{"id":13,"date":"2021-05-07T07:25:14","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T11:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shoeleathermagazine.com\/2021\/?p=13"},"modified":"2024-01-18T12:05:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T17:05:36","slug":"schwarze-leben-zahlen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shoeleathermagazine.com\/2021\/2021\/05\/07\/schwarze-leben-zahlen\/","title":{"rendered":"Schwarze Leben z\u00e4hlen"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Some 50,000 people protested in front of the Viennese parliament building on June 4.\/ (C) Asma Aiad<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perched on an elevated platform, Mireille Ngosso, a Congolese Austrian doctor and politician, addressed a lively, mask-wearing crowd of about 50,000 protesters clustered around the Viennese parliament building. \u201cNo justice, no peace,\u201d she bellowed into the megaphone through her black mask, which had \u201cBlack Lives Matter” imprinted in white letters. The mob of Afro-Austrians, asians, hijabis, and others, squeezed shoulder to shoulder, reciprocated her cries, thrusting their fists into the air.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mireille and Mugtaba speaking at the protest.\/ (C) Asma Aiad<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Days before, scrolling through her Twitter feed, Mireille had come across the video of a Minneapolis cop pressing his knee on the neck of a motionless black man named George Floyd. \u201cI was in deep shock, the video really touched me,\u201d she says. Although Mireille couldn\u2019t have found Minneapolis on a map, she was familiar with the way powerless minorities were dominated by the majority. \u201cI saw my uncle, my brothers in George Floyd.\u201d The 41-year old grabbed her phone and rang up Mugtaba, an Afro-Austrian student activist, her friend from church. \u201cWhat are we going to do?\u201d she asked. The two agreed to host a rally at the center of Vienna to commemorate the murder. The next day, Mireille submitted the paperwork to the authorities, registering 200 attendees.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The “Marcus Omofuma memorial stone” is situated at the center of the Menschenrechte (Human Rights Square).\/(C) Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Vienna\u2019s<\/span> Innere Stadt <\/span><\/i>(inner city) is surrounded by the <\/span>Ringstra\u00dfe<\/span><\/i>, a circular boulevard, lined with grand P<\/em><\/span>alais<\/span><\/i> (palaces), trumpeting sandstone fa\u00e7ades of the <\/span>Gr\u00fcnderzeit <\/span><\/i>(Founding Epoch)<\/span> and<\/span> the <\/span>Volksgarten <\/span><\/i>(People\u2019s Garden) replete with rose beds, across from which are two identical-looking buildings, the Natural History and the Art Museum, facing each other across an imperial square. Behind it is the <\/span>Museumsquartier <\/span><\/i>(Museum\u2019s Quarter) and the <\/span>Platz der Menschenrecht<\/span><\/i>e (Human Rights Square), a 90,000 square meter arts\u2019 and culture complex, originally constructed as the imperial stables<\/span>. <\/b>Sitting at the center of the plaza is the \u201cOmofuma memorial stone,\u201d a 3-meter grey granite sculpture named after the 25-year old Nigerian refugee whose 1998 application for asylum was rejected. He was dragged onto a plane, bound to his seat with tape, and suffocated during the flight. He is Austria\u2019s George Floyd.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Protestors holding up a sign, saying :Against racism and policy brutality” (with “1. May 1999: Omofuma” written in tiny letters).\/(C) Asma Aiad<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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On June 4, 50,000 protestors surrounded the memorial, holding signs reading \u201cEnough is enough\u201d and \u201cAgainst racism and police brutality\u201d (with \u201c1. May 1999: Omofuma\u201d written in tiny letters). When Mireille arrived, she could hardly believe her eyes. \u201cI\u2019m still overwhelmed,\u201d she says, remembering the immense number of individuals clustered together<\/span>. <\/b>\u201cI think this was the first time racism came into their consciousness, and they realized that this could happen here too.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Despite the imprint Omofuma left on Austrian society, his case is \u201chardly debated and hardly talked about,\u201d says Mireille. Like him, she is of African descent. The eldest child to two socialists in former Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), Mireille\u2019s family fled the Mobuto Sese Seko dictatorship when she was three. After authorities in Italy and Switzerland refused to grant them asylum, Austria awarded them legal status in 1984.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Like other European countries, Austria has admitted immigrants since the end of the Second World War.<\/span> In 1945, 30,000 ethnic Germans from the Sudetenland settled in Austria. It accepted 180,000 Hungarians after the 1956 Warsaw Pact invasion. Following the Prague Spring in 1968, 160,000 Czechs were granted temporary asylum. The government <\/span>initiated<\/span><\/a> the \u201cguest worker program\u201d and <\/span>recruited short-term factory workers from Turkey and Yugoslavia in the 1960s. Thousands sought protection in the country after the fall of the Soviet Union and the breakup of Yugoslavia, and the number of resident foreigners doubled (from 387,000 to 690,000) between 1983 and 1993. Austria has experienced a steady increase of economic migrants since 1995, when it joined the European Union. The number of foreigners in the country <\/span>surged<\/span><\/a> from 723,483 in 1995 to 1.38 million by 2008, after <\/span>Czechia, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, \u00a0Slovenia and Slovakia joined<\/span> the EU in 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007. In 2015, a record of 1.3 million asylum applications entered the EU following political instability in the Middle East and Africa. Austria received applications from 88,000 refugees, triple that of the year before. Today, a quarter of the country\u2019s 9 million people have a so-called \u201cmigrant background,\u201d meaning that they or at least one of their parents were born abroad.<\/span><\/p>\n

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When Mireille\u2019s family arrived, they moved into subsidized public housing in <\/span>Meidling, <\/span><\/i>Vienna\u2019s proletarian 12th district, where pale\u00a0<\/span>Gemeindebauten <\/span><\/i>(residential buildings for the working class) border family garden allotments. Around the corner, you can find traditional barn houses, small shops selling old light bulbs and outdated electronics, and the local <\/span>Beisl <\/span><\/i>(tavern) where neighbors chat over a beer and a hearty <\/span>Gulasch <\/span><\/i>stew<\/span>. <\/span><\/i>The family was always short on money, so her father took a low-wage job in a textile factory. A former activist, he continued being politically active in Austria. He attended meetings hosted by the Austrian Social Democratic Party (SP\u00d6). Mireille would tag along. She still recalls party events and the SP\u00d6\u2019s annual May Day celebration on International Workers\u2019 Day. Meanwhile, her mother stayed home to look after Mireille\u2019s two younger brothers. To help them fit in, her parents drilled an Austrian identity into their kids.<\/span> \u201cMy parents made exaggerated efforts to raise me Austrian,\u201d she says in her perfect Viennese accent<\/span>.