The far-right Freedom Party (FPO) of Herbert Kicklewinner of last Sunday’s election, owes his victory to many factors, the increase in immigration flows mainly from Muslim countries, the increase in the cost of living, the general climate of insecurity in Europe – intensified by the ongoing war in Ukraine -, the which pushed many Austrian voters into the arms of the ideologically rigid but always willing Far Right. However, the FPO also had a distinct ally, the activist-influencer Martin Zellner35, an advocate of expelling foreigners who do not assimilate in Austria and a fan of Donald Trump.
However, as Zellner himself told the “Washington Post”, he was denied entry in 2019 while he was preparing to marry the American far-right influencer Brittany Pettibone. The UK has also banned him from entry, as has Switzerland. The German authorities tried to deny him entry, but Zellner took the case to court and won.
Social networking platforms Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook, You Tube have “cut” him. Eighty-seven financial institutions in various countries have either blacklisted him or closed his accounts. In Austria the public display of the emblem of Zellner’s movement, “The Identity Generation”, is punishable by law. Despite this, or perhaps because of all these efforts to limit his action, Zellner still resonates. Using philosophical references, with the air of a pseudo-intellectual, he expresses views in Austria that until a few years ago were considered unthinkable. And not only in Austria: the activist is passionate about what he calls “end the migrant invasion” in America. In Austria Zellner asks those who watch their speeches to shake off the feeling of shame, to feel free to be proud patriots. Phrasing that directly refers to mass deportations, ethnic cleansing, the Nazis and the darkest chapters of European history, even though their originator denies it.
When far-right activists appeared in Europe, they were treated somewhat like skinheads in Britain, a German far-right MEP told the Washington Post. Maximilian Craof the Alternative for Germany (AfD) which triumphed in the elections of three German states last month. “Zellner made this kind of activism fashionable, like Greenpeace.”
In Germany and to a lesser extent in Austria Hitler’s atrocities resulted in a form of solid social consensus, a kind of “never again” which no party or political movement attempted to break to its advantage. Yet Zellner’s rhetoric is causing cracks in this decades-old consensus. At the beginning of the year Zellner’s latest book, in which he develops his theory of “remigration” of foreigners, was first in sales on the German Amazon.
According to Austria’s interior ministry, between 2022 and 2023, incidents of far-right violence in the country recorded a 30% increase. But Zellner denies that he or his movement bear any responsibility for this. However, several intelligence agencies in European countries monitor the movements of Zellner and his supporters. “Their action is unconstitutional, it constitutes a threat to democracy, similar to that of the Islamic State. This is a deeply racist organization” a European official points out to the American newspaper.
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