Back in my day... we used to protest xenophobia

I just had a moment. I'm studying Austrian history for my exam and suddenly I found out the reason for me being out protesting on the streets of Vienna with my parents as a 9-year-old. I distinctly remember the "Sea of Lights", it's one of the few very clear memories I have (yup, my goldfish memory unfortunately goes way back). I remember meeting up with friends of us - one of their sons is only a couple of days younger than me (interestingly he later ended up in my class in high school and as a one-week-fling of mine). Their big family and our small family went to Heldenplatz (Heroes' Square) to protest xenophobia in the exact same place where not-enough-years-ago Adolf Hitler had declared Austria's annexation to the Third Reich. The trigger for the protest was the "Austria first!"-referendum by Austria's resident right wing party - which back then was the only right-wing party - now that we actually have two sadly I'd have to specify which did it. Back then it was the FPÖ.

In 1993 I was too young to know what exactly we were protesting aside from the explanations my parents gave me. I knew we were out there to stand up against racisms and right-wing politics, as much as one can grasp that as a 9-year-old. But I remember that feeling of uniting against something that oppresses, making a stand, I - who is usually afraid of the masses - remember that effervescence (I've always wanted to use this word) of... "good" if you want to call it that. 350.000 people holding candles and torches on a dark and rainy January night on the streets of Vienna's inner city - that's simply a very emotional thing.

Now that I came across the referendum that triggered all this, I had to think about what's going on today. Today Austria has two dangerously right-wing, xenophobic, populist parties that make the "Austria First!"-referendum look harmless in comparison - yet I don't see people in the streets. Granted we're not much of a protesting nation in general, but now even the will seems lacking. In fact, only 4 weeks ago a lot of Austrians voted for these two parties. Combined they would reach about 28% of all votes. Yes, that scares me. Even more it scares me that there has been no outcry this time around - because we've gotten frickin' used to them. But we shouldn't! We should all grab our candles and torches and walk the streets and protest against what this country is becoming, to show that there still are people who are against racism and populism and these right-wing politics.