland and Pennsylvania are the only two states in the region with significant local income taxes. Maryland’s local tax rate averages 2.73% (weighted by population), and the majority of the population pays over 3%. Maryland comptroller has county-by-county table: http://individuals.marylandtaxes.com/incometax/localtax.asp.
Source: State and local tax forms.
The 7.5-percent rate in Maryland is an average because local income taxes in Maryland are so high and variable. Maryland is one of only 14 states that permit county-level income taxes and has much higher local tax rates than the other 13. In Montgomery and Howard Counties, the local rate is the highest in the state, 3.2 percent, so middle-income people there pay a 7.95 percent marginal rate. In Prince Georges County the rate is 7.85 percent, and in Baltimore City it’s 7.8 percent. See Tables 2 and 3 for the state-local breakdown.
Maryland’s State-Level Personal Income Tax as of January 1, 2008
Tax Rates and Brackets
2% > $0
$3,200 (a)
3% > $1,000
4.75% > $3,000
5% > $150,000
5.25% > $300,000
5.5% > $500,000
6.25% > $1,000,000
(a) As of 2008, it declines to $2,400, then $1,800, then $1,200, then $600 as income rises.
Source: Comptroller of Maryland: http://www.marylandtaxes.com/special_session/incomeTaxAlert.pdf
For people unfamiliar with tax bracket tables, a couple filing a Maryland tax return would interpret Table 2 as follows: they must pay a 2% tax on their first $1,000 in taxable income ($20), plus 3% on the next thousand ($30), plus 4% on the next thousand ($40), plus 4.75% on all the rest up to $200,000 ($9,357).
So a Montgomery County couple who had exactly $200,000 in taxable income after exemptions and deductions will pay $20 + $30 + $40 + $9,357 = $9,447 (state) + $6,400 (local) = $15,847. In Baltimore City, the total will be a little lower, $15,547. Those rates have been in law for many years.
The next four rates are new in 2008: 5% on all income between $200,000 and $350,000 ($7,500); 5.25% on all income between $350,000 and $500,000 ($7,875); 5.5% on all income between $500,000 and $1 million ($27,500); and 6.25% on all income over $1 million. So a Montgomery County couple who had exactly $1 million in taxable income after exemptions and deductions would pay $20 + $30 + $40 + $9,357 + $7,500 + $7,875 + 27,500 = $52,322 (state) + $32,000 (local) = $84,322. In Baltimore, it would be a little lower, $82,822.
If a Montgomery couple made more than $1 million, they would owe $84,322 + 9.45% of everything over $1 million; in Baltimore it would be $82,822 + 9.3% of everything over $1 million.
Maryland Local Personal Income Tax as of January 1, 2008
Queen Anne’s
Wicomico
Note: Maryland’s local income tax rate averages 2.73%, weighted by population, and the majority of the population pays over 3%. Maryland comptroller has county-by-county table: http://individuals.marylandtaxes.com/incometax/localtax.asp.
Note that Maryland’s tax system has an unusually large marriage penalty. Most states set their married tax brackets by doubling the income levels in the singles bracket. But Maryland’s local taxes are identical for singles and couples, and the state-level tax brackets have just a slight adjustment for couples at the $200,000 level.
The only failed component in last fall’s tax enactment was an addition by the legislature, extending the sales tax to computer services. That happened to be an industry with no lobbyists in Annapolis, so it was singled out while industries like health clubs, tanning salons and auto repair escaped.3 Now computer industry lobbyists have arrived in force, enough to prompt repeal of the new tax and giving Gov. O’Malley a chance to get this one last very high rate on very high income.
From a purely Maryland perspective, the tax hikes are galling to middle-income people. Gov. O’Malley promised them cuts in property and income taxes to take the sting out of the higher sales tax, but he hardly complained when the legislature dismissed those tax cut ideas. Instead, middle-income people must pay their higher sales taxes and be satisfied with political rhetoric about soaking the rich with higher taxes on personal and corporate income.