<\/b> She watched <\/span>Heimatfilme <\/span><\/i>(literally, homeland-films, usually idealized and nostalgic) set in the Austrian Alps, such as <\/span>Sissi <\/span><\/i>– the trilogy profiling Austria\u2019s heroine, the Austro-Hungarian Empress Elisabeth of Austria.<\/span> In the summer, her family road tripped through the country, from scenic mountain towns in Vorarlberg to the lakeside in the Burgenland. Mireille grew up primarily speaking German, while her parents communicated in Kikongo, Kiswahili, and Lingala.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Nevertheless, Mireille still stood out at school. Her dark skin color attracted attention from classmates and teachers, who frequently called her “Neger”<\/em> the German version of the <\/span>n-word. <\/span><\/i>To be fair, this was simply the traditional word for “negro.”\u00a0<\/span>Until recently, Austrians used the term to describe black individuals, unaware of its connection to slavery. Still, the boundaries of tone can sometimes blur. Kids often asked to touch her Afro curls<\/span>. <\/b>At<\/span> age 16, she had enough. \u201c<\/span>I dropped out because I just couldn’t cope anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cI certainly didn\u2019t have a household that could support me emotionally. Plus, the name-calling and the racist comments ultimately drove me to the edge.\u201d Austria\u2019s compulsory school attendance is nine years, so it was legal for Mireille to quit. She searched for part-time jobs, began playing the piano, and booked some singing gigs at jazz bars.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Racism has deep roots in Europe. In the late 19th century, most of the region transformed from a set of multiethnic empires into \u201chomogenous\u201d nation-states. Germany, France, and Italy erected visible or invisible borders, separating the \u201cnative\u201d from the \u201calien\u201d population. The growth of national consciousness helped connect strangers to each other.<\/span> Individuals enclosed in a common territory merged into groups who believed they shared a common culture, history, and language. Those who did not fit this definition became outsiders.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Europeans devised racial hierarchies, which they imposed during their colonial endeavors. In <\/span>An Emerging Modern World, <\/span><\/i>Sebastian Conrad, a professor at the Free University of Berlin specializing in post-colonial history, <\/span>argues<\/span><\/a> that, as a result of the Enlightenment, Europeans perceived themselves to be \u201ccultural people.\u201d Their Christian identity, ideas of high civilization, progress, esteem, and superiority allowed them to distinguish themselves from the \u201cbarbaric\u201d and \u201cuncultured\u201d non-Europe <\/span>outside<\/span><\/i>. The colonizers wanted to assert this \u201ccontrast between civilization and barbarism\u201d formulated during the Enlightenment. So they subjected and controlled the Africans \u201cfor the benefit of the European culture,\u201d <\/span>writes <\/span><\/a>Andrew Zimmerman, a professor of German history at George Washington University, in his article \u201c<\/span>Race and World Politics: Germany in the Age of Imperialism, 1878\u20131914.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Such racial hierarchies were not limited to the colonies. Europeans imported practices of ethnic segregation and racial difference<\/span> to their own continent. They hosted art exhibitions showcasing colonial objects, which they <\/span>described <\/span><\/a>as \u201cgrotesque and bizarre,\u201d and reflections of the Africans\u2019 \u201cundeveloped taste.\u201d During the so-called <\/span>V\u00f6lkerschau, <\/span><\/i>Europeans even put Africans on public display. This happened in Vienna too. In July 1896, a record of <\/span>22,3000 visitors <\/span><\/a>\u00a0trekked to the <\/span>Wiener Prater, <\/span><\/i>the city\u2019s amusement park, to examine the Asante people from modern-day Ghana. It resembled a \u201chuman zoo.\u201d People huddled around the Africans, separated from the Austrians with a metal gate, observing their \u201cexotic\u201d features.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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On March 12, 1938, cheering crowds greeted the Austrian-born Hitler and his troops on Vienna\u2019s historic Heldenplatz.\/<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>(C) Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On March 12, 1938, cheering crowds greeted the Austrian-born Hitler and his troops on Vienna\u2019s historic Heldenplatz, <\/span>marking the <\/span>Anschluss, <\/span><\/i>Germany\u2019s annexation of Austria. Nowadays, Austrians tend to hesitate when talking about their country\u2019s Nazi past. Austria and Germany share a difficult history.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The nation-state Austria only came into being in 1919, after the Allies dissolved the Austria-Hungarian Empire. Under the Treaty of Saint-Germain, Austria-Hungary lost 80% of its territory, and the Austrian “Republic” was created from the German-speaking region. In French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau\u2019s legendary phrase: <\/span>\u201cL\u2019Autriche, c\u2019est ce que reste.\u201d <\/span><\/i>\u2013 Austria is that which is left. The treaty prohibited any union between Austria and Germany, plunging the former into a political crisis over its identity. German-speaking deputies in the territory assembled and crafted plans to<\/span> establish<\/span><\/a> a \u201csecond German state.\u201d To emphasize the German character, German was adopted as the national language.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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When the conservative Engelbert Dollfuss rose to power in the 1930s, he cut all ties to Germany and established a corporate state modeled after Benito Mussolini\u2019s Italy. His ambition was to build an Austrian \u201c<\/span>Reich\u201d <\/span><\/i>and reclaim \u201cthe greatness that Austria once was,\u201d harking back to the Holy Roman Empire, a title held by the Habsburgs from1438 and 1740, and again from 1745 to 1806.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Austrian Nazis assassinated Dollfuss, but his successor, Kurt Schuschnigg, <\/span>followed his lead and resisted the absorption of Austria into Nazi Germany. However, Schuschnigg failed to keep Austria independent, paving the way for the <\/span>Anschluss <\/span><\/i>and setting the stage for Nazi violence.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Benjamin Opratko, a political scientist and racism researcher at the University of Vienna, says Europeans often \u201cequate [racism] with Nazi anti-Semitism and the ideology of race. Racism is believed to be a problem, but one that\u2019s ultimately in the past.\u201d <\/span>After the horrors of the Holocaust were revealed 1945, the Allies vowed to eliminate racial thinking from Germany, in the hope that doing so might have a similar effect on Europe as a whole. The assumption was that racial difference, not attitudes towards it, was the problem. But pretending that differences between people of different ethnicities and religions do not exist doesn\u2019t ameliorate prejudice. According to linguist Ruth Wodak, who researches identity politics, racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination at Lancaster University, 1945 did not erode the long tradition of European anti-Semitism or prejudice in the region. In fact, Christian anti-Semitic motifs, such as references to Jews as the \u201cmurders of Christ” or \u201ctraitors,\u201d were frequently employed in newspapers. Elitists instrumentalized cliches about Jewish commercial spirit and the stereotype of the \u201cdishonest,\u201d \u201cdishonorable,\u201d or \u201ctricky Jew\u201d for political reasons. While the open expression of anti-Jewish rhetoric was subject to a general taboo, the ruling elite still professed their anti-Semitic beliefs indirectly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Additionally, the Allies treated racism as a<\/span> \u201cGerman peculiarity.