Jorg Haider dead in car accident

[CCIP]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7664846.stm

I was not in the slightest a fan of the guy - though I think he gave everyone quite a shock and plenty to think about when he did so well in the 1999 elections in Austria. Still, his style of politics is to me the dark side of Europe - and hopefully a style that doesn't go mainstream in North America anytime soon, as well.

Definitely a big name, regardless. What will be his legacy?

[Hitman]

What will be his legacy?

One that people should learn well and still refuse to do - that history repeats itself and that those who fail to learn it will be doomed to suffer again the same miseries.

In short: He didn't leave any leagcy, it's the stupid average citizen who refuses to learn from that lack of legacy.

[Schultzy]

I saw this on the news this morning.

I can't say it has upset me or shocked me as I was never a fan of Haider but a lot of Austria is going to feel this shock quite deeply I think.

Even so, rip.

[XabbaRus]

Was it an accident though?

[stabiz]

Was it an accident though?

My thoughts exactly, although I never liked the guy.

[Skybird]

Sympathy boost for the right now? Elections already over - that's lucky.

[Zachstar]

Was it an accident though?

No need for conspiricy theories please.

[Skybird]

Was it an accident though?
Police says he lost control of his car while trying to overtake (according to German news).

[XabbaRus]

Okay.

Zachstar why not conspiracy theories? I just asked the question. I'm not saying there was or is a conspiracy but given his standing it isn't inconceivable if unlikely.

It just came so soon after his party got a good number of seats in the recent election.

[baggygreen]

never heard of him.. sounds like he wont be missed.

Can't speak ill of the dead, as a rule, but in this case - meh.

[AntEater]

Haider will be missed, if for entertainment value only.
Our southern neighbours always have a more soap-opera like approach to politics and Haider fitted perfectly into that.
:)
Strange coincidence, but maybe some car accidents are actually car accidents.

To fill in our english speaking members:
Austria, like Germany, has been ruled by what we call a "grand coalition" in recent years. That means the two major parties of the right and left, the christian democrats (ÖVP in Austria) and the social democrats (SPÖ in Austria) rule together.
The ÖVP quit this coalition and called for new elections, hoping to secure a majority.
This move backfired drastically and the ÖVP lost many votes.
The SPÖ now is the strongest party but lacks any coalition partners.
In contrary to Germany, the greens, liberals and socialists are not that strong and did not make it into parliament.
The only other two parties are both right-wing populist:
Jörg Haiders former party, the freedom party (FPÖ) which he left after some party infighting to found a new party called alliance for Austria's future (BZÖ).
The FPÖ (Haiders old party) got 19%, the BZÖ (Haiders new party) got 11%. Together they got more votes than the conservatives and almost as many as the social democrats.
However, personal animosities between Haider and the new FPÖ management would have made any coalition or even merger very difficult.
With Haider gone, I could imagine that the BZÖ is absorbed by the FPÖ, making it the second most powerful party in Austria.

That said, both FPÖ and BZÖ are right wing populist parties. They advocate tough immigration laws, tough anti-crime laws and a tough stance on Islam.
Economically, they're less clear, some are libertarian while others are quite close to social democrats.
Generally, these are not neo nazis, rather comparable to Blocher's People's party in Switzerland or Kaczinsky's party in Poland or the Vlaams belang in Belgium.
Or even a bit like Berlusconi in Italy, whatever he choses to name his current party.
Germany has no comparable party, the Republicans (german style) do come somewhat close, as they're right wing but not as neo nazi as the NPD.
However, the Republicans are a small party with some regional strongholds but not more than 1-2 per cent of votes on average.

Also, while both ÖVP and FPÖ regularly blast the right wing, both have allready voted together with the right wing on occasions.
Ideologically, the ÖVP, as a convervative party, is closer to the right wingers, but the SPÖ is not as cathegorically opposed to right wingers as you might think.
Also, the ÖVP and FPÖ allready had a coalition from 1998 to 2002.
As I allready said, Austrian politics tend to be somewhat more chaotic and colourful than German politics and surprises are always possible.

[Dust]

the green party is since centuries in the parliament and still is. we have 5 parties in the parliament.

haider is left wing compared to bush and his fascist and inhuman fight against terrorism.

bad for austria is, now red and black have no one who opposes their corruption as hard as haider did. that made him big in austria and not that he was on the right spectrum of the democratic spectrum.

[CCIP]

Well, it now says that the police found he was driving twice over the speed limit, which I think puts most possible conspiracy theories here to rest - driving alone at night at 150km/hour is a good way to get yourself killed.

Ironically, I just found out that the same day Haider crashed, a friend of mine and my brother's from high school was also killed in a car accident, driving alone at night. Poor guy, he crashed and was burned to death after the car caught fire. I hadn't talked to him in years, but we used to play Counterstrike and go to LAN parties together back in the day. He was only 22. That's really very sad :(

Sort of puts that in perspective with Haider for me - surely it's a personal tragedy for quite a few people, whatever his political stance was. It's one of those things, unfortunately, that could really happen to anyone - and that night, it seems, it happened to at least two people.

[Skybird]

Haider lost control after he overtook a car, he was travelling with 150 km/h where a speed zone of 70 km/h ended and a speed zone of just 50 km/h began. So actually he even travelled with three times the speed that was allowed. Says the Austrian police.

I hate idiot drivers like that, and I applaude everybody who manages to kill himself without damaging others first. Both my mom and me lost loved ones due to some alcoholised speeding a$$sholes on hot wheels. may they kill themselves before they do harm to others with their selfish and/or stupid behavior. Some people simply are not ripe enough in character to hold a driver's licence.

[Zachstar]

Haider lost control after he overtook a car, he was travelling with 150 km/h where a speed zone of 70 km/h ended and a speed zone of just 50 km/h began. So actually he even travelled with three times the speed that was allowed. Says the Austrian police.

I hate idiot drivers like that, and I applaude everybody who manages to kill himself without damaging others first. Both my mom and me lost loved ones due to some alcoholised speeding a$$sholes on hot wheels. may they kill themselves before they do harm to others with their selfish and/or stupid behavior. Some people simply are not ripe enough in character to hold a driver's licence.

AMEN!!!

[Yahoshua]

Here in the states, most notably with cities of large populations, people tend to treat driving like a hobby that they never really get the hang of.