For people in the $150,000-to-$500,000 range, many of whom consider themselves “middle class” even if their incomes are comparatively high, there’s another stick in the eye to deal with. The rising state-local tax deduction that they will be claiming on federal form 1040 is likely to push them into the federal alternative minimum tax.
From a regional vantage point, it seems that Maryland is dismissing the possible effect of tax competition. The conventional wisdom is that tax rates matter enough to make new and expanding businesses think long and hard before locating or expanding in a high-tax jurisdiction. Surrounded by states that have moderate tax rates, the State of Maryland will probably end up “paying” companies to move in or expand. That is, the state will probably offer incoming or expanding businesses generous tax breaks to make up for the high rates. That’s not uncommon, nor is the angry reaction of resident businesses who resent seeing the state’s economic development office roll out the red tax-exempt carpet for newcomers.
Maryland had been a state whose taxes were in the moderate-to-high range, compared nationally. Now it has planted itself firmly in the ranks of the highest-tax states. If it weren’t surrounded by states with moderate tax rates, that would be less of a problem. The state will certainly receive more pressure to deliver good public services to justify collecting such a great deal more in taxes. Only time will tell if the state can deliver.
1. The new 6.25% rate is scheduled to last three years, and local rates may change from year to year. Prince Georges just lowered its rate from 3.2% (same as Montgomery and Howard) to 3.1%. Baltimore City’s is 3.05%.
2. Oregon levies no sales tax.
3. For more see http://www.taxfoundation.org/legacy/show/23005.html.


Ian Rankin Returns with New Rebus Novel: Even Dogs in the Wild
Dana Gee More from Dana Gee
Updated: November 13, 2015 10:46 AM PST
Author Ian Rankin is back with the new crime fiction novel Even Dogs in the Wild.
When I called crime writer Ian Rankin recently, he was a passenger in a car travelling down a dark and dreary Scottish country road late at night.
Well, if this was a scene in one of Rankin’s 25 novels, the guy in the car would likely be a detective heading to the scene of a murder.
“We’re driving through the fog,” said Rankin, who is this week’s guest on the DGP podcast. “Anything can happen.”
To listen to the interview, press play below.
While an eerie atmosphere has crime written all over it, Rankin admits his thoughts at the moment are not on future plots, but the promotion of his new book, Even Dogs in the Wild, featuring Rankin’s much-loved Edinburgh detective John Rebus.
In this installment, Rebus is now 65 and has been pulled out of retirement once more to consult on the case of the attempted murder of his old nemesis, Big Ger Cafferty.
At the same time, Rankin’s latest copper, Malcolm Fox, is placed in a special unit that is busy keeping an eye on some visiting gangsters from Glasgow.
Rebus’s former sidekick, Siobhan Clarke, has moved up the ranks to Detective Inspector at Police Scotland HQ, and has a murdered senior prosecutor on the books. Of course, all of these stories come together in classic Rankin order.
This new novel is Rankin’s 25th, bringing his output to about one book a year. That may sound daunting but, for Rankin, it’s just what he does — no need to investigate any further.
“Writers become writers — that’s how they communicate with the world, that’s how they make sense of the world and, to some extent, we really are just children who refuse to grow up. We’re still writing because it’s fun.
“We’re still playing ‘let’s pretend’ games. We’re playing goodies and baddies. It keeps us young.”
Speaking with Rankin, the topics range from his beloved Edinburgh and gentrification, to his favourite watering hole (yes, it’s the Oxford — the same as Rebus), newspapers, music and, of course, dear old Rebus.
Even Dogs in the Wild is the 20th time Rankin has enlisted the character.
“I can’t believe it,” Rankin said of the 20-book-milestone. “When I wrote the first book, I was a 24- or 25-year-old student. I thought he was going to be a one-off character and he would be done within one book —in fact, I nearly killed him off at the end of book one. So here we are, half a lifetime later, and I’m still writing about the guy.”
While Rankin obviously has deep feelings for his detective, he admits that, if he was real, Rebus would not be a fan of Rankin.