<\/span><\/a>\u201d Racism was perceived to be a product of Hitler\u2019s obsession with racial purity. This gained a stronghold in Germany, due to the state\u2019s ethnocentric nationalism, <\/span>argues<\/span><\/a> German philosopher J\u00fcrgen Habermas. So the Allies believed that rehabilitating Germany would cure Europe\u2019s racism problem. As UC Berkeley professor and historian of comparative modern Europe Rita Chin argues, in denazifiying, reconstructing, and turning West Germany into a stable, liberal democracy, they attempted \u201cto make the question of race a nonissue.\u201d But <\/span>treating the Holocaust as an individual event perpetrated by one state, and failing to recognize it as a collective European undertaking, was a mistake, says Julie Pasco\u00ebt, secretary general of the European Network Against Racism. <\/span>It allowed countries, like Austria and Poland, which also committed crimes against humanity, to distance itself from the Nazi narrative.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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With the war beginning to turn, the Allies agreed to the\u00a0<\/span>Moscow Declaration of 1943, declaring among other things that the German annexation of Austria was \u201cnull and void.\u201d The treaty declared Austria \u201cthe first free country to fall a victim to Hitlerite aggression.\u201d This was a convenient fiction that the state took up, allowing it to negate all ties with Nazism and <\/span>extreme anti-Semites<\/span><\/a> like former Viennese Mayor Karl Lueger, a charming political pragmatist who played both sides; he referred to Jews as \u201cGod murderers” while claiming Jews among his friends, going down in history insisting that “I’m the one who decides who’s a Jew.”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So 1945 represented a \u201chistorical caesura,\u201d in which Austria <\/span>\u201csilenced\u201d<\/span><\/a> the Jewish question. Denazification was half-hearted \u00a0in the reconstituted Second Republic, weakly implemented and poorly enforced. Austrians no longer discussed the Jewish question, and as they struggled to rebuild their shattered country, they effectively buried their Nazi past. This was legitimized with the signing of the state treaty in 1955 ending four-power occupation, in which Austria <\/span>adopted<\/span><\/a> \u201cpermanent neutrality.\u201d The country emerged as a <\/span>Staatsnation\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(\u201cnation by will\u201d) following the French model of a social contract among citizens, regardless of race or religion. However, with<\/span> Austrian identity being rooted in high culture, referencing the hey-days of Habsburg Monarchy, Wodak argues<\/a> that the state resembles an ethnically and linguistically defined <\/span>Kulturnation <\/span><\/i>(\u201ccultural nation\u201d) like Germany, wherein the concept formed the basis for Nazi racist theories.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The silence was broken in 1986 when an Austrian newspaper revealed that former Austrian secretary general of the UN and presidential candidate Kurt Waldheim had been involved in the 1942 massacre of Yugoslav in Kozara and the 1943 mass deportation of Greek Jews to Nazi death camps. Waldheim denied the allegations and claimed they were the product of an \u201cinternational Jewish conspiracy.\u201d Despite the controversy, he was elected president in June 1986.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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In 1988, the Austrian government appointed a group of historians to investigate the matter, but it found <\/span>\u201cno evidence\u201d<\/span><\/a> that Waldheim had committed war crimes. It did, however, accuse him of knowing about the events and failing to stop them and, thereby, \u201cfacilitating them.\u201d Despite his personal failure to assume guilt, the Waldheim affair served as a turning point in Austrian history. Since then, the state has publicly acknowledged its responsibility in the Holocaust, with Waldheim<\/span> apologizing<\/span><\/a> for \u201cthe Nazi crimes committed by Austrians\u201d on behalf of the nation on national television on the 50th anniversary of the <\/span>Anschluss. <\/span><\/i>In 1994, Thomas Klestil became the first Austrian president to visit Israel. Speaking before the Knesset, he <\/span>apologized <\/span><\/a>for the fact that Austria has \u201cfar too seldom [spoken] of the fact that many of the worst henchmen in the Nazi dictatorship were Austrians.\u201d The government designated May 5, the day the Austrian Mauthausen concentration camp was liberated, as the Holocaust Remembrance Day, constructed a Holocaust memorial on Vienna\u2019s <\/span>Judenplatz <\/span><\/i>(Jewish Square), and hosted two exhibitions – in 1995 and 2001 – about war-crimes of the German <\/span>Wehrmacht. <\/span><\/i>As of September 2020, Austria <\/span>has extended citizenship<\/span><\/a> to people persecuted by the Nazis and their descendants.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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However, Nazi racial thinking remained. This became clear with the rise of<\/span> the Austrian far-right <\/span>Freiheitliche Partei \u00d6sterreichs<\/span><\/i> (Freedom Party of Austria, FP\u00d6) into government in 2000. Leader <\/span>J\u00f6rg Haider<\/span><\/a>, a Nazi sympathizer and one of Europe\u2019s first right-wing populists, rose to power on an anti-immigration platform,<\/span> warning<\/span><\/a> citizens of \u201c<\/span>\u00dcberfremdung,\u201d <\/span><\/i>meaning that Austria would be \u201coverrun by foreigners\u201d after the fall of the Iron Curtain. When his party was part of the ruling coalition, Austria\u00a0<\/span>reduced <\/span><\/a>labor immigration to key workers, and as of 2003, required all non-EU nationals to attend German language and integration courses. If completed upon arrival, migrants were reimbursed for the tuition, but otherwise, they had to pay for it themselves. Foreigners lost<\/a> their residence permits if they failed to complete the courses within four years<\/span>. <\/b>Haider\u2019s anti-migration policies, xenophobic rhetoric, and opposition to Eastern enlargement raised an eyebrow among other European states, who briefly<\/span> sanctioned <\/span><\/a>Austria for <\/span>violating European values.\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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One evening, Mireille was approached by some men on the <\/span>U-Bahn <\/span><\/i>(subway) after leaving her part-time waitressing job serving tables at a restaurant. Since her destination was only a few stops away, she remained standing near the front of the car and fastened her hand on one of the poles. Suddenly, Mireille felt a blow from behind, jolting her forward into a group of people. Puzzled, she swiveled around and eyed two white, middle-aged men leering at her. They called her the <\/span>n-word,<\/span><\/i> and shoved her. Alarmed, she dashed off to the other end of the subway car. Luckily, she got off on the next stop. Mireille thought she might feel more comfortable in a multicultural city. She redid her <\/span>Matura <\/span><\/i>(high school diploma)<\/span> at a special adult evening school at age 23 and moved to London, enrolling at Kingston University for biological sciences. While she enjoyed the buzz and excitement of the city, she missed her family and friends in Austria.