The day before yesterday in the morning I learned that a deportation had taken place just before sunrise. 12-year-old Viennese girl Tina, a student at the Stubenbastei grammar school in downtown Vienna, was brought to the Vienna-Schwechat airport with her family in order to be deported from there to the Caucasus. In the same moment I was awake. I felt not so much deep compassion, but real anger.
I certainly know that the rule of law must use force to enforce its laws. Therefore we also have a police in every democracy. These police are made up of people who are allowed to use force on our behalf for our safety. If necessary, these police officers also risk head and neck in the truest sense of the word. They protect us with their own life. (I personally know some of them.) For that they have my greatest respect and thanks.
I also know that we cannot take in all of the world’s refugees. I myself am even against accepting a few refugees from Lesbos. And I have good reasons for it (see here). I have made my experiences with refugees (see here) and know that there is a limit to what is reasonable (see here).
I also know that you cannot please everyone, and certainly not do politics against your own people. So I understand Sebastian Kurz’s politics (see here). I like Sebastian Kurz (see here). Sebastian Kurz makes smart politics.
But, as I said, there is a limit to what is reasonable. And when I wonder who Sebastian Kurz’s policy is good for, I have to think for a long time. And at some point I come to the answer: Sebastian Kurz’s policy is primarily good for Sebastian Kurz.
We Austrians pay a high price for the success of Sebastian Kurz and his friends. We pay this price not only financially, but also emotionally. We watch as we all slowly bleed out financially and emotionally.
Now I see 12-year-old Tina sitting on the bus with her little sister to be deported. And at the same time I see our policemen hold out their heads for us to carry out this deportation. 12-year-old Tina could be my daughter and one of those cops could be my son. And Sebastian Kurz stays completely silent about it.
I do not want that. I don’t want us to resolve conflicts this way in Austria. I want us to live together and not against each other. I want us to continue to be loving and respectful of one another instead of falling into calculated cynicism. I want our hearts to feel warm in this country and not freeze from the cold.
Politics with brain and heart. I wish that for this country, for my homeland, for Austria. With Sebastian Kurz I miss the heart.
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Vienna Calling 