“I think he’d think I’m a bit too liberal in my politics,” said Rankin. “He would see me as never having to do a hard day’s work in my life. We’ve got the same taste in music but we’ve not got the same taste in anything else.”
Rankin will be in Vancouver to kick off his book tour on Nov. 16 (St. Andrew’s Wesley Church, 7:30 p.m.). Do go if you haven’t heard Rankin speak. He is very entertaining.
In the meantime, check out my interview with him on the DGP.
Press play below to listen.
Also on this week’s DGP, CTV’s Jim Gordon drops in to help me review the new movies Spotlight, Love the Coopers, Heist and The 33.
dgee@theprovince.com
twitter.com/dana_gee
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PromiseABC13
TCH and abc13 team up to bring Holiday Cheer to Kids
By Ilona Carson
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- From the cast of carolers, to the young patients and parents, the Christmas spirit fills the air at Texas Children's Hospital. Tasha Williams' son Elijah is recovering from neck surgery.
"He loved it. I just surprised him," she says.
He's been here four months.
"My Christmas hope is that he will actually feel Christmas, because he was really down at first," Williams explains.
It doesn't matter where, the holiday can be felt in a hallway. The lights on the tree are lit in time for the grand entrance of Santa Claus.
John Nickens, Executive VP at Texas Children's Hospital says, "You know with what is going on with them each and every day in the hospital for them to just get a moment and take a break and just celebrate. It's a lot of fun for us and the employees as well."
One by one they step up and place their orders with the jolly man in the red hat.
Mom Sonis Smith says, "It's a long day. We got here at 7:30am and we just got released and came downstairs to watch Santa come through. It's a long day but a good day."
The work to spread holiday cheer isn't over. Tina Dooley, President of Texas Children's Hospital Auxiliary says, "This is a very busy time of the year for the hospital, for volunteer services, and for everybody in here. Our goal here is to make the time for our patients a little more tolerable by spreading some of the joy of the season."
Some of the children will be home in time for the holiday. Sherry Briscoe's daughter is one of them. "She's still here with me, I thank God for that," she says.
Sometimes the biggest wish isn't one under the tree.
Kayla Briscoe wants her sister to wish for "anything she wants for Christmas and hopefully it comes true."
As part of our partnership with Texas Children's Hospital, we'll bring you stories each week to inform, inspire, and help keep your kids healthy. It's all part of the "Promise abc-13" campaign. For every dollar you donate to Texas Children's Hospital, abc-13 will match it up to $100,000.
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SPONSORED: Family travels to TX Children's for lifesaving fetal surgery
TCH Gives Dancer a Second Chance at Her Dream
Mothers give back to patients with pregnancy condition
Soothing a crying baby helps ease stress


the aragon
Why Book A Chicago Date, 5 Venues Why
Blog, MUSIC.
Think of music hubs and London, New York and Los Angeles always come to mind. But when bands announce tours, what’s the one city they never miss? Chicago. Bands choose The Windy City partly because it’s a massive hub for music, but mostly because of the Chicago’s incredible venues. Never been to a music venue in Chicago? Check out the five best music venues below.
1. The Riviera is a plain classic. Walking through the lit up banner that displays “The Riviera,” concertgoers are transported to the old days with a general admission standing area and a large balcony. Curtains hang from the side of the private boxes and the decorated ceiling stands out in the large room. As the lights go down and the band takes the stage, The Riviera packs a punch in the sound quality and is easily known as one of the best music venues in Chicago.
The Riviera’s marquee showcases that night’s lineup and is often a favorite Instagram for most concertgoers.
2. The Aragon Ballroom is a castle. As you cross the train platform and head down the stairs, “The Aragon” sign stands out against the small street. Walking into the building no one expects a castle. Quite literally, the venue boasts turrets on all four sides and a ceiling painted like the sky. Notable sold out shows include Ellie Goulding, Phoenix, alt-J and even Olly Murs. Although the venue isn’t air conditioned (it was built in 1926), The Aragon Ballroom is a popular destination for some of the biggest artists.
Molly Tullis, a Chicago Blogger, touches on her favorite Aragon Ballroom experience.