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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She returned to Vienna three years later to study at the Medical University, where she met Danny Ngosso. Also a Nigerian immigrant, he is a \u00a0surgeon at a clinic in Bavaria, Germany. They married in 2017 and have a four-year old son, Samuel. While completing her medical residency program, Mireille decided to join the SP\u00d6 like her father<\/span>. <\/b>In 2010, she took on a more substantial role in the party, advocating for better healthcare and more affordable housing. Racism was never part of her political agenda. \u201cEver since I joined politics, I decided that I don’t want to talk about migration or multiculturalism,\u201d she says to me. It wasn\u2019t that she had no interest in race, but it seemed that Austrians, even the socialists, didn’t care. \u201cWhenever I talked about racism, I was simply shut up or not taken seriously. People would say, \u2018Oh, look, it\u2019s the black politician who only makes policy about migration and anti-racism.\u2019 But I\u2019m more than that – I\u2019m a mother and a doctor –\u00a0 I have other expertise that I can speak to, so I told myself that I\u2019d focus on other issues.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mireille climbed the ranks of the party. She was appointed as district councilor for the inner city in 2015 and deputy district representative three years later, making her the first high-ranking Afro-Austrian official in Vienna. However, not everyone celebrated her rise. Some racists<\/span> attacked her <\/span><\/a>on a public discussion forum on Facebook, telling her to return \u201cto the jungle\u201d to \u201cpick bananas.\u201d\u00a0 And while Mireille has grown numb to such racial slurs, her<\/span> loss <\/span><\/a>during an internal party election last March hurt. Despite being a top candidate, she didn\u2019t receive a majority.\u00a0 Mireille believes her colleagues no longer wanted her to represent the district because she is Black. According to the district chief, the reasons for her loss remain unknown, but people in the comments speculate it was due to her migrant background and skin color. Since then, combating racism has become her priority. \u201cNo matter where it occurs and regardless if it\u2019s anti-black racism, anti-Muslim racism, or antigypsyism, I always talk about it,\u201d she says. \u201cWhat we\u2019re dealing with here are injustices, and this needs to be discussed now.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Even though Austrians today are more likely to discuss race than they were in the eighties, Mireille doesn\u2019t believe these debates are constructive. \u201cRacism comes up again and again within the political discourse, but nothing is really being done,\u201d she says. \u201cIf politicians really wanted to change something, they would take action and raise awareness of the issues that presently exist within our society.<\/span> They would stop publishing racist slogans and instead create inclusive laws, an action plan against racism, install anti-racism commissioners in every institution to protect civilians, and rewrite school textbooks. But, instead, <\/span>politicians themselves make it presentable, which signals to the population that it’s OK to do the same.\u201d Before they can change the laws, Austrian politicians must change people\u2019s minds. Mireille wants Austrians to recognize that racism exists within society. Only then can Austria become a land of equal opportunity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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But many Austrians simply don\u2019t believe the country has a racial problem. In a <\/span>recent survey<\/span><\/a>, 94% of respondents claimed that asking someone where they\u2019re from isn\u2019t racist. \u201cIt\u2019s very difficult to talk about racism on the political level, especially in a country like Austria where a self-critical discussion about racism doesn\u2019t exist,\u201d says Faika El-Nagashi, Austrian Green Party speaker for integration and a member of parliament. \u201cThe moment we talk about injustices, inequalities, power relations and being affected by racism, then we start asking: \u2018Who is responsible for it? Who is silent? Who actually does it? When I\u2019m disadvantaged, then who has the advantages?\u2019 These are uncomfortable discussions for many, which is why it\u2019s so difficult to discuss, debate, and reflect.\u201d <\/span>On talk shows, TV<\/span> anchors clumsily tried to define \u201cracism,\u201d a linguistic taboo in a society, which favors terms like \u201cdiscrimination\u201d or \u201cxenophobia\u201d instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Austrians seem to be voting with their feet, attending protests against racial discrimination in record breaking numbers. The turnout at the June 4 protest, followed by a rally of 10,000 the next day at\u00a0 the U.S. embassy, proves that the general public wants to have this conversation. <\/span>\u201cI hadn\u2019t seen this<\/span> in 20 years,\u201d<\/span> says Mireille. Following the protest, she realized it was time to speak up. <\/span>She sat down with members of the Austrian black community. <\/span>\u201c<\/b>At the time, we simply said, \u2018It’s not enough just to host a demonstration or rally; we also want to have a political say. We want politics to take on these issues and really ring in improvements,\u2019’ Mireille recalls.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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(C) Black Voices<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Mireille introduced the Black Lives Volksbegehren\u00a0during a press conference in August.\/(C) Black Voices<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In August, <\/span>Black Voices<\/span><\/i><\/a> was born. Mireille, dressed in a hot pink suit, sat alongside El-Nagashi and other members of the Afro-Austrian community, facing a room full of journalists. She lowered her \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d mask and picked up the microphone to introduce the <\/span>Black Voices Volksbegehren<\/span><\/i>, a citizens\u2019 initiative calling for a national action plan against racism. She outlined\u00a0 the group\u2019s demands: anti-racism workshops in companies and schools, post-colonial history taught in schools, expanded voting rights for permanent residents. <\/span>Black Voices <\/span><\/i>wants the Austrian government to establish an independent control and complaint center against police misconduct, as well as a mental health service run by and for black people and people of color, where victims can report cases of racist police violence. Moreover, the group expects the government to welcome refugees and offer them safe and legal opportunities in Austria, in line with the human rights principles set out by the UN Charter of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. If the citizens\u2019 initiative obtains 100,000 signatures by September 2021, the Austrian Parliament must put the issue on its agenda.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Volksbegehren (citizen\u2019s initiatives) <\/span><\/i>have played an <\/span>important role<\/span><\/a> in shaping the country\u2019s political landscape since the <\/span>1980s.<\/span> Instruments of direct democracy, referendums allow citizens to intervene in the parliamentary process.<\/span> While parties have initiated the majority of Austrian referendums, recent constitutional reforms have made them more accessible<\/span>. <\/b>In 199<\/span>7, a group of women launched the <\/span>Frauen-Volksbegehren <\/span><\/i>(Women\u2019s Civilians\u2019 Initiative), calling on the state to fight gender inequality. The issue was then discussed in parliament, which implemented<\/span> some <\/span><\/a>of their demands<\/span>. <\/span>The government now compiles annual gender-specific statistics on labor and education<\/span>, and guarantees two-years paid maternity leave.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mireille hopes for a similar initiative on racism and minority rights. She doesn\u2019t believe Austrians will confront these challenges on their own. \u201c<\/span>Mainstream population doesn\u2019t want to give up their seats at the table, they don\u2019t want to open the door for people with a migrant background, but it\u2019s time,\u201d she says. \u201cWe are just as much a part of this society, we feel Austrian or Viennese, and we have our place here.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Initiatives like these have a mixed history in Europe. In 2001, the UN World Conference against Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance held in Durban, South Africa, advised states to<\/span> adopt <\/span>a national action plan (NAP) to discuss racism. There has since been a <\/span>scattered effort <\/span><\/a>among EU member states to create such a program, with Germany launching<\/span> its legislation<\/span><\/a> in 2008 and Austria never initiating one at all. This past summer , in response to the George Floyd protests, the European Commission proposed a five-year <\/span>EU anti-racism directive<\/span><\/a> to \u201cachieve a union of equality\u201d across the bloc.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Initiatives and proposals are toothless,<\/span> but the facts on the ground change when the people change. E<\/span>l-Nagashi is optimistic, as the civilian initiative is borne by individuals who refuse to accept the limits the system imposes upon them<\/span>.<\/b> \u201cWe have a new generation for whom living in Austria is a given and shapes this country in so many different ways, but at the same time, experiences racism and always has to fight for their legitimate place in society,\u201d says El-Nagashi.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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Asma Aiad (speaking) is the only non-black member of Black Voices.\/ (C) Black Voices<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asma Aiad<\/span>, a 33-year old who studies Conceptual Art, is part of that generation. She is also the only non-black member of <\/span>Black Voices. <\/span><\/i>She believes ethnic minorities must unite to fight racism. \u201cIt\u2019s about justice and removing inequalities,\u201d Asma says. \u201cIf you\u2019re really against it, then it doesn’t matter what background you have.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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(C) Asma Aiad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Born in Vienna to Egyptian parents who immigrated for work in the eighties, Asma calls herself a Muslim <\/span>Urwienerin <\/span><\/i>(a native Viennese). She initiates conversations with the Arabic greeting <\/span>Salam<\/span><\/i>, then continues in Viennese, peppering her talk with slang words like <\/span>Oida <\/span><\/i>(\u201cdude\u201d). Asma adorns her head with neon pink, teal, and floral printed silk scarves, which add spice to her otherwise neutral outfits. She matches her red-green <\/span>Dirndl<\/span><\/i>, the traditional Austrian costume, with an ash-colored headscarf. When swimming, she wears a burkini, a full-body bathing suit (which is banned in France). During the month of Ramadan, she wakes up every morning at 3 a.m. for Suhoor, a light pre-dawn meal to prepare worshipers for the day\u2019s 15-hour fast. B<\/span>ut instead of the <\/span>Egyptian <\/span>ful medames,<\/span><\/i><\/a> a fava <\/span>bean stew, Asma prefers a traditional Austrian favorite: a slice of rye bread with Austrian <\/span>Liptauer, <\/span><\/i>a spicy paprika sheep milk cheese spread. She pairs it with <\/span>Shai bi Laban<\/span><\/i>, Egyptian black tea with milk, her mother\u2019s favorite. Each sip reminds her of her childhood growing up in a tiny apartment in Rudolfsheim-<\/span>F\u00fcnfhaus<\/span>, Vienna\u2019s immigrant district, with her mother, younger brother Omar and sisters Esra and Hasna. Her father died of a chronic illness two years ago.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asma\u2019s family has lived in the same apartment since she was born. Its entrance leads you into a <\/span>tightly-packed living room, where a large, u-shaped, red velvet sofa surrounds a black coffee table. A glass jar filled with dates sits on top of a floral-patterned silk placemat. When performing <\/span>salah <\/span><\/i>(Islamic prayers), the four children and mother stand, then kneel, in front of the table, their bare feet firmly grounded into the soft red-and-white carpet. They face a TV, from which an imam is leading the prayers. Next to the sofa is a glass dining table, already set for supper. It faces a window lined with white crochet curtains which have a red stripe running straight through them. A colorful mosque decal is plastered onto the window, hidden behind the cloth.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asma never felt entirely comfortable as a practicing Muslim in Vienna<\/span>. <\/b>Her next-door neighbors couldn\u2019t stand hearing the <\/span>Adhan<\/span><\/i>, the Islamic call to prayer, coming from the family\u2019s TV five times a day. So they routinely called the police. Asma, which means \u201cbeautiful\u201d in Arabic, was teased by her classmates, both for her name, and her darker skin color. Once she turned 16 and began wearing a headscarf, she became an even bigger target<\/span>. <\/b>In her cooking class at school, the teacher forbade her to wear the hijab, claiming it was \u201cunhygienic.\u201d But Asma quietly put it underneath her hairnet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The hijab has had a troubled history in Austria. In 2017, the government banned full-face veils in public and in 2018 it prohibited them in kindergartens. A year later, the state outlawed them in elementary and middle schools (a court struck it down in December). Now, the government wants to reinstate the law and <\/span>expand<\/span><\/a> it to school teachers and girls up to age 14. Officially, Austria is a secular country, and its constitution <\/span>provides<\/span><\/a> freedom of religious belief and affiliation. Islam has been an officially recognized religion since 1912, along with<\/span> fifteen others<\/span><\/a>, including Alevism, Armenian Apostolic Church, Buddhism, Catholicism, Evangelicalism, Greek Orthodox Church, and Judaism.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is a European issue that has vexed many countries. In 2003, Germany was the first to pass anti-hijab legislation,<\/span> forbidding <\/span><\/a>teachers from wearing a headscarf in state-run schools. In 2004, France outlawed all religious symbols in public elementary and secondary schools. However, unlike the French ruling, which applies to all religions, the Austrian <\/span>law is limited to the Muslim veil. The legislation <\/span>does not <\/span><\/a>specifically mention the word \u201cIslam,\u201d but it prohibits \u201cideologically or religiously influenced clothing which is associated with the covering of the head.\u201d This phrasing <\/span>allows<\/span><\/a> Jewish kippahs and Sikhs turbans, but bans the hijab, which Austrian politicians<\/span> claim<\/span><\/a> \u201cprevents girls from becoming confident women.