3. Lincoln Hall is tiny (in a good way). When someone says a music venue is tiny, it is not always a good thing. But in Lincoln Hall’s case, the small enclosed space behind a bar allows fans to be in breathing distance of their favorite bands. Every year during festival season, some of the biggest names in music chose to play their Lollapalooza after parties at Lincoln Hall. Death Cab for Cutie and Fall Out Boy have both played the small venue in celebration of album releases, selling out in seconds. The venue recently sold to Audioleaf and hopes to grow to become more mainstream. “My intention is to provide […] Lincoln Hall with more resources,” Michael Johnston, 31, told the Chicago Tribune. He plans to add live-streaming to the small venue for an added bonus.
The Wind and The Wave
Saints of Valory
The intimate space of Lincoln Hall allows anyone to feel like they’re next to the artist.
4. The Vic Theatre is just plain different. Known for concerts as well as movie screenings and an incredible stage set up, The Vic Theatre is located in the heart of Lincoln Park. But with that location comes restrictions. One of the only music venues in Chicago to have a curfew, The Vic has hosted artists like Fifth Harmony and Bleachers (Jack Antonoff of Fun.) in the past year and continues to surprise its guests with a variety of acts.
The Vic Theater lies in one of the most residential areas on Lincoln Park.
5. UIC Pavilion brings in big talent. For any solid indie fan, arena shows are avoided and often skipped. But when Passion Pit announced a show at UIC Pavilion, tickets sold out instantly. Although it is a university’s college basketball arena, UIC Pavilion boasts a huge lighting set-up and a powerful sound system. The basketball court is used as a general admission area and the total capacity of the arena is 9,500.
Passion Pit at UIC Pavilion proved to be a light spectacle as well as a music show.
Find a music venue you loved but its not listed below? Drop a note below in the comments.
May 1, 2015 May 1, 2015 addiewhelan Tagged lincoln hall, the aragon, the riviera, the vic theater, uic pavilion	Leave a comment


Arts Impact Grant
Instrumental Music Clubs
ASIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC CLUB
The purpose of the Penn State Asian Classical Music Club (ACMC) is to provide a platform for Asian traditional folk instruments players and promote communication between eastern and western culture, especially music culture.
http://sites.psu.edu/acmc/
Provides a variety of musical experience for its members and musical entertainment for others through concerts and participation at athletic events and parades.
http://www.blueband.psu.edu/
MUSIC THERAPY CLUB
The purpose of the Music Therapy Club is to share the therapeutic and joyful properites of music with the State College Community, especially the eldery, disabled, and youth. The club motto shall be "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything"-Plato.
http://psumusictherapy.weebly.com/
PENN STATE TAIKO
The purpose of Penn State Taiko is to 1) provide a friendly, positive atmosphere for students, faculty, and staff to learn Japanese-style drumming and to 2) use taiko as a tool for community building at The Pennsylvania State University.
https://sites.google.com/site/pennstatetaiko/
ROAR! CLUB BRASS ENSEMBLE
The purpose of the ROAR! Club Brass Ensemble is to encourage individual growth, discipline, and pride while also instilling the values of teamwork, cooperation, and sportsman- like conduct. The organization will inspire its members to creatively express themselves through their interpretation of the music, while promoting an overall congruency and strive for excellence. The visual performance aspects of this organization will rouse school spirit and ultimately provide positive entertainment for its audience.
https://www.facebook.com/ROARcbe/timeline
TEAM UKE
The purpose of the Penn State Team UKE Organization is to offer a relaxing escape through music. Our focus is on Ukulele but is not limited to that instrument. Members may come to play, learn, or collaborate with others.
The purpose of The Penn State Trombone Choir is to: 1. Provide a forum for the trombonists to share together in the development of technique and the understanding of diverse musical styles. 2. Raise awareness of the trombone and its various applications in the musical world. 3. Provide opportunities for members to participate in concerts, recitals, and masterclasses.
VIOLA SOCIETY
To promote, study, and further, the research and performance of the viola its repertoire.
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