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So far, neither the European Court of Justice nor the European Court of Human has challenged Austria\u2019s law. According to EU laws, a state <\/span>must uphold<\/span><\/a> a \u201cprinciple of neutrality,\u201d which is why the court <\/span>permits headscarf<\/span><\/a> bans as long as they encompass other religious symbols. This is not the case in Austria, where crucifixes are <\/span>mandatory <\/span><\/a>in classrooms when the majority of the students are Christian. Meanwhile, <\/span>Integration Minister Susanne Raab <\/span>claims<\/span><\/a> \u201cthe headscarf does not belon<\/span>g to [Austrian] values.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asma doesn\u2019t see anything un-Austrian about the hijab. And she knows what she\u2019s talking about. She has a Master\u2019s degree in Gender Studies and wrote her dissertation on \u201cIslamic feminists,\u201d contemporary Muslim women who free themselves from patriarchal society by wearing a hijab and practicing Islam. For Asma, the anti-hijab rhetoric is simply a form of \u201csexist discrimination against Muslim women.\u201d On her Instagram account, she writes, \u201cJust as a miniskirt isn\u2019t an invitation for harassment, neither is a headscarf.\u201d Her grit came with age, she admits. \u201cBeing treated terribly got me thinking about what I could do to stop it.\u201d At 16, she joined <\/span>Muslim Youth Austria,<\/span><\/a> a religious group comprised of second- and third-generation migrants that seek to refine the Austrian-Islamic identity. They assert that being both a Muslim and an Austrian is not a contradiction, and that Muslims have the right to participate in every part of Austrian society. Asma participated in the organization\u2019s anti-racism discussions and workshops to connect with people like her. But that wasn\u2019t enough. She itched to undermine people\u2019s assumptions about Muslims, and prove that she and her hijab belong to Austrian society. So she created her <\/span>blog, <\/span>dieAsmaah<\/span><\/i><\/a>, where fashion meets politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(C) Asma Aiad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the first things you notice about her website is a picture of a young Muslim woman<\/span> flaunting a chic, floral-patterned silk scarf paired with oversized sunglasses. Another picture shows her in a grey bathrobe, her hair wrapped in a matching towel.\u00a0 Titled \u201cThis is not a hijab,\u201d the project is a series of portraits showcasing different head coverings that don\u2019t provoke the same criticism as the hijab. \u201cMuslim women are always depicted as suppressed or shown with their backs to the camera,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to counteract this notion, give these individuals their own stage, and highlight their diversity.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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(C) Asma Aiad<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Asma has felt the sting of Anti-Muslim rhetoric. Two years ago, when returning from Istanbul, Asma and her friend were stopped at Austrian passport control. The police officer jokingly asked her hijab-wearing friend, \u201cSay, you weren\u2019t married off there, were you?\u201d Furious, Asma pulled out her iPhone and hit record. On camera, she demanded the man\u2019s ID number. She later tried reporting him to the authorities, but they wouldn\u2019t accept her complaint. She posted the videos on her Instagram account, which made headlines in all the daily newspapers.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Austria\u2019s anti-Muslim rhetoric began when Turkish migrants arrived in the late sixties. Due to labor shortages in the construction, metal, textile, and service industries, the government signed labor recruitment treaties with Turkey in 1964, and with former Yugoslavia in 1966. 265,000 \u201cguest workers,\u201d signed one or two-year contracts, and moved into dormitories near factories, separate from Austrian society.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1973, the global economic recession forced the Austrian government to halt the program. Only those with a permanent job could legally remain in the country. The government introduced the <\/span>Ausl\u00e4nderbesch\u00e4ftigungsgesetz <\/span><\/i>(Foreigner\u2019s Employment Act) in 1975, which awarded foreigners a two-year, renewable work authorization after eight years of continuous employment. Unemployed Austrians wanted those foreigners who were already there to leave. <\/span>That year, the government<\/span> made it difficult for workers to return to Austria if they left the country. Most Yugoslavs returned home, while Turks <\/span>chose to stay<\/span><\/a> and brought their families to Austria. As a result, the number of Turkish residents tripled between 1971and 2001. The 1992 Aliens Act and 1993 Residence Act tightened regulations, limiting the number of work and residence permits.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turks and Austrians have a long history of conflict. Beginning in 1529, when Ottomans rioted outside the gates of Vienna, before being beaten back by the Habsburgs. In 1683, the Ottomans besieged the city for two months. But the Habsburgs freed the city for good with help from Polish and German forces. Turkish Martin Luther called the Turkish invasion \u201c<\/span>God\u2019s punishment of Christianity<\/span><\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Battle of Vienna, 1683 \/(C) Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Austrians remember this history to this day. In the suburbs, it isn\u2019t unusual for a mother to beckon to her children:\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s already dark; the Turks are coming. The Turks are coming.\u201d One legend about the red-white-red Austrian flag attributes the red to the blood of the defeated Muslims. In Vienna, a statue of a dying, half-naked Turk lying at the foot of his conqueror, John Capistrano, sits in the famed St. Stephan Cathedral. A pillar in the church\u2019s southern tower <\/span>depicts<\/span><\/a> a Turkish stone head, with the German inscription \u201c<\/span>Schau, Mahumed, du Hund” <\/span><\/i>(\u201cLook, Mahumed, you dog\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Austrians grew nervous as Turks integrated into society in the 70s. Turkish cleaning ladies were one thing, but female doctors, lawyers, and teachers –some covering their heads with multicolored silk scarves–were another. The hijab became a symbol, \u201cthe border between the violent East <\/span>outside and an enlightened, modern West,\u201d writes professor Beverly Weber, in her book <\/span>Violence and Gender in the \u201cNew\u201d Europe: Islam in German Culture.<\/span><\/i> The<\/span> hijab became an equal opportunity point of contention. Conservatives saw it as a symbol of radical Islam.<\/span> Even those on the left protested that it strips females of their individual agency. Feminists claim that Islam\u2019s suppression of women could \u201cpotentially undermine progressivism.\u201d Both sides agreed that Muslim culture does not belong to Europe.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Turks and other immigrants are<\/span> outsiders. Non-EU citizens must have a work and residence permit to remain in the country. Non-Austrian citizens cannot vote or run for office. They are unable to make an active contribution to their surroundings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Austrian citizenship is based on the principle of \u201cjus sanguinis\u201d (the right of blood), meaning one becomes a citizen only if one of their parents is Austrian. Unlike in Germany, which awards a form of birthright citizenship, first, second, or third-generation immigrants are excluded from society. One can apply for citizenship, but fulfilling the requirements is expensive. In addition to ten years of continuous residence, the would-be Austrian must have a monthly income of at least 990\u20ac ($1,200) \u00a0 for six months. He must know German, and renounce his other citizenship.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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\u201c<\/span>I am angry, because strangers regularly try to deny my nationality,\u201d says Cami.\u00a0<\/span>(C) Camila Schmid<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Camila Schmid, a 22-year old Austrian-born student of international relations, believes that it\u2019s time to speak up.<\/span> She has beautiful dark curls that fall just beneath her shoulders. Her skin is a soft light brown shade, a mesh of her Cuban mother and Austrian father\u2019s features. In her hometown, a medieval Austrian village situated just outside of Vienna along the Danube river, she says she feels \u201cexotic.\u201d<\/span> Cami first realized this while hanging out with friends on a middle school ski trip.<\/span> \u201cRaise your hand if you think your skin color is prettier than Cami\u2019s,\u201d one girl announced.\u00a0 Everyone\u2019s hands shot up, including two of her best friends. She felt betrayed. \u201cI had thought racism comes from \u2018bad\u2019 or \u2018foreign\u2019 people,\u201d she says. \u201cBut racism occurs even when you think you are in a \u2018safe space.\u2019\u201d Lost, she turned to guidance counselors and teachers for help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But they downplayed her racial experiences. \u201cWhen I tried explaining how I felt, I received \u2018gaslighting comments,\u2019\u201d Cami says. \u201cPeople said, \u2018It\u2019s not that bad; you\u2019re exaggerating.\u2019 So I just stopped addressing it.\u201d She felt the need to suppress the discrimination. Europe demands this, <\/span>argues<\/span><\/a> sociologist Alana Lenin. Since the existence of racism is hushed up in the region, it is not considered part of Europe. So to become accepted and integrated, an individual must act as if racism doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cami works part-time at a local grocery store. She usually works at the cash register. One day, an older, married Austrian couple approached her to checkout. While the woman popped their food on the conveyor belt, the man gave Cami an annoyed look and complained, \u201cA Cuban! Great!\u201d He was a xenophobe. In response, Cami shook her head and said she was Austrian. The encounter broiled into a heated discussion about her nationality and ended with the police arriving. However, they didn\u2019t file a complaint. A month later, when Cami and her mother were exploring a neighborhood just outside her hometown, a man yelled at them, saying, \u201cForeigners out! Go back to where you came from!\u201d A cop car pulled up at their house a couple of hours later. The 22-year old opened the front door to find police officers, one infront and the other behind, asking for residence permits. She felt like a criminal. \u201c<\/span>I am angry, because strangers regularly try to deny my nationality,\u201d Cami writes on her Instagram profile. \u201cI am angry, because my experiences with racism and the pain it brings along are played down and delegitimized by this society.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Austria never felt like home for Cami. So after graduating from high school, she packed up her belongings and moved to Germany to work as an au pair. That\u2019s where she found her voice. \u201cI met white people who want to talk about racism and are interested in the problems of marginalized groups,\u201d she says. \u201cThey gave me the courage to speak up for myself by showing that racial violence is not okay.\u201d Her new friends took her to protests and rallies. German protest culture, which emerged with the 1968 student-led street protests, was new territory. In Germany, she began thinking about discussing racism on social media.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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(C) Redefine Racism<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The murder of George Floyd was the final straw.<\/span> Cami launched <\/span>Re-Define Racism,<\/span><\/i><\/a> an Instagram platform to which non-white individuals from Austria, Germany, and Switzerland\u00a0 share their stories of racism. One post retells an individual\u2019s encounter with a non-white colleague. They said, \u201cWell you were born here, but you\u2019re not really German.\u201d Another post describes a time when they were told to sit at the back of the bus.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cami hopes sharing stories helps others with their racial trauma<\/span>.<\/b> \u201cI want people who experience discrimination to receive encouragement by sharing their stories.\u201d She says she would have felt \u201cless alien\u201d if she knew that others were experiencing the same type of racial hatred when she was growing up.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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An individual tells a story from his youth. When playing with a boy at the playground, the boy’s mother asked who he was playing with. The playmate\u00a0listed everyone except him.\u2060 When the individual asked why,\u00a0the playmate said, “Because you’re Turkish and my mother doesn’t want me running \u00a0around with Turks because Turks are “dangerous.”\u2060(C) Redefine Racism<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The 22-year old understands that sharing is hard. \u201cEvery time I share an experience, my heart starts pounding, and I feel humiliated.\u201d But she believes that initiating interracial dialogue and educating the white population about racism is key. \u201cI want white people to pay attention, become aware of their privilege, accept that racism is part of other\u2019s reality, and reflect on what role they play in it.\u201d In a recent <\/span>Re-Define Racism<\/span><\/i> post, a white individual regrets playing the racist school yard game \u201cWho\u2019s afraid of the black man?\u201d Common in elementary and middle schools, one child, the \u201cblack man,\u201d faces a group of others who are lined up in a row. The kids must run to the opposite side without being caught. Those that get caught have to help the black man. The last one standing wins. The \u201cblack man\u201d is not defined as a specific ethnic group, but, when reflecting on it, the individual is appalled and wonders how people of color must feel when playing this game. This is exactly what Cami aims to achieve with her project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Simon Inou reporting from the protest.\/ (C) Asma Aiad<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cSee this photo behind me?\u201d Simon Inou asks me, pointing at his Zoom background. He has a big grin on his face. He is wearing a green and orange floral-printed button-down shirt that compliments his chocolate-colored skin tone, a red-green-yellow knit hat that covers his bald head, and thick brown, square-shaped glasses. Behind him is an image of the June protest depicting white and non-white individuals joining arms and hoisting posters into the air. \u201cAwareness has reached Austria. Young individuals are actively fighting structural norms because they don\u2019t want to be manipulated anymore,\u201d he tells me. The Viennese George Floyd protest was a turning point for the African journalist and media critic. It was the culmination of the battle he has been fighting for the past 20 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simon sought asylum in Vienna in 1995. Born and raised in Cameroon, the 50-year old <\/span>says<\/span><\/a> he comes from a \u201clarge royal family\u201d that dates back to the 11th century. He remembers attending luxurious family banquets in his childhood at which entire cows were roasted and served for supper. Simon developed ambition and curiosity at an early age. At 19, he founded the country\u2019s first youth newspaper <\/span>Le Messager des Jeunes<\/span><\/i>. He also enrolled at the University of Douala to study sociology, and he covered politics for the weekly newspaper <\/span>Le Messager. <\/span><\/i>He criticized the government in his writing, which eventually got him into trouble.<\/span> Simon was almost arrested in Cameroon.<\/span> He fled the country and set out for the German-speaking region. Growing up in a former German colony, he had always been drawn to Austria and Germany.<\/span> His grandfather spoke native German, and Simon, native in English and French, had been jealous.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Upon settling in Vienna, he was determined to assimilate. Simon learned the language and enrolled in the University of Vienna to study journalism. While reading local newspapers, he realized that local reporting discriminated against Africans and people of color. He says that he did not feel accurately represented in the media. At the time, Austrians were not likely to talk about, or recognize, racism.<\/span> And Simon felt it.<\/span> On the train, people moved away from him. Strangers, newspapers, and national television used the German <\/span>n-word. <\/span><\/i>When exiting stores, he was stopped by the owners and asked to empty his pockets. At protests, he watched policemen shove other Africans to the ground.<\/span> Now,<\/span> Simon is an Austrian citizen and married to an Austrian woman, with whom he has three children. Reflecting on his past 20 years in the Austrian capital, Simon says,<\/span> \u201cA black person needs a lot of courage to live in Austria. One needs a lot of patience and thick skin to not immediately feel disempowered.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since Austrians made no space for Simon he created his own. He wanted to represent himself.<\/span> \u201cI try to make Africans the main subjects of the reporting,\u201d he says. In 1998, he and some friends founded Radio Afrika International, and in 2003, he became the editor-in-chief of <\/span>Informationsportal Afrikanet, <\/span><\/i>the German-speaking region\u2019s first digital magazine for the African diaspora. He created a monthly \u201cAfrica\u201d supplement which ran in the oldest Austrian newspaper <\/span>Wiener Zeitung <\/span><\/i>between 1999 and 2004 and wrote a weekly page on immigrants in Vienna, funded by the EU and the City of Vienna, for the daily newspaper <\/span>Die Presse.<\/span><\/i> More recently, he became the publisher of <\/span>fresh, <\/span><\/i>the first Afro-Austrian lifestyle magazine. He hosts annual networking events, such as the <\/span>Black Austria Youth Forum <\/span><\/i>and the <\/span>Black Austria Awards, <\/span><\/i>bringing together members of the community from the whole country. He leads conversations about how black Europeans can deal with racism. \u201cWe must learn to speak a common language to voice our problems even louder together,\u201d says Simon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He organized the first anti-black racism protest in the country in 1998. \u201cWe, people of African origin, took to the streets with some white individuals,\u201d he recalls. The protest, which attracted just under 100 individuals, was just the start of a slew of similar initiatives. In 2007, Simon co-founded \u201cBlack Austria,\u201d a media campaign targeting anti-Black racism within Austrian media. The group spoke out against the Moor\u2019s head logo used by the Viennese coffee brand Julius Meinl. Simon also protested against an <\/span>advertisement <\/span><\/a>for an ice cream version of <\/span>Mohr im Hemd, <\/span><\/i>an Austrian chocolate dessert that resembles an English Christmas pudding. Captioned <\/span>\u201cI will mohr\u201d<\/span><\/i> (\u201cI want mohr.\u201d), the ad repurposed a racial slur.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Julius Meinl moor’s head logo\/ (C) Wikimedia Commons<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Despite his efforts, fighting for black rights in Austria seemed like a lost cause. The country lacked racial awareness. Only some companies ended their racist campaigns. So 15 years into his fight, Simon retreated. He was tired of fighting a hopeless battle. \u201cI\u2019m confronted with so many challenges that are still new in Austria but have been issues in other European countries for at least 30-40 years,\u201d he says. Simon blames politics and state institutions. \u201cThey act as if anti-racism is just the vision of a certain group of people,\u201d he says. \u201cAnti-racism is not an accepted reality in Austria.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mike Brennan, a black US citizen and former physical education teacher at the Vienna International School, is living proof. On March 11, 2009, he hopped onto the Viennese subway en route to meet his girlfriend. Shortly before getting off, a blow hit him from behind, forcing him to the ground. One man jumped on him, throwing punches and smashing two of his lumbar vertebrae. A second man joined in. The attackers only identified themselves as police officers once Brennan\u2019s friend threw herself at one of them. Brennan, looking back at the event that left him sitting in a wheelchair for four years, <\/span>writes,<\/span><\/a> \u201cGeorge Floyd, that could have been me. That is exactly what happened to me in Vienna. I was just lucky that someone intervened. Otherwise I might be dead.\u201d Brennan never received compensation for his pain and suffering. The authorities declined his legal appeal, stating that the police officers\u2019 actions were <\/span>\u201cnot intentional.\u201d<\/span><\/a> Only one of the perpetrators was sentenced to a fine, which the judges reduced. The officer wasn\u2019t suspended but was relocated to another city instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To Simon, the Brennan case was a breaking point. It confirmed that the Austrian public refuses to acknowledge their racism. Simon wrote<\/span> an article <\/span><\/a>for the Austrian daily newspaper <\/span>Der Standard <\/span><\/i>titled, \u201cWho Will Be Next Black Man?\u201d He had no reason to believe that anything would change for the better. So he stopped giving interviews and withdrew from the public eye.<\/span><\/p>\n

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(C) Julia Seidl<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

But with 50,000 individuals screaming \u201cno justice, no peace\u201d in central Vienna, things have started to look different. Simon has regained hope. \u201cPeople can be as pessimistic as they want. But this awareness is now all across Austria.\u201d Social media and years of day-to-day hate speech drove individuals of all skin colors and religious affiliations to the streets. Now, \u201cit\u2019s no longer just black people fighting against racism,\u201d Simon tells me. White individuals have their backs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Statistics show this too. The number of recorded hate crimes against ethnic minorities have skyrocketed in 2020, and the majority were made by observers, according to the anti-racist organization ZARA\u2019s <\/span>latest report.<\/span><\/a> Austrians are beginning to crack down on their own racism. They are determined to eliminate it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n